 john davies | |
| notes from a small curate
updated regularly
from a parish in Liverpool, UK | this week - archive - words
Go to Music :: Viewing I was mostly reading: 22/07/07 Galactic Zoo Dossier 100 paged hand-drawn celebration of psych-rock and out-folk etc. Awesome 01/07/07 J.G. Ballard: Concrete Island Man gets trapped on a motorway intersection; compelling, dark contemporary Robinson Crusoe tale 24/06/07 Lewis Mumford: The City in History Classic text, inspirations and insights on every page. Very long though 27/05/07 Joe Moran: Queuing for Beginners; The Story of Daily Life from Breakfast to Bedtime Joe goes places where no one else cares to investigate - like the Post Office queue and the office desk - and reveals wondrous truths therein 20/05/07 Jon Nicholson: A1: Portrait of a Road Photographer goes on pilgrimage up the Great North Road. A driver's perspective; some excellent pics 06/05/07 James Attlee: Isolarion; A Different Oxford Journey Local bloke goes on pilgrimage down the Cowley Road. Excellent idea 29/04/07 Stuart Maconie: Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North If you share his prejudice then Maconie's journey through the north is unputdownable. As sweet as Uncle Joe's 01/04/07 Charles Hurst: The Book of the English Oak Phil Smith's photocopy of this out-of-print forgotten work may turn out to be a defining text, on purposeful walking 11/03/07 Simon Armitage: Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid Excellent collection from a great poet of the North 25/02/07 Liverpool: Centre of the Creative Universe (Tate exhibition catalogue) Best Liverpool Culture book so far in the run-up to 2008 18/02/07 Jan Morris: Wales, Epic Views of a Small Country Rich description of Wales from all angles, every page a treasure-trove 04/02/07 Michel Delville, Andrew Norris: Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart and the Secret History of Maximalism Not an easy read but full of connexity and excellent quotes 21/01/07 Lynsey Hanley: Estates; An Intimate History Study haunted by author's crushing childhood experiences 14/01/07 Robert Bond: Iain Sinclair (Salt Studies in Contemporary Literature & Culture) Intense academic, but insightful study 17/12/06 Steve Higginson, Tony Wailey: Edgy Cities Lovely little book reflecting on the spirit of Liverpool and related port cities 03/12/06 Simon Sadler: Situationist City Getting inside the stimulating maverick world of the situationists 05/11/06 Liverpool 800: Culture, Character and History Boosterism? Something more 15/10/06 Billy Bragg: The Progressive Patriot BB in search of a wholesome Englishg identity 08/10/06 John Rogers: Remapping High Wycombe: journeys beyond the western sector Excellent record of a town's psychogeograhical adventures 01/10/06 Iain Sinclair: Edge of the Orison Revision for a special day at the heart of John Clare country 24/09/06 Liverpool Biennial: International 06 catalogue Good guide to the next two months explorations 17/09/06 Nick Thorpe: Adrift in Caledonia; Boat-hitching for the Unenlightened Beautifully observed and generously written story of Nick's watery Scots odyssey 13/08/06 Mark Thomas: As used on the famous Nelson Mandela Comedian's adventures in the arms trade: as he says himself, if you're not pissed off you're not paying attention 30/07/06 Jon McGregor: If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things Beautifully descriptive novel of the everyday 23/07/06 Andrew Kotting: In the Wake of a Deadad How to deal with a parent's passing: ask 65 people to dream up contributions to an art book like no other 16/07/06 The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger Globalisation's story, captured in a metal container 09/07/06 City: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action A good journal - link to freebie online sample 25/06/06 Dave Russell: Looking North; Northern England and the National Imagination Who we are in the eyes of the nation, an academic but engrossing read 18/06/06 Brewer's Britain and Ireland Excellent and all-consuming gazetteer 11/06/06 David Winner: Those Feet; A Sensual History of English Football Plentiful wit and wisdom about the national psyche, so bound up in the game 14/05/06 Jonathan Raban: Soft City Insightful and poetic meditation on the meaning of the urban 07/05/06 Peter Portland, Matthew Hyde and Aidan O'Rourke: Around the M60, Manchester's Orbital Motorway Coffee-table treat and passenger-seat companion 23/04/06 Shrinking Cities Project: Manchester/Liverpool report Fat and full multidisciplinary work about the present and future of the North's cities 09/04/06 Rebecca Solnit: A Field Guide to Getting Lost Beautiful meditation on many aspects of lostness, dislocation, bereavement etc 02/04/06 Chris Ware: Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth Engrossing if sobering, award-winning graphic novel 19/03/06 Roger McGough: Said and Done Lovely, lively, Liverpool life 05/03/06 James Alison: Knowing Jesus The most energising theology I've read in a long, long time 26/02/06 Raymond Williams: Border Country Welsh classic, reissued with Dai Smith intro 19/02/06 John Peel, Sheila Ravenscroft: Margrave Of The Marshes A lovely book about a lovely man 05/02/06 Tim Gorringe: A Theology of the Built Environment Excellent survey of urban place 29/01/06 Rose George: Dewsbury diary [Part 1 / Part 2] A journalist's home town return prompts a journey of my own 22/01/06 Barbara Glasson: Mixed-up Blessing The story of a brave, risky and innovative experiment in 'church' in Liverpool city centre 15/01/06 Cole Moreton: My Father Was a Hero; The True Story of a Man, a Boy and the Silence Between Them Title says it all, challenging reading on my own Dad's birthday 08/01/06 Erik Davis: Techgnosis; Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information A breathtaking exploration of a very rich theme 01/01/06 Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale: Welcome to Britain, a Celebration of Real Life Slices of life according to the Caravan Gallery, excellent stuff 25/12/05 Society Guardian: From bad to verse Full page on Jane Canning, the Bard of the Boot 11/12/05 Julian Cope: The Ur-Pagan Decade-old tour programme, Twenty Mothers era, wild, wooly, wonderful 27/11/05 Samuel Palmer: Vision and Landscape Catalogue of beautiful, visionary, exhibition 20/11/05 Polly Toynbee: Hard Work, Life in Low-pay Britain Very revealing journalistic journey 06/11/05 Thrift, Harrison, Pile (eds): Patterned Ground: Entanglements of Nature and Culture Beaches, battlefields, police stations, post-offices, trees, tractors: understanding objects and their relationship to the world around them. 30/10/05 Paul Cookson in The Evertonian Brill footy poet gets his three pages of glory 09/10/05 Iain Sinclair: The Edge of the Orison A walk north in the footsteps of mad poet Clare 02/10/05 Bob Trubshaw: Sacred Places: Prehistory and popular imagination How we come to think of places as 'sacred' - a very good survey 18/09/05 Alan Moore: Voice of the Fire Breathtaking breeze through 5,000 years of history, in a ten-mile radius around Northampton 11/09/05 Bulb magazine 'Written by young people for young people' ... but I enjoyed re-entering that moral world 04/09/05 Greenbelt festival programme To see what I missed, and stack up the talks order 21/08/05 The Pseud Mag A Fall fanzine 14/08/05 Andrew Kotting / Iain Sinclair: texts accompanying the DVD of Gallivant On Kotting's odd, artsy, personal and engrossing round-Britain journey 07/08/05 Wired August 2005 issue; on 10 years of the Web, and Gibson on U2 31/07/05 Joe Moran: Reading the Everyday Bus stop anthropology from a Liverpool academic, just up my street 24/07/05 Christoph Grunenberg (ed): Summer of Love: art of the psychedelic era - exhibition catalogue From Liverpool Tate's engrossing summer show 17/07/05 W.G. Hoskins: The Making of the English Landscape Classic survey of who and what shaped our land 26/06/05 Tristram Hunt: Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City Massive survey of who and what shaped our cities 05/06/05 Eamon Duffy: The Voices of Morebath Enthralling story of a reformation parish 29/05/05 Chris Couch: City of Change and Challenge: Urban Planning and Regeneration in Liverpool Helpful academic survey on an often emotive subject 22/05/05 Prospect magazine Good articles on Middle England and high-rise architecture 15/05/05 Alan Jamieson: A Churchless Faith What happens to people who leave - and keep the faith. Tempting... 01/05/05 Ian Mitchell: Isles of the West Boatman takes journey around Hebridean islands unearthing uneasy truths about conservation politics and practice 10/04/05 Prospect Serious political monthly; some good stuff 20/03/05 Edward Casey: Getting Back into Place Enriching restatement of the need to embrace place 06/03/05 Russ Parker: Healing Wounded History: Reconciling Peoples and Healing Places Fascinating approach to valuable subject 20/02/05 Charles Nevin: Lancashire, Where Women Die of Love Wondrously whimsical, echoing the county's prime characteristic 13/02/05 Driftnet: Psychogeographical Resource site All about walking - from Manchester 06/02/05 John Pritchard: How to Pray Just what it says, a plain and very good guide 30/01/05 Mark Roques: Fields of God The Kingdom of God in football terms - interesting concept, Ron? 23/01/05 John Inge: A Christian Theology of Place Readable and thorough treatment of broad and fascinating topic 09/01/05 Alain de Botton: The Art of Travel Wonderful, funny, and very truthful 02/01/05 Magnum Football Fascinating global photobook 26/12/04 Mark O'Brien: What's Our Name? Everton! 2003/4 diary. Great read by WSAG writer. 19/12/04 Norman C. Habel: The Land Is Mine - Six Biblical Land Ideologies Building on Brueggemann's work, another essential text 12/12/04 MacWorld Swotting before the big Regents Street purchase 05/12/04 Marc Auge: Non-places - Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity Like airport lounges, motorways. Sobering, if you believe it all 28/11/04 Walter Brueggemann: The Land - Place as Gift, Promise, and Challenge in Biblical Faith Revisiting essential text on this fascinating topic 14/11/04 John Reader: Cities An entertaining and insightful history of civilization 07/11/04 JR Ravensdale: History on Your Doorstep Landscape investigations 31/10/04 Plastic Rhino Style mag gets very real in Rhyl 24/10/04 Denis Carroll: Land Christian perspectives on development issues series 10/10/04 Rafi Segal and Eyal Weizman, eds: A Civilian Occupation - The Politics of Israeli Architecture Eye-opening view of a landscape ripped apart by new build 26/09/04 Michael Northcott: The Environment and Christian Ethics Advanced, but readable ... 19/09/04 James Jones: Jesus and the Earth Good primer on essential subject 12/09/04 Franklin Foer: How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization Unlikely perhaps, but very pertinent, very readable 05/09/04 Greenbelt Festival programme So much to see in so little time 22/08/04 Fortean Times Astonishing entertainment for the train journey 15/08/04 Edward Platt: Leadville: A Biography of the A40 The human story behind a nightmare road 08/08/04 Lloyd Robson: Cardiff Cut Breathless clatter through city of grateful night 01/08/04 Walter Brueggemann: The Land: Place as Gift, Promise, and Challenge in Biblical Faith Hoping this classic may meet Sinclair et al somewhere along the way 25/07/04 Kay Parrott: West Derby and Norris Green [Images of England] It's about round here 18/07/04 Iain Sinclair: Dining on Stones Quoted this in academia this week... 11/07/04 Iain Sinclair: Dining on Stones Into the second third of this three-in-one story 04/07/04 Iain Sinclair: Dining on Stones His latest back-of-England road story 27/06/04 Patrick Keiller: Robinson in Space Book of the quirky English road movie 20/06/04 Tim Smit: Eden Story of the inspirational project 13/06/04 Yann Martel: Life of Pi wondrous story of the high seas 30/05/04 Site-sight website Excellent Liverpool public art / environment projects 23/05/04 Leonora Tubbs Tisdale: Preaching as Local Theology and Folk Art On reading your congregation 16/05/04 Demos: Network Logic We are all ants now.... 09/05/04 Demos: Network Logic Essays on our interconnected world 02/05/04 James Hopewell: Congregation: Stories and Structures Reading the community - a unique approach 25/04/04 Howies catalogue Sales talk, or laid-back lifestyle tips? 18/04/04 Land Lines A journey into Scottish literature and landscape 11/04/04 Ronaldo Munck (ed): Re-inventing the City? inbetween Easter services 04/04/04 Ronaldo Munck (ed): Re-inventing the City? Essays on Liverpool's futures 28/03/04 Francis Wheen: How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World No-one escapes Wheen's measured disdain 21/03/04 Francis Wheen: How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World Journalist longs for (the) enlightenment 14/03/04 Jon Gower (Ed): I Know Another Way: From Tintern to St.David's Secular pilgrims, poets all, on a celebratory walk through Wales 07/03/04 Strange Attractor News from somewhere else 22/02/04 James Corbett: Everton - School of Science The 80s onwards - my time 15/02/04 James Corbett: Everton - School of Science Ups and downs, 1878 to date 08/02/04 Eyal Weizman: The Politics of Verticality Israel-Palestine's geopolitics examined 01/02/04 Mute Culture and politics after the Net 25/01/04 Stewart Brand: The Clock of the Long Now - Time and Responsibility Expansive, inspiring thinking 18/01/04 Church Action on Poverty newsletter Enthused by John Battle, to more CAP commitment in 2004 11/01/04 Fortean Times Truth is stranger than fiction, as this mag amply shows 04/01/04 Eugene Peterson: Under the Unpredictable Plant: an Exploration in Vocational Holiness Ministry as it ought to be, seen through Jonah's eyes 28/12/03 Michel De Certeau: The Practice of Everyday Life Throws light on how we all live subversively: academic but affirming writing 21/12/03 Friends' Christmas letters Another year; deeper in debt to friendship 14/12/03 Bob Trubshaw: Explore Folklore Readable introduction to fascinating topic 07/12/03 3rd Stone Final edition of mag for the modern antiquarian 30/11/03 Mike Davis: Dead Cities: A Natural History Apocalyptic, scary... 23/11/03 Mike Davis: Dead Cities: A Natural History Engrossing, discomforting... 16/11/03 Simon Ford: Hip Priest, The Story of Mark E. Smith and The Fall On the Bury New Road something stirs... 09/11/03 Harper's Magazine Excellent essays on current affairs stateside 02/11/03 Peter Ackroyd: Blake Wonderfully written biography 26/10/03 Richard Rohr: Wild Man's Journey helpful reflections on male spirituality 19/10/03 John Belchem: Merseypride: Essays in Liverpool Exceptionalism Mainly Irish Catholic histories, written in a 'contemporary' light, already dated 05/10/03 Guardian Weekly Unfussy news coverage, all I need just now 28/09/03 David Keenan: England's Hidden Reverse England's underground unveiled 21/09/03 J.G. Ballard: Millennium People A middle-class revolt? It may look like this 14/09/03 Cabinet magazine Art and culture from Brooklyn, NY. Issue 11: Flight 07/09/03 CAAT magazine Apposite reading as the annual UK arms bazaar approaches 31/08/03 Chris Brook : K Foundation Burn A Million Quid It's true. And disturbing 24/08/03 Peter Ackroyd: Albion It's a big book, good to dip into 17/08/03 When Saturday Comes Renewed my sub to the people's soccer mag 10/08/03 Peter Ackroyd: Albion 'The origins of the English Imagination', fascinating 03/08/03 Kenneth White: House of Tides Exiled Scot beautifully creative in Brittany 27/07/03 Word magazine Oldies music mag with literary bent, Du Noyer involved 20/07/03 Rowan Williams: Address to General Synod Wise vision of new church 13/07/03 Iain Sinclair: London Orbital Beyond Bluewater this dark odyssey ends 06/07/03 Iain Sinclair: London Orbital Exploring converted asylums and greasy caffs 29/06/03 Iain Sinclair: London Orbital Up the Lea Valley to the wild outer reaches 22/06/03 Michael Leunig: A Bunch of Poesy Simple, profound, mystic cartoonist 15/06/03 New Welsh Review Arts and culture from fascinating Celtic fringe |
