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, July 18, 2022

Anglo Saxon Attitudes by Angus Wilson

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  This particular reviewer rarely writes a negative review. If it didn’t communicate with me, there ’ s no need to assume that it will not c...

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry

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  I’ve just read More Fool Me by Stephen Fry. I finished the book – I don’t know why. There’s oodles of self-mockery Couched in torren...
Monday, June 6, 2022

Conrado Moya plays marimba and Shostakovich 10 brings the house down in Alicante

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  A piano concerto played in a transcription for marimba is not a common event. It is even rarer when it is the Concierto Heroico of Joaquin...
Sunday, May 22, 2022

Costa Blanca Arts Update - Julia Fischer and Academy Of St Martin In The Fields at ADDA, Alicante

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There are times when words fail, and this is one of those occasions. Feel free to read no further, because what follows cannot be described ...
Monday, May 16, 2022

Costa Blanca Arts Update - Daniel Harding and the Swedish Symphony play Brahms 1 and 3 in ADDA, Alicante

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  Basically, in normal circumstances I would not regard a concert offering two Brahms symphonies as resembling a cup of tea. If that ’ s not...
Friday, May 13, 2022

Sideshow by William Shawcross

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  When we consider Nixon, Kissinger and the Destruction of Cambodia, Sideshow by William Shawcross is probably the main event, if not the la...
Thursday, May 12, 2022

Costa Blanca Arts Update - Josep Vicent, Julia Gallego perform Dvorak, Joan Albert Amargos and Holst's The Planets

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  Dvorak’s Carnival Overture provides a stunning opening to any concert. It ’ s exuberant, tuneful, spectacular and exciting. It ’ s all the...
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About Me

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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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