John Baker’s Blog

Richard Garay was born in Buenos Aires with an Argentine father and an English mother. In the third novel from Colm Tóibin we join Garay’s life during the time of the Generals, the disappeared, the Falklands war and its aftermath as the American government and oil industry infiltrates Argentina to ensure a swift and easy [...]

His five most important books

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. (Yes, I’ve read it - long time ago - some of the images are still in my head)
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. (Loved it, but again it was long ago. It’s a writing lesson in itself - introduced [...]

The Hay Festival is a canvas village. With the rain pelting down all day today (it never paused for a second) the walkways were all sodden, the clientele even wetter.
But I’m already ahead of myself. Last night we went to bed around 1.00 am, the same time as the wedding guests were leaving. We thought [...]

I’ve managed to avoid talking about dialogue in this series up to now, but eventually it has to be dealt with. I don’t think it’s possible to deal with it adequately in one post. So what I have to say will be supplemented later by a couple of additional posts.
It is a complicated subject because [...]