The Blog
‘A’ for Ian McEwan’s ‘Nutshell
Well, Ian, what can I say? You’ve done it again – out smarted your clever class-mates and dazzled your teacher with a real tour-de-force. Your classmates chose a more predictable approach. Many wrote as Gertrude (the closet scene being a particular favourite). Some opted for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, despite my warning that this had … Read more
Loose Canon — The extraordinary songs of Clive James and Pete Atkin
In his introduction to Ian Shircore’s brilliant survey of the songs of Clive James and Pete Atkin, Stephen Fry writes: ‘those of us who have hugged the secret of this wonderfully gifted pair to ourselves can’t help feeling rather special and discerning, and we don’t need anyone else to clutter up the premises of … Read more
1971 — The Greatest Year in Rock — Never A Dull Moment
Whoever said that writing about music was like dancing about architecture (and I still can’t work out who it actually was) clearly hadn’t read ‘1971’, a brilliant book which shows that when David Hepworth writes about music it’s like losing yourself on the dance floor to your favourite song or admiring a particularly beautiful building. Hepworth’s thesis … Read more
Je Suis un Rock Star. The Stones at The Saatchi Gallery
Exhibitionism, the Rolling Stones exhibition at The Saatchi Gallery, is all show and no tell. Fair enough for an exhibition, you might say, and especially for an exhibition which draws attention to its own showiness by giving itself that title. That’s not to say that it’s unenjoyable. In many respects it’s great. There’s a … Read more
What’s So Funny ’bout Love, Peace and Understanding? The end of Mad Men
(SPOILER ALERT) The ending of ‘Mad Men’ is deliberately ambiguous. It’s not frustratingly ambiguous in the way that the ending to ‘The Sopranos’ is – this finale’s ambiguity is far more satisfying, and its satisfaction lies in the way that, whichever way you choose to read our last sight of Don Draper (and they are … Read more
Paul Weller — Sheerwater’s more famous son
As I watched Paul Weller perform at Glastonbury last night my wife said that he ‘was looking good’. Being a secure kind of guy I had no problems with this undoubtedly true observation, but when she followed it with the question ‘how old is he now?’ I felt a little more uneasy, as contemplation of … Read more
Beware Hipsters! Beware Hipsters! Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young
Noah Baumbach’s latest film While We’re Young fires comic warning shots at both the young and the old. For the old, represented by failing documentary film-maker Josh and wife Cornelia, it suggests that if you’re about to have a mid-life crisis it’s best not to have it in the company of hipsters ( Beware Hipsters!) … Read more
What I don’t get about Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’
‘Take the road less travelled’ is the stuff of a thousand graduation ceremonies and school assemblies, a neat poetic expression of the idea that sometimes we shouldn’t follow the path that others have trod but be brave enough to make the unconventional choice. The idea comes from Robert Frost’s famous poem: The Road Not … Read more
The Year of Reading Dangerously
‘The Year of Reading Dangerously’ by Andy Miller reminds me of the great game in David Lodge’s brilliant comic novel ‘Changing Places’ – Humiliation. It’s a game played by English Literature academics – you name a work of literature you haven’t read and get a point for everyone else who has. It’s ages since … Read more
Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery (and a New Year’s Resolution)
‘Do No Harm’, the memoir of neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, is one of my books of the year. Compelling and fascinating, it is articulately and honestly written, it provides unexpected insights into life and death, and it has had more impact on me than anything else I have read this year. Why, then, did I find … Read more
‘Funny Girl’ — the highs and lows of the 60s
When John Carey reviewed Nick Hornby’s ‘How To Be Good’ he famously compared Hornby to Dostoevsky – in talking about ‘The Idiot’ Carey observed that Hornby’s novel is ‘shorter, funnier, just as sharp in its human observation, and more realistic.’ High praise indeed, and coming from Carey, a man of impeccable insight and judgement, it’s … Read more