WELCOME
This is where I celebrate my favourite things with opinions, second opinions, lists, reviews, photos, songs and so on. I'm a reader and a writer so for the moment at least things are text heavy. I have to admit I'm very opinionated because I've written just after finishing with a book or movie. I hope this provokes some opinionated responses. There's so much good stuff out there I don't think I'll ever stop adding entries.
NEW STUFF
BOOKS
Something funny happens to popular books when they go out of style: suddenly they become a bit shabby, a bit ridiculous. I'm reading Alexandre Dumas' Memoirs, or a selection of the original 30 volume work. Everything Dumas wrote - cookbooks, plays, travel books, historical novels and journalism, was a best seller. He was one of the most entertaining writers of his day. As an autobiographer he is full of unforgettable anecdotes, moving confessions and unfamiliar glimpses of famous people. Dumas knew everybody. Somehow his glamour has faded, probably from bad translations. This volume is a joy to read. Another author I'm re-reading with pleasure is Margery Allingham. Her Albert Campion mysteries are sophisticated, well written, character driven novels where deduction plays the minor role. School of Simenon rather than school of Conan Doyle.
MUSIC
Brazilian girls
Adriana Calcanhoto, Alcione, Ana Carolina, Bia, Cassia Eller, Cibelle, Clara Nunes, Leila Pinheiro, Sabrina Malheiros, Katia Moraes, Silvana Malta, Simone, Vania Abreu, Wanda Sa, Zizi Possi. That's the tip of the iceberg. Must be something in the air over there....
FILM
some films by Satyajit Ray
I've just received some DVDs that include the Apu films, Charulata and The Chess Players, which I've seen, but also Two Daughters and The Home and the World, which I haven't. I'm looking forward to viewing these. Ray is the great master at depicting people's emotional responses to one another, no other film maker even comes close. I always think, "That's right, that's how people respond" in a kind of shock of recognition.
"We're all getting older, but we carry the dreams of our youth with us until the day we die".
–Yasujiro Ozu, Higanbana
