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

Monday, April 28, 2008

Kingdom Come by J. G. Ballard

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Kingdom Come by J. G. Ballard is not a successful book. Richard Brown is an advertising executive who has been estranged from his father for...

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa

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Mario Vargas Llosa, novelist, Peruvian, is a word painter, an artist of consummate skill, capable of simultaneous intimate ecstasy and detac...

Short story: Assessors

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From: 36dale42@283East.net To: assessors@central.net Subject: A p p lication for re-assessment I hereby humbly p resent my case and ho p e, ...

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Cultured Tangos

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It may be that in musical retrospect, from a luxury of twenty-twenty critical hindsight, that Astor Piazzolla will be seen as having done in...

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene

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Henry Pulling is a recently retired bank manager. He was offered an arrangement after many years of devoted service when his bank was taken ...

The Hired Hand by Melvyn Bragg

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The Hired Hand by Melvyn Bragg is the story of John Tallentire, his wife, Emily, and their families. The novel is set in Cumbria in the nort...

Friday, April 4, 2008

Protesters - a short story

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A shar p closing of the door left the two men together yet alone, strangers, introduced merely seconds before. The older, taller of the two...

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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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