Meta
Archives
Categories
Category Archives: books films arts etc
Brushing up on White Teeth
Another re-read. Zadie Smith’s achievement in White Teeth, published when she was only 25, is quite astonishing. I remember the vigour, the humour, the wonderfully eccentric cast from first reading 11 years ago: the Cain and Abel brothers (who are really … Continue reading
Posted in books films arts etc
Leave a comment
The Pianist
Polanski’s film of the true-life story of a Polish Jewish pianist, incarcerated in the Warsaw ghetto and saved by a mixture of luck, arbitrary kindnesses, and heroic actions by local Poles, is almost unremittingly dark in tone (as you would … Continue reading
Posted in books films arts etc
Leave a comment
Hattersley’s England, Newby’s Ireland
One might almost be put off a book called “In Search of England” which adds, on the front cover “Gloriously Uplifting: Daily Mail”. However, as the author is Roy Hattersley, it seemed unlikely that there would be much in the way … Continue reading
Posted in books films arts etc
Leave a comment
Repossessing Possession
Radio 4 is doing A.S. Byattt’s “Possession” over 3 weeks in dramatised 15-minute segments. It’s pretty good, and captures the story-line of the original very well. I can see why the adaptor has provided a sort 0f frame of Roland … Continue reading
Posted in books films arts etc
Leave a comment
A Poetic Late Flowering
Michael Hildred’s poetry book “Late Flowering”, illustrated by the author, ranges more or less chronologically through his life experiences, from childhood in Selby during the war to living, still in Yorkshire, in the 21st century. I’m familiar with Michael’s dramatic … Continue reading
Posted in books films arts etc
Leave a comment
Back to Naipaul
V.S. Naipaul’s “A Bend in the River” was first published in 1979 and I must have first read it soon after it came out in Penguin in 1980. It’s a tale of post-colonial Africa, set somewhere deep in the interior … Continue reading
Posted in books films arts etc
Leave a comment
Vermeer in Cambridge
It’s a cosy little exhibition at the Fitzwilliam, and free !! What it does, rather than show off lots of Vermeer’s paintings of women (there are a few) is set Vermeer in context, his portraits in context, the detail … Continue reading
Posted in books films arts etc
Leave a comment
Two Theatres
Way back in the 60s we used to watch a TV psudo-Victorian music hall programme from the Leeds City Varieties theatre — compered, if I remember right, by Leonard Sachs. 50 years on, first visit. It’s a long and narrow … Continue reading
Posted in books films arts etc, concerts, pubs
Leave a comment
Walk !
Walk ! is the title of a new book by Colin Speakman whose poetry book I mentioned in a post on 17 September this year. Colin is an occasional poet but spends much more time promoting walking and the enjoyment … Continue reading
Posted in books films arts etc, Walks
Leave a comment
Vampires in Bishopthorpe
I know, implausible isn’t it ? But Matt Haig’s outwardly respectable suburban family, the Radleys, in the book of the same name, are the real thing. I’ve never read a vampire novel before, so I’ve no idea if this is … Continue reading
Posted in books films arts etc
Leave a comment