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“By the end of the twentieth century Interpol was ranking art crime as one of the world’s most profitable criminal activities, second only to drug smuggling and weapons dealing. The three activities were related: Drug pushers were moving stolen and smuggled art down the same pipelines they used for narcotics, and terrorists were using looted antiquities to fund their activities. This latter trend began in 1974, when the IRA stole $32 million worth of paintings by Rubens, Goya, and Vermeer. In 2001, the Taliban looted the Kabul museum and “washed” the stolen works in Switzerland. Stolen art was much more easily transportable than drugs or arms. A customs canine, after all, could hardly be expected to tell the difference between a crap Kandinksy and a credible one.”
― Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art
― Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art
“We left the car beside the park and set off to explore. It was indeed a tiny patch; just a grassy scrap of land almost completely shaded by several massive Moreton Bay figs. It wasn't hard to work out where the nest was. A heavy-duty fence of bright orange mesh stood in a U-shape, dominating the middle of the park. An incubating curlew was sitting at the far end, so we didn't go any closer. Four large wooden signs faced outwards, one on each side, ensuring that no one could miss seeing them. Although these were professionally produced, the wording seemed a little incongruous: Curlews nest here. Bugger off. It was impossible to misinterpret the message.”
― Curlews on Vulture Street
― Curlews on Vulture Street
“I kicked off my shoes and flopped on the sofa next to Gran, who had fallen asleep over a sock she was knitting. It was already a good twelve feet long because, she said, she had “yet to build up enough courage to turn the heel.”
― The Well of Lost Plots
― The Well of Lost Plots
“None of his neighbours knew that Mr Collier volunteered for the OED nor that words from their local newspapers would eventually find their way onto its authoritative pages. Thanks to his work, there is a weird bias in the OED towards quotations from the Brisbane Courier Mail. It is now the three-hundred-and-ninetieth-most frequently quoted source in the Dictionary, with more quotations from it than from either Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, or the Book of Common Prayer.”
― The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary
― The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary
“She glanced towards them, before continuing in a quiet, more pensive voice. 'These birds are very special. I live in the middle of a noisy, poisonous city, full of cars, predators and people. Yet these wild creatures turn up and remind me that all is not lost. Look at them. They're made of granite and moss and dead leaves. Nature in a totally unnatural place. Knowing they can survive and raise their offspring, even here, makes me want to protect them. They bring me hope.'
'Let me tell you something,' she said, fixing me with a steady gaze. 'It was that fella on the radio that woke me up to it. Got me to see what was there anyway. Once you look properly, you see wild things all around. But they need help sometimes. I'm doin' my bit for these two.”
― Curlews on Vulture Street
'Let me tell you something,' she said, fixing me with a steady gaze. 'It was that fella on the radio that woke me up to it. Got me to see what was there anyway. Once you look properly, you see wild things all around. But they need help sometimes. I'm doin' my bit for these two.”
― Curlews on Vulture Street
Penny’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Penny’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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