Southwold Literature Festival

Chris Patten in conversation with James Naughtie

Cranford

Lets face it when the BBC takes on the dramatisation of classic novels we know at last what we pay our TV Licence fee for. This adaptation is superb of course - the starring roles and players - the women especially are without equal. Judi Dench is terrific, but Imelda Staunton is as always so good, with Barbara Flynn being her usual impressive self. Julia MacKenzie is terrific too. Quite rightly, and totally in the spirit of Mrs Gaskell the men have only minor impact on the storyline - mere adjuncts to the independent lives of these women of a certain age who can more than hold their own in the supposedly masculine world.

And the good news is Oliver Twist is on the way!

Reading Group

On my books blog (click on my complete profile, scroll down and click on books) there is an item about one of the reading groups I attend.
I designed a flyer to recruit new members recently. The picture above is the Beckton Globe, one of the libraries in Newham. This reading group meets at Plaistow Library.

Books and Films

In future my blogs about films and books will be other blogs I'm going to create using the 'new' blog technology. I'll still be doing this blog though for other things.
Go to http://steviemiddleton.blogspot.com or http://steviemiddleton2.blogspot.com

The Portrait - Iain Pears

This is probably the most pointless book I've read in ages. It is written as a monolgue between a portrait painter and an arts critic.
This seems like an interesting device but not in this particular author's hands. I was bored, and was not engaged by the two characters. Because it was a monologue I couldn't picture the second person - I couldn't engage with either of them. I didn't care about why the critic was about to be murdered, and taking 210 pages over a simple matter of pregnancy and suicide appears excessive. This is not a well written or constructed book. My rating 2/10

Brick Lane

I've just finished reading this book for one of the reading groups I belong to. It is an impressive first novel. It is an accurate portrayal of life in a specific part of the East End in the past thirty years - although I have a feeling things have moved on in recent months and years. Like many contemporary novels it is flawed. The style is experimental. One section is written as supposed letters from the central character's sister from Bangladesh. The English is poor, and extremely irritating because I found it almost impenetrable. However, towards the end I was totally drawn in by the characters, and their decisions about returning to Bangladesh. Were they and their actions believable? Totally. Did it outline the dilemmas faced by Muslim families in an increasingly secular Britain? Completely. Rating: 7/10

Current Reading

Went to the library today, and borrowed:
'Cold Mountain' - renewed as I'm only half way through
"Rich Dust" by George Greenfield - a wartime mystery
Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina"
"Music and Silence" by Rose Tremain (heard it serialised on radio - but always worth reading the original).
A nice crime novel 'The Little Dog Laughed" by Joseph Hansen
and "The Queer Commando" by Paul Mann (guess what that might be about!)

Bernice Rubens

This month's choice at my book group is Bernice Rubens' 'The Elected Member'. I'm not certain how much I'm enjoying it. As always with Bernice's work it is very challenging - in your face you might say. Some interesting ideas are proposed. The opening chapters are about the 'hero's' commitment to a mental insitution - a bit too close to home for me perhaps. Anyone else out there read it? What do you think? Please let me know.