Watching - August 2023

The Crow Road (1996)

An old favourite and an acclaimed adaptation, apparently. I think it's great (and the book is one of my all-time favourites) but I do wonder what I'd make of its multi-layered, flashback-in-flashback structure if I wasn't already very familiar with the plot. Nevertheless, a great watch.

Cheers (Season 1, 1982-1983)

This reminds me of working in Halifax, about twenty years ago, when I filled the dull evenings by watching the first few series. Obviously it was already dated then and now it really does show its age, but the writing is sharp, the lines mostly funny and I can forgive the occasional wobbly camera angles. A classic for a reason.

Wham! (2023)

I don't know whether this is correct, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was commissioned off the back of the (surprising?) success of Andrew Ridgeley's autobiography from 2019. It's essentially a filming of that, with lots of footage and plenty of archive interviews from George Michael himself, making it perhaps a bit more balanced. The story's the same though: childhood friends become massive stars and the normal one retires to live a normal life. I still have a lot of respect for Andrew Ridgeley for doing that. A really fun trip down memory lane for me.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

Watched with the boys. Very very silly.

Reading - August 2023

The Theory of Everything Else by Dan Schreiber (2022)

An amusing and enjoyable book that nevertheless feels like a lot of largely disconnected "facts" (some more loosely affiliated with the truth than others) that have been assembled into an approximate theme, given an introduction and conclusion and published as a book. The flavour of No Such Thing as a Fish is, unsurprisingly, ever-present and while this is no bad thing, the book is definitely more one to dip into than read cover to cover.

Between the Stops by Sandi Toksvig (2019)

At first I found this a little fragmented, jumping from thought to thought. But soon themes and a pattern emerged, and I ended up really enjoying this charming tapestry of musings, life lessons, anecdotes and autobiographical snippets.

Her Billionaires by Julia Kent (2013)

Every now and then I am partial to a romance novel, but this wasn't quite what I expected. Threesomes - one woman and two men - must be enough of a common fantasy to make this "A NEW YORK TIMES and USA Today BESTSELLING BOOK!" (it says here) but it doesn't do much for me, and although there's a fairly predictable plot, it's barely enough to move the action between sex scenes. Really, this is erotica rather than romance. Kind of fun but I wouldn't bother again. Much like a threesome. (Just kidding!)

Whatever Makes You Happy (aka Otherhood) by William Sutcliffe (2008)

I picked this because I've read some of William Sutcliffe's previous books and he's sort of a friend of a friend (although I've never met him). And it's probably just coincidence that I started reading this novel about three mothers and their relationships with their adult sons, on the day that I took my mum to the hospital for a check up. The three story lines are mostly separate and the couple of times they cross, there's no plot related reason they need to, so essentially this is three separate stories on a theme - all good and very readable.

The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings by Joanna Nadin (2022)

An intensely readable - I finished it in a couple of days - nicely plotted, slightly melodramatic but very satisfying story about ambition and aspiration and wanting and having and obsession. The central twist was obvious to even me (and I am so dense about these things) but perhaps it's supposed to be, and the interest is in seeing how we get there. It certainly kept me on the edge of my seat. I picked this somewhat at random but I'm really pleased I did.

The Crow Road by Iain Banks (1992)

Reading this again after watching the TV adaptation, I'm struck by how much more rounded the book is than many of Iain Banks' other novels (I'm not including Iain M. Banks here). Rather than going for the shock value and novelty of his earlier books, this is just a superb story that ranges across multiple generations, captivates your attention and resolves superbly. Just fantastic.

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (2023)

A sweet romance in three parts that starts a bit slowly. There's too much material in the initial meet-up section, which seems more interested in showing off the research done into the main character's background in a "late night live comedy show" (i.e. SNL in all but name), and as a result suffers from a pacing problem: we all know something's going to happen, just get on with it! Thankfully the pace picks up in the second and third section, and, once it does, it's superior but fairly standard romantic fiction. Luckily, I enjoy that, and I charged through the rest of the book in one sitting.

Fling by Joseph Murray (2023)

Amusing romcom, in which the central couple end up inadvertently having an online affair with each other. Confusion abounds, but it all works out and they end up realising how much they still love one another. Seems tailor-made to be made into a film.