'Erin Greengloves and her Big Fight with Gunnar Lokka the Giant' is not quite the inversion of the giant-killer tales of old it might seem. Certainly, the Giant is the invader and Jack, re-imagined as a stubborn, single-minded lass, is the unlikely defender of the community. There is also the episodic description of challenges overcome… Continue reading Erin Greengloves – A Heroine for our Times?
The acronym is the enemy of understanding. One on its own is bad enough, but a whole string of them, beaded haphazardly together, is a recipe for incoherence. Fortunately, I am able to expertly decipher all but the most obscure of initialized titles, monikers, headings and labels. Yet any obstacle to comprehension must be a… Continue reading The Roof of the World is in Need of Repair
Living in the digital age often appears akin to being trapped on board a starship with the controls set firmly for the heart of the sun. The feeling that it will all end badly is inescapable. Now, at the eleventh hour, comes Steffen Mau’s timely book, The Metric Society, sent here to reassure us that… Continue reading Book Review: The Metric Society by Steffen Mau
Byron Bruin Baer is a gentle giant, a clarinet player, a jazz musician and….a real, live bear. He likes to play his clarinet (“real good, for free”) under a cherry tree outside a flower shop opposite a tall-steepled church. He plays jazz for passing people all day, and sometimes in the evening too. The flower… Continue reading Stylin Byron and the Hepcat Five – A Jazz Rhyme
“Across the diocese from tower to tower, The church bells ring compelling power” It may seem unconscionably lazy to review an architectural field guide from an armchair, but a well-ordered, beautifully illustrated compendium of facts can make for compelling reading in its own right. W.E. David Ryan’s English Medieval Church Towers: The Northern Province[i] is… Continue reading Book Review: English Medieval Church Towers: The Northern Province by W. E. David Ryan
