Right then. A dose of honesty and reality, looking back over a year of not working full-time. In terms of writing, I've completed the square root of naff-all. It's been a year in which I've mugged myself and put on a little weight (precious little cycling), while not yet developing the kinds of habits and routines, which saw me, for many years, sustain a sort-of career while not going insane.

Movie, 1946 A film which feels part documentary, part drama and whole propaganda. Some beautiful and poignant shots make this film worthwhile for those with an interest in the French Resistance and the railways they are seen here destroying, in an attempt to sabotage a German rearguard against Allied landings towards the end of the Second World War. The overall feel is of a slightly disjointed narrative, but the heroic portrayal of the Resistance shines against the dialled up Nazi brutality.

Movie, 2012 Uplifting, simple and low key story about the titular Frances, a struggling dancer, and her best friend Sophie, and how things work out when Sophie moves in with her lover and inadvertently threatens to destabilise Frances' world. While the plot rumbles through characters and relationships, the focus is never far from Frances, while New York provides an atmospheric, monochrome backdrop.

Hello. Hope everyone's surviving the holidays. This year, as regular readers will know, I binned what (for the last twenty years or so) only fleetingly resembled a 'career' working in admin in the UK's wheezing higher education sector, and have pushed on, to dedicate myself to writing. Yes; I must write at some point soon. And get some more cycling in.

Novel, 1962 A book with a great feel and a great balance between force, poignancy and more brutal sides of human nature, which despite all its positive points, doesn't quite hang together. The beginning, and particularly the ending are quite wonderful, though the combination of a whole family of only fairly well sketched characters and some pretty exhaustive and exhausting philosophical argument knocks the pace in a bit of a baggy middle section. Still, some great stuff in here.

Hello. As a nouveau casual worker, my December has been horrendously busy. So, apologies for the lack of posts. Here's a bit of a left over; the bookshop diary from the rest of November 2025.... _________________________________ Wed 5/11/25 - 11am - 5pm First customer in today is lured in by Justin John Doherty’s big display for Don’t Look Now, his…

No post for the last couple of weeks, as I was jaunting in the Czech Republic then, working at my non-writerly writing jobs and catching up thereafter. While the Czech trip included the spa town of Karlovy Vary, we also spent time in the capital. I'm a 'many times' visitor to Prague, so in scrabbling for something new to do, I noticed I was staying close to the…

16/10/25 - 4/11/25 Selected high and maybe a few lowlights from Luton's only community bookshop. This time - (my) first event, bye bye tortoise and coffee machine shenanighans. ____________________________ Thu 16/10/25 - 12pm - 7pm Start the long shift with an assault on the book stock. We have a number of weighty tomes we won't sell. Things which appear at Christmas, and which are aimed at coffee tables in homes with without coffee tables.

Movie, 2014 Big bloated science-fiction, in which a farmer and former NASA pilot heads up a crew to find former missions sent out to find planets to replace Earth. Part space opera; part family film; part social commentary. Most unlikely, part buddy movie, with some fairly toe-curling set pieces between the space farmer and his robots. All this, and quite a few daft scenes and bolted on elements slow things down, though there's some terrific stuff almost hidden out of view, as the film constantly tries to show how flash, clever and showy it is. Something half the length would have been great.

The Small Publishers Fair tends to be the last, or at least, the last significant event in Clod Magazine and Books' event circuit. We still have an afternoon in Luton Library on 22/11/25, but the Small Publishers Fair is the seaon's last hurrah; a big ticket event spread over two (very full) days, where we do the most business done.

It won’t come as a massive surprise to learn, from someone who writes a reading and writing blog, that settling down with a decent book is one of life’s great pleasures. Occasionally, h…

First of Ferrante's Neapolitan quartet, and a coming of age story for Elena and Lila.

Tense, well executed study of a troubled WW2 weapons expert.

A look into how blood, muck and filth were eradicated by Joeph Lister and similarly minded folk in the late 19th century #booksky

Superbly atmospheric neo-noir...

Movie, 2023 Full blown, infinitely interesting Wes Anderson movie, in which colours and artifice are turned up, a whole dump truck of A-listers come along for the ride, and the whole space age paranoia and society are put out for examination. This is a film with a bucket full of ideas, which doesn't, however, really click on the first viewing.

Part five – 8/10/25 – 14/10/25 More stuff and more nonsense from the cutting edge of Luton’s only community bookshop. This week – More Dick Franics books sold. A near fatal …

Novel, 1959 Whodunnit with a very Golden Age feel, largely set in a maze and featuring a cast of characters, each or at least most of whom have a reason for bumping off the murder victim. An enjoyable book with a few classical references and lovely plot developments, and also with some fairly ungentlemanly behaviour from a few in the book who would probably have behaved themselves in a different environment, when they weren't triggered so much.

Movie, 2022 Part biopic, part fantasy, part satire, which takes aim at a number of targets, but falls short every time. There are elements to admire in the portrayal of an outsider and the satirical attack on the music business, though while these occasionally make an impression, the fantasy rags to riches, the kind of noir touches and the incorporation of real life fellow musicians, the mock-documentary put-ups...

Flatpacks (again), flapjacks, a hammer, some great sales technique. Plus a massive ding-dong on tea. Wed 1 October 2025 - 12noon - 5pm The temperature outside may have fallen slightly, but in the shop, there’s still much physical work afoot. More cubes to assemble. I’m getting more adept at putting these together, and the ‘feature wall’ is coming together nicely. 

Fiction, 2020 Series of short pieces, described as stories, though which are probably more accurately thumbnail sketches of characters and situations. No real doubt that the writing is great, and visceral in a lot of places, but the nature of the pieces, which are thematically connected, don't really hang together. The cover and front matter's attention on the critical response to de Waal's previous novel give this a feeling of a volume that's been rushed out for some opportunity or contractual basis. You'd hope some of these pieces are developed, but as the book stands, it feels like a bit of an exercise.

Movie, 2022 Flash, bang, wallop Elvis Presley biopic spanning the whole of The King's life and career, with a keen focus on his relationship with Col Tom Parker. Visually, a treat, although it could be argued that covering such a lot of ground didn't really work. Oddly, Elvis' mid-career was skipped over, but at the same time, neither his childhood nor demise felt as if they were covered in any depth.

Hello again. A short entry this week. There is a longer entry too - if you want the third installment of my tales from the bookshop, it's here. Happy reading. In other news, I was privileged to have a story about our local shopping centre included, a few years ago, in an installation by the Cambridge based artist Idit Elia Nathan…

More shenanigans and goings on from the High Town (formerly Donkey Hall), community bookshop, in Luton. This week, the shop opens. There are readings and jokes. Flat pack furniture and a Dick Franc…