Skip to main content

A Short Book-Related Interview With My Brother





I always say that my brother is like me, but better (see above).  Younger, taller, fitter, better looking, better travelled and a lot more intelligent, he's currently studying Medical Science at Birmingham University.  I asked him to pose with the latest issue of Poetry Review, and although I haven't been able to convert him to poetry just yet, he does like to read.  


Me and my brother with Fisher, who now works as a guide dog in Jersey.


James is currently doing a summer project on epilepsy, but I managed to sneak in a little interview when he got a spare moment.      


What are you currently reading?

Bad Signs by R.J. Ellory.


What was the last book you read? 

Animal Farm was the last book I read in its entirety.  I also started 1984 but didn't get to the end of it.

What did you like most about it? 

How Orwell uses a very simple story in equally simple language to convey a very complex problem.  However, in terms of level of entertainment it was pretty boring.

Who's your favourite writer and why? 

R.J. Ellory - I enjoy the amount of effort he puts into description and his attention to detail.

Which book have you read more than once? 

A Quiet Belief in Angels, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Traveller (John Twelve Hawkes).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mr Pebble Pockets

I’ve called him Mr Pebble Pockets because if I don’t make a joke out of it I’ll cry.  It was about 10:30pm, I’d just got back to the boat from a late shift and I was waiting for my Deliveroo.  He was standing a little further down the towpath and staring at the water.  The night was clear and crisp and there was enough moonlight to see the shape of him: he was tall, late twenties and had a powerful sporty look to him.  He wasn’t crying, but he was shaking and he stood crooked.    Well, it doesn’t take a genius, does it?  I only came out to wait for a bloody curry.  Mother Florence bloody Teresa Nightingale springing into action, hungry and as tired as fuck and now having to stop this guy from jumping into the canal with an anchor for a coat.     I know now that the best thing to do was offer him a cigarette.   I don’t know why I didn’t.   I had the packet and the lighter in my hand. ‘Excuse me,’ I said.   ‘Are you my Deliveroo?’ He turned slowly.   ‘Who?’ ‘I’m waiting for a chi

Samsa & Shabeezi

Samsa was now a human.  He’d recently become a human after his architect decided to put a human heart in him and give him feelings.  The five litres of blood that now pumped around his body warmed him up.  It made for incredible nose bleeds, spasms, cramps and bruising, to name o nly a small fraction of the symptoms, but his architect assured him that it would all be worth it and that he'd feel normal very soon.  He didn't know what normal was, but he knew it wasn't puking and shitting and bleeding all over the place for the first two months and then just feeling terrible for several weeks after that.  Human life is agony, he thought, but he trusted the process.  One day, a little over twelve weeks after the operation, he woke up from his first good night's sleep and was able to open the curtains without the light splitting his skull in two.  Samsa had known Shabeezi before she became a human woman.   All they had done was fight.   Samsa especially liked doing flying

An Expert Analysis of Michael Fassbender's Running Style From the Film 'Shame'

Tom Wiggins: What are your first impressions of Michael Fassbender/Brandon's running style? Paul Whittaker: He's running nice, smooth and relaxed. He seems like he has a good amount of fitness and he is running well within himself in terms of pace.   TW: What improvements could he make to his running style? PW: The main improvement I'd make is his foot plant.  He lands heel first and this causes a 'breaking' effect when travelling forwards.  If he landed on his mid-foot/forefoot, this would be a much better for impact stress and propulsion going forward into the next running stride. TW: Regarding his speed, how many minutes per mile is he running? PW : I would say he is running approx 7-7.30 minutes per mile. TW:   What do you make of his stride lengths?  Is he overstriding/understriding? PW:  The actor is definitely overstriding in this clip.  It would help if his feet landed underneath and below his centre of gravity. TW: What's his