IT is probably tempting fate when less than two months of the twelve have passed to declare “This is my book of the year”. But that’s the way things have been since I turned the final page of Should We Stay or Should We Go and fell into several moments of deep reflection. By then, all earlier irritation at the title’s missing question mark had long passed; author Lionel Shriver could do no wrong. And there was so much to think about. Definitely my book of the year; and the most memorable in many a long while. One I can see… Continue reading

SHOCKS galore can await those delving into their family history; a fact frequently demonstrated by the fascinating TV series Who Do You Think You Are? The constant theme is that of surprise. The program has a well established record in shattering strongly held beliefs in one’s lineage. Much that was firmly thought to have happened so often turns out to be somewhat different from the way elderly relatives claimed it to be. As for those long gone ancestors, the program regularly proves anecdotal evidence is just that: great-great-uncle Sebastian did not, after all, play a hero’s role in some faraway… Continue reading