It’s been a while since I read a crime novel. Despite it being my favourite genre I hadn’t picked one up so far this year. Other books seemed to make it to the top of the to-be-read pile thanks to review schedules, book group and my desperation to catch up with A Song of Ice and Fire…
Parallel Lines
5 March 2014 by Leave a Comment
It’s a sad but inevitable fact that the number of Holocaust survivors with us is dwindling each year. Just a week ago Alice Herz-Sommer, the subject of this year’s Oscar winning short documentary “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” passed away at the age of 110. It is now more important than ever that as many people as possible read the testimony of survivors…
The Book Thief
27 February 2014 by 2 Comments
There’s always a real sense of trepidation when going to see a film adaptation of a book that you truly love (see my thoughts on Les Miserables for proof that this isn’t confined just to books, but musicals too). It’s almost inevitable that any great book will eventually reach the screen…
The Monuments Men
26 February 2014 by 2 Comments
Sometimes a film has all the right components to make a perfect viewing experience and it just doesn’t work. The cast can be top-notch, the story enthralling, the production values great but the film just doesn’t add up. And so it is with George Clooney’s latest directorial effort, The Monuments Men…
Confessions of a GP
25 February 2014 by Leave a Comment
It’s just under two months until this year’s World Book Night and I am thoroughly determined to read some of the selections. I know I say that every year and I always have such good intentions that fail but this year I’m managing to read more than normal…
Her
20 February 2014 by Leave a Comment
A few years ago I spent some time travelling round Europe, visiting a number of fabulous (and not so fabulous) places. One of the most confusing weekends was spent in Porto in Portugal. We had a wonderful afternoon in a bar, sampling different ports and eating lots of lovely food…
Dallas Buyers Club
11 February 2014 by 4 Comments
I’m just about old enough to remember the emergence of the AIDS epidemic in the early 80s. Here in Britain it was accompanied by doom-laden adverts showing exploding mountains and granite gravestones with the tagline “Don’t Die of Ignorance”. It probably saved lives by terrifying people…
Saving Mr Banks
6 February 2014 by Leave a Comment
Having missed Saving Mr Banks first time round at the cinema I’m thoroughly grateful to Cineworld for their Take-Two Thursdays policy where a recent film gets a one day reshowing for those of us who have been a bit tardy in our viewing…
The Undesirables
29 January 2014 by Leave a Comment
A few years ago I was involved in a fabulous book club and we were given the opportunity to review Dave Boling’s Guernica for The Richard and Judy Book Club, this was back in the day when they were still on television. We were all sent a shiny hardback copy of the book to read in advance of our on-screen debut…
12 Years A Slave
20 January 2014 by Leave a Comment
I’ve not been terribly good at getting to the cinema recently, but the Oscar nominations last week have focussed my mind. I didn’t want 2014 to be yet another year where I hadn’t seen the winner of the Best Picture Academy Award in advance of the ceremony. Given that until today I had only seen two of the nine nominees…