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, September 30, 2020

The Journey of Anders Sparrman by Per Wästberg

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To say that The Journey of Anders Sparrman , by Per Wästberg is a tale of two halves would transcend cliché. Rarely will one encounter such ...

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Stalin by Edvard Radzinski

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Edvard Radzinski’s Stalin is literally and figuratively an enormous work. But perhaps a quarter of a million words is still insufficient to ...

Overstory by Richard Powers

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Overdone. Overblown. Overlong. Ecosystems promote diversity: markets do the opposite. A single line worth reading was worth the sheer bore...

Sunday, September 27, 2020

Amores percussion, Maria Maica, Elia Casanova in Alicante and International Chamber Orchestra in Alfas del Pi

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Three concerts in four days… Despite Spain’s rising number of coronavirus cases, concert halls are open. The audiences wear masks, seat ...

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Like Life – the catalogue by Luke Syson, Sheena Wagstaff, Emerson Bowyer, and Brinda Kumar

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Like Life was a 2018 sculpture exhibition at New York's Met Breuer Museum. Its catalogue of the same name not only illustrates many of t...

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Costa Blanca Arts Update - Prisuelo-Sanford and Ars Musicandum in Alicante

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Like most places on the planet, the pandemic has denied us the opportunity of hearing live music in a hall with volume for several months....

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Crown of Blood, The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey by Nicola Tallis

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When they advance, pawns become queens. But to advance, they usually need support from a bishop or a knight from behind the walls of a castl...

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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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