Stuart: A Life Backwards: a review We've all had the discussion: is the film better than the book? Is the book more meaningful than the film? In the case of Alexander Masters's book, 'Stuart: A Life Backwards,' the answer is, absolutely, that both are equally impressive. Alexander Masters's book is an account of his unlikely …
Korkoro: Come, let’s away to prison: We two alone will sing like birds i’ the cage
'Korkoro' is one of my favourite films. Directed by Tony Gatlif, a French Algerian of Roma ethnicity, it came out in 2010 and is one of those World War Two films you may not have seen, but it is a real gem. It documents the rarely-mentioned topic of porajmos, the Romani holocaust. It is set …
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When my novel is an unweeded garden that grows to seed
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on ’t, ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this. In actual fact, I am now on 81,000 words and coming to …
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Marvellous Ways and marvellous words
When Hamlet tells Polonius he is reading 'words, words, words,' I think he is implying that each page is the same, that the words written there have no relevant meaning and go on and on for the reader with no real impact or benefit. Sarah Winman's novel 'A Year of Marvellous Ways' is a delight of words. She is in …
Culture first or is it all relative?
On his way to England where he has been banished, Hamlet encounters a captain who tells him that the Norwegian army is riding to fight the Poles. Hamlet asks about the conflict, and he is told that both sides will fight over “a little patch of land / That hath in it no profit but the …
Hopkins’ poems: sprung rhythm and ‘unmanly grief’?
If I were to find myself in a position where I would write a thesis about someone who had a creative and intriguing life, a contender for my research and attention would be the priest and poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, (1844-1889). He had a fascinating and tragic time on earth: his life was short and his experiences harsh, but …
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Vegans. Are they the paragon of animals or have they lost all their mirth?
I am Judy, and I am a vegan. I try to keep it quiet, except in restaurants. Over the years I have developed the skill of asking for something I can eat, latterly even expecting it. I have had well over 20 years of practice. I am not a quiet vegan in my blogging, however. I blog …
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In anticipation of Stevie’s return
Steven Gerrard is something of a Hamlet figure to me: he possesses the Danish prince's intelligence and wit, albeit in his feet. He has a fatal flaw - he will never achieve his full potential: remember the slip at Chelsea. He is a hero figure: the night in Istanbul and the dynamism of his leadership …
Review: Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet
Although audiences looking for a more faithful adaptation, without additions or subtractions, may feel Lyndsey Turner's Hamlet isn't complete or fulfilling, there are plenty of reasons why this Cumberbatch Hamlet hits the mark. Benedict Cumberbatch himself is a likeable, accessible Hamlet, his madness arising from his grief. This is entirely clear, easily marked out from the …
On writing my novel: ‘Older, Wiser, Wilder.’
My novel, Older, Wiser, Wilder is up to 57,000 words. My protagonist, Evelyn, is at a point where she has a life changing decision to make about what she will do in France. Her son, Brendan, is still trying to track her down but he has been temporarily held up; his wife, Maura, is not …
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That quintessence of dust 