The Maroon Diaries

I read a fabulous book recently, as I often do, and I want to tell you about it, which is something that I also often want to do, but often don't. I had a little epiphany about why I don't get those thoughts out and onto a blog post. I've been using the term 'literary review' in the titles of posts about books. This is because I like literary reviews, and they're definitely a good thing to do. But now I realise I need to stop using this expression. I have too many constrictive ideas about what a literary review actually is, and many of the thoughts I have about books don't seem to be part of my definition of a literary review. So I'll just write about books. If you would like to read a more conventional kind of proper literary review of this book, there's this one here on Goodreads and this one on Novel Niche , both of which I quite liked. To begin with, my story about a book begins quite a bit earlier than when I actually read it. First, there ...

Aaah, big sigh of satisfaction. I've just finished reading a Most Wonderful book. I came across  Mutants: on the form, varieties & errors of the human body, by Armand Marie Leroi , quite randomly in the library catalogue while looking for something else entirely. Yes, I was struck by the title. The heading might suggest a science fiction or horror theme, but the subtitle and Dewey classification indicate a more scholarly scientific approach. I ordered it through the library, and when it came in, a short review printed on the front cover was the first sign of the literary and educational delights I was in for. 'An exquisitely life-enhancing book... Read it and marvel' - Peter Little, Nature . I will digress at this point with a little note on the topic of critical reviews printed on the covers, front or back, of books I am considering reading. Generally, I just don't like it. I've found, through experience, that the cover reviews are often meaningless or...

Hello, dear readers! I didn't want to leave you all in the nasty gloom of yesterday's  tale of woe and despair , so now, just for fun, we'll be having a look at one of my most extraordinary salvaged treasures. There may be some who are wondering how looking through an encyclopaedia is something to be celebrated as extra, super, FUN - if that's how you're feeling, well then, you might often find things a little odd around here at The Maroon Diaries. I found this book about six years ago at the  Hobart tip shop  Resource Recovery Centre, which means that it was salvaged directly from the tip. To say it's in poor condition might be putting it mildly. It is still technically a book, thanks to the incredible quality of the stitching holding the signatures together, but I sometimes think that it won't be long before it will really just be a pile of related pages. The front cover is missing entirely, and the back cover and spine exist separately to the text block...

At first, I wasn't planning on including book reviews in my blog. So, when I first found myself composing blog posts in my head about the books I was reading, I discarded them and thought about something else. Last night, I finally finished reading  The Emperor of Scent - A Story of Perfume, Obsession, and the Last Mystery of the Senses  by  Chandler Burr . It was a heavy one to get through, so it was with some sense of satisfaction and achievement that I closed it on the last page. My mind was just thronging with thoughts and interpretations which wouldn't be discarded. They just kept typing themselves out on my mental screen, until I was starting to wonder whether book reviews might actually be the right thing for my blog. Then today I had a visit from a friend who has a dodgy internet connection at home, and hadn't seen my blog yet. I loaded it up on the screen and we scrolled through the pages together. She said ooh, ah, wow, and all such appropriate interjections, ...

In the interests of living naturally, sustainably, saving the earth, etc., I know it's a good thing to make your own cleaning products rather than buying pre-packaged substances of questionable origin and consequence. I have made and used homemade cleaning products before, and I knew all the amazing things you could do with vinegar and bicarb soda, but I'd somehow fallen back into the habit of using supermarket preparations for convenience. It happens when you're travelling, and it's not really very practical to buy all the ingredients and make up a whole batch of a product, when you can just buy a little packet of something all ready to go. Enter blog inspiration. I saw a post about a lady making her own spray cleaning product out of basic ingredients. The one I wasn't familiar with was borax. I had a little google around and read many different homemade recipes for spray cleaners, laundry soaps, dishwashing products, etc. They all varied around a basic them...

It's like sinking in quicksand. It only makes it worse, and exhausting, to kick and struggle against it. Better to yield, and sink, and just keep breathing. Eventually, I'll go to sleep, and I'll wake up, and it will be another day. It doesn't feel like this can be true, but I know it from experience, and I cling to that. The air is heavy as molten lead, movement is like through treacle. Movement hurts. Stillness hurts. Light hurts. Thought hurts. The world is unbearable, both its beauty and its tragedy are utterly heartbreaking. I want to die, I want it so much, more than I have ever wanted anything in life. Or that's what it feels like. I have realised, after many years of such thoughts, that there is actually one thing I want even more, and that is not to disappoint or hurt the people I care about. So I'm still here. Curled up in the foetal position, whimpering. Tears running down my face. Hungry, but powerless to do anything about it. I just can't de...