#jesuischarlie – Why People Should Read: A Response to the Charlie Hebdo Killings.

My reaction developed slowly. I was at work; the chef mentioned a terrorist attack in France. I got home and read various articles from the BBC. I proofread my sister’s dissertation and picked up thought-lost rugby boots. What I learned angered me. I decided to download a picture onto my phone and post it to various social media accounts with the following text:

‘’#jesuischarlie For me, truth that can be found in fiction, satire and art in all its forms is the best education of all; timelessly teaching us more about humanity and being human than any statistic government, doctrine or ideology ever could.

In other words, if more people fucking read, and read widely, the world would be a much better place.’’

Backpackers: Don’t Judge the ‘Abbos’ – Blog Action Day 2014 #inequality

There are two reasons why I am writing this blog:

Firstly, October 16th is Blog Action Day, a great opportunity for the written word to try and do some global good.

Secondly, during my trip to Australia earlier this year I read Bill Bryson’s ‘Down Under’, or in the US ‘In A Sunburned Country’. It was a fantastic companion; serving as a second pair of eyes and peeling back their weary yet amazed lids to more than one thing that may have otherwise passed unnoticed.

Brutal Simplicity – Why everyone should read John Williams’ ‘Stoner’.

My mother’s keen eye for a Christmas present that would be wholly appreciated and wholly unexpected is the reason I came into possession of Stoner.

But the reason it came into the back-rooms of the bookshop she brought it from, is a tale far more mysterious. A book that fell through the cracks of western readership in the 1960’s burst to life in 2013; a literary phoenix second only to Dumbledore’s Fawkes.