High Seas

Almost forgot to report on last week’s literary jaunt.  On a night of such wind and rain as would have kept any self-respecting pirate below decks, I took myself off to Thornbury library where Adrian Tinniswood (writer, historian and fellow Tweeter) was on tour with his Pirates of Barbary.  This means I am now cognisant of the difference between a corsair a privateer and a pirate (though please don’t test me on it).

Buccaneers, on the other hand,  did not get a mention, and I now discover they are a different beast entirely, hailing from the Caribbean rather than the Med. In my mind, of course, they belong on a grainy film set somewhere near the Thames, headed up by a young Robert Shaw as Dan Tempest.

Now that’s what I call a pirate.

Meanwhile I am reading The Lost Child, Julie Myerson’s controversial memoir-cum-history. It’s an absorbing  read in which I think the juxtaposition of family histories works very well. 

Should she have done it? In terms of writing I suspect she had no choice. Should she have published?  I don’t know. Maybe not when her family is still so close to the events.

For a well thought out review and discussion try Dove Grey Reader’s review.