Books to fall in love with

I stumbled onto Sheila O’Malley’s blog this afternoon, and instantly knew I need to read everything she’s ever written. Especially the book reviews — e.g. on Harriet the Spy, Brideshead Revisited, Notes from Underground, and above all this essay on love and AS Byatt.

Talking of Byatt, The Guardian have a wonderful video interview with her; I assume they’ll eventually turn in into an article, but they’re taking their time about it. What’s particularly delightful is how it works as a conversation rather than a potted Q&A. She covers several topics — social realist novels, facebook, religion, big brother — but keeps returning to a central theme of the limitations of culture concerned entirely with reality and people, where

interest in life as it is has supplanted religion

. Also, as one of the comments points out, it’s somewhat intriguing that she has a roll of tape balanced on her knee throughout.

More superficially:

  • The Spectator on Michael Moorcock: “

    He is generally sound on religion and politics

    “. Yes, really.
  • A plea for intergenerational peace from Rhian
  • Remember the park benches in

    Transmetropolitan

    ? A park in China tries doing it with spikes [NB:

    Quirky news from China, hence probably exaggerated or downright false

    ]

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *