http://www.channel4.com/programmes/wasting-away-the-truth-about-anorexia My mind went blank and I started to type Alzheimer’s into the search box of Channel 4’s programmes. In a way that’s instructive. You can just start again, wipe out what went before and retype. We are learning about Alzheimer’s. I can throw in phrases like amyloid plaque. Perhaps do a simple drawing of what it means in a cave of dendrites. But I don’t really know what it...

Iain Banks (1985) The Wasp Factory. I’ve read this book before and after reading it again I kinda remembered what happened in the end. But I didn’t appreciate it as a work of genius, the kind of thing I’d like to write, as I do now. Perhaps in the week that Philippa Gregory took time out slate other writers and make it clear she sees herself as the big I AM ( https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/aug/14/philippa-gregory-lazy-and-...

Posted by Philip Sidney on Fri, 18 Aug 2017 There have been so many wonderful pieces this week, the IP really struck a chord and resulted in much insightful and touching writing. In the end I've gone for the dreamy and surreal with Poem of the Week being Sean Mcnulty's Poetry Monthly piece: https://www.abctales.com/story/sean-mcnulty/treetops Story of the Week is rosaliekempthorne's warm hug of a tale: https://www.abctales.com/story/...

There have been so many wonderful pieces this week, the IP really struck a chord and resulted in much insightful and touching writing. In the end I've gone for the dreamy and surreal with Poem of the Week being Sean Mcnulty's Poetry Monthly piece: https://www.abctales.com/story/sean-mcnulty/treetops Story of the Week is rosaliekempthorne's warm hug of a tale: https://www.abctales.com/story/rosaliekempthorne/burning-bright I do hope this week's...

I bought this book for one pence on Amazon. I think it’s overpriced, but I don’t want my money back. The dedication in the book is to Bryan Moyne and Diana Mosley. I don’t know who Bryan is, but Diana, friend of Hitler, married Sir Oswald Mosley, Vile Bodies, indeed. I wanted to have a look at this book because Selina Todd mentions it, in her history, The People: The Rise and Fall of the Working Class . Characters in Vile Body, think here of...

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Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 11 Aug 2017 It's been a wonderful week on the site for life writing and I struggled to choose the Picks for this week. Among others, Jolono's beautiful 'Dad was Old School' ( https://www.abctales.com/story/jolono/dad-was-old-school ) and Elsie Katz's uncompromising 'Memories of Working In A Hostel...' ( https://www.abctales.com/story/elsie-katz/2002-05-my-memories-working-ho... ) will stay in my mind for a long time...

It's been a wonderful week on the site for life writing and I struggled to choose the Picks for this week. Among others, Jolono's beautiful 'Dad was Old School' ( https://www.abctales.com/story/jolono/dad-was-old-school ) and Elsie Katz's uncompromising 'Memories of Working In A Hostel...' ( https://www.abctales.com/story/elsie-katz/2002-05-my-memories-working-ho... ) will stay in my mind for a long time. In the end though, Story of the Week...

I read this book in two sittings. It didn’t take me long. For those of you that don’t know Mitch Albom is ‘Author of the international bestseller tuesdays with Morrie ’. For those of you that did know, but forgot, it’s tagged below the author’s name on the cover. I’ve read tuesdays with Morrie and I can probably tell you the plot, Mitch Albom goes to visit this old guy called Morrie on a Tuesday, and then one of them dies and it’s not Mitch and...

Picks for the month of July very kindly chosen by Helen Richardson/Philip Sidney: July warmed us up for summer with an influx of sizzling writing, so to choose two outstanding pieces has taken considerable deliberation. In the end I've gone with gut feeling and chosen two pieces that took me somewhere new and showed me a different way of living. Story of the month is, Point Blank Range, by TJW. TJW creates a distinct voice that takes us into the...