The latest addition to my website is Tatsuhiko Shibusawa‘s 高丘親王航海記 (Takaoka’s Travels). This is a highly imaginative and colourful account of the travels of the very real Prince Takaoka around South-East Asia as he tries to get to Hindustan and the birthplace of the Buddha. The book is set in the ninth century. Quite a … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Volter Kilpi‘s Gulliverin matka Fantomimian mantereelle (Gulliver’s Voyage to Phantomimia). This is the first Kilpi novel to be translated into English but was not completed as Kilpi died before he could finish it. It tells of the fifth voyage of Lemuel Gulliver, including a ship getting trapped in … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Olga Tokarczuk‘s Bieguni (Flights). The Polish title refers to a sect of Old Believers who believed that they should run away from anti-Christian authorities. However, though this issue briefly comes up later in the book, the novel is essentially a series of chapters of varying lengths, primarily on … Read more
The other day we went to an exhibition of the superb paintings of the very wonderful Anne-Catherine Phillips. We have two of her paintings in our house and would have more if we had bigger walls! As we were leaving, the owner of the house told us that Charles Doughty used to live there. Doughty … Read more