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Days Without End/Sebastian Barry

It was Roy Hodgson, the former England manager, who was the recommender of Sebastian Barry. I had really enjoyed The Secret Scripture – the story of a woman who was unfairly locked up in a mental asylum. Apparently in catholic Southern Ireland this was not a difficult process and made by a [...]

December 26, 2021 // 0 Comments

We fight Fascists/Daniel Sonnabend

This is the true story of the 43 Group constituted by Jewish people to fight domestic fascism after World War Two. It is a graphic account of violence, disruption of fascist marches and meetings, and intelligence gathering by a group fearful that – having defeated Nazism – the creed [...]

November 17, 2021 // 0 Comments

A Good Read

Few traditional radio programmes better illustrate the triumph of diversity in BBC programming than A Good Read  on Radio 4. The title and the introduction by well-read presenter Harriet Gilbert would surely indicate that  the purpose of the programme is recommendation. Yesterday a palliative [...]

November 3, 2021 // 0 Comments

The Magician/Colm Toibin

One of the interesting aspects of biography is the attitude – often better described as the relationship – between the writer and his/her subject. Gitta Sereny wrote an excellent biography of Albert von Speer but seemed to be in thrall of him. Tristram Hunt wrote a detailed account of [...]

October 29, 2021 // 0 Comments

The Plot

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz is more than a page-turning who done it. The author who wrote The Undoing, which was dramatised on television with Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman in the leading roles, lampoons the writers world of creative writing, publishing and best sellers. The central character [...]

September 2, 2021 // 0 Comments

Lord Dismiss Us

It’s an interesting discussion which actually took place on Radio 4’s A Good Read on reaction to re-reading an old favourite. With this in mind, I recently read for the third time Lord Dismiss Us by Michael Campbell. The novel, which I suspect is strongly biographical, is set in [...]

August 26, 2021 // 0 Comments

WRITE AROUND THE WORLD (BBC 4)

The last episode in this excellent series featured Andalusia and writings thereon. Throughout Richard E Grant has been a superb presenter: enthusiastic, well-informed and – above all – he does not get in between the viewer and the subject. Blessed with a beautiful voice his readings [...]

August 18, 2021 // 0 Comments

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

Inspired by the excellent Ken Burns documentary of Ernest Hemingway I decided to read one of his works. For Whom the Bell tolls I read at school and found it heavy going. Farewell to Arms I knew the story from the film. I’m not a reader of short stories so I plumped for the audio version of The [...]

July 30, 2021 // 0 Comments

Cricketing Lives/Richard H. Thomas

This is less a compendium of the lives of colourful cricketers than a broad sweep of cricketing history to the present day. Charlie Blythe It’s well informed, witty and entertaining but did not tell me much I did not already know. It’s particularly interesting on Victorian cricket, an era [...]

July 20, 2021 // 0 Comments

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