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 psychology. Show all posts

Friday, March 4, 2022

The Fugitive by Marcel Proust

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Reaching the end of The Fugitive, volume six of Marcel Proust’s A la recherche de temps perdu , I begin to realise – not quite at last – h...

Monday, June 29, 2020

Family Album by Penelope Lively.

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One comment that is often made about many writers - usually women - is that all too often the material does not venture beyond the garden g...

Friday, July 8, 2011

A review of The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

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Helen Knightly takes her clothes off for a living. It’s not what you think: she’s a respectable mother of two. She is Knightly by name, but ...

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Another Part Of The Wood by Beryl Bainbridge

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Another Part Of The Wood by Beryl Bainbridge first appeared in 1968. It was a significant year. The book’s vintage shows through via passing...

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Love, etc by Julian Barnes

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It’s hard to imagine a more perfect marriage of form and content than Love, etc, in which Julian Barnes continues the story of characters th...

Monday, October 20, 2008

The Heart Of The Matter by Graham Greene

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Over forty years ago a new English teacher at my school answered a question asked by an eager student. The question was, “What do you think ...

Saturday, September 6, 2008

The South by Colm Toibin

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The South by Colm Toibin is an intense, though fitful chronicle of a woman’s life, a life as yet incomplete. It presents a patchwork of deta...

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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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