Philip Spires commonplace book

I have kept a commonplace book for many years. It's a place where scraps of impressions are filed for future reflection. It's not a diary, it's just a mental scrapbook, concentrating on book reviews, concert reviews, visual arts and some occasional pieces on travel. It is also a place where I occasionally reflect on what I write. Details of my books can be found at http://www.philipspires.co.uk

Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts

Monday, July 18, 2022

Anglo Saxon Attitudes by Angus Wilson

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This particular reviewer rarely writes a negative review. If it didn’t communicate with me, there ’ s no need to assume that it will not c...

Monday, December 6, 2021

Quichotte by Salman Rushdie

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I heard an author interviewed on the radio. He described a character he had invented, a fellow called Quichotte (that’s key-shot, by the w...

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Anglo Saxon Attitudes by Angus Wilson

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This particular reviewer rarely writes a negative review. If it didn’t communicate with me, there ’ s no need to assume that it will not com...

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Tribes by David Lammy

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Tribes by David Lammy promises much, delivers something, but ultimately fails to convince. Its problem lies in the very nature of its vision...

Friday, November 27, 2020

Twelve years of Alfas del Pi Classical Music Society - alfasmusica.com

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«Nuestro público es el fiel reflejo de lo que es la sociedad alfasina» Tras doce años de existencia la asociación ha organizado ya más de ...

Friday, August 21, 2020

Scott-King's Modern Europe by Evelyn Waugh

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Scott-King's Modern Europe is a short, perhaps over-short novella by Evelyn Waugh. Written in 1946, it visits a fictitious part of Europ...

Friday, October 5, 2012

Dreams In A Time Of War by Ngugi wa Thiong’o

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Put simply, Dreams In A Time Of War by Ngugi wa Thiong’o is a beautiful book. But it is also challenging, engaging, shocking, endearing and ...

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Maudiegirl and the Von Bloss Kitchen - a cookbook fiction

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Maudiegirl Esther Kimball’s first husband, Campbell, died on the voyage to Ceylon. Her second, Kimball, succumbed to malaria. She then marri...

Monday, December 19, 2011

A Northern Ireland Childhood - Patrick Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle

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Patrick Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle is an unusual, highly original account of life in a Northern Ireland Catholic household. Written from...

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally

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The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally is based on the life of an Australian bushranger called Jimmy Governor. Fictionalised as Ji...

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Between The Assassinations by Aravind Adiga

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Aravind Adiga’s White Tiger won the Booker Prize and was notable for its intriguing form. I thought it would be a hard act to follow. It wou...

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About Me

philipspires: I was born in Wakefield and was brought up in Sharslton, a mining Village. I went to London University and then became a maths teacher, working initially as a volunteer teacher in Kenya. I spent sixteen years in London, in Balham and Islington. In 1992, I left Britain for Brunei and then Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. I currently live in La Nucia, near Benidorm in Spain. I am interested in the relationship between nature and nurture, birthright and experience. Themes of culture and identity and their relation to economic and social roles underpin my writing. What we are born into relates to what we become, but we are rarely in control. What others do, our interests and intellects and the way we choose to earn a living, all of these shape us into what we become. It may be that culture is the sum of all assumptions that others make on our behalf, whereas identity represents our reactions to them. I did a PhD on the effects of education in economic development in the Philippines. I was President of Alfas del Pi Music Society for twelve years.

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