Saturday February 29th, 2020
Books in February
- This Golden Fleece by Esther Rutter
I heard Esther Rutter on Saturday Live publicising this book as I drove back from Scotland last December. She talked about her family life and growing up on a sheep farm in Suffolk, and how, after a degree in English, she managed to gain sponsorship to write this book, and the trials of her rather basic existence while she did it. Over 12 months (12 chapters and 12 pieces of knitting) she describes the histories of communities whose lives were shaped by wool. This is a meditation on the craft and history of knitting, rather than a book of patterns. I thought I might "knit along" with her painstaking pieces - but (luckily) that's not really the aim of the book.
Note 1: If you go to the Saturday Live piece, do listen to Jason Manford as well as Esther - his amusing reminiscences of his childhood holiday at Butlins really struck a chord with me (and he is very funny).
Note 2: Esther also appeared on Woman's Hour earlier in the year: 7 minutes on the "secret feminist history of knitting". - The Last by Hanna Jameson [read by Anthony Starke]
This is a story about the end of the world - or the world as we know it - or the Western world. The ensuing chaos is horribly realistic from the point of view of 20 people staying in a remote hotel in Switzerland. They pool their resources (good for some period in a hotel) but others covet their food, and it's pretty obvious to all that bullies will rule - and guns talk.
Against this pretty devastating backdrop, there is some kind of murder mystery which the protagonist tried to solve. But of course he has no idea how the killer could be brought to justice even if he does.
In my view the scenario is written so vividly that it is more interesting and has more tension than the mystery. - The Sleeping and the Dead by Ann Cleeves
[read by John Telfer ]
Just before the Shetland novels came into being, Ann wrote this - now, a stand-alone novel since she did not revisit the main characters (Detective Peter Porteous and Hannah Morton).
The story revolves around a cold case (increasingly popular in fiction and "real crime"): a body is found in a lake, and finally deduced to be a teenager who went missing in 1972. Of course identifying the lad has repercussions for everyone who knew him all those years ago....
Tuesday February 25th, 2020
Conical People … and Bread
Adrian demonstrates the personal protective equipment necessary for the correct handling of lardy bread.
Conical People and Bread - the Book - has arrived! You can read all about Felicity and the life Dada here.
And below explains (or validates) my interest in the book...
Sunday February 23rd, 2020
Unravel 2020
Alison and I met up for our second year together at the Maltings, including cheese scones, and another yummy meal out in the evening at the Giggling Squid in Farnham (does this now count as a tradition?). As requested last year, we returned to Kettle Yarns to show off our matching sweaters (we only felt slightly silly...).
We spent some good time looking at buttons and, at Textile Garden, Alison finally found some suitable ones for Orkney, (which is in the closing stages of construction: many ends!). Inspired by their beautiful buttons, I bought some vintage buttons....
...and a couple of balls of sock yarn (always useful...).
Saturday February 22nd, 2020
Fancy Brioche
I attended the follow-up to our original "Brioche" class in the summer of 2018, Yet again I turned to thinking that I should redraft my fisherman's rib hat in two colours.... but it never seems to get further than the thought.
Friday February 21st, 2020
Much Ado About Falstaff
Following our previous visit to the The Phoenix Theatre and Arts Centre in Bordon for Three Men in a Boat we went to see Simon Downing's new play about Sir John Falstaff...a rogue, a philanderer and a glutton, but also one of Shakespeare's greatest and enduring comic creations.
Falstaff, was played by Giles Shenton (Old Herbaceous & Three Men in a Boat) and we found him in his bedroom in the Boars Head being nursed by Mistress Quickly, (played by Suzanna Walters).
Thursday February 20th, 2020
A Number
"How might a son feel to discover that he is only one of a number of identical copies? What happens when a father is confronted by the results of an outrageous genetic experiment?"
For a change, George got these tickets for the Bridge (a theatre I really like, but with a fairly high price point - especially for such a short play), so all in all, it's turning out to be a week full of theatrical experiences.
Directed by Polly Findlay, the play is a Caryl Churchill (award-winning) drama, from 2002, and stars Roger Allam (a favourite of ours) as Salter, the father, and Colin Morgan as (all) his sons. It is always a joy to see excellent actors just doing their thing with such apparent ease. The set was interesting, with the same room viewed from different perspectives, and cleverly providing different focal points to play to each section of the audience.
Thursday February 6th, 2020
My Cousin Rachel
George liked it - I thought it was entertaining. I couldn't quite cope with a bewigged Helen George as the Italian Rachel, although she is deemed to be the strongest cast member.
The only thing I think I would have really preferred was to have a more open verdict as to Rachel's guilt or innocence (or more likely somewhere in between). This play definitely made you think she was innocent of any wrong-doing and thus deeply misjudged and effectively murdered by Philip. From the book, we know that this is certainly how he felt at the end... but I am not sure that we were ever really sure.
I thought I might be over-influenced by Olivia de Havilland - who I thought was a perfect Rachel in the 1952 film- but the film again confirms what I believe the book does not (and also lacks a physical sexual encounter, which I think is quite important in the context of how Rachel is "judged" - settling for a more acceptable "passionate kiss").
Tuesday February 4th, 2020
The Personal History of David Copperfield
This is an absolutely brilliant film. A completely new, comic, and charming version of the Dickens novel where the autobiographical aspect of the storyline has David writing the novel as we watch it performed - even to the extent of difficult characters fully engaged in writing themselves out (Dora) - in a surreal world full of words and imagination.
And Armando Iannucci - also brilliant - in everything he does (or so it seems to me).
