When I was eighteen I went to an Oxford University open day. I remember an English Literature admissions tutor giving a speech about life as a student at the University. The thing he said that has stuck with me (although I can barely remember what he looked like now, never mind his name) was that no-one … Continue reading On Rereading
Books
A first foray into flash fiction
Well, probably 'post-it fiction' or 'twitter-fiction' really if we're being pedantic, but I couldn't resist the alliteration. And besides, I closed my Twitter account. I'm running a flash-fiction competition at work in honour of last week's National Storytelling Week. Some of my efforts are below. Domestic Bliss When the fire started I went straight for … Continue reading A first foray into flash fiction
On two films about writers
Last week I watched two films about writers: The End of the Tour and Listen Up, Philip. The first film is based on the real-life occurrence of a Rolling Stone journalist interviewing David Foster Wallace towards the end of his book tour for Infinite Jest. During the film I slipped into my usual gripe: 'I … Continue reading On two films about writers
Unlucky, Jim
I left my copy of Kingsley Amis' Lucky Jim, which I was halfway through reading, in a cubicle at the swimming pool. I blame L. He was faffing around while getting dressed, going all blue-mouthed after an icy dip, and I had to intervene. So I pulled it out of my back pocket and stuck it … Continue reading Unlucky, Jim
Take a good long drink
I recently read Cormac McCarthy's Suttree, a charity shop find and a novel that I was not aware of before seeing it there on the shelf. I suppose it has been eclipsed rather by Blood Meridian, No Country for Old Men and The Road. To my mind it is a bit of a hidden gem, … Continue reading Take a good long drink
On Swimming
Swimming is heroic. This is an opinion I have held since reading Charles Sprawson's book 'Haunts of the Black Masseur: The Swimmer as Hero', which makes the case for this view very well. Appropriately enough, the book was recommended to me by a Hungarian man I met in the pool at the Vancouver Aquatic Centre … Continue reading On Swimming
On plays based on novels…
Last week I accompanied a trip to see a stage adaptation of Lord of the Flies at Birmingham’s Rep Theatre, with a group of year 10 (9th grade) students currently studying Golding’s original novel. The play is a touring production that has received good reviews elsewhere. Indeed, it was a success as a piece of … Continue reading On plays based on novels…
On coffee…
We come to coffee when we need to. In this respect, it is different from alcohol, which finds us whether we want it to or not. As Stanley Kowalski says of that latter intoxicant in A Streetcar Named Desire “Some people rarely touch it, but it touches them often”. Alcohol is easy, and dangerously so, … Continue reading On coffee…
