It’s probably not very professional of me to admit this, but I do judge books by their cover and films by their names and posters. If a film has a poster which is all jaunty and has someone (usually Matthew McConaughey or Gerard Butler) leaning onto something I usually feel slightly nauseous and avoid like the plague..
Eeny Meeny Miny Moe
13 September 2012 by Leave a Comment
One of the joys of reviewing books is in discovering new authors and seeing their career move on from debut novels to the establishment of a series of novels. This time last year I reviewed Joanna Price’s debut A Means of Escape, the first to feature Somerset detective DS Kate Linton. I thoroughly enjoyed it…
Man Booker Shortlist Announced
11 September 2012 by Leave a Comment
The shortlist for the 2012 Man Booker Prize has been announced this morning. The six nominated novels are:
The Hunger Games
10 September 2012 by 2 Comments
A few weeks ago I read The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. The dystopian saga of a teenage girl who becomes the face of resistance against a dictatorial government caught my attention more than any books I’ve picked up in quite a while. They were literally unputdownable…
X-Men: First Class
6 September 2012 by Leave a Comment
I have a bit of a strange relationship with the X-Men films. I loved the first one, thought the second was good enough and the third was a big steaming pile of…
20th Raindance Film Festival Launches
4 September 2012 by Leave a Comment
The 20th Raindance Film Festival was launched this morning with details of 104 feature films being announced including a fascinating Mexican thread, the best of independent British film making and a number of thought-provoking documentaries on the schedule…
The Submission
2 September 2012 by Leave a Comment
The September 11th 2001 attacks have inspired a number of novels, films, plays and compositions from artists trying to make sense of a tragedy witnessed by the world. Some such as Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close have focused on how family members cope with their grief…
The Best Of Men
29 August 2012 by Leave a Comment
I can officially declare that my post-Olympics slump is over. No more mooching about looking for sporting events on the TV, no more crying because Team GB hasn’t won a gold medal in the past five minutes. The 2012 Paralympics start today. I haven’t been this excited since, well since the Queen dropped into the Olympic Stadium…
Calls for 50 Shades Book-Burning
24 August 2012 by Leave a Comment
A charity in the North of England which helps women who have been victims of abuse is calling for copies of the hugely popular Fifty Shades trilogy to be burned in protest at what is seen as the violent and degrading treatment of the female characters…