Category Archives: Non-fiction

In Defence of Leisure by Akshi Singh

Posted by Kate W in Non-fiction and tagged with , , , , , , ,

I picked up Akshi Singh’s In Defence of Leisure on one of my leisurely afternoons browsing at Readings… that tells you I probably don’t ‘need’ the book but hey, who doesn’t like a little validation every now and then?

The premise of Singh’s book is that we all want more free time but don’t necessarily know how to use it. I think I’m pretty good at leisure time, and I’m never short of ideas on how to use it. What drew me to the book was the fact that Singh’s thoughts about leisure are explored in parallel with her reading of the works of celebrated psychoanalyst Marion Milner. I have never read any Milner, so In Defence of Leisure will perhaps prompt a Milner-reading-project. Continue reading →

Strangers by Belle Burden

Posted by Kate W in Non-fiction and tagged with , , , , , ,

I’m not sure why but I’ve been very slow off the mark with memoirs this year. Ordinarily, I’d be at least ten deep by April – memoir is my favourite genre. Anyway, I picked up Strangers by Belle Burden (subtitle – ‘Memoir of a Marriage’) and I barely moved a muscle until I’d finished it.

Belle’s story is relatively straightforward – happily married to a man called James, three teenage children, an apartment in New York and a large house on Martha’s Vineyard. Belle had worked as a lawyer at a large firm where she met James. She left the practice after they married and had their first child, and in the meantime, James moved to working with a hedge fund (and was very successful). When COVID hit, the couple moved to Martha’s Vineyard and fell into the rhythm of slower days, cooking elaborate meals and long walks.

And then James announced he was leaving Belle. Continue reading →

The Four Spent the Day Together by Chris Kraus

Posted by Kate W in Fiction, Non-fiction and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Are you familiar with Chris Kraus’s writing? I have never read her seminal work, I Love Dick, but did enjoy the TV series based on the book that came out a couple of years ago. It’s certainly not necessary to have read her previous work to appreciate her latest ‘novel’ (it’s actually a combination of  autofiction, memoir and true crime), The Four Spent the Day Together, however, I suspect it would have been a richer reading experience had I. Continue reading →

The Art Thief by Michael Finkel

Posted by Kate W in Non-fiction and tagged with , , , , , ,

Aesthetics are higher than ethics.
– Oscar Wilde

When I was on my recent beach holiday, I read a book a day. I locked-in quickly on the day I picked up The Art Thief by Michael Finkel. It was gripping.

In a nutshell, it’s the true-crime story of Swiss master art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser, and his girfriend, Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus. Over the course of eight years, Breitwieser stole more than three hundred rare and precious objects, from paintings and ivory carvings to silver ware and weapons (he had a penchant for 16th century pieces). He targeted smaller museums and cathedrals all over Europe and the robberies occurred in broad daylight. His tools were nothing more than a Swiss army knife, stylish clothing, and his girlfriend’s designer handbag. As he later revealed, ‘…all forms of security have a weakness‘ and ‘…it isn’t action … that usually lands a thief in prison. It’s hesitation.’ Continue reading →

Two memoirs

Posted by Kate W in Non-fiction and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Not quite sure what compelled me to read these two memoirs one after the other, given that both deal with the topic of suicide (although the focus of the Toews is on her writing and how her life experiences have shaped that – those experiences include the death of her father and her sister by suicide). Anyway, it wasn’t the cry-fest I anticipated. In fact, not a tear was shed. Partly because Li has quite a different perspective on suicide than others I’ve come across, and in reading Toews, I was marvellously distracted by her plans for a wind museum. Continue reading →