• Tailor Mouse (1902) watercolor art
    Books

    Why Beatrix Potter is Still Beloved 100 Years Later

    June 12, 2024 - By 

    Why Do The Stories of Beatrix Potter Continue to Endure With Adults & Children Alike? Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit was first published commercially in 1902, and since then has never been out of print. The fact that 4 Beatrix Potter books are bought every minute is a pretty common piece of trivia, however I would be keen to know how many of those 4 books have been bought for children, and how many were bought for adults. I was 25 when I read the first of Potter’s tales, and it did not take me long to realise…

  • Video Games

    The Video Game Companions I Love Most

    May 19, 2024 - By 

    You may not realise it, but your favourite video game companion says a lot about you – they can be indicative of your gameplay style, and you as a person in general. As an example, I always find people’s go-to Skyrim follower very telling. For instance, if you stuck with Lydia, the Housecarl you receive at the start of the game, all the way through to that final battle with Alduin, you must be a very loyal Dragonborn indeed. That, or your self-respect level might be quite low, to be willing to suffer Lydia’s insolent attitude which, frankly, is not…

  • the st andrew and st mary s church in watton at stone england united kingdom
    Books

    J.L Carr’s ‘A Month in the Country’ and Handling Trauma

    May 10, 2024 - By 

    Published in 1980, J.L Carr’s A Month in the Country follows Tom Birkin, an art restorer on his first job who visits Oxgodby, Yorkshire following the first world war. Birkin is to spend the summer uncovering a medieval church mural, finding as much to interest him in the people of the village as the mural itself. There’s the Vicar’s wife, Alice Keach, whose kindly yet lonely manner charms Birkin fairly quickly; Kathy Ellerbeck, the teenage daughter of the stationmaster (who doubles as a Wesleyan preacher); and Charles Moon, a young man of roughly the same age, hired to find the…

  • Reviews - Video Games

    6 Reasons Marvel’s Midnight Suns Impressed Me on Apocalyptic Proportions

    April 27, 2024 - By 

    Comic book video games have long been a kind of gaming comfort-food for me. Whether it is delivering pizza in Spider-Man 2, or re-playing the Superman Returns demo over and over (usually just to have Clark Kent lift innocent bystanders miles into the air, only to abandon them in the chimney of a power station). Even now, there is something reassuring in knowing there will always be games like this. Games which first let us pretend to be the most powerful beings on Earth, and then let us behave as we actually would by giving us the silliest of gameplay…

  • pagoda in gray scale shot
    Books

    My New Favourite Crime Series: The ‘Detective Kindaichi Mysteries’

    April 10, 2024 - By 

    What is it that you enjoy most about crime fiction? Is it the complexity of the mystery itself, or is it following an eccentric detective as they piece together what happened? Is it the personalities of the suspects themselves, or is it the locations – either far off, exotic shores or something closer to home? My favourite crime novels usually play with all of these elements, and possibly more if it is brave enough to get a little gruesome. Seishi Yokomizo definitely wasn’t afraid to push the envelope when he wrote his series of 77 books following Kosuke Kindaichi, known…

  • Reviews - Video Games

    Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Is Redeemed by Its Finale

    March 30, 2024 - By 

    Is it reasonable to say that I like Star Wars a healthy amount? I like it, but I don’t love it like my older brother does and I definitely don’t love it as much as die hard Star Wars fans do. So it may not surprise you to learn that the first time I played Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was four years after its release, despite the sequel already having been out for some time, and only because it had finally come to PlayStation Plus. It also suffices to say that I wasn’t going in with major expectations. I…

  • stone bridge leading to the medieval eltz castle
    Books

    Why ‘Dracula’ Was the First Classic I Fell in Love With

    March 10, 2024 - By 

    I have a funny relationship with classic novels. They make up probably 80% of my bookshelf, and yet I find myself hesitating every time I open the first page of one. It’s because I’ve come to realise that ‘classic’ does not guarantee enjoyment. Yes, it usually does guarantee something well written, insightful and intellectually valuable. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to enjoy reading it. I can appreciate The Grapes of Wrath and its heartbreaking commentary on American industrialisation, while also knowing that I never want to subject myself to reading the approx. 500 page monstrosity again. When I…

  • Video Games

    9 Ways Final Fantasy IX Stopped Me in My Tracks

    February 20, 2024 - By 

    This month, I finished playing my third Final Fantasy game – Final Fantasy IX. And I loved it! There was so much to enjoy about my journey across Gaia, but my biggest take away was how many times it took me by surprise, sometimes by doing the unexpected and other times by sticking to conventional JRPG fare but really excelling at it at the same time! Here are 9 ways Final Fantasy IX stopped me in my tracks: 1. Every Time Someone Said ‘Bastard’ I’m not sure why this was so jarring to me, possibly because FFIX is a very…

  • pink flower field
    Books

    Spring Reading: 5 Books to Kick Start the New Season

    February 11, 2024 - By 

    What does Spring mean to you? To me it means an awakening: animals and plants stir from deep slumbers, and new life emerges. The world looks a little prettier, and its inhabitants are a little more awake. It’s the beginning of a new cycle – a chance to clean things up or start all over again. While we all have rituals to start out the year, whether sticking to newly made resolutions or just tidying up the home a little, one of my favourite ways to kick off a new season is by deciding what I’m going to read for…

  • white building
    Books - Reviews

    Lost Connections: Why A Passage to India Defied My Expectations

    January 28, 2024 - By 

    I don’t feel very connected to my culture. I am the grandchild of Indian immigrants on both sides of my family, and truthfully, I’ve always felt a little more English than Indian. I observe some of the festivals, but barely speak the languages. I consume the food, but not the religion. I know that it’s a little sad not to feel my cultural roots, but I recognise that much of this is by choice – I can blame my parents for not teaching me Hindi growing up, but I can’t really blame them for the fact that I, at 26…