Category Archives: Reading

“A Most Wanted Man” by John Le Carré

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

A 2009 response to the “war on terror”, set in Hamburg amidst the machinations of German, British and American intelligence services. A very good novel – exciting plot, and truly credible and sympathetic characters: makes you grab it at every … Continue reading →

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“On Chesil Beach”, by Ian McEwan

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

A meditation on Hardy, Forster and Larkin, with all McEwan’s levers in full working order: newly-weds, one called Florence [Forster], their honeymoon in Dorset ending (sort-of) tragically [Hardy], and the main tension being that pre-60s sexual repression destructively and messily … Continue reading →

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“Why We Disagree About Climate Change”, by Mike Hulme

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

An intensely promising read, unusual in assessing both “climate change” (Hulme’s typography for the physical reality (or otherwise)), and “Climate Change” (the idea of climate change, what it means to us individually and culturally). So it’s extremely cross-curricular (Hulme began … Continue reading →

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“The Go-Between” and “Where Angels Fear to Tread”

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

Leo Colston is, like Steerpike, Mole and Charles Ryder, a middle-class observer of the English aristocrat in 20th-century decline. Of the three, Mole remains a naïve observer, whereas the other two follow the contemporary developments in quantum physics by causing, … Continue reading →

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