Title: Sheila Ash (
India)
Status: Active
URL:
http://ashramblings.blogspot.com
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Our Stars - 29/Dec/2023 13:14 - 294 days ago
Hiding close the southern horizon but both visible facing due south on 25 Oct 20023.We always shone brightly together, RIP...
Book Review: The Wall by John Lanchester - 26/Dec/2023 15:13 - 297 days ago
The WallbyJohn LanchesterMy rating:4 of 5 starsI first heard part of this book abridged on BBC R4 and only recently
managed to ...
Book Review: Chess Story (alt title is The Royal Game) by Stefan Zweig - 28/Nov/2023 13:25 - 325 days ago
Chess StorybyStefan ZweigMy rating:3 of 5 stars Not a writer that was known to me and I've forgotten how it got onto my TBR...
Devastating beauty by Sheila Ash - 23/Nov/2023 11:00 - 330 days ago
Hidden seeds flowered by desert rainsMemories of you watered by griefBoth flower with devastating beauty.Normal0falsefalse...
Audio Book Review: The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk - 22/Nov/2023 21:31 - 331 days ago
The Second Sight of Zachary CloudesleybySean LuskMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis is a first novel and as such was quite impressive. H...
Book Review: Butcher’s Crossing By John Williams, narrated by Anthony Heald - 18/Oct/2023 12:09 - 366 days ago
Butcher’s CrossingbyJohn WilliamsMy rating:4 of 5 starsGreat characters - Miller, Charley - really felt
in the landscape, so...
Book Review: Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang - 29/Aug/2023 11:06 - 416 days ago
Babel: An Arcane HistorybyR.F. KuangMy rating:4 of 5 starsThe author has created a world that is immediately recognizably set in...
Review: Small Things Like These - 21/Jun/2023 12:39 - 485 days ago
Small Things Like ThesebyClaire KeeganMy rating:5 of 5 starsView all my reviewsashramblings...
Book Review: Greek Lessons By Han Kang tarnslated by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won - 17/Jun/2023 16:22 - 489 days ago
Greek LessonsbyHan KangMy rating:4 of 5 starsNot as accessible as herThe Vegetarian, but a wonderful story of a going blind man ...
Book Review: The Ten Loves of Mr. Nishino by Hiromi Kawakami , translated by Allison Markin Powell - 17/Jun/2023 16:18 - 489 days ago
The Ten Loves of Mr. NishinobyHiromi KawakamiMy rating:3 of 5 starsFor me this novel was not as good asStrange Weather in Tokyob...
Review: Mona: Let's Learn and Read: Hindi-English - 27/May/2023 15:44 - 510 days ago
Mona: Let's Learn and Read: Hindi-Englishbyunknown authorMy rating:0 of 5 starsAccording to the book the author is S K Sahota.I ...
Review: Mona: Let's Learn and Read: Hindi-English - 27/May/2023 15:41 - 510 days ago
Mona: Let's Learn and Read: Hindi-Englishbyunknown authorMy rating:0 of 5 starsView all my reviewsashramblings...
Review: The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair - 16/May/2023 21:03 - 521 days ago
The Truth About the Harry Quebert AffairbyJoël DickerMy rating:4 of 5 starsView all my reviewsashramblings...
Audio Book Review: The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer, translated by Howard Curtis, narrated by Greg Lockett, Stephanie Dufrense, Todd Kramer. - 18/Mar/2023 15:37 - 580 days ago
The Disappearance of Stephanie MailerbyJoël DickerTranslated byHoward CurtisMy rating:4 of 5 starsI'm on a roll. This is the se...
Book Review: The Enigma of Room 622 by Joël Dicker, Translated by The Enigma of Room 622 narrated by Chris Harper - 14/Mar/2023 16:06 - 584 days ago
The Enigma of Room 622byJoël DickerTranslated byRobert BononnoNarrated byChris Harper My rating:4 of 5 starsJust the tonic...
Book Review: Monsieur Linh and His Child, translated by Euan Cameron - 20/Feb/2023 11:44 - 606 days ago
Monsieur Linh and His ChildbyPhilippe ClaudelMy rating:4 of 5 stars145 pages (in my library's large print edition) of absolute m...
Book Review: Accabadora by Michela Murgia, translated by Silvester Mazzarella - 19/Feb/2023 13:55 - 607 days ago
AccabadorabyMichela MurgiaMy rating:0 of 5 starsI was first attracted to this book by its title, a word I did not know.Bonari
U...
Book Review: And the Wind Sees All by Guðmundur Andri Thorsson, Björg Árnadóttir (translator), Shai Sendik (Translator) - 27/Jan/2023 10:42 - 630 days ago
And the Wind Sees AllbyGuðmundur Andri ThorssonMy rating:3 of 5 starsI read that the title of the English translation has been ...
Book Review: Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith - 19/Jan/2023 12:41 - 638 days ago
Girl Meets BoybyAli SmithMy rating:4 of 5 starsAnother short novel between longer reads - at 164 pages it can be read in 1-2 sit...
Book Review: The Prague Orgy by Philip Roth - 14/Jan/2023 16:39 - 643 days ago
The Prague OrgybyPhilip RothMy rating:3 of 5 starsI clearly am having a spell of Kafka themed reading (see alsomy review of Ian ...
Book Review: The Cockroach By Ian McEwan, narrated by Bill Nighy - 10/Jan/2023 11:51 - 647 days ago
The CockroachbyIan McEwanMy rating:2 of 5 starsWhen I started reading this novella from Ian McEwan I was reminded of the classic...
Book Review: The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes - 31/Dec/2022 14:34 - 657 days ago
The Noise of TimebyJulian BarnesMy rating:3 of 5 starsI'm not a lover of fictionalised accounts of real peoples
lives but I see...
Book Review: Miss Iceland by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, translated by Brian FitzGibbon - 22/Dec/2022 12:44 - 666 days ago
Miss IcelandbyAuður Ava Ólafsdóttir, transl. byBrian FitzGibbonMy rating:3 of 5 stars A deceptive, quiet, slow novel wit...
Book Review: The Years by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison L. Strayer - 14/Dec/2022 22:59 - 674 days ago
The YearsbyAnnie ErnauxTrans. by Alison L. StrayerMy rating:3 of 5 starsI'm not much of a Francophile and have never really...
Book Review: Storm Birds by Einar Karason tranlsated by Quentin Bates - 28/Nov/2022 11:31 - 690 days ago
Storm BirdsbyEinar KárasonMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis slim little paperback of 110 pages found on my local libraries
shelves wa...
Book Review: The War of the Poor by Eric Vuillard, Translated by Mark Polozzotti - 27/Nov/2022 13:33 - 691 days ago
The War of the PoorbyÉric VuillardMy rating:2 of 5 starsThis is a short book and not one I would have picked up but I wanted fo...
Review: Creole - 16/Nov/2022 16:52 - 702 days ago
CreolebyJosé Eduardo AgualusaMy rating:3 of 5 starsView all my reviewsashramblings...
Short Story Podcast Review: The Cafeteria in the Evening and a Pool in the Rain by Yoko Ogawa, read by Madelaine Thien - 10/Nov/2022 16:17 - 708 days ago
The Cafeteria in the Evening and a Pool in the RainbyYōko Ogawa Text athttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...Audio at Ne...
Book Review / Audiobook review: Outlaws by Javier Cercas, translated by Anne McLean, Narrated by Luis Moreno - 26/Oct/2022 13:08 - 723 days ago
OutlawsbyJavier CercasMy rating:4 of 5 starsAnne McLean the translator has translated many famous authors writing in Spanish inc...
Book Review: Camanchaca by Diego Zúñiga, translated by Megan McDowell - 20/Oct/2022 09:57 - 729 days ago
CamanchacabyDiego ZúñigaMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis is a strange but intriguing little book. I came to it via other works by it...
Book Review: By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah - 17/Oct/2022 12:42 - 732 days ago
By the SeabyAbdulrazak GurnahMy rating:4 of 5 stars Why had I not readAbdulrazak Gurnahbefore!He
writes beautifully. His p...
AudioBook Review: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, narrated by Bernadette Dunne - 16/Oct/2022 21:32 - 733 days ago
We Have Always Lived in the CastlebyShirley JacksonMy rating:4 of 5 starsPreviously I have only ever readShirley Jackson's famou...
Short Story Review: A Slow Boat to China by Haruki Murakami - 31/Jul/2022 13:37 - 810 days ago
A Slow Boat to ChinabyHaruki MurakamiMy rating:4 of 5 starsMurakami's first short story can be found in the collectionThe Elepha...
Book Review: China Room by Sunjeev Sahota - 16/May/2022 03:35 - 886 days ago
China RoombySunjeev SahotaMy rating:4 of 5 stars Beautiful. One thread is the heart wrenching story set in 1929 Punjab of 1...
Book Review: The Anomaly By Hervé Le Tellier - 05/May/2022 03:29 - 897 days ago
The AnomalybyHervé Le TellierMy rating:4 of 5 starsI was alerted to this book by a member of my online bookgroup who has simila...
Short Story Review: Half Light by Tayari Jones - 22/Apr/2022 08:35 - 910 days ago
Half LightbyTayari JonesMy rating:3 of 5 starsShort story about twins Amelia and Camelia Hall who have identical faces but look ...
Short Story Review: Dispossession by Tayari Jones - 22/Apr/2022 06:58 - 910 days ago
DispossessionbyTayari JonesMy rating:3 of 5 starsMothers and sons, the American dream soured, families split, daily life struggl...
Short Story Review: The Didomenico Fragment by Amor Towles - 21/Apr/2022 03:35 - 911 days ago
The Didomenico FragmentbyAmor TowlesMy rating: 4 *Percival Skinner has financial troubles as regards his retirement planning. He...
Review: The Lincoln Highway - 18/Apr/2022 04:24 - 914 days ago
The Lincoln HighwaybyAmor TowlesMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis is the third piece by Towles that I have read, they are all different...
Homage to Homs - 06/Mar/2022 11:03 - 957 days ago
syria-heritage-in-ruins-before-and-after-picturesI wrote this back in the Summer of 2014, heartbroken by the destruction of cit...
Book Review: Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang - 21/Feb/2022 14:33 - 970 days ago
Story of Your LifebyTed ChiangMy rating:4 of 5 starsI have dipped intoTed Chiang's science fiction stories before and today I re...
Short Story Review: Open House on Haunted Hill by John Wiswell - 06/Feb/2022 02:19 - 985 days ago
Open House on Haunted HillbyJohn WiswellAudio online atLeVar Burton Reads PodcastText available atDiabolical Plots Re...
Short Story Review: The Walker by Izumi Suzuki, transl. by Daniel Joseph - 25/Jan/2022 04:08 - 997 days ago
The WalkerbyIzumi SuzukiMy rating:3 of 5 starsTest available online athttps://granta.com/the-walker/Izumi Suzukiwas Japanese wri...
Book Review: The Dead Lake by Hamid Ismailov transl by Andrew Bloomfield - 24/Jan/2022 08:55 - 998 days ago
The Dead Lake by Hamid Ismailovtransl by Andrew Bloomfield3* out of 5 I've recently been introduced to thePeirene Pres...
Review: To Jump Is to Fall - 23/Jan/2022 02:35 - 999 days ago
To Jump Is to FallbyStephen Graham JonesMy rating:3 of 5 starsView all my reviewsashramblings...
Book Review: Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan - 17/Jan/2022 04:15 - 1005 days ago
LuckenboothbyJenni FaganMy rating:4 of 5 starsI've readJenni Fagan's other two novels,The PanopticonandThe Sunlight Pilgrimsand ...
Dreechit Decembers by Sheila Ash - 04/Jan/2022 03:49 - 1018 days ago
Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-GBZH-CNHI/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-row...
Short Story Review: What the forest remembers by Jennifer Egan - 03/Jan/2022 12:59 - 1019 days ago
What the forest remembers byJennifer EganThis story can be found in the New Yorkerhttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...It st...
Short Story Review: The Uncurling of Samsara by Koji A. Dae - 02/Jan/2022 09:30 - 1020 days ago
This short story is available to read and to listen to in the January 2022 Issue of Clarkesworld Magaine, https://clarkesworldma...
Shoart Story Review: Different People by Timothy Mudie - 01/Jan/2022 12:33 - 1021 days ago
Different PeoplebyTimothy MudieMy rating:3 of 5 starsI listened to this on the LeVar Burton Reads Podcasthttps://open.spotify.co...
Short Story Review: Cat Person by Kristen Roupenian - 01/Jan/2022 03:23 - 1021 days ago
Cat PersonbyKristen RoupenianMy rating:4 of 5 starsI read this and listened to the author's own narration in The New Yorkerhttps...
Book Review: Sweet Caress by William Boyd - 31/Dec/2021 04:23 - 1022 days ago
Sweet CaressbyWilliam BoydMy rating:4 of 5 starsShould I have been surprised that I liked this novel? Not really, in that I hav...
Review: Dolphin junction - 22/Dec/2021 03:44 - 1031 days ago
Dolphin junctionbyMick HerronMy rating:0 of 5 starsView all my reviewsashramblings...
Book Review: In the Company of Men by Véronique Tadjo, trans by John Cullen - 21/Dec/2021 16:27 - 1032 days ago
In the Company of MenbyVéronique TadjoMy rating:3 of 5 starsI don't really know what to make of this book. In some ways it wasn...
Book Review: Young Skins by Colin Barrett - 19/Dec/2021 07:08 - 1034 days ago
Young SkinsbyColin BarrettMy rating: 4This debut collection by young Canadian born, Irish writerColin Barrettis set in the ficti...
Review: Parsnips in Love - 16/Dec/2021 03:53 - 1037 days ago
Parsnips in LovebyPorochista KhakpourMy rating:3 of 5 starsView all my reviewsashramblings...
Book Review: Prague Spring by Simon Mawer - 13/Dec/2021 10:08 - 1040 days ago
Prague SpringbySimon MawerMy rating:3 of 5 starsHaving just read and studied my way through the confusing, infuriating and inter...
Book Review: The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro - 09/Dec/2021 03:58 - 1044 days ago
The UnconsoledbyKazuo IshiguroMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis is an infuriating read, the reader is never in empathy with any of the...
Short Story Review: 2043...A Merman I Should Turn to Be by Nisi Shawl - 04/Dec/2021 08:17 - 1049 days ago
2043...A Merman I Should Turn to BebyNisi ShawlMy rating:3 of 5 starsBook 3 of the Amazon Black Stars series of short speculativ...
Review: These Alien Skies - 04/Dec/2021 06:07 - 1049 days ago
These Alien SkiesbyC.T. RwiziMy rating:3 of 5 starsSo many layers packed into a short story! This is No. 4 in the Amazon seriesT...
Short Story Review: Clap Back by Nalo Hopkinson - 02/Dec/2021 08:41 - 1051 days ago
Clap BackbyNalo HopkinsonMy rating:0 of 5 starsThis is the second book I have read in the Black Stars series. Nalo Hopkinson is ...
Short Story Review: Bullet in the Brain By Tobias Wolff - 22/Nov/2021 03:35 - 1061 days ago
Bullet in the Brain byTobias WolffMy rating:4 of 5 starsIt is the pivots in this short story which are superbly crafted to great...
Short Story ChapBook Review: Friendship For Grown-Ups by Nao-Cola Yamazaki, translated by Polly Barton - 17/Nov/2021 04:45 - 1066 days ago
Friendship For Grown-UpsbyNao-Cola YamazakiMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis is my first read from this series of chapbooks beautifull...
Book and Movie Review: Once Were Warriors by Alan Duff, Movie directed by Lee Tamahori - 11/Nov/2021 03:26 - 1072 days ago
Once Were WarriorsbyAlan DuffMy rating:5 of 5 starsThis book and the moviehttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110729/are a must read a...
Short Story Review: The Demon Lover by Elizabeth Bowen - 04/Nov/2021 09:08 - 1079 days ago
The Demon LoverbyElizabeth BowenMy rating:5 of 5 starsExcellent. It seems so modern in its style even thought the setting is cl...
Review: The Demon Lover - 04/Nov/2021 09:06 - 1079 days ago
The Demon LoverbyElizabeth BowenMy rating:5 of 5 starsView all my reviewsashramblings...
Review: Strange Flowers - 28/Oct/2021 09:12 - 1086 days ago
Strange FlowersbyDonal RyanMy rating:4 of 5 starsFrom 1970s Ireland Moll Glandey suddenly runs away. Her parents Kit and Paddy d...
Review: Strange Flowers - 28/Oct/2021 09:12 - 1086 days ago
Strange FlowersbyDonal RyanMy rating:4 of 5 starsFrom 1970s Ireland Moll Glandey suddenly runs away. Her parents Kit and Paddy d...
Review: Convenience Store Woman - 28/Oct/2021 09:10 - 1086 days ago
Convenience Store WomanbySayaka MurataMy rating:4 of 5 starsKeiko Furukura is a not so young, unmarried, somewhere on the spect...
Review: Convenience Store Woman - 28/Oct/2021 09:10 - 1086 days ago
Convenience Store WomanbySayaka MurataMy rating:4 of 5 starsKeiko Furukura is a not so young, unmarried, somewhere on the spect...
Book and AudioBook Review: The Power by Naomi Alderman, narrated by Adjoa Andoh - 19/Sep/2021 06:41 - 1125 days ago
The PowerbyNaomi AldermanMy rating:5 of 5 starsFirst of all probably the best narration ever by my favourite female narrator,Adj...
Book and AudioBook Review: The Power by Naomi Alderman, narrated by Adjoa Andoh - 19/Sep/2021 06:41 - 1125 days ago
The PowerbyNaomi AldermanMy rating:5 of 5 starsFirst of all probably the best narration ever by my favourite female narrator,Adj...
Review: On the Lonely Shore - 18/Sep/2021 04:18 - 1126 days ago
On the Lonely ShorebySilvia Moreno-GarciaMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis short story is available atUncanny Magazine, March 201...
Review: On the Lonely Shore - 18/Sep/2021 04:18 - 1126 days ago
On the Lonely ShorebySilvia Moreno-GarciaMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis short story is available atUncanny Magazine, March 201...
Book Review: The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan - 06/Sep/2021 05:05 - 1138 days ago
The Sunlight PilgrimsbyJenni FaganMy rating:3 of 5 starsJenni Fagan's second novel and my second read of hers too,The Sunlight P...
Book Review: The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan - 06/Sep/2021 05:05 - 1138 days ago
The Sunlight PilgrimsbyJenni FaganMy rating:3 of 5 starsJenni Fagan's second novel and my second read of hers too,The Sunlight P...
Book Review: Under the Blue by Oana Aristide - 02/Sep/2021 06:58 - 1142 days ago
Under the BluebyOana AristideMy rating:3 of 5 starsI came across this book when I caught a few minutes of an interview with the ...
Book Review: Under the Blue by Oana Aristide - 02/Sep/2021 06:58 - 1142 days ago
Under the BluebyOana AristideMy rating:3 of 5 starsI came across this book when I caught a few minutes of an interview with the ...
Book Review: Lean Fall Stand by Jon McGregor - 27/Aug/2021 07:02 - 1148 days ago
Lean Fall StandbyJon McGregorMy rating:3 of 5 starsI managed at the last minute to catch online the session withJon McGregorat t...
Book Review: Lean Fall Stand by Jon McGregor - 27/Aug/2021 07:02 - 1148 days ago
Lean Fall StandbyJon McGregorMy rating:3 of 5 starsI managed at the last minute to catch online the session withJon McGregorat t...
Book Review: The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey - 23/Aug/2021 05:32 - 1152 days ago
The Mermaid of Black ConchbyMonique RoffeyMy rating:3 of 5 starsGreat storytelling on the themes of love, loss, loneliness and t...
Book Review: The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey - 23/Aug/2021 05:32 - 1152 days ago
The Mermaid of Black ConchbyMonique RoffeyMy rating:3 of 5 starsGreat storytelling on the themes of love, loss, loneliness and t...
Book Review: In My Father's Den by Maurice Gee - 21/Aug/2021 16:26 - 1154 days ago
In My Father's DenbyMaurice GeeMy rating:4 of 5 starsI read this for my in person book group. I'd never come across the book or...
Book Review: In My Father's Den by Maurice Gee - 21/Aug/2021 16:26 - 1154 days ago
In My Father's DenbyMaurice GeeMy rating:4 of 5 starsI read this for my in person book group. I'd never come across the book or...
Book Review: The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan - 20/Aug/2021 09:58 - 1155 days ago
The PanopticonbyJenni FaganMy rating:4 of 5 starsThe narrator of this story is 15 yrs old Anais, in the care system. Now too ol...
Book Review: The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan - 20/Aug/2021 09:58 - 1155 days ago
The PanopticonbyJenni FaganMy rating:4 of 5 starsThe narrator of this story is 15 yrs old Anais, in the care system. Now too ol...
Book Review: Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson - 29/Jun/2021 14:48 - 1207 days ago
Meet Me at the MuseumbyAnne YoungsonMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis was a pick for my in personbook group. Probably one I would not h...
Book Review: Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson - 29/Jun/2021 14:48 - 1207 days ago
Meet Me at the MuseumbyAnne YoungsonMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis was a pick for my in personbook group. Probably one I would not h...
Book Review: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion - 17/Jun/2021 04:19 - 1219 days ago
The Rosie ProjectbyGraeme SimsionMy rating:3 of 5 starsI read this for my in person book group. I must admit it would not have ...
Book Review: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion - 17/Jun/2021 04:19 - 1219 days ago
The Rosie ProjectbyGraeme SimsionMy rating:3 of 5 starsI read this for my in person book group. I must admit it would not have ...
Book Review: The Color Purple by Alica Walker - 14/Jun/2021 04:50 - 1222 days ago
The Color PurplebyAlice WalkerMy rating:5 of 5 starsI listened to the author herself narrate this book, it was excellent. Very ...
Book Review: The Color Purple by Alica Walker - 14/Jun/2021 04:50 - 1222 days ago
The Color PurplebyAlice WalkerMy rating:5 of 5 starsI listened to the author herself narrate this book, it was excellent. Very ...
Book Review: Leaving the Atocha Station by Adam Lerner - 26/May/2021 11:12 - 1241 days ago
Leaving the Atocha StationbyBen Lerner 4* Probably the most compelling first person narrative I have read.It is a rambling...
Book Review: Leaving the Atocha Station by Adam Lerner - 26/May/2021 11:12 - 1241 days ago
Leaving the Atocha StationbyBen Lerner 4* Probably the most compelling first person narrative I have read.It is a rambling...
Book Review: Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi - 04/May/2021 14:05 - 1263 days ago
Transcendent KingdombyYaa GyasiMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis is an ambitious novel, a well crafted story about lives shattered by ...
Book Review: Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi - 04/May/2021 14:05 - 1263 days ago
Transcendent KingdombyYaa GyasiMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis is an ambitious novel, a well crafted story about lives shattered by ...
Book Review: The Inugami Curse (sometimes called the The Inugami Clan) by Seishi Yokomizo - 15/Apr/2021 10:25 - 1282 days ago
The Inugami ClanbySeishi YokomizoMy rating:3 of 5 starsI don't often read Detective Fiction, although I love a good Noir detect...
Book Review: The Inugami Curse (sometimes called the The Inugami Clan) by Seishi Yokomizo - 15/Apr/2021 10:25 - 1282 days ago
The Inugami ClanbySeishi YokomizoMy rating:3 of 5 starsI don't often read Detective Fiction, although I love a good Noir detect...
Book Review: March by Geraldine Brooks - 04/Apr/2021 03:17 - 1293 days ago
MarchbyGeraldine BrooksMy rating:5 of 5 starsNormal0falsefalsefalseEN-GBZH-CNHI/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {m...
Book Review: March by Geraldine Brooks - 04/Apr/2021 03:17 - 1293 days ago
MarchbyGeraldine BrooksMy rating:5 of 5 starsNormal0falsefalsefalseEN-GBZH-CNHI/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {m...
Book Review: The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré - 29/Mar/2021 02:56 - 1299 days ago
The Girl with the Louding VoicebyAbi DaréMy rating:4 of 5 starsMy in person book group decided not to read this one from a choi...
Book Review: The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré - 29/Mar/2021 02:56 - 1299 days ago
The Girl with the Louding VoicebyAbi DaréMy rating:4 of 5 starsMy in person book group decided not to read this one from a choi...
Book Review: The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally - 19/Feb/2021 04:02 - 1337 days ago
The Chant of Jimmie BlacksmithbyThomas KeneallyMy rating:3 of 5 starsI read this for one of the book groups I attend which is th...
Book Review: The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally - 19/Feb/2021 04:02 - 1337 days ago
The Chant of Jimmie BlacksmithbyThomas KeneallyMy rating:3 of 5 starsI read this for one of the book groups I attend which is th...
Book Review: Voss by Patrick White - 21/Jan/2021 08:20 - 1366 days ago
VossbyPatrick WhiteMy rating:3 of 5 starsI have feelings about this book all across the spectrum from bad to great!The first co...
Book Review: Voss by Patrick White - 21/Jan/2021 08:20 - 1366 days ago
VossbyPatrick WhiteMy rating:3 of 5 starsI have feelings about this book all across the spectrum from bad to great!The first co...
Book Review: The Fires of Autumn by Irène Némirovsky - 03/Jan/2021 06:57 - 1384 days ago
The Fires of AutumnbyIrène NémirovskyMy rating:3 of 5 starsIt took me a but to get into this book as the opening for me had to...
Book Review: Ordinary People by Diana Evans - 03/Jan/2021 06:55 - 1384 days ago
Ordinary PeoplebyDiana EvansMy rating:1 of 5 starsI very seldom trash a book but this has been the most boring book I have ever...
Book Review: Freshwater by Akweake Emezi - 03/Jan/2021 06:53 - 1384 days ago
FreshwaterbyAkwaeke EmeziMy rating:3 of 5 starsA most intriguing read.The author is on my list of Nigerian writers to read and ...
Book Review: Freshwater by Akweake Emezi - 03/Jan/2021 06:53 - 1384 days ago
FreshwaterbyAkwaeke EmeziMy rating:3 of 5 starsA most intriguing read.The author is on my list of Nigerian writers to read and ...
Review: Ordinary People - 25/Dec/2020 04:27 - 1393 days ago
Ordinary PeoplebyDiana EvansMy rating:1 of 5 starsView all my reviewsashramblings...
Review: The Fires of Autumn - 15/Nov/2020 05:37 - 1433 days ago
The Fires of AutumnbyIrène NémirovskyMy rating:3 of 5 starsView all my reviewsashramblings...
AudioBookReview: Travels With A Donkey by Robert Louis Stevenson, abridged narraton by Denis Lawson - 11/Oct/2020 08:17 - 1468 days ago
Travels With A Donkey byRobert Louis StevensonMy rating:3 of 5 starsI re-listened to the abridged audio book of this classic tra...
AudioBookReview: Travels With A Donkey by Robert Louis Stevenson, abridged narraton by Denis Lawson - 11/Oct/2020 08:17 - 1468 days ago
Travels With A Donkey byRobert Louis StevensonMy rating:3 of 5 starsI re-listened to the abridged audio book of this classic tra...
Book Review: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - 08/Oct/2020 04:26 - 1471 days ago
A Gentleman in MoscowbyAmor TowlesMy rating:4of 5 starsI "discovered" theis author after reading his short storyYou Have Arrived...
Short Story Review: Anabasis by Amal El-Mohtar - 23/Sep/2020 04:18 - 1486 days ago
AnabasisbyAmal El-MohtarMy rating:5 of 5 starsI read this as part of the collectionNevertheless, She Persisted: Flash Fiction Pr...
Short Story Review: Pockets by Amal El-Mohtar - 20/Sep/2020 11:36 - 1489 days ago
PocketsbyAmal El-Mohtar I've been meaning to read this author for some time when CR book club buddy gave me the heads up re...
Short Stoy Review: As the Last I May Know by S L Huang - 19/Sep/2020 06:04 - 1490 days ago
As the Last I May KnowbyS.L. HuangMy rating:3 of 5 starsThisHugo 2020 AwardWinning Short Story originally published byTOR.comis ...
Book Review: My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, narrated by Weruche Opia - 14/Sep/2020 10:11 - 1495 days ago
My Sister, the Serial KillerbyOyinkan Braithwaite, narrated byWeruche OpiaMy rating:4 of 5 starsI loved this book, listeni...
Book Review: The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier translated by Harriet de Onís - 09/Sep/2020 04:50 - 1500 days ago
The Kingdom of This WorldbyAlejo CarpentierMy rating:4 of 5 starsVery interesting to finally get an opportunity to read th...
Short Story Review: Impatient Griselda by Margaret Atwood - 08/Sep/2020 07:31 - 1501 days ago
Impatient GriseldabyMargaret AtwoodMy rating:4 of 5 starsOnly from the pen of Atwood!! She is such a wicked lady :) disturbing ...
Short Story Review: The Last Conversation by Paul Tremlay, narrated by Stevan Strait - 31/Aug/2020 07:43 - 1509 days ago
The Last ConversationbyPaul TremblayMy rating:4 of 5 starsTotally compelling read, straighforwardly (no pun intended) narrated b...
Short Story Review: You Have Arrived at Your Destination by Amor Towles - 29/Aug/2020 06:27 - 1511 days ago
You Have Arrived at Your DestinationbyAmor TowlesMy rating:5 of 5 starsThis story is part of Amazon's Forward Collection which ...
Short Story Review: This World is Full of Monsters - 29/Aug/2020 03:37 - 1511 days ago
This World is Full of MonstersbyJeff VanderMeerMy rating: 3 of 5 starsReading Jeff VanderMeer is like experience a surreal rolle...
Short Story Review: Randomize By Andy Weir - 28/Aug/2020 03:35 - 1512 days ago
RandomizebyAndy WeirMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis short story is part of Amazon Forward Collection which according to the sleeve n...
Book Review: The Black God's Drums by P Djèlí Clarke narrated by Channie Waites - 27/Aug/2020 15:54 - 1513 days ago
The Black God's DrumsbyP. Djèlí Clark 4*Continuing my reading of this author's works.This is set in an alternative histo...
Review: The Haunting of Tram Car 015 - 26/Aug/2020 03:37 - 1514 days ago
The Haunting of Tram Car 015byP. Djèlí ClarkMy rating:4 of 5 starsView all my reviewsashramblings...
Short Story Review: A Dead Djinn in Cairo By P Djèlí Clark - 22/Aug/2020 06:35 - 1518 days ago
A Dead Djinn in CairobyP. Djèlí ClarkMy rating:4 of 5 starsLong story or novelette, depending on your terminology, but a...
Review: The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington - 21/Aug/2020 08:29 - 1519 days ago
The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George WashingtonbyP. Djèlí ClarkMy rating:3 of 5 starsView all my reviewsashrambl...
Book Review: Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa - 20/Aug/2020 07:11 - 1520 days ago
Sweet Bean PastebyDurian SukegawaMy rating:3 of 5 starsSlow and gentle story of friendship. It is subtle, full of brush strokes ...
Short Story Review: The City Born Great by NK Jemison , narrated by Landon Woodson - 20/Aug/2020 06:56 - 1520 days ago
The City Born GreatbyN.K. JemisinLoved the narration (4*) byLandon Woodsonwho captivated this listener with his voicing of the s...
Short Story Review: Emergency Skin by NK Jemisin, narrated by Jason Issacs - 20/Aug/2020 04:12 - 1520 days ago
Emergency SkinbyN.K. JemisinMy rating:5 of 5 starsBrilliantly narrated byJason Isaacs, this is just the best speculative short ...
Oximeter and Oxygen Generator with good price! - 29/Jul/2020 04:20 - 1542 days ago
Hi,Dear Friend,Good day.OurOximeterandOxygen Generator are very hot selling now, and with very good price.if you have any ...
Book Review: The Pledge by Friederick Durrenmatt - 23/Jun/2020 02:28 - 1578 days ago
The PledgebyFriedrich DürrenmattMy rating:3 of 5 starsI don't often respoond to adverts that pop up but I recently saw one forP...
Book Review: The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa - 21/Jun/2020 15:08 - 1580 days ago
The Housekeeper and the ProfessorbyYōko OgawaMy rating:3 of 5 starsThe Japanese do love stories like calligraphy, delicate brus...
Book Review: You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann trans by Ross Benjamin - 18/Jun/2020 02:32 - 1583 days ago
You Should Have LeftbyDaniel KehlmannMy rating:4 of 5 starsI came to this book upon findingDaniel Kehlmann' s bookTyllShortliste...
Review: The Book Smugglers of Timbuktu: The Quest for this Storied City and the Race to Save its Treasures - 27/Jan/2020 05:00 - 1726 days ago
The Book Smugglers of Timbuktu: The Quest for this Storied City and the Race to Save its TreasuresbyCharlie EnglishMy rating:3 o...
Outfoxed by Sheila Ash - 03/Nov/2019 03:00 - 1811 days ago
My experimental piece“Outfoxed” has been published in the Nov/Dec 2019 issue ofBetterThanStarbucks. PreviewYou can view...
21st November 2017: The Today Programme . . . by Sheila Ash - 03/Nov/2019 02:40 - 1811 days ago
My experimental piece“21st November 2017: The Today Programme…” has been published in the Nov/Dec 2019 issue ofBetterThanS...
Book Review: Ten New Poets by Bernardine Evaristo - 30/Oct/2019 09:30 - 1815 days ago
Ten New PoetsbyBernardine EvaristoBorrowed this as an ebook from the library and found a few poems I really likedByKaren McCarth...
Book Review: My Name Is Lucy Barton - 28/Oct/2019 04:41 - 1817 days ago
My Name Is Lucy BartonbyElizabeth StroutMy rating:3 of 5 starsA short novel, not even as long as its 191 pages would suggest. It...
Movie Review– Woman in the Dunes (1964) Dir. by Hiroshi Teshigahara, from the book by Kôbô Abe - 09/Oct/2019 14:50 - 1836 days ago
Woman in the DunesDirector:Hiroshi TeshigaharaWriters:Kôbô Abe(novel andscreenplay)Tonight our local Arts CentreThe Cuthad its...
Unconditional Love - 30/Sep/2019 14:55 - 1845 days ago
In polished white Mary Jane kiddie chica chubby-cheeked study in happinesslooks off stageSat atop a tablewaxed to glass for the ...
Poem Review– “Ame” / “Rain” by Junzaburo Nichiwaki - 30/Sep/2019 14:48 - 1845 days ago
I just read, twice, for the first time the poem in ModPoPlus by Junzaburo Nichiwaki entitled "Ame" / Rain and wanted to share th...
test9 web photo and test - 29/Sep/2019 06:43 - 1846 days ago
text and photo text and photoashramblings...
test 8 web photo - 29/Sep/2019 06:41 - 1846 days ago
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test7 just text - 29/Sep/2019 06:41 - 1846 days ago
testing testing testingashramblings...
Book Review: The Sickness by Alberto Barrera Tsyzka Translated by Margaret Jull Costa - 25/Sep/2019 08:51 - 1850 days ago
The SicknessbyAlberto Barrera TyszkaAn intriguing choice of topic for a novel. This is a beautiful tender subtle rendering of ho...
Book Review: Poetry Collection - In Retail by Jeremy Dixon - 17/Sep/2019 01:12 - 1858 days ago
In RetailbyJeremy DixonMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis collection has to be read in its entitity because actually it is one poem mad...
Boor Review: Ways of Going Home by Alejandro Zambra, Translated by Megan McDowell - 07/Sep/2019 15:04 - 1868 days ago
Ways of Going HomebyAlejandro Zambra,Translated byMegan McDowellMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis short novel of 138 pages moves about ...
Book Review: Of Mice and Men by John Stienbeck read by Clarke Peters - 23/Aug/2019 09:04 - 1883 days ago
Of Mice and MenbyJohn Steinbeckread by Clarke PetersMy rating:5 of 5 starsI listened to this read byClarke Petersnot realising t...
Booke Review: Semiosis by Sue Burke - 18/Aug/2019 07:43 - 1888 days ago
SemiosisbySue BurkeMy rating:3 of 5 starsAn ingenious and intriguing first novel having plant based alien society called The Gla...
Book Review: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal - 02/Aug/2019 01:43 - 1904 days ago
The Calculating StarsbyMary Robinette KowalMy rating:3 of 5 starsI am not a lover of books which are mostly dialog, they often f...
Hope springs eternal - 10/Jul/2019 03:37 - 1927 days ago
At the end of last year the Creative Writing Group I attend undertook a“Secret Sentence”, just like a “Secret Santa” but...
Review: The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid - 10/Mar/2019 06:37 - 2049 days ago
The Reluctant FundamentalistbyMohsin HamidMy rating:5 of 5 starsBeen meaning to read this for ages. Great storyline merging a yo...
The Accident– available to read online - 09/Feb/2019 02:24 - 2078 days ago
My poem The Accident is available to readonlineat FlashFridayPoetryashramblings...
Tom’s Garden - 30/Jan/2019 13:24 - 2088 days ago
I’m reworking over some of my early writings.My poem Tom’s Garden is available to readonlineon FridayFlashPoetryashramblings...
The Shredder– available to read online - 24/Jan/2019 14:57 - 2094 days ago
My short pieceThe Shredderis available to readonlineon Friday Flash Fiction. Enjoy.© Sheila Ash, 2019ashramblings...
Reading at the Swan - 21/Jan/2019 07:35 - 2097 days ago
I read three pieces of work at Swan Poets Café last Friday evening here in town. Gone– a poem about the life after loosi...
Untitled–A BREXIT Poem - 20/Jan/2019 06:04 - 2098 days ago
10 weeks to BREXIT.My new passport,still European red,gives me 10 more years.Is that all?I feel the black hole of fatality shrin...
Review: Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata, translated by Edward G Seidensticker - 16/Jan/2019 15:45 - 2102 days ago
Thousand CranesbyYasunari KawabataTranslated byEdward G SeidenstickerMy rating:3 of 5 starsKikuji is invited to a tea ceremony i...
Review: The Blue Fox by Sjón, translated by Victoria Cribb - 14/Jan/2019 15:15 - 2104 days ago
The Blue FoxbySjónTranslated byVictoria CribbMy rating:4 of 5 starsBaldur Skuggason is the pastor turned hunter intent on track...
Review: Six Stories and An Essay by Andrea Levy - 05/Jan/2019 02:37 - 2113 days ago
Six Stories and An EssaybyAndrea LevyMy rating:4 of 5 starsI bought the audio book of this some time ago just after reading her ...
The Dalesman - 04/Jan/2019 08:10 - 2114 days ago
His whistles call instructions -to outrun, to cast, to gather, to drive,to go, to come, to stop, to turnthe flock along the wall...
Review: Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was by Sjón, trans. from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb - 03/Jan/2019 14:41 - 2115 days ago
Moonstone: The Boy Who Never WasbySjónVictoria Cribb(Translator)My rating:4 of 5 starsWith a back page smothered in compliments...
Review: Fire in the Blood by Irène Néminrovsky - 29/Dec/2018 10:52 - 2120 days ago
Fire in the BloodbyIrène NémirovskyMy rating:3 of 5 starsThe hidden passions of small town country life seen through the eyes ...
Update on our supported project for Girls Education - 28/Dec/2018 09:43 - 2121 days ago
Here is the most recent update on one of our supported projectshttps://www.globalgiving.org/projects/let-every-girl-child-feel-t...
Review: Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift - 28/Dec/2018 03:11 - 2121 days ago
Mothering SundaybyGraham SwiftOne of my in person book group reads, probably not one I would have been picked up but at only 149...
Review: The Expanse Series by James S Corey, narrrated by Jefferson Mays, Book 4 Cibola Burn - 16/Dec/2018 09:30 - 2133 days ago
Cibola BurnbyJames S.A. CoreyMy rating:3 of 5 starsMid point books in a series often seem to go slow. This one should have been ...
Qit’a – Imidiwan Tamasheq - 16/Dec/2018 04:07 - 2133 days ago
The land of sand calls meMy heart flies on the windremembering love in the dunesregretting time’s rapid passage.© Sheila Ash,...
Secret Sentence - 16/Dec/2018 01:51 - 2133 days ago
I wrote this series of blog posts for a new blog,WriteTypesjust started by a group of Halesworth based writers.Secret sent...
The After life - 16/Dec/2018 01:44 - 2133 days ago
I do remember Before -walking barefoot in the parklazing under the Oaklost in a book.I do remember Before -Friday night dancingb...
Sessions and Sail 2018 - 08/Dec/2018 10:13 - 2141 days ago
Proud to have helped this venture on its journeyhttps://www.facebook.com/SessionsandSail(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d....
Review: Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbø - 01/Dec/2018 08:15 - 2148 days ago
Blood on SnowbyJo NesbøI couldn’t disagree more with the reviewers (New York Times,The Guardian) of this book who dismiss it ...
If you’ve enjoyed reading my poems please read on …… - 25/Nov/2018 12:29 - 2154 days ago
Please show your appreciation by supporting the NGO I worked for in India, through either of their 2Global Giving Projects.(1)Ol...
Past grandeur - 25/Nov/2018 03:37 - 2154 days ago
Elaborate balconies cling to the block’s sidelike warts on an old lady’s face.Wrought ironwork veins verdigris its concrete ...
In Memoria - Peter Ward - 25/Nov/2018 03:35 - 2154 days ago
The old jazzman watches from the wings–The saxophone brashly bursts upon the ballroomenergising the moment, uplifting the mood...
Chicken Livers - 25/Nov/2018 03:34 - 2154 days ago
In thenagar, stall holders banter with passers-bywords filling the air like a chorus of crickets after the rains.Hadija’s smil...
Review: All Systems Red by Martha Wells - 14/Oct/2018 15:30 - 2196 days ago
All Systems RedbyMartha WellsMy rating:3 of 5 starsAn intriguing story about a part organic, part android Securty Bot attached t...
Sweetshop - 12/Oct/2018 07:07 - 2198 days ago
Photo (C) Sheila Ash The inside of Edward& Vintage Sweetshop, Tissington, Derbyshire, UK (Aug 2018) (https://www.edwardandvi...
Song for the unforgotten - 11/Oct/2018 03:55 - 2199 days ago
As the days became hourswe disentangle you from the tubing of trusttake you from the incubator of hope,cradle you in the arms of...
Review: IQ by Joe Ide - 10/Oct/2018 06:14 - 2200 days ago
IQbyJoe IdeMy rating:4 of 5 starsI sped through this riveting, fast paced, first in series thriller is a modern take on the Sher...
Review: Tin Man by Sarah Winman - 28/Sep/2018 07:25 - 2212 days ago
Tin ManbySarah WinmanMy rating:4 of 5 starsRecommended by a member of my in person book group and chosen for our monthly read, t...
The Poem by William Carlos Williams - 26/Sep/2018 08:56 - 2214 days ago
Here’s theTEXTand myrecordingof itashramblings...
Review: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward - 24/Sep/2018 08:51 - 2216 days ago
Salvage the BonesbyJesmyn WardMy rating:5 of 5 starsI've had the book for ages but held back to read it with my in person book g...
enuresis by Cid Corman - 18/Sep/2018 08:02 - 2222 days ago
Just read this poem for the first time on ModPoPlus2018. The text is available athttps://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52889/en...
Untitled challenge - 16/Sep/2018 06:37 - 2224 days ago
My creative writing group are mainly storytellers, but we also have non-fiction writers and a couple also dabble occasionally in...
The common cloud - 10/Sep/2018 03:16 - 2230 days ago
Stuffed in every sinus crevicePacked thick like fogsthe blanket of discomfortsits astride the presumed airwaybuilding pressure c...
In the beginning - 08/Sep/2018 16:27 - 2232 days ago
Before, there was nothing.Excitation deafened its silenceReleasing a tsunami of realisation out into the endlessness.Its stillne...
Review: The Expanse Series by James S Corey, narrrated by Jefferson Mays - Book 1: Leviathan Wakes , Book 2 Caliban's War, Book 3 Abaddon's Gate - 23/Aug/2018 08:43 - 2248 days ago
The Expanse Series byJames S.A. CoreyBook 1Leviathan WakesBook 2Caliban's WarBook 3 Abaddon's GateMy rating:4 of 5 starsI c...
Review: Runaway by Peter May, narrated by Peter Forbes - 23/Aug/2018 07:40 - 2248 days ago
RunawaybyPeter MayMy rating:4 of 5 starsI was recommendedPeter Mayby a fellow member of my in-person book group and this was my...
Party Pieces–a series of vignettes–Childhood Party - 23/Jul/2018 01:00 - 2279 days ago
Dressed in party best frock, favoured fluffy bolerowhite ankle sock tops reflecting in newly polished patent leather Mary Jane...
Review: Night's Slow Poison - 22/Jul/2018 05:43 - 2280 days ago
Night's Slow PoisonbyAnn LeckieMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis story is available online athttps://www.tor.com/2014/06/10/nights-slow...
Review: She Commands Me and I Obey by Ann Leckie - 22/Jul/2018 03:45 - 2280 days ago
She Commands Me and I ObeybyAnn LeckieMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis story is available online at in two parts at http://strang...
Party Pieces– a series of vignettes – Balloons - 21/Jul/2018 03:02 - 2281 days ago
Burst by boys to scare the girls and make them scream,Filled with water, or worse, to catapult the other gang,Twisted magically ...
Party pieces–a series of vignettes - EE - 21/Jul/2018 01:00 - 2281 days ago
In Old Town PragueThe lame balloonman whistlesThen blows a gigantic tear drop bubble -An ee cummings momentEntrancing child and ...
Gone - 20/Jul/2018 06:51 - 2282 days ago
The house sounds differently now -Silence amplifies the creaky third tread,The ill-fitting window frame,The warped sitting room ...
Party Pieces– a series of vignettes – Party Bags - 20/Jul/2018 01:00 - 2282 days ago
The Middletons made them businessesFortune enough to catch a royal.Hard earned from hours of honest toilYoung mums spend in equa...
Party Pieces– a series of vignettes – Flowers - 19/Jul/2018 01:00 - 2283 days ago
Does one take flowers? I never know.Is etiquette the same here as there? Now as then?In Dallowayed days flowers were gratefully ...
Party pieces– a series of vignettes – Arrivals - 18/Jul/2018 02:43 - 2284 days ago
ArrivalsEverything is done. We pace and wait.Listen for the click of the garden gateSignalling first arrival.Slow without a sign...
Chasmophytic Crete - 13/Jul/2018 11:14 - 2289 days ago
This is a tough landMoonscaped roughness scuffs the skiesMore stone than scrubthe high desert, Lefka Ori, liesbaked by day and c...
Review: The Wasp Factory - 05/Jul/2018 06:35 - 2297 days ago
The Wasp FactorybyIain BanksMy rating:3 of 5 starsNicely narrated by Peter Kenny. A gruesome story of a dysfunctional family, sp...
Last Train - 30/Jun/2018 06:08 - 2302 days ago
Photo byStefan Stefancikfrom Pexels under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) licenseThe last train chugs out of the unmanned, mid-lin...
Sexist echo - 30/Jun/2018 05:49 - 2302 days ago
Meccano? That’s a boy’s toyBut you can have Lego.Disappointment tainted pleasureEchoes of tomboy battles.© Sheila Ash, 2018...
Untitled - 30/Jun/2018 05:46 - 2302 days ago
Strange, this aunt from far awaywho came each summer to stay.Given my parents bedthey camped outthe downstairs sofa spread open....
Poise - 23/Jun/2018 08:53 - 2309 days ago
In disarrayed despair, her face fell.Her elemental elegance lost to the moment.© Sheila Ash, 2018ashramblings...
W11 - 15/Jun/2018 06:17 - 2317 days ago
With industrial baggageour factories ravageour beloved Earth’s insides.The environmental clocktick tocks swiftly on.Population...
A Mother’s Love - 04/Jun/2018 08:30 - 2328 days ago
The jelly baglike an upside down dromedary humpHung from a brush handlelaid across two spare dining chairs in the upstairs room....
More Qit’a - 02/Jun/2018 10:43 - 2330 days ago
Yesterday’s pen has run out of inkTomorrow’s pen tempts me before its time© Sheila Ash, 2018ashramblings...
Untitled - 02/Jun/2018 09:22 - 2330 days ago
Science Museum Group. Bronze hair curling tongs and trimmer, Egypt, 1575-1194 BCE. A634869. Science Museum Group Collection Onli...
Epitaph of a small winner - 02/Jun/2018 07:35 - 2330 days ago
I am doing a course on Future Learn entitled“How to Make a Poem”https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/how-to-make-a-poem ...
Review: The People of Sand and Slag by Paolo Bacigalupi - 27/May/2018 11:17 - 2336 days ago
The People of Sand and SlagbyPaolo BacigalupiMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis short story is available on the author'sblogIt envisages...
Review: The Tamarisk Hunter - 25/May/2018 07:45 - 2338 days ago
The Tamarisk HunterbyPaolo BacigalupiMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis story is available online on the author's website athttp://windu...
Standard Roses - 24/May/2018 11:36 - 2339 days ago
There were three each yearstanding proudlike buttons on the military waistcoat of our front lawn.Roses - dad’s pride and joy -...
Trapped - 21/May/2018 10:29 - 2342 days ago
Photo: The Labyrinth by Robert VickreyTrapped–by walls of wordswhich cut and hurt.Surround-sound echoesassault the mind repeti...
Billie’s Blue - 21/May/2018 07:23 - 2342 days ago
The minor key refrainEchoes the tears in her heartAs she sings in the segregated bar.The piano keysCombine in rainbowed harmonyW...
Nostalgia’s Rainbow - 19/May/2018 06:22 - 2344 days ago
Lichen encrusted black stone dykes line the fields and roadside verges of my youthwhilst at my childhood home, the red lion ramp...
The Caterpillar - 18/May/2018 06:46 - 2345 days ago
It moves along from head to toeBendy like a jelly throwUp and down and down and upLooping over, twisting up.It crawls the stem a...
On Watching a Blackbird Sing - 18/May/2018 06:09 - 2345 days ago
His insistence callsFrom high upon the garden gate.Down in my bowerI sip my tea.We waitBoth looking for his prospective mate.© ...
The artist - 13/May/2018 04:25 - 2350 days ago
The artist holds her palette in her handsStanding statuesqueLost in inward gazeWaitingThe artist holds her palette in her handsS...
The Cromarty Firth - 12/May/2018 06:26 - 2351 days ago
A graveyard of metallic ghostsMothballed scaffolds from the Age of OilDerelict transformersSurrealled in estuarine mistsAwait di...
Review: Jazz Poems - 11/May/2018 07:45 - 2352 days ago
Jazz PoemsbyKevin YoungMy rating:4 of 5 starsAfter a long wait I finally got a copy of this Everyman Anthology of Jazz Poetry. L...
Thoughts on difference inspired by a single red apple - 09/May/2018 01:00 - 2354 days ago
A wonky carrotdisrupts the perfect symmetryof supermarket veg.The stray Fujiinserts a sweet noteinto the tart concerto of Granny...
Three Moments of Madness - 08/May/2018 16:19 - 2355 days ago
The vestige of yesterday’s angerrests uneasy in the morning calm- a bloodstain on the bar room floor.Awkward silence stresses ...
With one - 07/May/2018 13:01 - 2356 days ago
With one spot, the itching starts.With one look, a world shatters.With one irresponsible tweet, a career is ruined.With one thud...
More Qit’a - 05/May/2018 06:33 - 2358 days ago
The past with all its tortuous turnslies rooted at this edge, where timehems future’s foldsunseen beyond today’s precipice.*...
Review: Backup Man by Paul Di Filippo - 04/May/2018 09:28 - 2359 days ago
This is the third ofPaul Di FIlippo’sshort stories I have read in the past couple of days. Unlike the previous two which were ...
Review: This is my gun, This is my pen, sir! by Paul Di Filippo - 04/May/2018 07:56 - 2359 days ago
This is another short story byPaul Di Filippofrom his collectionPlumage from Pegasus. The story can be found online athttps://ww...
The Factchecker Only Rings Twice by Paul Di Filippo - 03/May/2018 15:41 - 2360 days ago
This old story comes fromDi Filippo’scollectionPlumage from Pegasusand is available online athttps://www.sfsite.com/fsf/2000/p...
Double dutch - 03/May/2018 13:55 - 2360 days ago
First there is one. It’s easy to copeThen there is two in double dutch ropesThen we double up for a double tuckTwo jumpers jum...
Inspired by“Autumnal Path” a painting by Kirsty Asher - 30/Apr/2018 07:04 - 2363 days ago
The fire that burns withindances its chromatics (*)amidst life’s autumnal diatonics.++++++Echoes of Scandinavian greybirch the...
Review: My Mother's Ashes - 25/Apr/2018 05:30 - 2368 days ago
My Mother's AshesbyElaine ChiewMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis story is available online athttps://lost-balloon.com/2018/04/25/m...I ...
For FMC - 14/Apr/2018 03:01 - 2379 days ago
Photo courtesy of FMCI didn’t know her wellI didn’t even know his birth nameJust her nom de plumethat said so muchthat hid s...
Review: Poison - 13/Apr/2018 09:41 - 2380 days ago
PoisonbyHenrietta Rose-InnesMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis short story is available online athttp://caineprize.com/s/2008-Poison-H.....
Review: Semiprecious - 13/Apr/2018 09:38 - 2380 days ago
SemipreciousbyHenrietta Rose-InnesMy rating:4 of 5 starsBeautifully written short memoir piece from South Africa giving a glimps...
The Miner’s Minor - 03/Apr/2018 08:53 - 2390 days ago
His hands bear the grim of the long day well into the nextHis back the burden of toilHis eyes the ever black of pit and shaftHis...
Review: The Colour Forty by Lucy Grace - 03/Apr/2018 07:49 - 2390 days ago
Derbyshire Miners Coal-getting at the Bolsover Face. Drawn by D Macpherson. The Sphere | 22 March 1919This story is the wi...
Review: Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand by Fran Wilde - 02/Apr/2018 08:33 - 2391 days ago
Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady HandbyFran WildeMy rating:2 of 5 starsThis story is available to read and listen to online a...
Upland essence - 02/Apr/2018 06:14 - 2391 days ago
It slithers and slides like an eel over graniterocks encased in soft springs of moss bedsbanked by lush riparian green.A twig fl...
Review: Henosis by N.K. Jemisin - 01/Apr/2018 06:34 - 2392 days ago
HenosisbyN.K. JemisinMy rating:3 of 5 starsI stumbled across this story when going to the Uncanny website to read/listen to anot...
Review: Carnival Nine by Caroline M Yoachim - 01/Apr/2018 04:58 - 2392 days ago
Carnival NinebyCaroline M. YoachimMy rating:5 of 5 starsThis story has been shortlisted for the 2018 Hugo Awards according tohtt...
Review: Clearing the Bones - 26/Mar/2018 01:49 - 2398 days ago
By Bank Square Books - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Celeste_Ng_at_Wheeler_Library_(37313134021).jpg, CC BY-SA 4.0, ht...
Review: To the Lighthouse - 21/Mar/2018 13:33 - 2403 days ago
To the LighthousebyVirginia WoolfMy rating:4 of 5 starsIs this Woolf at her best? The consummate guide to people looking. Go wit...
Irish Solitaire - 19/Mar/2018 07:46 - 2405 days ago
Green velvetdraped like northern lightsswings soulfully above towering spires of red stilettosAlone, she ascends the staircasein...
Match Dot Com - 19/Mar/2018 07:38 - 2405 days ago
Ad: Reasonably good looking ex professional sportsman, 6’, slim-average built, eats healthy, likes the outdoors, sports, seeki...
Review: The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux - 18/Mar/2018 10:40 - 2406 days ago
The Mystery of the Yellow RoombyGaston LerouxMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis book is available online athttps://en.wikisource.org/wik...
Erotica - Three Poems - 12/Mar/2018 07:49 - 2412 days ago
The challenge for my Creative Writing Group was to write something erotic!CongressMy hand has five fingersEvery one of them is f...
Shakti run GlobalGiving Project to improve Old Age Home, Rayagada - 07/Mar/2018 07:31 - 2417 days ago
I spent 2 yrs with Shakti (http://www.shaktiorg.com/) in Rayagada, India. They are funding their second project thro...
Review: Dead People on Facebook by Roger Ley - 07/Mar/2018 02:05 - 2417 days ago
Dead People on FacebookbyRoger LeyMy rating:4 of 5 starsFlash fiction available online athttps://literallystories2014.com/2018.....
A child’s dream of adventure - 06/Mar/2018 10:12 - 2418 days ago
Languid days when I would lie in prairie grasses nine feet highgazing long and hard upon a dream land fresh and sweetI’d trace...
The Wreckage of the Earth - 05/Mar/2018 06:42 - 2419 days ago
From cuttlefish to Cutty SarkFrom shopping bags to plastic partsThe waste that fills the land piles highThe sea distressed gives...
Ephemera - 26/Feb/2018 09:05 - 2426 days ago
Junk is other people’s collected ephemeraamassed over yearsaccruing dust on shelvesun-tended gardens of spidersinhabited by un...
Guardians of the Galactic Jewel Box - 26/Feb/2018 06:25 - 2426 days ago
The Southern Crossguards the opening carved in the heavensby the galactic arm of the Milky Way stretching far across the night s...
The Last Party - 25/Feb/2018 06:51 - 2427 days ago
When I’m the last one standingAll nine bottles goneAll eight lives lived to the fullThe ninth will be a song of remembranceToa...
At 17 - 25/Feb/2018 05:19 - 2427 days ago
“And those whose names were never calledWhen choosing sides for basketball”© Janis Ian, 1975https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics...
Review: A Mexican Story by Alberto Barrera Tyszka - 22/Feb/2018 07:54 - 2430 days ago
A Mexican StorybyAlberto Barrera TyszkaMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis story is available online at theWords without Borders websiteJ...
The Shepherd - 19/Feb/2018 06:45 - 2433 days ago
The fulcrum of the nightbalances dark and lightThe hope of a new daypivots against a pastlaid to black.Tequila sunrise oranges a...
Opinion : Cortland Review, Issue 78, Feb 2018 (Part 1 of 2) - 15/Feb/2018 05:53 - 2437 days ago
Why are poetry books so expensive? At 10GBP PLUS per short chapbook pamphlet this keeps poetry elitist, out of reach for the str...
Review: Kelemo's Woman by Molara Wood - 14/Feb/2018 06:41 - 2438 days ago
Kelemo's WomanbyMolara WoodMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis short story can be found athttp://www.eclectica.org/v11n3/wood.htmland inM...
My life in shoes - 14/Feb/2018 03:16 - 2438 days ago
At first there were a pair of handmade crocheted booteesSurpassed, for the photographer hired to capture my christening, by whit...
Makemo - 11/Feb/2018 05:19 - 2441 days ago
A mirror’s edge horizoncuts the endless blue sea and the endless blue skydefining difference only by a scattered motu, a motio...
Cheddar Man - 09/Feb/2018 09:39 - 2443 days ago
https://www.w3livenews.com/News/ReadArticlehttps://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/09/hes-one-of-us-modern-neighbours-welco...
Review: The Dancer by Bashir Sakhawarz - 08/Feb/2018 06:13 - 2444 days ago
The DancerbyBashir SakhawarzMy rating:3 of 5 starsThsi stry is availableonlineIn the #MeToo age here is a sad story about paedop...
Review: Girls Fine as Beeswing by Elaine Chiew - 08/Feb/2018 04:17 - 2444 days ago
Girls Fine as BeeswingbyElaine ChiewMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis short story is availableonlineA young 15 year old Gracie is taken...
I - 08/Feb/2018 02:33 - 2444 days ago
I am the other insideThe doubt, the fear, the apprehensionLying hidden behind a gregarious charade masque.I am the other insideT...
Review: The Lament of Hester Muponda - 06/Feb/2018 07:50 - 2446 days ago
The Lament of Hester MupondabyPetina GappahMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis is a very poignant, quite short, story of a women's life w...
The Beautiful Dawn - 06/Feb/2018 06:16 - 2446 days ago
I once dreamt of her,TheBeautiful Dawn,Softly humming James BluntWhile watching you sleep.The white voiles breeze in the open wi...
Vampire Crossing - 05/Feb/2018 06:57 - 2447 days ago
I gorge on their succulent and juicy fleshTo satisfy my thirstAnd live another nightTo fly free with the windAcross the campos a...
Elegy for Ursula Le Guin - 04/Feb/2018 08:34 - 2448 days ago
No time left nowThe light is extinguishedThe chair unoccupiedThe pen abandoned.Their tales of earth, sea road,of fire and stone....
Review: Chekov and Zulu by Salman Rushdie - 03/Feb/2018 03:15 - 2449 days ago
This story can be found online athttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1994/08/22/chekov-and-zuluAll I can say about this one is th...
Review: Don't Let Them Catch You by Molly Patterson - 02/Feb/2018 05:07 - 2450 days ago
Don't Let Them Catch YoubyMolly PattersonMy rating:4 of 5 starsUpfront I shall say that the author is the daughter of an ex work...
Review: Lederhosen by Haruki Murakami - 02/Feb/2018 03:53 - 2450 days ago
LederhosenbyHaruki MurakamiMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis story is available online athttps://granta.com/lederhosenand in Murakami's...
Review: No oyes ladrar los perros by Juan Rulfo - 01/Feb/2018 07:54 - 2451 days ago
No oyes ladrar los perrosbyJuan RulfoMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis is available online in the original Spanish athttp://www.literat...
Review: Acuérdate - Remember by Juan Rulfo - 01/Feb/2018 07:54 - 2451 days ago
AcuérdatebyJuan RulfoMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis story is available online in the original Spanish athttp://www.literatura.us/ru...
Change - 31/Jan/2018 01:53 - 2452 days ago
The swish and sway of waves upon the shorelineThe emergence of a butterfly from its chrysalis cocoonThe transformation from tadp...
Qit’a – inspired by Abbas Ibn al-Ahnaf - 28/Jan/2018 08:23 - 2455 days ago
The pink flamingo stands statuesque on one legThe ballet dancer pirouettesThe red abaya glides effortlessly between the Abuja tr...
Review: Diary of a Madman and Other Stories by Lu Xun - 28/Jan/2018 06:19 - 2455 days ago
Diary of a Madman and Other StoriesbyLu XunMy rating:4 of 5 starsI recenty completed an online course on edX HarvardX: HUM12.2x ...
Review: Birds Through a Ceiling of Alabaster: Three Abbasid Poets by George Whitman and A Y al-Udhari. - 28/Jan/2018 04:10 - 2455 days ago
Birds Through a Ceiling of Alabaster: Three Abbasid PoetsbyGeorge B.H. WightmanMy rating:3 of 5 starsThe informative introductio...
Review: Birds Through a Ceiling of Alabaster: Three Abbasid Poets by George Whitman and A Y al-Udhari. - 28/Jan/2018 03:45 - 2455 days ago
Birds Through a Ceiling of Alabaster: Three Abbasid PoetsbyGeorge B.H. WightmanMy rating:3 of 5 starsThe informative introductio...
Review: The Last Bus Stop by Molara Wood - 27/Jan/2018 13:50 - 2456 days ago
The Last Bus StopbyMolara WoodMy rating:2 of 5 starsThis story is available online athttp://www.snreview.org/0308Wood.html/http:...
Review: The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin - 27/Jan/2018 08:03 - 2456 days ago
The Queen of SpadesbyAlexander PushkinMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis story of obession and risk is available viaProject Gutenburg.In...
Kiva–help others help themselves - 27/Jan/2018 04:23 - 2456 days ago
Working capital is always difficult to acquire for individuals and small startup businesses especially those without access to t...
Review: Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien - 23/Jan/2018 12:15 - 2460 days ago
Going After CacciatobyTim O'BrienMy rating:4 of 5 starsWhen is a war story more than a war story? This is a writing tour de forc...
Not, start a fire–a scene from a restaurant - 22/Jan/2018 07:17 - 2461 days ago
Libra, libretto, liberty,cube libra, labour day,Impatient as Billy Joel is playedI drink my coffee ponderouslyLooking towards th...
Renascence - 21/Jan/2018 05:18 - 2462 days ago
The doleful old soul slumped in his chairUntil transformed with the skirling of the pipes and drumsReeling and risingErasing the...
Review: At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers by Salman Rushdie - 17/Jan/2018 07:56 - 2466 days ago
At the Auction of the Ruby SlippersbySalman RushdieMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis story is available online atGranta Magazine. I alw...
Review: Yorick by Salman Rushdie - 17/Jan/2018 07:50 - 2466 days ago
YorickbySalman RushdieMy rating:2 of 5 starsThis story is available online athttp://www.unz.org/Pub/Encounter-1982....I like it ...
Review: The Prophet's Hair by Salman Rushdie - 17/Jan/2018 07:49 - 2466 days ago
The Prophet's HairbySalman RushdieMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis story is available online athttps://www.lrb.co.uk/v03/n07/salman-.....
Review: Good Advice Is Rarer than Rubies by Salman Rushdie - 17/Jan/2018 07:39 - 2466 days ago
Good Advice Is Rarer than RubiesbySalman RushdieMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis story is also available in theNew Yorker magazine- Mi...
Review: The Children Act - 15/Jan/2018 10:07 - 2468 days ago
The Children ActbyIan McEwanMy rating:3 of 5 starsI listened to the audio version beautifully read by actress Lindsey Duncan. Sh...
The Toucan and the Slug - 15/Jan/2018 07:31 - 2468 days ago
At the sign of The Toucan and the Slug,The Frog and Parrot,Tanya’s Twisted Toucan,The Lazy Lizard, andThe Garden at Dreamsther...
Romanesco broccoli–Brassica olerecea - 13/Jan/2018 07:15 - 2470 days ago
Named as if memorialising a long forgotten dictatorits proud spikes protrudelike modern day Lego’s sci-fi pinnaclestheir lime ...
Review: Wednesday's Story by Wole Talabi - 13/Jan/2018 04:54 - 2470 days ago
Wednesday's StorybyWole TalabiMy rating:4 of 5 starsStories within a story. A nursery rhyme reworked. This is Wole Talabi's ambi...
Review: The Martians Claim Canada by Margaret Atwood - 12/Jan/2018 04:35 - 2471 days ago
The Martians Claim CanadabyMargaret AtwoodMy rating:4 of 5 starsBrilliantly weird, irreverent, this is a must read story about j...
Review: The Seventh Man - 11/Jan/2018 09:16 - 2472 days ago
The Seventh ManbyHaruki MurakamiMy rating:4 of 5 starsI read this as per the translation available inGranta Magazine. It s also ...
Review: Of Soulful Cheese and Melted Needs - 08/Jan/2018 06:26 - 2475 days ago
Of Soulful Cheese and Melted NeedsbyElaine ChiewMy rating:4 of 5 starsThis short story got me with the title which encapsulates ...
Review: Aquarium - 08/Jan/2018 06:25 - 2475 days ago
AquariumbyElaine ChiewMy rating:3 of 5 starsThis story is available athttp://www.smokelong.com/aquarium-2I have a liking for ope...
Review: The Suitcase - 08/Jan/2018 06:25 - 2475 days ago
The SuitcasebyElaine ChiewMy rating:5 of 5 starsI adore this short story to be found athttp://peacockjournal.com/elaine-chie...I...
One hundred years to solitude - 07/Jan/2018 03:49 - 2476 days ago
“One Hundred Years of Solitude”Life changing when read at 20Now lies abandoned in the charity shopEvacuated along with all h...
Christmases with Uncle John - 16/Dec/2017 07:47 - 2498 days ago
As soft as powdered snowHis white hair lay under his post man’s hatIn days before push trolleys eased their loadAnd high vis j...
The Hat Girl - 04/Dec/2017 06:40 - 2510 days ago
Shaking with shynessshe strolls silently along The Strand.Her hands hold hatsfolded from felt for daylong hoursinto the night wh...
Grant Me Atonement for Mesostics - 26/Nov/2017 05:29 - 2518 days ago
Amesosticis a poem arranged so that a vertical phrase intersects lines of horizontal text. It is similar to anacrostic, but with...
Forgetfulness - 20/Nov/2017 06:00 - 2524 days ago
A missing button left undoneMy half drunk cup of coffeenow cold. Where is my scarf?Buster paces round unsettled“Mum, I still n...
The world according to - - 19/Nov/2017 05:16 - 2525 days ago
Lets go to Ben Brown in Harare, a momentous morning.Yeah. When you think about it….Lucy, tidy those toys up. I won’t tell yo...
List poem– messages in a bottle - 13/Nov/2017 06:53 - 2531 days ago
A bottles of bargains bought and soldA vial of vintage vitriolic venomA flask of famous faces frozenA keg of kept‘kerchiefs sc...
White noise - 09/Nov/2017 07:12 - 2535 days ago
Sex scandals scream incessantlyFumbling breathless depravityStirring popular empathyMedia’s trivial recipe.News and truth lie ...
Breaking bends - 02/Nov/2017 09:37 - 2542 days ago
Step on a line, break yourJump the tracksThe road to nowhereLess travelledIs fraught with dangersApproach with cautionBest footF...
Yanking my chain - 02/Nov/2017 04:09 - 2542 days ago
20 minutes -don’t prevaricatedash to shopall in handbegin- bugger it!doesn’t workwhere’d I go wrong?- make tea© Sheila As...
Variations on a theme by A.L. Kennedy - 30/Oct/2017 08:15 - 2545 days ago
A.L. Kennedy wrote an extremely short story“He didn’t. She did. Big Mistake” (1)Here are my“Variations on a theme by A.L...
Chronoscape– by Roger Ley - 29/Oct/2017 07:35 - 2546 days ago
Please support a fellow writer get published - Share but more importantly Nominate / Vote onKindle Scout website!.My writing gro...
Ghost in the Attic - 25/Oct/2017 03:09 - 2550 days ago
The figure looks out through the windowto the world beyond,the people outsidethe figurebehind the grubby glassof the resting roo...
How I sound how I sound - 21/Oct/2017 07:57 - 2554 days ago
Nursery rhymes and balladsHumpty Dumpty and Sir Patrick Spensremembered unmemorisedtheir music lost to youthful years when70s gl...
Hawwah - 14/Oct/2017 15:30 - 2561 days ago
Scarfed in the red snake of temptationthe light maid of Sophia sits seductivelysurveying The Garden for forbidden fruit. In...
Lipogram - 14/Oct/2017 08:09 - 2561 days ago
A lipogram is a type of poem in which you restrict the use of certain letters. I just found this out. It is really difficult to...
Football focus - 10/Oct/2017 03:48 - 2565 days ago
He spends his Sunday morningsrummaging car boot sales,His Saturday nightstrawling ebayto re-collect the programsleft in the atti...
Inheritance - 09/Oct/2017 06:28 - 2566 days ago
For you -I would wield the surgeon’s knifeto cut away society’s cancer at its root,And banish the bankersprohibit the priest...
The hands of time - 08/Oct/2017 04:19 - 2567 days ago
Clouds breeze across the fieldsCorn ripens in the sunwrinkles crease your tissued skinyour touch tells all our memories© Sheila...
Playful Poetry - 04/Oct/2017 04:39 - 2571 days ago
LIGO/VIRGO© Sheila Ash, 20174thOctober 2017on the announcement of the 2017 Nobel Prize for Physics (https://www.nobelprize.org/...
LIGO/VIRGO - 04/Oct/2017 03:52 - 2571 days ago
Ripples in the fabric of space and time ripple in the fabric of space and time….Where two black holes merge,there, undulate an...
Psychotic prism - 02/Oct/2017 05:53 - 2573 days ago
Our writing exercise this morning consisted of using an object from a collection given to us to craft a character in a scene. My...
Sunday Morning Market Nightmare - 27/Aug/2017 04:45 - 2609 days ago
Dogs to the left of you,dogs to the right,still more unseen in front of you,hidden from sight.Dogs at eye leveltrying to lick yo...
For T - 15/Aug/2017 09:49 - 2621 days ago
Red eyes of salt water memoriesswim in the blue Caribbean Seaover bottomless coastal shelvesa thousand fish stream bylike days l...
Love song - 17/Jul/2017 07:26 - 2650 days ago
Running round the corner wind in your hairYou took my breath away. Would I dare?Lost in the scene, flower power days rememberedL...
Memories from a crochet hook - 10/Jul/2017 06:30 - 2657 days ago
Memories from a crochet hookGranny’s crochet shawlsspread across the settee backgathering cat hairs,budgie droppingsand age.Po...
Poetry - 09/Jul/2017 08:34 - 2658 days ago
WordsStructured and freedBlended with rhymes, seen and hearddance across the pageare slammed round roomsengraved on tombsto be ...
Human chain (*) - 03/Jul/2017 06:14 - 2664 days ago
The tap tap tap has passed.Terrace doors are opened one by oneand one by one are shutclosing life behind them.One by one the men...
Journey - 02/Jul/2017 12:58 - 2665 days ago
Many paths weave life’s tapestryeach easy to walk absentlyguided by others design.I thought I wanted conformityuntil the enorm...
Reflections - 02/Jul/2017 06:22 - 2665 days ago
I’ m often tearful telling storiesThe ones which made me who I amThe ones which spun the threads that became my DNAThe ones wh...
Hand-made - 05/Jun/2017 08:03 - 2692 days ago
Fingers once strong and sturdynow gnarled and twistedby an age of manual labour.His hand-made livelihood lies disabled© Sheila ...
Two pieces about Home - 03/Jun/2017 01:53 - 2694 days ago
1.These arms always strive to seek those faraway otherson this day like so many, they sway out of reach in the breezetwo singula...
Trump’s up - 02/Jun/2017 10:18 - 2695 days ago
Come on children learn Trump’s songhere’s the chorus you can sing alongit’s easy to learn, here’s how it goesnot a lot o...
Trump’s up - 02/Jun/2017 10:18 - 2695 days ago
Come on children learn Trump’s songhere’s the chorus you can sing alongit’s easy to learn, here’s how it goesnot a lot o...
Two pieces about Home - 02/Jun/2017 05:29 - 2695 days ago
1.These arms always strive to seek those faraway otherson this day like so many, they sway out of reach in the breezetwo singula...
The accident - 22/May/2017 01:16 - 2706 days ago
I’d known something was wrong, even before opening the doorto see this upstanding pillar of the establishmentpolitely take his...
The accident - 21/May/2017 02:39 - 2707 days ago
I’d known something was wrong, even before opening the doorto see this upstanding pillar of law enforcementpolitely take his h...
Syria - 17/May/2017 05:50 - 2711 days ago
Life without light.The grumble of generators.The eternal shadows of black nights creep on.(C) Sheila Ash, 2017posted 17May 2017s...
Syria - 17/May/2017 05:50 - 2711 days ago
Life without light.The grumble of generators.The eternal shadows of black nights creep on.(C) Sheila Ash, 2017posted 17May 2017s...
Sakura - 26/Apr/2017 03:10 - 2732 days ago
Magical moments whenA flock of origami lanterns raise heavenward without a careCherry blossom scent blankets the airSmothering f...
Sakura - 26/Apr/2017 03:10 - 2732 days ago
Magical moments whenA flock of origami lanterns raise heavenward without a careCherry blossom scent blankets the airSmothering f...
A bridge to forever - 23/Apr/2017 03:42 - 2735 days ago
Dedication: For Klair and Russell on their wedding day, 15th April 2017.Build a bridge to forever, walk over it together,there...
A bridge to forever - 23/Apr/2017 03:42 - 2735 days ago
Dedication: For Klair and Russell on their wedding day, 15th April 2017.Build a bridge to forever, walk over it together,there...
Loneliness lies hidden - 02/Apr/2017 13:16 - 2756 days ago
Lying in a crate of dusty odd endsOne Royal Wedding mug, four Poole plates, a Pyrex bowl, and me.Newsprint of the masses - the D...
Loneliness lies hidden - 02/Apr/2017 13:16 - 2756 days ago
Lying in a crate of dusty odd endsOne Royal Wedding mug, four Poole plates, a Pyrex bowl, and me.Newsprint of the masses - the D...
Writer’s Block - 27/Mar/2017 07:51 - 2762 days ago
He sits and staresthe world passes by.Birds sing, outsideplanes fly.He lifts the penthe page to replenisha few words writtenthe ...
Writer’s Block - 27/Mar/2017 07:51 - 2762 days ago
He sits and staresthe world passes by.Birds sing, outsideplanes fly.He lifts the penthe page to replenisha few words writtenthe ...
Westminster Wake up Call - 23/Mar/2017 04:22 - 2766 days ago
This time a loan assassindrove madly at the crowdhis car upon the pavementa bloody furrow ploughed.With knife in hand he’s run...
Westminster Wake up Call - 23/Mar/2017 04:22 - 2766 days ago
This time a loan assassindrove madly at the crowdhis car upon the pavementa bloody furrow ploughed.With knife in hand he’s run...
Dreams of Flying - 20/Mar/2017 07:38 - 2769 days ago
Long chalky fingers hold me fastSweat drips with the rising sunLegs flex and stretch out and upI swing, the foothold foundas wit...
Dreams of Flying - 20/Mar/2017 07:38 - 2769 days ago
Long chalky fingers hold me fastSweat drips with the rising sunLegs flex and stretch out and upI swing, the foothold foundas wit...
Who I am today - 19/Mar/2017 04:11 - 2770 days ago
In my head, the sands of Tin Merzouga blendtheir red with the purple heathers of Alba.My heart has bled its contradictions,its l...
Who I am today - 19/Mar/2017 04:11 - 2770 days ago
In my head, the sands of Tin Merzouga blendtheir red with the purple heathers of Alba.My heart has bled its contradictions,its l...
Desert Larks - 13/Mar/2017 08:57 - 2776 days ago
Two balls of dusky camouflagelost to their playful scurryI am in no hurryto riseto disturb these twin juvenile desert larksrolli...
Desert Larks - 13/Mar/2017 08:57 - 2776 days ago
Two balls of dusky camouflagelost to their playful scurryI am in no hurryto riseto disturb these twin juvenile desert larksrolli...
The last word - 07/Mar/2017 03:00 - 2782 days ago
We didn’t realise till too late. The rise in doctor’s visits was probably the first sign, more complaints of tiredness put d...
The last word - 07/Mar/2017 03:00 - 2782 days ago
We didn’t realise till too late. The rise in doctor’s visits was probably the first sign, more complaints of tiredness put d...
Apollo 13 - 20/Feb/2017 05:45 - 2797 days ago
The cosmic curtain cloaked the 3 in silencetheir fate hung in a delicatebalance.Downwards they fell, fast and furious,to the wor...
Apollo 13 - 19/Feb/2017 07:41 - 2798 days ago
The cosmic curtain cloaked the 3 in silencetheir fate hung in a delicatebalance.Downwards they fell, fast and furious,to the wor...
The forge - 06/Feb/2017 05:51 - 2811 days ago
In sepia’s golden glowsa bellow blows.Molten liquid flowsviscous like sloe ginwarming within.The hammer beats the metal.A shap...
The forge - 06/Feb/2017 05:51 - 2811 days ago
In sepia’s golden glowsa bellow blows.Molten liquid flowsviscous like sloe ginwarming within.The hammer beats the metal.A shap...
B*gg*r off rap! - 30/Jan/2017 06:50 - 2818 days ago
Monday morning grey and drearyGot up late, feeling wearyWriting scripts that’s the theoryMore like dialog hari-kiri.Words in a...
B*gg*r off rap! - 30/Jan/2017 06:50 - 2818 days ago
Monday morning grey and drearyGot up late, feeling wearyWriting scripts that’s the theoryMore like dialog hari-kiri.Words in a...
Dressing up - 28/Jan/2017 02:15 - 2820 days ago
“And would you like dessert this evening?” said the waiter.Carole shook her head, smiling.“No, not for me either. Time for...
Dressing up - 27/Jan/2017 09:06 - 2821 days ago
“And would you like dessert this evening?” said the waiter.Carole shook her head, smiling.“No, not for me either. Time for...
Dialog - 21/Jan/2017 05:29 - 2827 days ago
For this week’s homework for my Creative Writing Group, we are asked to write an opening dialog for a radio play. Not my forte...
Dialog - 21/Jan/2017 05:29 - 2827 days ago
For this week’s homework for my Creative Writing Group, we are asked to write an opening dialog for a radio play. Not my forte...
Kiva Shiva - 16/Jan/2017 05:07 - 2832 days ago
The picture stirs a memoryof place, of time -the broken walls,the market stall,of saree colours bright and gay,her smile of welc...
Kiva Shiva - 16/Jan/2017 05:07 - 2832 days ago
The picture stirs a memoryof place, of time -the broken walls,the market stall,of saree colours bright and gay,her smile of welc...
Snowed in - 16/Jan/2017 05:00 - 2832 days ago
As she approaches I smile and pick up two sliders, one to cut off my pint of milk from her upcoming load and the other to block ...
Snowed in - 16/Jan/2017 05:00 - 2832 days ago
As she approaches I smile and pick up two sliders, one to cut off my pint of milk from her upcoming load and the other to block ...
What are you trying to say Ms Hamilton? - 05/Dec/2016 01:01 - 2874 days ago
You erectas a doorway within a brick walla gigantic pair of buttocksClutched by a pair of hands.You suspend in mid airin f...
What are you trying to say Ms Hamilton? - 05/Dec/2016 01:01 - 2874 days ago
You erectas a doorway within a brick walla gigantic pair of buttocksClutched by a pair of hands.You suspend in mid airin f...
Strictly Story - 27/Nov/2016 07:37 - 2882 days ago
A dialog of voices round a table offers choicesfor a poet sitting searching for that all illusive rift.As Saturday night to Sund...
Strictly Story - 27/Nov/2016 07:37 - 2882 days ago
A dialog of voices round a table offers choicesfor a poet sitting searching for that all illusive rift.As Saturday night to Sund...
Passport - 21/Nov/2016 08:26 - 2888 days ago
Long days and even longer nightsRushed by out of sightVast swathes of lands I’d findas names on the school mapNow pass as grai...
Passport - 21/Nov/2016 08:26 - 2888 days ago
Long days and even longer nightsRushed by out of sightVast swathes of lands I’d findas names on the school mapNow pass as grai...
Winter Words - 20/Nov/2016 08:56 - 2889 days ago
ashramblings...
Winter Words - 20/Nov/2016 08:56 - 2889 days ago
ashramblings...
Message - 14/Nov/2016 11:14 - 2895 days ago
All the things I never saidthat still remain inside my head,the feelings left inside my heart,unexpressed, so never feltby you a...
The room closed for 30 years is open….. - 13/Nov/2016 04:05 - 2896 days ago
Stepping out, I should rejoicebut sky shouts so much noiserebounding off surfaces sharp and hollownot like my dream this tomorro...
Fairytale Rap - 13/Nov/2016 02:52 - 2896 days ago
Once upon a time in a land far way a door that had been shut for 30 years was opened……..Waves of light upon an oceandust spe...
Rap lessons (1) - 09/Nov/2016 02:41 - 2900 days ago
3 imperfect attempts at writing rap from our lessons with Kiran yesterday evening.Exercise– use the words bottle, silence, pow...
Crumdrum - conundrum - 07/Nov/2016 05:15 - 2902 days ago
Today’s mystery object at our creative writing classCrumdrum - conundrumBrass handledpan handledcollector of crumbsinto its dr...
The Surveyor - 06/Nov/2016 04:31 - 2903 days ago
He opened his eyes. He felt quite rested but lay still. With a slight sideways glance he saw she was still asleep. The curls of ...
All was not as it seemed - 06/Nov/2016 04:31 - 2903 days ago
Funereal black,shoes to matchshe stands in church.The bells were rung.The choir had sung.His coffin, nicely done.Total conformit...
Tea story - 27/Oct/2016 07:10 - 2913 days ago
Years ago for work I had the opportunity to stay at a very posh private conference facility in Belgium, I’ve forgotten its nam...
My plea - 16/Oct/2016 06:16 - 2924 days ago
The clock is already counting down.The steps of change tread soft upon the ground.Beware their speed is not the worry,their slow...
Emily Davison - 10/Oct/2016 06:14 - 2930 days ago
She needed to feel brave.She buttoned up her boots.Best feet forward.She wanted to feel comfortable.She put on her blue serge co...
Quill skill - 09/Oct/2016 07:40 - 2931 days ago
Once upon a time in Ancient Egypt,Phragmites reeds from the banks of the NileWere fashioned into qualams.The symbol of wisdom an...
Production lines - 09/Oct/2016 03:53 - 2931 days ago
Clunk, clink, squish, squash,Water pours and brushes wash.Bottle after bottle passesHeld by the neck with metal catches.Squirted...
Street photographers - 02/Oct/2016 11:34 - 2938 days ago
On every 1950s high street you could see themSpruced up, suited and bootedSickly smile in placeChat up lines at the readyto enco...
Halesworth Library Monday’s Creative Writing Group - 28/Sep/2016 07:04 - 2942 days ago
Writings from the group on display for 1 month in our local libraryashramblings...
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - 27/Sep/2016 09:06 - 2943 days ago
The Shadow of the Wind(El cementerio de los libros olvidados #1)byCarlos Ruiz Zafón,Translated byLucia GravesStarting as man br...
Liverpool Lime Street Remembered - 25/Sep/2016 04:33 - 2945 days ago
Urgency hangs in the air,replacing the smoke of yesteryear’s trainswith commuter chaos.Bustling to and fro,potential passenger...
The Gift - 19/Sep/2016 11:21 - 2951 days ago
In youA smile breaks out.Eager hands are lifted up.Anticipation anchors your eyesupon the unknown surprise.In meAll of you is re...
Post BREXIT debacle - 18/Sep/2016 03:54 - 2952 days ago
After listening to this morning’s Andrew Marr Show #marr -Like fridge magnet scrabble without the fridgeNo backbone to c...
A writer’s worst nightmare - 18/Sep/2016 03:39 - 2952 days ago
The pen nib broken.Words, unabated,Fly jumbled on the airCreativity wastedAn author in despair.© Sheila Ash 18thSeptember 2016a...
Into my box I’d put … - 17/Sep/2016 10:15 - 2953 days ago
Into my box I’d put all the darknesses -The dread of a young child calling for the lightThe resentment gnawing the spurned lov...
The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud - 15/Sep/2016 08:33 - 2955 days ago
The Meursault InvestigationbyKamel Daoud,Translated byJohn Cullen Ever read L’Étranger (The Outsider (UK) /The Stranger(...
The drunken sailor’s revelry - 14/Sep/2016 09:56 - 2956 days ago
For this week’s Creative Writing class exercise, our Tutor brought in a tallship in a bottle to use as a springboard for our w...
The Secret History by Donna Tartt - 13/Sep/2016 08:55 - 2957 days ago
The Secret HistorybyDonna TarttIt is a“why dunnit”for the first half of the book at least. I found it a bit overlong, just a...
Gothic dreamland drama - Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - 25/Aug/2016 07:58 - 2976 days ago
MarinabyCarlos Ruiz Zafón,Lucia Graves(Translator)In his intro to this book Zafón says it is perhaps his favourite work, I can...
The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - 13/Aug/2016 02:05 - 2988 days ago
The Midnight Palace(Niebla #2)byCarlos Ruiz Zafón,Lucia Graves(Translator)This is the second in Zafón’s Niebla series. Each ...
September lights / The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - 11/Aug/2016 10:30 - 2990 days ago
September Lights/The Watcher in the Shadows(Niebla #3)byCarlos Ruiz ZafónI am not sure why the renamed this book written in 199...
Desert Rose - 19/Jul/2016 01:17 - 3013 days ago
Tonight the desert comes to NorwichAnd I will dance the night awayListening to the musicRemembering the starlight skyUnder which...
Ode to the Halesworth 5 - 10/Jul/2016 11:52 - 3022 days ago
Standing proud the five triskelionsRaised by some night rapscallionTower above the fields and treesPreparing to tumble with the ...
Betrayal - 06/Jul/2016 02:59 - 3026 days ago
Carrying on our theme at our Creative Writing Group of looking at emotions, this weeks we tackled betrayal. Here’s my piece.Th...
A Poem about Fear - 02/Jul/2016 07:28 - 3030 days ago
For one step the world stops,time is lost to any clock.For one step the only soundher pounding heart beating down.For one step a...
Poems from 1998 - 01/Jul/2016 11:29 - 3031 days ago
I wrote these poems in 1998 during a holiday in Ireland with a friend who challenged me to write a four line poem, the first of ...
Iceland v England - 30/Jun/2016 16:22 - 3032 days ago
Facing defeat the players froze.Heads dropped,Eyeing their own feet’s futilityLacking in agilityStumbling immobility.They cowe...
An Elephant never forgets - 27/Jun/2016 15:26 - 3035 days ago
An elephant never forgetsas neither will I.The circle of cows around the unmoving new born.The gentle prodding of trunks.The Mat...
Where once love lay - 24/Jun/2016 05:59 - 3038 days ago
I do not want the morning sun to riseTo bring another day of bright blue skiesI do not want to face the ache of lossThe pain of ...
Trapped - 20/Jun/2016 06:17 - 3042 days ago
At our Creative Writing Group this morning we were looking at emotions and how to write them. Today’s one was Joy.Out of work ...
Untitled rendering - 10/Jun/2016 03:02 - 3052 days ago
From out of the blue it camewashed upleft behinda residue deposited on my shore.Does curiosity reign supremeprompting me to open...
Fenn Halfin and the FearZero by Francesca Armour-Chelu - 09/Jun/2016 07:08 - 3053 days ago
Fenn Halflin and the Fearzero (Fenn Halflin, #1)byFrancesca Armour-CheluThe author is one of our local librarians and I went las...
Blogging - 01/May/2016 06:19 - 3092 days ago
"jesjaspers.ashram@blogger.com"<jesjaspers.ashram@blogger.com>Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.ashramblings...
Test - 20/Mar/2016 16:41 - 3134 days ago
Testashramblings...
Ballad of Pittencrieff Park - 19/Mar/2016 09:20 - 3135 days ago
Will it still be as in my childhood memories?…..Behind the wrought iron gateslush lawns, open spaces, playful parksof gala day...
The Shape of Life’s Signatures - 19/Mar/2016 08:53 - 3135 days ago
It was the letter A that caused the problemLarge or small case variant as a first letter?Connecting, or not, my new surname to m...
No touch - 19/Mar/2016 08:23 - 3135 days ago
No hands to hold meNo arms to embrace memy body alone like never beforewaits and waits for touch.No tickles to make me laughand ...
Pleasingly affective - 19/Mar/2016 08:14 - 3135 days ago
Encapsulated in pink and orangethe plastic dolly mixturesits on my tonguegoing nowhere fast.The taste of toys, of rainmacsfills ...
If I wasn’t awake I’d miss….. - 19/Mar/2016 07:51 - 3135 days ago
Pencils scratching paperruffles of armed sleevessofty shuffling sighsAires of composed concentrationbroken by unseen beads of sw...
A friend - 19/Mar/2016 07:36 - 3135 days ago
I have lost more lovers than I care to rememberbut only once did I find a friend. © Sheila Ash 19th March 2016ashramblings...
Loss of perspective - 19/Mar/2016 07:35 - 3135 days ago
I lost my sense of perspective- under the influence of too many martinis- in a field of Henry Moore’s- listening to Donald Tru...
My mother’s hand - 19/Mar/2016 07:23 - 3135 days ago
I lost my mother’s hand the day I was bornbut another reached out for mine and held me dear.I lost her hand in Woolworthsamong...
Jungle juju - 18/Mar/2016 10:12 - 3136 days ago
Jack led the way, slashing furiously with his machete at the dense undergrowth. The others trailing one by one behind him. His s...
The Guardian - 18/Mar/2016 09:30 - 3136 days ago
The visual trigger for our Creative Writing group a couple of weeks back was an old factory clocking in machine. We were asked t...
Writer’s block - 18/Mar/2016 07:03 - 3136 days ago
This week’s visual trigger for our Creative Writing Group was an old wooden writing case - a lockable box, key lost, meant to ...
The Door - 18/Mar/2016 06:50 - 3136 days ago
Our Writing Group challenge was to envisage a door, real or imaginary, and to describe what we see through it. I wrote of memori...
Legends to engender women’s rights - 24/Feb/2016 14:47 - 3159 days ago
The Palm Tree BanditbyNnedi OkoraforAvailable online athttp://www.strangehorizons.com/2000/20001211/palm_tree_bandit.shtmland in...
Mixing juju and technology with mixed results - 24/Feb/2016 11:06 - 3159 days ago
Hello MotobyNnedi OkoraforAvailable online athttp://www.tor.com/stories/2011/11/hello-motoHaving read two of Okorafor's books no...
African culture meets scifi– a fusion of promise - 22/Feb/2016 06:02 - 3161 days ago
BintibyNnedi OkoraforMy second book by this American– Nigerian author having previously readLagoon.I loved the way she takes t...
The Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy - 20/Feb/2016 14:59 - 3163 days ago
The Sunset LimitedbyCormac McCarthyAstounding. I listened to the excellentAudible versionwithEzra Knightreading Black andAustin ...
Desert Island Discs - 17/Feb/2016 06:26 - 3166 days ago
Halesworth U3A Music Approeciation Group discovered the Desert Island Discs of some more of its memebers.(1) First up, LynetteCe...
Lost parentage - 14/Feb/2016 03:11 - 3169 days ago
I’m sitting listening to the manwho cometh here from my homelandFrom my mother’s town.My mind is wanderingto heritage,to lin...
My weekly trip to Tesco’s - 09/Feb/2016 06:53 - 3174 days ago
This week at our Creative Writing Group we had a visiting tutorPiers Blaikiewho post academic life has become a short story writ...
The Good Companion - 07/Feb/2016 11:07 - 3176 days ago
Queuing to pay for the milk, I saw the face appear at the door with a look saying“Why are you taking so long?” I’d been ne...
eyeing up his rewards - 30/Jan/2016 09:00 - 3184 days ago
Our brief for Creative Writing homework this week was to get outside our comfort zone and write a narrative piece getting under ...
May my heart be open to little birds who are the secrets of living - 30/Jan/2016 06:58 - 3184 days ago
“May my heart be open to little birds who are the secrets of living” EE Cummingshttp://www.thepoetryexchange.co.uk/uncategor...
Sheltering from ties that bind - 24/Jan/2016 08:10 - 3190 days ago
A Sheltered WomanbyYiyun LiThis short story is availableonline. It won theSunday Times Short Story Prize in 2015, at GBP30,...
Love does not necessarily conquor all - 24/Jan/2016 05:27 - 3190 days ago
The CovebyRon RashNarrated byJennifer WoodwardThis story is basically a doomed war time love affair. Laurel Shelton and he...
Gok Wan restyles Anne Reid! - 21/Jan/2016 03:56 - 3193 days ago
The Matisse StoriesbyA.S. ByattI’ve only read one AS Byatt beforeThe Children’s Bookwhich I had struggled with. This led to ...
The snowman cometh - 17/Jan/2016 02:41 - 3197 days ago
“Hurry, hurry, before it goes”Where it came from no one knows.On with the hat, the scarf and the glovesOn with the wel...
A runaway success! - 01/Jan/2016 04:25 - 3213 days ago
The Year of the RunawaysbySunjeev SahotaThis is the story of the lives of migrants, legal and illegal. Randeep, Avtar and Tochi ...
Sci-fi shorts still work - 18/Dec/2015 07:04 - 3227 days ago
The Illustrated ManbyRay BradburySome time back my onlne book group read Bradbury’s short story “There will come soft rains...
Heralding anew - 12/Dec/2015 03:05 - 3233 days ago
I am your lover, waiting in the wingsDo not walk aimlessly while you can sing.I am your lover, desire resting in my handsDo not ...
I fell in love with the voice….. of Ron McLarty - 06/Dec/2015 03:25 - 3239 days ago
Last week’s in class exercise was 10 min on this line “I fell in love with the voice…”I know not the man,only the voice....
If the cuckoo don’t crow then you know there’s a wind coming - 29/Nov/2015 13:28 - 3246 days ago
This week’s homework assignment for our Creative Writing group was to be inspired by the story of“if the cuckoo don’t crow...
The Winter’s Tale left me cold - 26/Nov/2015 15:47 - 3249 days ago
Just been to see Kenneth Branagh's production of Shakespeare'sThe Winter's Talebroadcast liveto my local arts centre from the Ga...
Dancing right in front of me - 24/Nov/2015 02:38 - 3251 days ago
This weeks Creative Writing exercise was to utilise this phrase taken from the David Gilmoursong.Facebook this morningis full of...
Compulsory - 10/Nov/2015 16:00 - 3265 days ago
This weeks Creative writing exercise was a quickie– write in 5 minutes on “Compulsory”.You have to do it.You must do it.Yo...
November Meeting Halesworth U3A Music Appreciation Group - 10/Nov/2015 13:29 - 3265 days ago
Alison was up first with her desert Island disksBeethoven’s Symphony No. 6 Pastoral, played by Concertgebouw Orchestra c...
A weekend of Zhang Yimou - 09/Nov/2015 01:43 - 3266 days ago
I’m a hugeZhang Yimoufan and especially his films withLi Gongfrom the very first one I saw which wasRaise the Red Lantern, so ...
A week of strong film dramas - 06/Nov/2015 15:57 - 3269 days ago
This week’s movies I watched areA Second ChanceUsually the cover of a DVD gives a fairly accurate assessment of the type of mo...
The man on the stairs - 19/Oct/2015 06:00 - 3287 days ago
The Stirling staircase cascades down its landings.Descending you approachas in one long David Lean take of Sherif Ali appr...
Desert Island Disks - 13/Oct/2015 05:42 - 3293 days ago
For today’s Halesworth U3A Music Appreciation Group meeting three of us did our Desert Island Disks, a choice of 3 each from 3...
Desert Island Disks - 12/Oct/2015 08:51 - 3294 days ago
I was asked to pick 3 recordings as my "Desert Island" disks for our Music Appreciation group which meets tomorrow. After much d...
Suicide on the beach? - 12/Oct/2015 06:51 - 3294 days ago
Todays scenario for our Writing Group in class exercise was as follows:On the beach you find a scrap of paper with hand writing ...
In Cameo - 10/Oct/2015 05:20 - 3296 days ago
8 lines curve upon the screena minimalist caricatureof the puppet master.the music beginsGunoud’s Funeral March of a Marionett...
Me and I - 05/Oct/2015 06:19 - 3301 days ago
This weeks prompt was a silver Victorian/art nouveau hand mirror similar to this picture. Our tutor asked us to look at ourselve...
In the end everything simply began….. - 04/Oct/2015 04:43 - 3302 days ago
Divine hands at work.Particles expand.Whatever! Am I bothered?Does it matter? Dark matterBig bangs, multiple universesexpa...
Wood Words– for Rachel’s Wood - 29/Sep/2015 02:03 - 3307 days ago
Majestic guardians stand tall.Keepers of our past,protectors of our future.Enclosure in decay.Crumbling atop the earthwhere deep...
Hommageà Bergman - 26/Sep/2015 06:43 - 3310 days ago
This weeks homework for our Creative Writing Group was to write 300 words beginning“Yesterday Ingrid came back into my life”...
An Inspector’s eye view - 21/Sep/2015 06:27 - 3315 days ago
This weeks Creative Writing Group exercise was one of tutor’s mystery bags. Picked, contents unseen, these are our starting po...
Just One More - 21/Sep/2015 06:11 - 3315 days ago
They sit cross leggedeagerly anticipating.Passed hand to handrapidly at first, then slowlyhoping for the game’s end.Tiny hands...
Quest– purveyor of flavours and fragrances - 21/Sep/2015 05:35 - 3315 days ago
Last week was our first week back at our Creative Writing Group after the summer break. I can never get this consistent regress ...
Contrasting coping mechanisms revealed - 14/Sep/2015 09:41 - 3322 days ago
The IlluminationsbyAndrew O'HaganYet another book about dementia and memory! This time threaded through with the story of ...
if I were fishing for a winner….. - 14/Sep/2015 06:37 - 3322 days ago
The FishermenbyChigozie ObiomaA 1990s middle class Nigerian childhood in which the loving Agwu family is torn apart by the proph...
Music group playlist - 05/Sep/2015 06:14 - 3331 days ago
Our music sharing group met again on Thursday this week. The playlist was Jean Sibelius -Intermezzo from the Ka...
If the dead could tell the real story - 31/Aug/2015 06:36 - 3336 days ago
Echoes from the Dead(TheÖland Quartet #1)byJohan TheorinThe death of a child must remain with its parents for ever. How much wo...
Bringing back memories of India but with a hint of darkness - 29/Aug/2015 05:43 - 3338 days ago
Sleeping on JupiterbyAnuradha RoyAs a seven year old Nomi sees her father murdered by armed men, looses her brother, and is fina...
An orchestral composition - The Chimes by Anna Smaill - 08/Aug/2015 04:01 - 3359 days ago
The ChimesbyAnna Smaill Many of the write ups about this book cite it as challenging, unusual, difficult to get into and as...
Caine Prize 2015– The Sack by Namwali Serpell - 04/Aug/2015 09:48 - 3363 days ago
I’ve been reading thisshort storywith my online book club buddies at Constant Reader and you can follow the discussionhe...
A Horse in the Morning– Roger Ley - 21/Jul/2015 10:48 - 3377 days ago
A friend has just written a memoir–A Horse in the Morning - which is available on Amazon, the proceeds from which will g...
A Song of Joy and Pain - 23/Jun/2015 02:00 - 3405 days ago
Sitting there upon your kneesHair blows gently in the breezesoftened up by all your charmsresting peaceful in your arms Sin...
Planning my writings - 22/Jun/2015 10:09 - 3406 days ago
A couple of weeks ago it was my turn to talk about my work in Progress at our Creative Writing Group. I spoke about my planning ...
Fleeting by– a story of childhood - 21/Jun/2015 07:17 - 3407 days ago
As a child she had kept caterpillars in a glass jar. Slightly hairy, black and white curly things she’d found on the blackcurr...
We each build walls to protect ourselves - 21/Jun/2015 03:12 - 3407 days ago
MonasterybyEduardo HalfonI read andreviewedhisPolish Boxerlate last year and was mightily impressed. In this his second book Hal...
Stories from the Land of Neme - 20/Jun/2015 01:55 - 3408 days ago
So I have been writing more bits of Stories from the Land of Neme, (seeTala’s story) my fantasy collection which is my w...
The Sound of Things Falling - 16/Jun/2015 04:30 - 3412 days ago
The Sound of Things FallingJuan Gabriel VásquezTranslated from the Spanish byAnne McLeanLonglisted for the Independent Foreign ...
Lost souls– lost soles - 08/Jun/2015 06:44 - 3420 days ago
For our regular Monday morning brain teaser, our Creative writing tutor had spread before us a collection of various old shoes, ...
test post - 30/May/2015 01:31 - 3429 days ago
This is a test post with photos to test if the workaround for Blogger– Windows LiveWriter issue works with multiple photosashr...
U3A Music Appreciation Group - 27/May/2015 13:14 - 3432 days ago
I heard that Halesworth Branch of the U3A were trying to start a Music Appreciation group so this afternoon went along to ...
Untitled - 27/May/2015 09:36 - 3432 days ago
This is a test post to see if blogger will post blogs since my live writer will not.ashramblings...
Dziękuję (Thank you) - 18/May/2015 05:04 - 3441 days ago
His best friendOur best manMemories of years agoHis weddingLots of vodkaSmuggled in, in cases large and small,for toasts,w...
Blues for BBK - 17/May/2015 05:03 - 3442 days ago
“The thrill is gone” sings the repriseI wipe the tears from my eyes.“The Thrill is gone” is all the airways playHalleluj...
Thoughts for a defeated Liberal politician - 11/May/2015 06:56 - 3448 days ago
He sits in front of his computer screendemoralisedavoiding the news.Fixating vacantly on its pixels.Demoralised, crestfallenHe d...
Mongolian Winter, 2010 - 09/May/2015 05:25 - 3450 days ago
Slowly it advances ever onwardstriding southwardcrossing mountains, plains and seas.Spreading forwardnever stoppingrelentl...
A Man and His Camel– a devotion above all else - 06/May/2015 00:42 - 3453 days ago
Gold Dust(first published in Arabic in 1990 as al-Tibr)byIbrahim al-KoniUpon reading that al-Koni was a Libyan Tuareg, writing i...
The Shadow of the Crescent Moon by Fatima Bhutto - 05/Apr/2015 04:07 - 3484 days ago
The Shadow of the Crescent MoonbyFatima BhuttoFatima Bhutto was born in Kabul in 1982. Her father Murtaza Bhutto, son of Pakista...
A lyrical account of exile and return– I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti - 27/Mar/2015 05:19 - 3493 days ago
I Saw RamallahbyMourid BarghoutiHaving recently readSusan Abulhawa’s novelMornings in Jenin, I felt compelled to read a ...
Checking out loneliness and loss– The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami - 20/Mar/2015 06:47 - 3500 days ago
The Strange LibrarybyHaruki MurakamiTranslated byTed GoossenIn the Library basement, the narrator knocks on a door,“It was a n...
The Perfect Now - 16/Mar/2015 07:42 - 3504 days ago
For today’s trigger, our Creative Writing Tutor brought in a small stone he’d found on a beach years ago. It is about 1.25-1...
A Red Nose Day Pantoum - 15/Mar/2015 14:51 - 3505 days ago
Every two years the Comic Greats performto support all the little Violetsto encourage us to empty pocketsto save a life tonight....
Green Fractal - 09/Mar/2015 10:43 - 3511 days ago
This week our tutor brought in an old green glass fishing float similar to the first of these pictures. Our task was to take it ...
Tripping the light fantastic! - 09/Mar/2015 08:00 - 3511 days ago
Our tutor asked us to write either a joke or an amusing occurrence in 40 words Purple Rain is playing. I’m dissolvi...
Espantos de agosto (The Ghosts of August) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 26/Feb/2015 02:54 - 3522 days ago
I read thisstoryas part of mySpanish Challenge. It is a classical ghost story like those of Charles Dickens or MR James. I...
Un día de éstos – One of those days by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 25/Feb/2015 06:31 - 3523 days ago
Continuing on withMy Spanish Challengeand reading this one by one of my favourite authors. It is part of the collection en...
The Big Crunch - 23/Feb/2015 06:31 - 3525 days ago
When I was smallmy world was.Mum, dad and me.I explored the gardenand as it grewI did too.I ventured forthdown the lane explorin...
Ajagara - 23/Feb/2015 06:31 - 3525 days ago
In the undergrowth, by dappled lightpatiently, persistentlymy reptilian guard lies waiting.A stem hugging, leaf clinging s...
Hear my words read by another - 18/Feb/2015 08:02 - 3530 days ago
I was amazed when Blackheath Dawn publishers approached me a few weeks back for permission to record and publish one of mypoemsw...
The Consequences of Good Faith Actions - 16/Feb/2015 05:08 - 3532 days ago
The LowlandbyJhumpa LahiriLike my other recent readThe Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee, this book has as its backdrop th...
¿Tejar o tejer? To tile or to knit? - 15/Feb/2015 13:25 - 3533 days ago
Casa TomadabyJulio CortázarOne of this first ever stories, it can be found in his collectionsBestiario (The Beastery)andCasa to...
My Spanish Challenge - 11/Feb/2015 03:01 - 3537 days ago
In my 30s I read a lot of Latin American literature, fell in love with magical realism and made a promise to myself that once I ...
Max - 09/Feb/2015 11:09 - 3539 days ago
It was Holocaust memorial Week last week and I happened to watch one of the programmes on TV. It was about the lives of several ...
Fox furs - 09/Feb/2015 05:33 - 3539 days ago
I can imagineMrs Palfrey at the Claremontdawning her fox fur stoleelegantly stepping out onto Kensington High Street. Much ...
A challenge to our concept of a character or plot based novel - 06/Feb/2015 05:47 - 3542 days ago
The Wandering FalconbyJamil AhmadThis is an engaging book about a part of the world I have never been to but always wanted to tr...
Thought you knew who Elizabeth Taylor was? Think again! - 05/Feb/2015 05:28 - 3543 days ago
Mrs Palfrey at the ClaremontbyElizabeth TaylorNot an author I had heard of, although seemingly very respected and well known in ...
A Rune Tale–Tala’s Story - 03/Feb/2015 11:01 - 3545 days ago
Our Creative Writing tutor arrived for Monday’s class with a bag full of stones, each with aRuneengraved on them. Each s...
The Hat - 01/Feb/2015 05:59 - 3547 days ago
Bobby Charlton should have had one. Never embarrassed by his single hair straddled across his bald head which we all agreed just...
Early memories - 01/Feb/2015 05:51 - 3547 days ago
Monday morningwashboard rhythmsdancing Fairy suds.The heavy mangleloaded upclasped in place across the sinksqueezing, pushing, p...
The challenge– 13 short stories in 13 days–No. 13 and my final thoughts - 01/Feb/2015 04:25 - 3547 days ago
The American LoverbyRose TremainStory 13– 21st-Century JulietDecided not to wait till tomorrow to read the final instalm...
The challenge– 13 short stories in 13 days–No. 11 and 12 - 01/Feb/2015 02:24 - 3547 days ago
The American LoverbyRose TremainStory 11– Lucy and GastonLucy cannot go near the water. She fears the sea which she believes i...
The challenge– 13 short stories in 13 days – No. 9 and 10 - 30/Jan/2015 02:44 - 3549 days ago
The American LoverbyRose TremainStory 9– SmithyA sensitive and tender tale of the last days of Reginald Smith, a man who throu...
The challenge– 13 short stories in 13 days – No. 7 and 8 - 29/Jan/2015 07:04 - 3550 days ago
The American LoverbyRose TremainStory 7– Juliette Gréco’s Black DressThis deceptively straightforward little story has two ...
The challenge– 13 short stories in 13 days – No. 5 and 6 - 26/Jan/2015 07:41 - 3553 days ago
The American LoverbyRose TremainStory 5– A View of lake Superior in the FallWow this woman can write. Her stories raise emotio...
The challenge– 13 short stories in 13 days – No. 1 and 2 - 24/Jan/2015 14:45 - 3555 days ago
The American LoverbyRose TremainI have set myself the challenge of reading one story a day from this collection for the next 13 ...
The challenge– 13 short stories in 13 days – No. 1 and 2 - 23/Jan/2015 13:24 - 3556 days ago
The American LoverbyRose TremainI have set myself the challenge of reading one story a day from this collection for the next 13 ...
The Nigerian predicament in a nutshell - 20/Jan/2015 09:27 - 3559 days ago
Every Day is for the ThiefbyTeju ColeAccording toDuncan White’sreviewof this book in the Telegraph, in January 2006 when Teju ...
The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee - 19/Jan/2015 09:38 - 3560 days ago
The Lives of OthersbyNeel MukherjeeThis novel wasshortlistedfor the 2014 Man Booker Prize. It is an impressive novel set in the ...
War Child - 19/Jan/2015 05:00 - 3560 days ago
I remember how I first saw her. Silently cowering in the corner, amongst the rubble. Her straggly hair, her dirty face, her dust...
Unseen - 18/Jan/2015 07:15 - 3561 days ago
This term’s Creative Writing Group theme is one of concealment. Siren wailingTyres screechingShouting, knockingThe ...
Recommended read for any returning volunteer - 31/Dec/2014 06:18 - 3579 days ago
The Book of Strange New ThingsbyMichel FaberI loved his short novellaThe Hundred and Ninety Nine Steps(seemy review).This is Fab...
Potential in miniature - 25/Dec/2014 02:03 - 3585 days ago
The MiniaturistbyJessie BurtonThe story is set in 1686’s Amsterdam, Nella, a 18-year-old country girl with good lineage and ha...
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - 22/Dec/2014 04:24 - 3588 days ago
Dear friends, I hope you are enjoying reading my ashramblings blog and facebook page posts throughout 2014.Your continued accept...
Excellent, well crafted, political satire - 22/Dec/2014 04:08 - 3588 days ago
The Fall of the Stone CitybyIsmail Kadaretranslated by John Hodgson This book was shortlisted for theIndependent Foreign Fi...
Fuentes does Faust - 19/Dec/2014 10:05 - 3591 days ago
InezbyCarlos FuentesCan a reader truly understand a book which is so dependent upon a piece of music which she doesn’t know? I...
The tongue’s blood does not run dry: Algerian stories by Assia Djebar - 12/Dec/2014 03:55 - 3598 days ago
The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry: Algerian StoriesbyAssia DjebarTranslated byTegan Raleigh “When you come back to Oran...
Unleashing the silent scream of environmental pollution - 11/Dec/2014 11:41 - 3599 days ago
The Iron WomanbyTed HughesThis is the sequel to his previous bookThe Iron ManwhichI read earlier.Lucy is befriended by the Iron ...
Here, there and everyone - 07/Dec/2014 05:01 - 3603 days ago
Here and there, now here and nowcaptured still, in forgotten photographs,sepia edged mementos of days gone bye.Dog-eared, brow-b...
Villain to hero: The Iron Man by Ted Hughes - 05/Dec/2014 04:48 - 3605 days ago
The Iron Man: A Children's Story in Five NightsbyTed Hughes,Illustrated byTom GauldBrowsing the library shelves for inspiration ...
Epistrophy at its best - 04/Dec/2014 03:57 - 3606 days ago
The Buddha in the AtticbyJulie OtsukaI came across the concept of an epistrophe recently when readingEduardo Halfon’s novel&nb...
Judge not others by who they appear to be - 02/Dec/2014 03:56 - 3608 days ago
When The Emperor Was DivinebyJulie OtsukaUnsentimental story of a Japanese American family from California, split up and interne...
Judge not others by who they appear to be - 02/Dec/2014 03:56 - 3608 days ago
When The Emperor Was DivinebyJulie OtsukaUnsentimental story of a Japanese American family from California, split up and interne...
Rasgar-ing the literal : The Polish Boxer by Eduardo Halfon - 26/Nov/2014 05:57 - 3614 days ago
The Polish BoxerbyEduardo HalfonThere is a great review of this book on theWord Without Borderswebsite, an interview with ...
Rasgar-ing the literal : The Polish Boxer by Eduardo Halfon - 26/Nov/2014 05:57 - 3614 days ago
The Polish BoxerbyEduardo HalfonThere is a great review of this book on theWord Without Borderswebsite, an interview with ...
Tiger, tiger - 17/Nov/2014 06:15 - 3623 days ago
The hunter’s trophieshung on wallsfloored in hallsglorified guardiansof a time gone by,an age beforewhen tails and silk dresse...
Tiger, tiger - 17/Nov/2014 06:15 - 3623 days ago
The hunter’s trophieshung on wallsfloored in hallsglorified guardiansof a time gone by,an age beforewhen tails and silk dresse...
Nightmare - 17/Nov/2014 06:11 - 3623 days ago
Awaiting the arrival of sleepthe toys are boxed away.Eyelids heavy in their droop and fallcaressing the pillowlulling the duvet ...
Nightmare - 17/Nov/2014 06:11 - 3623 days ago
Awaiting the arrival of sleepthe toys are boxed away.Eyelids heavy in their droop and fallcaressing the pillowlulling the duvet ...
Las esculturas de bronce de Alejandro Colunga en Guadalajara, México - 02/Nov/2014 06:11 - 3638 days ago
The magician spreads his cape to work his magictransmuting metal into goldthe alchemy of oldmade manifest in a sculptor’s hand...
Las esculturas de bronce de Alejandro Colunga en Guadalajara, México - 02/Nov/2014 06:11 - 3638 days ago
The magician spreads his cape to work his magictransmuting metal into goldthe alchemy of oldmade manifest in a sculptor’s hand...
The Immolation of Quetzalcoatl - 01/Nov/2014 11:00 - 3639 days ago
Quetzalcoatl -bringer of corncultivator of the artsorator of life.Feathered serpentbearded manbetrayed brother. Condemned t...
The Immolation of Quetzalcoatl - 01/Nov/2014 10:51 - 3639 days ago
Quetzalcoatl -bringer of corncultivator of the artsorator of life.Feathered serpentbearded manbetrayed brother. Condemned t...
Still Life - 30/Oct/2014 07:04 - 3641 days ago
The diary lies open and emptyA clock strikes the next hour againFamily photos loose colour and yellowRaffle tickets bring hope t...
Still Life - 30/Oct/2014 03:09 - 3641 days ago
The diary lies open and emptyA clock strikes the next hour againFamily photos loose colour and yellowRaffle tickets bring hope t...
An assessment of development trends and their implications for capacity development - 21/Oct/2014 14:11 - 3650 days ago
One of the report outputs from my time in Nigeria withMSAhas been published - An assessment of development Tren...
An assessment of development trends and their implications for capacity development - 21/Oct/2014 14:11 - 3650 days ago
One of the report outputs from my time in Nigeria withMSAhas been published - An assessment of development Tren...
The Glass Room by Simon Mawer - 17/Oct/2014 05:01 - 3654 days ago
The Glass RoombySimon MawerThe house in The Glass Room was designed as a futurist, modern work of art by its visionary architect...
The Glass Room by Simon Mawer - 17/Oct/2014 04:59 - 3654 days ago
The Glass RoombySimon MawerThe house in The Glass Room was designed as a futurist, modern work of art by its visionary architect...
Uncle John - 12/Oct/2014 02:23 - 3659 days ago
One side of the flacking, blue painted, panelled wood door stands slightly ajar on rusty hinges on this bright Spring day. I pee...
Uncle John - 12/Oct/2014 02:23 - 3659 days ago
One side of the flacking, blue painted, panelled wood door stands slightly ajar on rusty hinges on this bright Spring day. I pee...
The Watch - 06/Oct/2014 05:35 - 3665 days ago
My Creative Writing Tutor set us homework . We had to imagine an item of jewellery, and using our term’s theme of light and da...
The Watch - 04/Oct/2014 07:18 - 3667 days ago
My Creative Writing Tutor set us homework . We had to imagine an item of jewellery, and using our term’s theme of light and da...
Autumn - 28/Sep/2014 06:26 - 3673 days ago
Dank misty mornswaddling shroudgiant gossamer cobwebsdesiccate into unobserved obscurity. Dew dropsline up along the window...
Autumn - 28/Sep/2014 06:26 - 3673 days ago
Dank misty mornswaddling shroudgiant gossamer cobwebsdesiccate into unobserved obscurity. Dew dropsline up along the window...
Only 3 more to go - 27/Sep/2014 01:43 - 3674 days ago
It's the final stretch - Only 3 more donations to go before its ends on September 30, 2014 until 23:59 hrs EDT. Please support t...
Only 3 more to go - 27/Sep/2014 01:43 - 3674 days ago
It's the final stretch - Only 3 more donations to go before its ends on September 30, 2014 until 23:59 hrs EDT. Please support t...
Madness - 26/Sep/2014 10:38 - 3675 days ago
Our theme for this term’s Creative Writing Group is Light and Dark. Last week our tutor read the following line fromThe Prophe...
Madness - 26/Sep/2014 10:38 - 3675 days ago
Our theme for this term’s Creative Writing Group is Light and Dark. Last week our tutor read the following line fromThe Prophe...
Tenere - 21/Sep/2014 05:04 - 3680 days ago
Timelessnessthat stillness of perpetual motion.Sensuous curves slumber onthe clearest blue pillowssnuggling amidst a richl...
Ashburton Cookery School - 19/Sep/2014 03:56 - 3682 days ago
I spent 5 days this month atAshburton Cookery Schoolattending theirIntermediate Course. A real treat to myself after the h...
Ashburton Cookery School - 18/Sep/2014 07:25 - 3683 days ago
I spent 5 days this month atAshburton Cookery Schoolattending theirIntermediate Course. A real treat to myself after the h...
Tenere - 18/Sep/2014 04:58 - 3683 days ago
Timelessnessthat stillness of perpetual motion.Sensuous curves slumber onclear blue pillowsand richly textured, glorious o...
Forgotten Writings (2): Homage to Homs - 18/Sep/2014 04:44 - 3683 days ago
Homage to HomsThe city walls will not forgetthe long fought, weary, fighters as they leftWho’d stood so Homs would never fallt...
Forgotten Writings (2): Homage to Homs - 18/Sep/2014 04:44 - 3683 days ago
Homage to HomsThe city walls will not forgetthe long fought, weary, fighters as they leftWho’d stood so Homs would never fallt...
Forgotten writings (1) The Border’s Gate - 18/Sep/2014 04:44 - 3683 days ago
I forget to post two pieces of writing I did early this summer, here’s the first. The Border’s GateFalse boundaries put...
Forgotten writings (1) The Border’s Gate - 18/Sep/2014 04:44 - 3683 days ago
I forget to post two pieces of writing I did early this summer, here’s the first. The Border’s GateFalse boundaries put...
Return to Creative Writing Group - 17/Sep/2014 04:27 - 3684 days ago
This week saw the restart of our Creative Writing Group. The tutor had us each write down on a slip of paper 5 characteristics o...
Return to Creative Writing Group - 17/Sep/2014 04:27 - 3684 days ago
This week saw the restart of our Creative Writing Group. The tutor had us each write down on a slip of paper 5 characteristics o...
Update: Sept 30th deadline for educational appeal by Shakti Organisation, the Indian NGO where I did my VSO placement - 16/Sep/2014 01:27 - 3685 days ago
This project, from the NGO I worked with in India, has to raise $5,000 from 40 donors by September 30, 11:59 PM EDT to earn a pe...
Update: Sept 30th deadline for educational appeal by Shakti Organisation, the Indian NGO where I did my VSO placement - 16/Sep/2014 01:27 - 3685 days ago
This project, from the NGO I worked with in India, has to raise $5,000 from 40 donors by September 30, 11:59 PM EDT to earn a pe...
Support the NGO I was with in India - 08/Sep/2014 15:04 - 3693 days ago
The NGO I was with in India are looking to raisefundingto continue their excellent education program for slum children. It would...
Support the NGO I was with in India - 08/Sep/2014 15:04 - 3693 days ago
The NGO I was with in India are looking to raisefundingto continue their excellent education program for slum children. It would...
Storm clouds - 28/Jul/2014 02:01 - 3735 days ago
Thunder roarsLightning veins the skyEyes peer out in awe and wonder at nature’s power.But still we dash from homes to cars, fr...
Storm clouds - 28/Jul/2014 02:01 - 3735 days ago
Thunder roarsLightning veins the skyEyes peer out in awe and wonder at nature’s power.But still we dash from homes to cars, fr...
Winds of change - 13/Jul/2014 09:15 - 3750 days ago
HarmattanbyGavin WestonWinds of change storm over 12 year old Haoua living in the western part of Niger making her transition fr...
Winds of change - 13/Jul/2014 09:15 - 3750 days ago
HarmattanbyGavin WestonWinds of change storm over 12 year old Haoua living in the western part of Niger making her transition fr...
Orange flares and slimey waters - 12/Jul/2014 05:45 - 3751 days ago
Oil on WaterbyHelon HabilaSet in Nigeria’s Delta amidst the swamps and mangroves lit up by the orange flares from the oil expl...
Orange flares and slimey waters - 12/Jul/2014 05:45 - 3751 days ago
Oil on WaterbyHelon HabilaSet in Nigeria’s Delta amidst the swamps and mangroves lit up by the orange flares from the oil expl...
Tom’s garden - 07/Jul/2014 06:17 - 3756 days ago
The old broom headlike an elongated hedgehogstoppers open the rickety driftwood gate. The shingle pathwinds its way through...
Tom’s garden - 07/Jul/2014 06:17 - 3756 days ago
The old broom headlike an elongated hedgehogstoppers open the rickety driftwood gate. The shingle pathwinds its way through...
A better place to be - 30/Jun/2014 06:06 - 3763 days ago
From despair, a longing for a better place to be.He stares hopefully, counting his future in his past pennies.They left in thous...
Very short stories - 23/Jun/2014 02:00 - 3770 days ago
Ernest Hemingwaysupposedly wrote a very short story for a bet. It was:‘For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.’So the challenge wa...
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - 22/Jun/2014 06:00 - 3771 days ago
At last week’s Creative Writing Class we were challenged to first feel an object without seeing it with our eyes and to think ...
Then and Now - 10/Jun/2014 01:00 - 3783 days ago
Inspired by the Billie Holliday classic, Strange Fruit, and for the two youngIndian womenrecently raped and murdered."Strange Fr...
Handle Me Gently - 09/Jun/2014 06:33 - 3784 days ago
Handle gentlybut do not crush my heart, my friendbroken and abandonedits sharp barbs confine a tender corefrom which a bounteous...
Halesworth Carnival 2014 - 08/Jun/2014 09:21 - 3785 days ago
Not quite Rio!Halesworth’s 2014 Carnivalon a beautifully hot summer’s day.You can seethe full albumashramblings...
Transition lenses - 05/Jun/2014 06:00 - 3788 days ago
A sliver of shining AbalonePearl of the South Seasreturning memories. Light upon the antediluvian lustrereflects a changed ...
Some amazing young writers… - 30/May/2014 02:20 - 3794 days ago
Totally inspired by these youngsters and what they have produced in their 500 word stories. Imagine being 9 and not only winning...
The Cock Fight - 25/May/2014 02:05 - 3799 days ago
In the dark, a tense circle of countingnumbers multipliedodds spiral.Central, two sets of handstender, controllingeach hol...
Edison, New Jersey by Junot Diaz - 24/May/2014 00:00 - 3800 days ago
Short Story Title:Edison, New JerseyAuthorJunot DiazWhere to find itfull text onlineandOxford Book of American Short StoriesBrie...
Short Story Quickie - 23/May/2014 03:13 - 3801 days ago
I do occasionally read short stories, usually with myonline book group. When I was a child the only reading done in my fat...
The right to a life - 21/May/2014 10:48 - 3803 days ago
Cries Unheard: Why Children Kill: The Story of Mary BellbyGitta SerenyLooking for JJbyAnne CassidyFinding Jennifer JonesbyAnne C...
The cutting edge - 20/May/2014 01:16 - 3804 days ago
For this week’s exercise for my Creative Writing class our tutor came with a selection of scientific photographs. He used only...
Cliff House - 19/May/2014 06:41 - 3805 days ago
Last week my Writing Group took a trip toCliff House Holiday Parknear Dulwich where one can purchase residential log cabin style...
Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy - 10/May/2014 10:14 - 3814 days ago
This is a book, aimed at Young Adults, won the Booktrust Teenage Prize in 2004. The potentially difficult subject, a child who m...
An Evil Cradling by Brian Keenan - 06/May/2014 11:45 - 3818 days ago
What can one say about this book but that it is an incredible record of an incredible achievement, namely that of remaining a sa...
The Fish Can Sing by Halldór Laxness - 02/May/2014 10:27 - 3822 days ago
Every so often I stumble across a new author whom I feel I should have known about. Laxness won theNobel Prize for Literaturein ...
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi - 02/May/2014 09:27 - 3822 days ago
When I readPersepolis The story of a Childhood, I hadn't realised there was a second volume. Volume 1 left me wondering just wha...
Bundu by Chris Barnard - 02/May/2014 06:10 - 3822 days ago
BundubyChris BarnardThis book was shortlisted for theIndependent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2013and was translated from the ...
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi - 28/Apr/2014 01:44 - 3826 days ago
Persepolis: The Story of a ChildhoodbyMarjane SatrapiThis is the first graphic novel I have read since my fanaticism with Marvel...
The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat - 20/Apr/2014 08:53 - 3834 days ago
The Blind OwlbySadegh HedayatTranslated byD.P. CostelloThis is one of the strangest books I have ever read. It was banned in the...
Rats - 13/Apr/2014 02:34 - 3841 days ago
RatsHe gasped for air, struggling to breathe. The bag tightened, driving further and further into his mouth with each gulp. His ...
The Priory - 13/Apr/2014 02:24 - 3841 days ago
The PrioryI make haste along the corridor to the Great Hall. I want to be there first each morning to see everyone arrive. No so...
Inclination - 13/Apr/2014 02:15 - 3841 days ago
Reclining Woman, 1951. The Henry Moore FoundationAt our Creative Writing Group our tutor this week placed several picture postca...
Temporary Post Used For Theme Detection (642996b6-b1e9-4c8b-94bd-374d67b5fd9f - 3bfe001a-32de-4114-a6b4-4005b770f6d7) - 13/Apr/2014 02:00 - 3841 days ago
This is a temporary post that was not deleted. Please delete this manually. (959517c4-4cf7-4788-aaaa-d960e7324b79 - 3bfe001a-32d...
Aromatic memory - 02/Apr/2014 13:00 - 3852 days ago
I planted it in the garden the year before, a discarded bulb from an Easter pot, with a forgotten hope of life respringing. The ...
My World Rainbow - 31/Mar/2014 04:00 - 3854 days ago
The black stone walls encrusted with grey lichen line the fields and roadside verges of my youthThe red lion rampart of the Wall...
Under the Frangipani by Mia Couto - 30/Mar/2014 09:59 - 3855 days ago
Under the FrangipanibyMia Couto,David BrookshawIn the edition I have, the short intro, entitled White body, black soul, is...
Moul N’Aga - 22/Mar/2014 03:04 - 3863 days ago
The bright orange sands of Moul N’Aga move secretly and silently in their timeless stroll across the southern Algerian landsca...
Have you not found my shoe yet? - 14/Mar/2014 03:00 - 3871 days ago
forensics on sceneyellow tape cordonsshallowwoodlandgraveAt long last, now he will be foundthe bastard who did this ...
The alley - 10/Mar/2014 10:11 - 3875 days ago
It was an anonymous alleyway. A mere 6 feet wide, each side bleak brick without doors or windows. The left hand side reached up ...
Northern Lights - 03/Mar/2014 08:14 - 3882 days ago
Photo Attribution:Brocken InagloryThe northern skies came south last nightwondrous celestial curtainsdancing like Salome’s sev...
Tanka - 03/Mar/2014 08:10 - 3882 days ago
Last weeks home work from our Creative Writing tutor was to attempt to write a tanka. This is a Japanese poetry form which in it...
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo - 02/Mar/2014 09:50 - 3883 days ago
Private PeacefulbyMichael MorpurgoIdyllic memories of childhood pre WW1 are recounted through the night by an under age soldier ...
The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca By Tahir Shah - 28/Feb/2014 04:21 - 3885 days ago
The Caliph's House: A Year in CasablancaByTahir ShahThis is an account of how the young author moved himself, wife and two...
Communion for John Veitch - 24/Feb/2014 05:32 - 3889 days ago
Thursday evening saw our book group meeting relocated from the Library to a house nearby because of anaccident. We didn’...
The Last Friend by Tahar Ben Jalloun - 23/Feb/2014 08:27 - 3890 days ago
The Last Friendby Tahar Ben Jelloun This novel is the story of a friendship between two men– Ali and Mamed. In the f...
A wet winter wonder - 23/Feb/2014 06:43 - 3890 days ago
At last week’s creative writing class our tutor brought in a small, attractively glazed pot of flowering snowdrops and set us ...
The Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings - 22/Feb/2014 06:10 - 3891 days ago
The Shahnameh: The Persian Book of KingsbyElizabeth LairdIllustrated byShirin Adl TheShahnamehis a long epic poem written b...
The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani - 19/Feb/2014 07:36 - 3894 days ago
The Blood of FlowersbyAnita Amirrezvani A young girl and her recently widowed mother, without a male family member to tend ...
Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengiste - 16/Feb/2014 05:27 - 3897 days ago
Beneath the Lion’s GazebyMaaza Mengiste In 1974 the Ethiopian MarxistDerg,Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Pol...
My childhood landmark - 12/Feb/2014 15:16 - 3901 days ago
Public Weighing MachineIn the bustle of the Woolworths store. amidst the polished mahogany counters and the shoppers’ stocking...
Test3 - 10/Feb/2014 09:03 - 3903 days ago
ashramblings...
Test2 - 10/Feb/2014 09:02 - 3903 days ago
ashramblings...
Test1 - 10/Feb/2014 09:02 - 3903 days ago
ashramblings...
test - 10/Feb/2014 05:38 - 3903 days ago
400600900ashramblings...
Shadow of the Serpent by David Ashton - 06/Feb/2014 04:38 - 3907 days ago
Shadow of the SerpentbyDavid AshtonScottish author David Ashton first wrote an Afternoon Play for BBC radio about James McLevy, ...
The user is about to commit an indiscretion - 03/Feb/2014 06:41 - 3910 days ago
At our Creative Writing Group, the tutor brought in an article for us to use as a creative trigger along with the words“...
The House of the Mosque by Kader Abdolah - 02/Feb/2014 03:07 - 3911 days ago
The House of the MosquebyKader AbdolahReminding me of reading Latin American family sagas and of first readingKhaled Hosseini,Th...
Rock and Roll Salvation - 31/Jan/2014 13:35 - 3913 days ago
Rock and Roll Suicide– David Bowie, from the Ziggy Stardust Album, 1972.© EMI Music Publishing“Time takes a cigarette, puts...
Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame, 2007 Dir. Hana Makhmalbaf - 31/Jan/2014 09:39 - 3913 days ago
Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame (Buda as sharm foru rikht)2007Director:Hana MakhmalbafThis is the first feature film from the...
White Castle by Orhan Pamuk - 30/Jan/2014 06:10 - 3914 days ago
White Castle by Orhan Pamuk A young Italian sailing from Venice is taken prisoner by the Turks and sold into slav...
No, not ordinary - 27/Jan/2014 10:21 - 3917 days ago
The winter frost snow caps the carsDark puddles litter the car park potholesLast year’s Harmattan seems a world away. M&a...
Lasting Damage by Sophie Hannah - 23/Jan/2014 15:15 - 3921 days ago
Lasting DamagebySophie HannahI read this one because I am new to my in person book club and this was what they had decided to re...
The Spider’s House by Paul Bowles - 23/Jan/2014 07:57 - 3921 days ago
The Spider’s HousebyPaul Bowles Bowles spent much of his life in Morocco and wrote his fiction there. This familiarity is...
Strange Meeting by Susan Hill - 20/Jan/2014 10:54 - 3924 days ago
Strange MeetingbySusan HillIn her Afterword to this book, Susan Hill says that it owes nothing more than its title to Wilfred Ow...
False tree - 20/Jan/2014 10:53 - 3924 days ago
Lying spent after the eventimpervious to wind and raininedible to bugs and grubsdiscarded to the kerbside.Tattered, ripped wrapp...
Hats - 20/Jan/2014 10:53 - 3924 days ago
Red hat, blue hat, green hat. Felt hats, fur hats, wedding hats. Mad hatter hats– that’s actually a place called that near w...
Braving the new world - 06/Jan/2014 10:06 - 3938 days ago
Isn’t it nice when things start to fall into place like when you are first getting to know new people?Moving to a new town mea...
Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe - 27/Dec/2013 09:08 - 3948 days ago
Woman in the DunesbyKobo Abe Whilst the plot is straightforward, a man visiting a coastal area is tricked into staying over...
Joyeux Noel - 24/Dec/2013 03:26 - 3951 days ago
Joyeux Noel, Feliz Navidad, Feliz Natal, Merry Kirsimeti, Meri krisamasa, Maligayang Pasko,Merry Christmasashramblings...
Playing with Lightroom (1) - 23/Dec/2013 13:23 - 3952 days ago
When I was on my photographic overland trip earlier this year I was complete blown away by the effects you could achieve w...
“Points in Time” by Paul Bowles - 22/Dec/2013 06:33 - 3953 days ago
Points in TimebyPaul BowlesA series of short snippets and vignettes become a series of points in time within an overall impressi...
Halesworth–a little gem - 14/Dec/2013 05:01 - 3961 days ago
Halesworth’s Portas BidAs I discover more about my new home town of Halesworth I find they made aPortas Bidin 2012 but sadly w...
A Simple Story by Leonardo Sciascia - 11/Dec/2013 09:23 - 3964 days ago
A Simple Story by Leonardo Sciascia Following a recommendation for this author I was init...
War Music - 05/Dec/2013 05:24 - 3970 days ago
While browsing my Facebook friends today I read the followingpoemwritten by Fadi Alansary on one of my Liked PagesJe n’aime pa...
I’m the King of the Castle….. - 27/Aug/2013 04:11 - 4070 days ago
I’m the King of the Castle by Susan Hill I found this a v...
AIF5 Okavango Delta - 15/Jun/2013 07:05 - 4143 days ago
a fish eagle watches over the lagoonits silence softened only by sporadic splashesof poles punting their makorosalong hippo high...
AIF4 - It's all in the name - 11/Jun/2013 01:02 - 4147 days ago
Various unusual and comical establishment names seen during our travels through ZambiaGolden Pillow MotelBit by bit groceryFlamb...
Moment in Oulu,Finland - 11/Jun/2013 01:02 - 4147 days ago
I was there in February on a work tripStands of silver birchupright legs from off the snowtable cloth over northern soila ...
AIF3 - Animals seen - 24/May/2013 13:48 - 4165 days ago
We are spending tonight aside the Kavango River on the Namibian side looking over to Angola before heading into the Okavango Del...
Book Review: Ghost Music by An Yu, narrated by Vera Chok - Unknown - 34 days ago
Ghost MusicbyAn YuMy rating:4 of 5 starsI really had no idea what to expect when I started this book as I knew
nothing about it...
Book Review: Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark , narrated by Nadia May - Unknown - 34 days ago
Loitering with IntentbyMuriel SparkMy rating:4 of 5 starsMy in person book group mentioned that they had never read any Muriel S...
Book Review: Interior Chinatown by Charles Wu - Unknown - 34 days ago
Interior ChinatownbyCharles YuMy rating:3 of 5 stars "All the world’s a stage,And all the men and women merely play...
AudioBook Review: Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, narrated by Kathleen Wilhoite - Unknown - 34 days ago
Where'd You Go, BernadettebyMaria SempleMy rating:4 of 5 starsBefore Christmas I attended a short online course at City Lit, Lon...
Book Review: Good Offices by Evelio Rosero, tranls by Anna Maclean and Anna Milsom - Unknown - 34 days ago
Good OfficesbyEvelio RoseroMy rating:3 of 5 starsA marvelous novella for reading around Halloween. Billed as a
satire on the Ca...
Review: Sonu's Adventures: Sonu's Adventures - Unknown - 34 days ago
Sonu's Adventures: Sonu's AdventuresbyDinesh VermaMy rating:4 of 5 starsView all my reviewsashramblings...
Review: This is How You Lose the Time War - Unknown - 34 days ago
This is How You Lose the Time WarbyAmal El-MohtarMy rating:3 of 5 starsView all my reviewsashramblings...
The Beautiful Dawn - in memoria for N - Unknown - 34 days ago
I first wrote this in2018for the most important person in my life in my life.Following his death last week, I've revisited it an...
Ghost Waves by Sheila Ash - Unknown - 34 days ago
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Book Review: Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan - Unknown - 34 days ago
Walk the Blue FieldsbyClaire KeeganMy rating:4 of 5 stars I really enjoyed this collection . Afterwards some stories reside...
My loneliness and I by Sheila Ash ( original by Jagit Singh) - Unknown - 34 days ago
A language buddy sent a link to a Hindi poem used as a song in the Indian movieSilsila.You can see a clip here onYouTube. The Hi...
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