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I'm in Jingdezhen in Eastern China, rummaging through mounds of ancient porcelain shards... I'm on The White Road,

Picador published Babel's complete works edited by his daughter Nathalie in 2002. In her preface, Nathalie Babel tells of her father's response to being sentenced to death by firing squad: "I am asking for only one thing - let me finish my work." Raymond Carver spoke of Babel as one of his...

Current book or the weekend supplement magazines. A favourite place.

The Dante Club - Matthew Pearl (deliberately!) Your favourite Gene Tierney movie?

Heart and Soul - Joy Division

"Oh Magoo, You’ve Done It Again!" When did you last write and post a personal letter?

I see Scolastic executive Judy Newman is defending the practice and is vowing that there will be no back-down in response to protests, citing: "We're losing kids' interest (in reading). We have to keep them engaged. This (book club) model is 60 years old, and it has to stay relevant to do the...

Me Tarzan, You Jane - The Intruders

Alela Diane, The Pirate's Gospel. Free legitimate downloads here, and video here.

And the Oscar goes to.... IMHO, the Review section in the Saturday edition of The Guardian (UK) newspaper is Simply The Best. It not only contains reviews (by the ton and spanning non-fiction, poetry, science fiction, children's fiction, life & letters, first fiction, etc. etc.) but...

OK guys, six weeks in and it's time for a quick status check. Who's first?? Remember, only 320 days to next January...

Pobby & Dingan by Ben Rice. A pearl of a novella with brevity and gravity in equal measure... and a story which will yank furiously at the strings of your heavy, heavy heart.

Hi there Libra, just under 200 pages gone and we're hanging on in there. To be honest, what attracted me to this was a recent explosion of (personal) interest in things Japanese. (I'm even trying to learn a bit of the lingo). I became intrigued in Japanese history as expressed particularly in...

Gene Tierney. The most beautiful overbite in film history.

Why stay with the same book when there are so many out there to play around with!! There are simply too many unread books in the universe for me to lavish my attention on the same one again (and/or again). Just chalk it up on the bedboard and caress the next spine with the palm of your hand.

SparkChaser, I suspect Neko The Cat and have unleashed Curiosity to execute upon my verdict.

Today I'm irritated by a newly-chipped sake jug which glowers at me from the verandah window-sill, the disappearance of two florets of cauliflower before lunch and the day's evident lack of formal routine.

Thank you Thomas. It's truly good to be back. Glad to hear you liked Silk - I'm not familiar with any of Baricco's other books but will put City on The List. I like Barb Jungr's take on Dylan's favourites. As for Kurt Weill... I only know that the Doors ripped off one of his originals -...

Anchorage, Michelle Shocked

His chest heaved and he spluttered blood across his unshaven face. As she moved back, his hand extended, as if by reflex, to envelope the heel of her foot. She felt herself toppling backwards, in his grip.