There's a Meatloaf song that applies to the frothing anticipation of a pogrom postponed in the US in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting. That song is "Jumping the Gun," rom the album Bad Attitude. It's not very good, but I loved it when I was 16 or 17. Feel like jumpin’ the gun,... Continue Reading →
The Apprentice by Hilaire Belloc Number 6 of 27 Great British Short Stories Premise: Someone downs tools to watch a certain public execution in London in January 1649 Review: Very nicely done. Belloc knew how to set a mood Outa ten: 9 Keywords: winter, public events Quotes: none Words: none (though onyx is such a... Continue Reading →
Three podcasts (played at 1.5 because I am a philistine, according to the wife anyways) while I fed the moorhens, ducks and swans. Spybrary Spy Podcast: Paranoid Visions - Spies, conspiracies and the secret state in British television drama Am currently devouring the Adam Hall Quiller books (probably too quickly, to be honest). So found... Continue Reading →
The Little Fishes by H.E. Bates. Number 5 of 27 Great British S(Short Stories Premise: A boy and his uncle (Silas, in one of 29 Uncle Silas stories) go fishing Review: Gentle, wry, well-observed, with a narrator who knows less than the reader - all lovely stuff in this “comic pastoral”. Will probably want to... Continue Reading →
Patience by Nigel Balchin, number 4 of 27 Great British Short Stories Premise: A first person narrator explains the events around a beautiful young woman, her gambling addicted father and… well, to say more… Review: This was great fun. I didn’t spot the twist (there is one). Balchin is one of my favourite writers (esp... Continue Reading →
The Amorous Ghost by Enid Bagnold Number 3 of 27 Great British Short Stories Premise: A rich Brit gets a series of visitations, causing domestic havoc Review: 1926 story - brilliant, menacing, creepy af Outa ten: 10 Keywords: ghost stories Quotes: nil Words: nil Look up: nil Afterlives of the story/connections to other stuff: Podcasted... Continue Reading →
Miss Bracegirdle does her Duty by Stacy Aumnier. Number 2 of 27 Great British Short Stories Premise: A sheltered and prim (both braced and girdled) Englishwoman is in France. Things go terribly wrong… Review: Liked this - sweet, arch, wise. Ultimately the character is Unchanged by her experience (I think). Outa ten: 8 Keywords: comedy,... Continue Reading →
Yesterday I humblebragged that I was “done with Shakespeare” - in the sense that I had now read all the plays that - in April - I’d listed as either low or zero knowledge. This led to someone asking for a top ten they should read, and with much/further ado here it is. My rough... Continue Reading →
“Evidence in Camera” by Margery Allingham, number 1 of 27 Great British Short Stories Premise: First person account by a journalist covering a serial killer who is bumping off middle-aged redheaded women in English sea-side towns Review: Very nicely done, with gibes about how media (print) and cops work. Possibly a little sub-Freudian, but so... Continue Reading →
A couple of days ago the child that would grow up to be Queen Elizabeth the first was born. Or rather, I read the final scenes of Henry VIII, a play Bill Shakespeare co-wrote at the very end of his career, and QE1 was spat out by Anne Bullen... This was the (anti?)climax of me... Continue Reading →
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