Writing

Rich Text newsletter No. 33: ‘Pottering with pen and paper’

On failing to write in notebooks. Plus all the usual links and book recommendations.
Book review: ‘The Notebook’ by Roland Allen

A history of thinking on paper.
Book review: ‘Mansfield Park’ by Jane Austen

Toffs being toffs.
Book review: ‘The Diary of Virginia Woolf, vol. 1’

Virginia Woolf’s diaries for 1915–1918.
Book review: ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 19 • 1871’

A busy year for Darwin: ‘The Descent of Man’ published, with another book on the way, and the final edition of ‘The Origin of Species’.
Rich Text newsletter No. 32: ‘Gannets’ nostrils’

Gannets • goitres • chestnut blights • gold in glass • Holy Roman Empire • barnacles • magnetism • aliens • wood-wide web • Mark Cocker • thoughts on writing • Ronald Blythe • and more…
2023: a year in photos

My thirteenth annual video slideshow.
Book review: ‘Days Like These’ by Brian Bilston

An alternative guide to the year in 366 poems.
Book review: ‘The World-Ending Fire‘ by Wendell Berry

The essential Wendell Berry.
Book review: ‘Writing Landscape’ by Linda Cracknell

Essays on landscape and writing.
Book review: ‘Napoleon’ by David A. Bell

A short introduction.
Book review: ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 18 • 1870’

Putting the finishing touches to ‘The Descent of Man’.