These books are no lollipops…!

In the 1934 song by Shirley Temple, the "Good Ship Lollipop" travels to a candy land with the lollipop being a symbol of childhood innocence and pleasure. The Chordettes in 1954, gave the lollipop a different twist by associating a cute guy to appetitive desires... The definition of a lollipop is: “A large, flat, rounded …

Depressing disability…

From February 2019 Doctors largely consider disabilities as something to mend. Physiotherapists refer to 'patients', even when they're not ailing. Some clergymen will have believers think an impairment is the wrath of God. And the ordinary man in the street will generally express pity and sorrow. Yes, being on wheels, I too am often perceived …

A bit of me in all

"All autobiography is storytelling; all writing is autobiography," said J. M. Coetzee. And Gloria Vanderbilt was quoted stating: "All art, from the paintings on the walls of cave dwellers to art created today, is autobiographical because it comes from the secret place in the soul where imagination resides." I too write from experience; of what …

My favourite murder?

Agatha Christie said: “Everyone is a potential murderer - in everyone there arises from time to time the wish to kill - though not the will to kill.” Books by the Queen of Crime are a delight to read, but there are so many more novelists that entertain with their depictions of murder. The New York Times asked …

Write the book you wish to read

From August 2019 It was Toni Morrison who said, "If there is a book that you want to read but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it." Growing up, all my pocket money would be spent at WH Smith in Hull and ever since I can remember books were …