I could not tear my eyes away from Helen Naylor’s memoir, My Mother, Munchausen’s and Me. Continue reading
Tag Archives: British
Things that are making me happy this week
01. Spotify Wrapped was fun (and no surprises in my results). Continue reading
My Week With Marilyn by Colin Clark
Colin Clark’s memoir, My Week With Marilyn, chronicles his time as a ‘third assistant director’ (aka gofer) on the set of Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier’s 1956 movie, The Prince and the Showgirl.
Clark, 23-years-old at the time, was a devoted keeper of a journal. Keen to work in the film industry, he wangled a position on the Showgirl film-set through family connections – his parents were great friends of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. His journal documents the lead-up to filming, including arranging for a house for Monroe, who was traveling to England with new husband, Arthur Miller.
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Things that are making me happy this week
01. Moulin Rouge – spectacular show, insanely good medleys, and ace to be back in an audience. Continue reading
Things that are making me happy this week
01. Two British Film Festival films this week – laughed and laughed at the wonderful Jim Broadbent in The Duke, followed by a delicious dinner at Mexican Street Food. And this evening, I saw an opera-rom-com, Falling for Figaro (Joanna Lumley steals the show). Continue reading
My latest listens
The Night Always Comes by Willy Vlautin Continue reading
Sample Saturday – new releases
Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye. This week, all three are new releases. Continue reading
Us by David Nicholls
I always find it difficult to write reviews of books I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, but my prompt for this review came when a Twitter buddy asked what book had best held my lockdown-brain-attention. The answer was instant – Us by David Nicholls.
I half expected a book about a European tour would have made me feel a little wistful, given current travel restrictions. Instead, Us made me laugh-out-loud, cry, and pause, when the main character reflected on his family circumstances and specifically how the relationships we either had or didn’t have, shape the present.
…grief is as much about regret for what you’ve never had as sadness for what you’ve lost. Continue reading
Book vs Film: Animals
Book. Because: Continue reading
The Comfort Book by Matt Haig
The Comfort Book by Matt Haig is a collection of thoughts and reflections on happiness and hope. Haig doesn’t claim to have any particular insight or expertise. Instead, his words are intended to soothe in times when many people are feeling frayed.
Like any book of this nature, it’s one you can open to any page – it’s probably the best way to read it, taking from it what you need at any one time. As a result, some entries will resonate more than others (although, the entry which simply says – ‘No physical appearance is worth not eating pasta for’ is universal, and equally, ‘It’s rare to escape a maze on the first attempt’, is also useful). Continue reading