The Rachel Papers was my first Martin Amis novel and I liked it enough that I would read Amis again, most definitely. People say his subsequent efforts, such as Money and London Fields, are brilliant, and based on this book … Continue reading »

Joshua Then And Now is a compelling novel penned by Canada’s most intriguing writer. Joshua now is in hospital with broken limbs and a battered visage. Journalists are snooping around his house looking for tips. Joshua is a local writer, … Continue reading »

The other night, I got an email from the local business development agency advising me that an announcement for my book launch was now listed in a municipal events-calendar. I clicked the link to see what it looked like and … Continue reading »

“Niceties behind us, the stranger looked me in the eye. ‘I am porridge.’” Now it was my turn to look horrified. ‘Yes, yes,’ he said, thinking that I doubted him. “I am pirate.” This was little better. “PIRATE!” he shouted … Continue reading »

Part Wish, Part Propaganda, Much Pish Posh Martin Jacques’s When China Rules the World is well written, nicely packaged, and fails utterly in explaining why China is going to rule the world. But then, maybe we should it expect it … Continue reading »

Many people are familiar with the story about how China’s economy was forged from the embers of the Cultural Revolution; how it went from an insolvent, antiquated, Soviet-style system to a white-hot and unstoppable free-market beacon. After Mao Zedong’s death, … Continue reading »

Published in 1937, George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier documents the grinding poverty of northern England, namely Lancashire and Yorkshire. As with Orwell’s better-known and somewhat similar Down and Out in Paris and London, the author sets out to … Continue reading »

Paul Theroux’s The Happy Isles of Oceania I’m a big fan of Paul Theroux, at least his travel literature (the only novel of his I’ve read is Waldo, his debut, which, despite moments of hilarity, doesn’t quite come off). In … Continue reading »

It’s known in argumentative logic as a slippery slope or domino fallacy: without sufficient evidence or corresponding explanation, a particular event is offered up as being just one, usually the first, in a series of events inexorably leading to a … Continue reading »

Recently, the Senate passed a bill that would slap stiff tariffs on China for managing its currency. Economists believe the renminbi is undervalued, an assumption that has senators from both parties crying foul about what they see as the root … Continue reading »