Ghost Forest

As I was coming across Trafalgar Square this morning, I was stopped in my tracks be Ghost Forest, by Angela Palmer - there's something very powerful about this assembly of downed trees - their sheer scale, for one thing. (There's a handful of my photos here)

It's in place until Friday, and well worth a side trip to see in person.

life takes turns like fiery shadows

Last night I had the privilege of going with a friend to the award ceremony for the first Welcome Trust Book Prize - a new and extremely generous prize, intended to stimulate interest and debate about medicine and literature.

You might think that with medicine and illness being such a central common experience in human life, such a prize would be redundant, so I was most surprised that the winner - Andrea Gillies - mentioned during her speech that the Guardian had declined to publish a review of her book because it wouldn't have suitably general appeal. Keeper is a story about living with someone who's living with Alzheimer's, and it's startling to think that that's considered a niche thing - I know so many people who's lives have been touched both by the disease itself, and by how that illness has changed people they love. It's certainly a book that's now on my reading list, along with several others from the short list.

since they took down your name

Foyles have posted their events listings for the run from tomorrow (Martin Bell with his new book on the MP's expenses scandal) through to December (Redefining a Classic - Making Classics Relevant in the Modern Age) - there's a rich vein of free events, with a sprinkling of paid ones, all brought to you by one of my favourite London bookshops.

Check them out, and email your reservations soon before they run out of tickets.

(Unrelated: post title comes from '95 Charing Cross Road', by The Penny Black Remedy, and is relevant only by accident of address.)

* Photo by Adam Greenfield, used under Creative Commons, with thanks.