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 war. Show all posts

Friday, May 13, 2022

Sideshow by William Shawcross

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When we consider Nixon, Kissinger and the Destruction of Cambodia, Sideshow by William Shawcross is probably the main event, if not the la...

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Milkman by Anna Burns

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Milkman is a novel by Anna Burns. It won the Booker. It is a book. It's a book about a place, a place which is not named, but we know ...

Friday, February 24, 2012

The Towers Of Silence by Paul Scott

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The Towers Of Silence, the third of Paul Scott’s Raj Quartet, is very much a novel about women. Set in India in the 1940s, the war impinges ...

Friday, February 17, 2012

The Day of The Scorpion by Paul Scott

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Just as history can’t be undone, innocence, once lost, can’t be retrieved. If history would allow, I would dearly love to read Paul Scott’s ...

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

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When a book has won the Booker Prize and the film that it spawned has taken Oscars, the casual reviewer might be tempted to conclude that ev...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Families in Conflict - Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne

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Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne presents a vast project. Its story crosses the globe, beginning in Sri Lanka and ending in Britain. Great event...

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Vietnam – A History by Stanley Karnow

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At around 270,000 words, Stanley Karnow’s Vietnam – A History is something of a monster, as is its subject. Even those who did not live thro...

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Lord Of The Flies by William Golding

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A review of a book as iconic as Lord Of The Flies should surely only offer comment, not mere description. It is over fifty years since its p...

Monday, July 21, 2008

Towards Asmara by Thomas Keneally

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Towards Asmara by Thomas Keneally was eventually disappointing. As a process, the experience was strewn with beauty, vivid images and arrest...

Friday, February 15, 2008

Victims

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Thursday I need urgent advice and assistance. Please read the following in the context of my previous reports over the last fortnight, espe...

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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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