I had no recollection that I had read this book before. The front cover - probably more exciting than the book Up until the moment where the Chamber of Commerce competition is mentioned I read it as a wholly new experience. Even when I remembered the incident with the box of chocolates, the words around… Continue reading Rónán Hession – Leonard and Hungry Paul
Category: Books
John Hendrix – The Mythmakers
:The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien There is a poster on the wall in the downstairs toilet. It’s framed now but has the creases and watermarks from a long past and some rough handling. It advertises a radio serialisation of 'The Lord of the Rings' by the BBC in 1987. When our… Continue reading John Hendrix – The Mythmakers
Half Training – Week Five
I’m currently in a bit of a quandary. My diary says that I have booked a ten-mile race on Sunday and given how slowly I managed to jog to Parkrun last Saturday, which was only five miles, I am not sure how it’s going to go. But then I had quite tired legs, so hopefully… Continue reading Half Training – Week Five
Hay Festival 2025
Anne asks me a random question. ‘Can you describe the talks we’ve seen with words beginning with “C”?’ ‘Why the letter “C”?’ ‘Because the first words I thought of all began with it, so I wondered if I could create a theme.’ It’s hard to bring a coalescence to such diverse speakers as Emma Barnett… Continue reading Hay Festival 2025
RSC: Hamlet – Back in Stratford
I know I shouldn’t, what with the crumbs and all, but I’m eating a pain au chocolat on the bed with a glass of red to wash it down. It’s a moment of decadence that I can enjoy while we relax, before watching our second play in two nights. And luckily, it’s not my bed. … Continue reading RSC: Hamlet – Back in Stratford
Rebecca F. Kuang – Yellowface
I’m fifty-one years old and I have just finished Yellowface. My age is critical here: one, because the book was bought for me in 2023, and it’s only now that I’ve got to the end. two, because my age might have something to do with not liking any of the characters. It hasn’t taken all… Continue reading Rebecca F. Kuang – Yellowface
Two Plays from the RSC: The Red Shoes / Twelfth Night
promo posters from the RSC The Red Shoes Fairy tales in the nineteenth century did not have the Disney gilded happy-ever-afters that we expect today. In the original Hans Christian Anderson story, The Red Shoes contained sorcery, amputations and death with a large side of moral instruction. The protagonist’s happiness comes quite literally in the ever after,… Continue reading Two Plays from the RSC: The Red Shoes / Twelfth Night
Cabaret – Goodbye to Berlin
I’ve just finished reading Christopher Isherwood’s Goodbye to Berlin, the book which holds the initial threads of the storyline that make up the musical Cabaret. I should have, for completion’s sake, gone back and re-watched the film starring Liza Minelli and Michael York but for this blog, I’ll have to make do with my memory… Continue reading Cabaret – Goodbye to Berlin
Hilary Mantel – Beyond Black
I didn't get it from Waterstones What are people looking for when they go to a medium? Is it solace, reassurance, resolution? Or just an affirmation that they’ve picked the right kitchen units? I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to read something else by Hilary Mantel. I loved her Wolf Hall trilogy.… Continue reading Hilary Mantel – Beyond Black
Hay Festival – Part Three
I finally saw the kite on Sunday – I have decided it’s the same one that has been popping up in the sky for Angela and Anne to gawp at each day, as we always see it around five miles out from Hay. Its silhouetted shape considerately soared above the car’s right side this time… Continue reading Hay Festival – Part Three
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