Monthly Archives: December 2012

Being at home for two weeks is most definitely not conducive to writing but it does give me the opportunity to plunder my mother’s library. I’m reading The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty by Sebastian Barry, which I’m not sure whether I’m … Continue reading →

I love it when writers use words I’ve never come across before. Are you familiar with the word “peccant”? I wasn’t, but I keep running into it in Trollope’s Phineas Finn: Something should be done for overgrown counties;–something for new towns which … Continue reading →

No, not from me. From Edmund White, who wrote quite a funny column today in The Guardian.

From Phineas Finn, written in 1867: “. . . The one great drawback in the life of women is that they cannot act in politics.” “And which side would you take?” “What, here in England?” said Madame Max Goesler, from which … Continue reading →

Well, two-and-a-half weeks down, ten days to go of my India trip, and hardly any writing done. The reasons? Too busy being a yogi! Not just early morning practice but compulsory chanting classes three times a week (which I’ve grown … Continue reading →