Category Archives: Reading

Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

The Illustrated Man was my previous experience of Ray Bradbury: beautiful and disturbing post-war sci-fi stories, set in our present. Fahrenheit 451 is clearly, from the author’s various prefaces and the publisher’s blurb, a much more famous work, probably because of … Continue reading →

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“The Liturgies of Quakerism” by Ben Pink Dandelion

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

Perhaps the dullest of book titles. Ever. Especially when received as a Christmas present (one I had asked for…). And I didn’t read it all, as the middle chapters seemed very similar to Pink Dandelion’s more recent and general history … Continue reading →

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“The Trial of Mussolini” by ‘Cassius’

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

A wonderful find (I’ve forgotten where from). A 1943 fictionalised transcript of the trial Benito never had, at some putative war-crimes tribunal in London. Part of the Gollancz series of anonymous books published in the war. The first prosecution speech … Continue reading →

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“Sweet Danger” by Marjery Allingham; “Have his Carcase” by Dorothy L. Sayers

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

Campion or Wimsey? Campion. Lugg or Bunter? Bunter. Stanislaus Oates or Parker? Oates. So Allingham wins 2:1. And when you factor in Sayers’ casual racism (part of the time, but tellingly absent from Allingham), and the grating vicarious Wimsey-worship of … Continue reading →

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Plato’s Protagoras

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

The main trigger to reread this came from my colleague’s teaching it as an A2 Greek text. Expecting Socrates to expose Protagoras as a shallow and mercenary “sophist”, he and his class couldn’t understand how Socrates’ arguments seemed just as … Continue reading →

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“Inside Story” by Chapman Pincher

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

(Only read a few chapters) I used to love reading my Dad’s old red hardback copy of Chapman Pincher’s collection science columns for the Express called It’s Fun Finding Out – a title eclipsed on his shelves only by Romping Through … Continue reading →

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“Mr Campion and others” by Margery Allingham

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

More of the wonderful Margery Allingham, this time my first encounter with her short stories. Thirteen exquisite tales set in pre-war high-society London, starring her more younger and more worldly Wimsey – Albert Campion – and his sceptical plod/Knacker/Lestrade – … Continue reading →

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“An Introduction to Quakerism” by Ben Pink Dandelion

Posted on December 21, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

When you take into account the author’s name, this book is surprisingly serious; perhaps Ben Pink Dandelion felt that he had to overcompensate for the expectations his name might generate. But he had no need – as the man in … Continue reading →

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Beryl Bainbridge: “Sweet William”

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

Puzzled by the very end, which seemed intended as a punchline, making clear what had really been going on, but for me as usual leaving me none the wiser, I found Katha Pollit’s contemporary review of this 1975 novel. This … Continue reading →

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Ray Monk: “Wittgenstein”

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

There’s not much left for me now to “get” Wittgenstein beyond, er, reading and thinking about his actual philosophical writings. Monk’s reassuring biography comprehensively tells the/a story of his life, and famously-well weaves in the outlines of the philosophy as … Continue reading →

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