In January 2011 via facebook I asked the following “Can you suggest books that directly or indirectly feature the sea like Life of Pi, The Rime of The Ancient Mariner, The Old Man and The Sea? All Suggestions Welcome.” The tidal wave of reply is still in my facebook posts but it's now below. Thank you for all the brilliant contributions. I know even thi sis only the tip of the iceberg, a drop in the ocean of books that feature the sea. I've tried to keep the list down to book titles and authors. I would love to make links from every suggestion but I haven't the time unfortunately. Here's the list. Virginia Wolf’s To the lighthouse, Moby Dick, The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch, On Chesil Beach by Ian Mcewan, Jonathon Livingston’s Seagull, The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh, The Selkie, Jamaica Inn, The Odyssey, Walcott’s Omeros, The Wreck of the Deutschland, Life Of Pi, Cloud Atlas, all Katie Morag books, Diving Bell and The Butterfly, 5 go to Smugglers Top by Enid Blyton, Tom and the island of Dinosaurs, In The Heart of The Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick, The Nightfishing by W.S. Graham, The Waves, We Didn’t Mean to go to Sea by Aurthur Ransome, One Morning in Maine, Lord of The Flies, Treasure Island, Where the Sea Breaks It’s Back, A tale of two Cities, The Sea, The Sea, Empire of The Sun and Roots by Alex Haley Read more [...]

The insuperable past and the indomitable spirit are friends. At first they were suspicious of each other Like a chance meeting of runaways on the quiet street of a deserted city . Now they are inseparable. Read more [...]

Inglorious. How have I not made the connection before? How have I not made the connection between the present day child in care, parentless, institutionalised or fostered, and Superheroes when throughout Read more [...]

In answer to the comments on facebook relating to my previous blog it’s not that I blog just to keep track of what I do – that sounds too mechanical. I blog in lieu of family, as I said, so I guess Read more [...]

One of the truest ways to identify racist behaviour is not through something said but through something unsaid. I’m looking forward to July and a residency at The Grassington Festival. My previous Read more [...]

Abdul at the top of our street who runs the corner shop said spring was short. I looked again. I can’t ever remember marking my seasons from beginning to end in order to compare their length. Yet everybody Read more [...]