The art of dying by Ambrose Parry
This was the latest book chosen for my book club read. I don’t think any of us were aware it is actually the second book in a series when we picked...
30 August 2020
The water dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
I haven’t read a great many books set in the “old south”. Many years ago I did read Gone with the wind. I’m sure I must have read more, but to...
3 February 2020
1917 dir. by Sam Mendes
I wasn’t too sure what I was going to make of this film before I saw it. War films can be very hit or miss with me, and I’d come across...
12 January 2020
The Spitfire girl in the skies by Fenella J Miller
Spitfire Girls ; book 2 I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but when I saw the cover for my next book club read I’ll admit...
9 September 2019
Centurion dir. by Neil Marshall
Writ & Dir: Neil Marshall
I love and adore Dog Soldiers. And The Decent was pretty damn good too Of course Doomsday was utterly preposterous but you win some, you lose some. And I was still prepared to take a chance on Neil Marshall, especially when the story is about Roman soldiers on the run in the second century. I mean it had to be better than King Arthur, right?
4 July 2019
Things a bright girl can do by Sally Nicholls
This was one of a number of books mentioned at my last book club meeting, and as I was heading to the hairdressers I realised I didn’t have a book with...
17 June 2019
The Eagle [based on the book] by Rosemary Sutcliff dir. by Kevin Macdonald
A long time ago I read Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth, the book this film is based on. It was a very long time ago, I’m pretty sure I...
27 May 2019
Goddess by Kelly Gardiner
I came across a mention of Julie d’Aubugny when Oisin McGann retweeted a Quite Interesting fact about her Has anyone written a biography or fictionalised account, cause I'd so read that!...
23 February 2019
Black 47 dir. by Lance Daly
In 1847 Martin Feeney returns home to Ireland to find his mother and brother dead, his nieces and nephew about to be evicted, and death and starvation everywhere. And then the...
16 September 2018
Circe by Madeline Miller
I have only read parts of The Odyssey; while I know the general story and many of the episodes I would not say that I know the full story. But I...
25 August 2018
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Based on the true story of Grace Marks, an infamous murderer in Canada in the 1840’s, Atwood’s book uses different narrators to tell the story, as well as interspersing the story with extracts from other works. From poems, fiction, newspapers of the time, and other sources. Although this is based on the real story, Atwood has, of course, fictionalised a great deal of the novel.
The two narrators are Grace herself, who tells her story in the first person, past tense, and Simon Jordan, the doctor investigating her claims of insanity or innocence. His parts are told by a third person narrator, and are in the present tense.
4 June 2018
This history of bees by Maja Lunde
translated by Diane Oatley Bees are pretty cool insects. They are also pretty damn important. Insects in general are essential to the world we know, so maybe think twice before spraying...
2 April 2018
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