Reviews and Commentary


ALMOST daily we are urged to place our trust in rapidly advancing new technology. The catch-cry is “Get Smart”.  It is almost biblical in its unwavering insistence. Accept and ye shall be saved. Adapt to everything smart and ye shall enter the Elysian uplands where all the gizmos and contraptions that surround us will cease to cause the unending irritation, time-wasting, stress and anger that we inexplicably accept as normal. From smart meters unable to communicate, through smart phones dependent on unreliable networks to death-trap smart motorways this smart new age is anything but. Had it not been recently condemned… Continue reading

Receive my ‘Read. Write. Run. Repeat.’ newsletter

Regular updates of my reviews and commentary direct to your inbox.

COMPARISONS are inevitable when books are transported from page to screen. Especially between the leading characters as they are read and as they are seen. An author’s descriptions enable us to build our personal bank of images as we move through the chapters. Fleshing out the bare bones we are given at the start until we have a fully formed person in time for the grand finale. But if the character is later viewed in a screen adaptation of the book(s) there can be disappointment if their looks and mannerisms fail to match that mental picture we have created. Which… Continue reading