John Baker’s Blog

A taster:
‘Do you go into Wexford much, Granny?’ Helen asked as her grandmother sat down at the kitchen table.
‘Oh, I go in once a week,’ she said and sipped her tea.
‘How do you get in?’ Helen asked.
‘This only started last year when I sold the sites,’ her grandmother said, moving over to sit at the [...]

We were at York University last night to see and hear a reading by Carol Ann Duffy. The hall was, gratifyingly, packed beyond capacity, with many people unable to find a seat and standing at the back.
She read several love poems from Rapture, and others from The World’s Wife. These she wrapped in fragments from [...]

My neighbour told me about her brother, David, who moved to Cardiff when he left University about ten years ago. He has been working there since then, something in the IT industry. He is unmarried and lives alone.
Although David is not particularly outgoing, he has friends, belongs to a walking club and teaches a couple [...]

The opening is astounding. Some three to four pages of small print in which Camus attempts to describe his Oran, the setting of the novel. The following is an extract:
Certainly nothing is commoner nowadays than to see people working from morn till night and then proceeding to fritter away at card tables, in cafes, [...]