Nonfiction: The Life and Tryals of the Gentleman Pirate, Major Stede Bonnet by Jeremy R. Moss

The Life and Tryals of the Gentleman Pirate, Major Stede Bonnet by Jeremy R. MossKoehler Books, 2020, 228 pgs (Kindle edition). 1716. Wealthy landowner Stede Bonnet becomes The Gentleman Pirate. Armed with a paid-for crew aboard a vessel he had built specifically for the task, Bonnet leaves behind his home and family in the colony…

True Crime: The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon WinchesterHarperPerennial, 1998, 1999, 242 pgs. The late 1800s. An elusive Dr W. C. Minor sends in regular submissions to the team at Oxford University who are collating entries for the most ambitious record of the…

Series Deep Dive: Part Two – ‘Higurashi When They Cry’ – Ch. 2 Watanagashi

Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni / Higurashi When They Cry Hou: Ch. 2 WatanagashiAvailable on Steam, 07th Expansion (updated sprites), 2002, 12 hours to complete (approx.) June 1983. The cycle starts again. As Keiichi Maebara and his friends eagerly await the Watanagashi Festival, they begin exploring Okinomiya (the neighbouring town) on their days off from…

Series Deep Dive: Part One –‘Higurashi When They Cry’ – Ch.1 Onikakushi

Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni / Higurashi When They Cry Hou: Ch. 1 OnikakushiAvailable on Steam, 07th Expansion (updated sprites), 2002, 12 hours to complete (approx.) Note: This game is a visual novel and features no choice-based gameplay or voice-acting. You read along with the text, and the game’s visuals and sounds help enhance the…

Recent Reads: The Book of Formation by Ross Simonini

The Book of Formation by Ross SimoniniMelville House, 2017, 239 pgs. For around two decades, a journalist is given exclusive access to a famous television guru’s adopted son and interviews him in strict confidentiality. Masha is the ward of Mayah Isle, a celebrity personality therapist, who believes in the power of ‘P’: a life-force which…

Nonfiction: The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Oliver Sacks

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Oliver SacksPicador, 1985, 1986, 233 pgs. A series of short essays by neurologist Oliver Sacks across four chapters titled: ‘Losses,’ ‘Excesses,’ ‘Transports,’ and ‘The World of the Simple.’ In each essay, a patient’s unique story is told, revealing both the strange and moving depths of…

Otherworldly October: ‘The Curse’ by Anonymous

‘The Curse’ (1832) by AnonymousCollected in The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre by John Polidori and Others,Oxford World’s Classics, 1997, 2008, (pgs 113-27). A short but sensational story of a vengeful – though God-approved – curse and all-encompassing rage. Though hardly ground-breaking, there is a surprising cruelty in this story of a cursed Scottish laird,…

Recent Reads: Perfect Blue: Awaken from a Dream by Yoshikazu Takeuchi

Perfect Blue: Awaken from a Dream by Yoshikazu TakeuchiSeven Seas, 2018, 2002, translated., 195 pgs. Three stories of obsession. A sequel to Satoshi Kon’s hit anime film, Perfect Blue, these stories chronicle the horrors of fame and the distortions of idolisation, as three pop idols are haunted by their bizarre stalkers… Certainly a controversial book,…

Nonfiction: You Are Awesome by Matthew Syed

You Are Awesome: Find Your Confidence and Dare to be Brilliant at (Almost) Anything! by Matthew SyedWren & Rook, 2018, 160pgs. Are you the kind of person who thinks you have no talent? Maybe you think you need to be ‘special’ or ‘gifted’ to do the things you really wish you could do? Maybe you…

Nonfiction: Mindfulness for Worriers by Padraig O’Morain

‘Mindfulness for Worriers: Overcome Everyday Stress and Anxiety’ by Padraig O’MorainHodder & Stoughton, Yellow Kite, 233 pgs. Mindfulness is a way of thinking designed to reduce stress, anxiety, and symptoms of depression for even the busiest of worriers. Examining common scenarios which stir up negative feelings, this book explains how one can use everyday methods…