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

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

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Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is a compelling portrait of people on the downside of a dystopia. Like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Ta...

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A Walk Up Fifth Avenue by Bernard Levin

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Bernard Levin begins A Walk Up Fifth Avenue with three quotations from descriptions of New York City. These date from 1916, 1929 and 1949 an...

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Poisoned Petals by Andy Crabb

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Poisoned Petals by Andy Crabb is a set of over forty short stories, tales with a Spanish flavour. Most are set in Spain, with many featuring...

Thursday, August 7, 2008

A Boy’s Own Story by Edmund White

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A reviewer of A Boy’s Own Story by Edmund White is presented with a number of problems, In the paraphrased words of one of the book’s charac...

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Faith In Fakes by Umberto Eco

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Faith In Fakes by Umberto Eco is a superbly entertaining beginner’s guide to semiotics. To what? Semiotics is the study and interpretation o...

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Costa Blanca Arts Update - Miraculous Bartok from Valencia Youth

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A full symphony orchestra in full flight is a thoroughly rousing experience. When that is combined with a programme that offers contrasting ...

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Costa Blanca Arts Update - Going down with a bang - Amsterdam Percussion Group in Altea

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Percussion ensembles often try to raise the macho to an art form. Loudness and aggression often predominate, usually to the detriment of mus...

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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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