tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31875695.post5797462348109894941..comments2024-02-07T21:24:37.121-08:00Comments on Blogtrotter: Adele Barker's "Not Quite Paradise": Book ReviewJohn L. Murphy / "FionnchĂș"http://www.blogger.com/profile/16616876266772470719noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31875695.post-69793467132289335112012-03-30T16:28:17.099-07:002012-03-30T16:28:17.099-07:00Tony, a few years at some Irish lit conference the...Tony, a few years at some Irish lit conference the poet Richard Murphy was reading from his then-new autobiography "The Kick." Whatever he read from then did not "kick" in, but I recall now that he's from a planter family who'd been gentry in Ceylon; his father was Colombo's mayor. He now lives there in retirement, himself. He has some poems in "The Price of Stone" about the frescoes from the 5th c. in Sri Lanka--perhaps the ones you saw?John L. Murphy / "FionnchĂș"https://www.blogger.com/profile/16616876266772470719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31875695.post-35135765839635262832012-03-28T14:17:22.146-07:002012-03-28T14:17:22.146-07:00Sinead and I went to Sri Lanka a few years ago. It...Sinead and I went to Sri Lanka a few years ago. It was after the tsunami so maybe 2006/7. People told us about the waves washing down the streets where we were walking. We went to Kandy, visited the rock temple at Dambulla, climbed the truly impressive Sigiriya. All fantastic places. There was an edginess about it because the war was still going on. We weren't allowed to get out of our taxi or take pictures in Colombo and told not to travel by train. Great Buddhist bookshop in Colombo by the way. But for some reason I never fully engaged with the country, I didn't dislike it but I think there was something in me just refusing to let it enchant me. Hopefully will go back some time and give it another go.Tony Bailiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17747493009715601398noreply@blogger.com