Skeleton Architecture

I heard on the news this morning that they've discovered another type of human which was living at the same time as our ancestors and the other species of humans. Sadly, we're the only humans left, and, while it's possible that there was some interbreeding, it is also possible that we killed them off. We can't know for sure, because there wasn't anyone writing it all down. Humans like us have been around for about 200,000 years. Throughout our history we have communicated, at first through gestures and sound, but we have evidence that we've been communicating by making marks for 40,000 years (which isn't long compared to how long we've been here, eh?). The first thing that springs to mind is cave painting, but there is also evidence that some marks were made to communicate to others. However, writing as we think of it, has only been around for about 5,000 years (probably - it might be earlier, but not written on things that lasted - think Betamax)...

I have spoken before about how my list of books to read is huge, and ever growing. This week for Friday's Fabulous Five, I thought I'd share five books which have recently gone on the list. Perhaps I can make your list grow too?! 1. First up is Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther, as recommeded on A Good Read back in March 2015. This is a really old book, but I've not read it yet, even though there was a Virago version and I used to read EVERYTHING from Virago! Have you read it yet? 2 Next up, and I don't know how it got on the list, but it looks good is The Wilder Shores of Love by Lesley Blanch. This is pretty old too, but fascinating, telling tales from Lesley's life. It's reviewed in the Telegraph here . Lesley died in 2007, aged 103, and having packed a lot in. Literally. 3. Also from A Good Read (I should stop listening to that programme) is The Village Against the World by Dan Hancox (they talk about it at about 10 minutes in). This is about Marinaleda i...

I'm being sarcastic. I don't love writing for free. I spend time doing research, crafting the right words, and trying to keep people entertained. The fact that I enjoy the work doesn't stop it being work, and does not make it worth less. I've moaned about it before, here . I do lots of writing that I don't share on the blog, here's a wee teaser from a recent poem. I've reintroduced ads on the blog because they seem to have improved since I last had them, and because I am not averse to making money. I also do other writing, which I don't share on here, but do attempt to make money with instead. I mentioned the other day that I follow the  Harper Collins Authonomy blog , the other day this featured a quote from Andrew Solomon (a writer, who also did this lovely TED talk ), himself quoting Rainer Maria Rilker (a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist): Rilke has written, “Search for the cause, find the impetus that bids you write. Put it to this tes...