Category Archives: books films arts etc

I first came across Rose­mary Sutcliff’s “The Eagle of the Ninth” back in the 50s when it was seri­al­ised on BBC radio’s “Children’s Hour.”  It appealed to me then as a won­der­ful study of loy­alty (though I wouldn’t have put … Con­tinue read­ing →

Mike Kenny’s adapt­a­tion of “Peter Pan” at York Theatre Royal was delight­ful — much aided by the sta­ging in the round (as his pre­vi­ous “Rail­way Chil­dren” and “Wind in the Wil­lows” adapt­a­tions).    I don’t think I ever saw the … Con­tinue read­ing →

I should have pos­ted on this as soon as I saw it — a film set around the expul­sion of Jews from Paris dur­ing WWII, incar­cer­a­tion in the Velo­drome D’Hiver and then in camps out­side Paris.  A little girl hides … Con­tinue read­ing →

First, the pos­it­ive.  Michael Laskey’s poetry book “The Tightrope Wed­ding” — largely domestic ori­ent­ated, but poignant and per­cept­ive about life with oth­ers one(mostly) loves. Dis­ap­poin­ted by Ray­mond Chandler’s short story col­lec­tion “Pick-up on Noon Street”, pos­sibly because I found it … Con­tinue read­ing →

“The Thin Man” dates back to the early 30s.  Dashi­ell Hammett’s style has per­haps dated more than Chand­ler and the style isn’t as crisp and witty.  But the milieu (New York high and low-life) and the tough­ness of the invest­ig­ator … Con­tinue read­ing →

I’d thought it was all hype, The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal, but it turns out to be an abso­lutely fas­cin­at­ing read.  how he man­ages to get into the skin of his ancest­ors in quite that way … Con­tinue read­ing →

The recent death of Patrick Leigh Fer­mor sent me back to “A Time of Gifts”, the first in his pro­jec­ted tri­logy of volumes recount­ing his jour­ney on foot from the Hook of Hol­land to Con­stantinople, start­ing in winter 1933.  Hav­ing … Con­tinue read­ing →

Con­tinu­ing my pro­gramme of re-readings of books  have greatly enjoyed in the past, I came to E.Annie Proulx’ “The Ship­ping News.”  I prob­ably read it too fast last time, for although I retained the gist of the story (Appar­ent Loser … Con­tinue read­ing →