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

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively

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Time is undoubtedly linear, but our perception of it is not. And for Claudia Hampton, the principal character of Penelope Lively’s novel, Mo...

Sunday, March 25, 2012

The Republic Of Love by Carol Shields

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Republics do not have kings or queens, nor princes or princesses, so, we must assume, fairytales are out. Winnipeg is not exactly a republic...

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Fools Of Fortune by William Trevor

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Generally, genre thrillers are books without thrills. Someone gets killed. Turn the page and it happens again to someone else. There’s a cha...

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux

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When, some thirty years later, Paul Theroux repeated the journey that he had described in The Great Railway Bazaar, he declared travel writi...

Sculpture by Vicente Pérez Gonsálvez at Klein-Schrueder

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In an exhibition in Fundación Klein-Schreuder, sculptor Vicente Pérez Gonsálvez presents a series of works in marble. The materials, white, ...

Saturday, March 10, 2012

From Heaven Lake by Vikram Seth

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Ostensibly From Heaven Lake is a travel book. The description is both apt and limiting. It is worth musing on the idea that travel may be me...

Thursday, March 8, 2012

A Division of the Spoils by Paul Scott

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Start with two major religions, Islam and Hinduism. To a history of one ruling the other, add the complication of a determinedly, in part ev...

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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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