Review “The Father Christmas Letters” by JRR Tolkien.

“The Father Christmas Letters” is a collection of letters and accompanying pictures written by JRR Tolkien for his children. Of course it is traditional in many countries for children to write letters to Father Christmas, but Tolkien’s children were lucky enough to receive letters back. (What a great dad Tolkien must have been, with so…

Review “Piranesi” by Susanna Clarke (2020)

“Piranesi” is a novel about a House, with no end, and no exit. The main character, referred to as Piranesi (though this is not his name) lives in the House, and is alone except for one other living person and thirteen dead ones. The story is told through a series of journal entries he makes.…

Review “Duncton Found” by William Horwood (1989)

“Duncton Found” is the final volume in the Duncton Chronicles trilogy. A trilogy which started with a group of moles in one location (Duncton Wood) has expanded to become a Christian allegory about the fight between light and darkness, and the sacrifice of the ‘Stone Mole’ a Christ-like figure, in order to teach moles that…

Murder on the Orient Express – ripples in a pond.

The other night I watched the 2017 film of “Murder on the Orient Express”. This is not a review of that movie. It just got me thinking about an aspect of the story that younger me, reading the Agatha Christie novel and watching the earlier film, did not consider. And it’s a powerful one. There…

Review “The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes” by Neil Gaiman.

“The Sandman” is a series of comics written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by various artists. While the original comics began in the 1980s, in 2010 they were re-released in a series of ten volumes collecting the stories. “Preludes and Nocturnes” is the first of these, collecting “The Sandman” numbers 1-8. The main character is…