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

Friday, December 18, 2009

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry

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In The Secret Scripture, Sebastian Barry tells a story set in Ireland. As is often the case, this story set in Ireland is very much a story ...

Saturday, December 12, 2009

The Book Of Illusions by Paul Auster

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Paul Auster’s The Book Of Illusions offers the reader pretty much what the title promises. It’s a book and there are illusions! By the time ...

Friday, November 27, 2009

The Cleft by Doris Lessing

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I often wait a day or two before writing a review. I find that my appreciation of a work often changes on reflection, sometimes magnifying t...

Monday, November 16, 2009

Reflecting on a review of A Glance Away by John Edgar Wideman

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When reviewing a book I try to keep myself out of the argument. The purpose is to reflect upon the work, to enter its world in its own style...

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Saturday, November 7, 2009

New York Days, New York Nights by Stephen Brook

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I have just done another tour of New York. It’s a city whose streets I have walked, whose life I have encountered, whose people I have known...

Monday, November 2, 2009

My new life as a ghost - 50 of the best by Martin Offiah

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Becoming a ghost usually involves major change in one’s life. It doesn’t happen every day. For me the call came in May 2009. A name I recogn...

Monday, October 26, 2009

Restoration by Rose Tremain

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If I finish a book and declare it to be one of the best I have ever read, I normally wait a few days before writing a review. If my opinion ...

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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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