Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed a relaxing holiday season and that 2017 will send good things your way. In this house we're still in holiday mode, without the festive food. Packed after New Year's, one of the kids suggested a menu of apples and carrots this week, which I found a wee bit extreme, as the Scots would say. We spent Christmas at home with occasional walks to the Waterstones bookshop and café. Browsing sufficed because there were plenty of books under the tree. Remember about a month ago when I mentioned rereading Little Women if I had the Penguin clothbound edition? Guess what, my husband gave me the book and two other classics. These editions are so beautiful. I haven't finished the books on my last reading list but I read Louisa May Alcott into the new year. These days I'm noting down ideas for my next list and after our library visit on Wednesday some are just waiting to be read. To give you a hint: On my table you can spot The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. I will reveal the list later.
In December I watched some TV (by that I mean catching up with the BBC iPlayer - I don't watch TV, I read). I loved Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings in The Lady in the Van (2015). How Alan Bennett put up with Mrs Shepherd for fifteen years is beyond my kin. On BBC there was a documentary, Alan Bennett's Diaries (2016), by Adam Low that I enjoyed. I'm thinking about reading Bennett's diaries after viewing his latest volume, Keeping On Keeping On, in a bookshop. And oh yes, I was in awe of BBC2's adaptation of Zadie Smith's NW, directed by Saul Dibb, screenplay by Rachel Bennette, which I watched after finishing the book. The cast was fantastic and Nikki Amuka-Bird better receive an award for her role as Natalie/Keisha Blake. She was extraordinary. My only disappointment with the film was that they left out the hilarious and tragic character of Annie, from the 'guest' chapter about Felix, but I completely get why they did.
Well, it's time to finish sprucing up the home for the weekend. I will soon share my review of Map Stories by Francisca Mattéoli, which I meant to do before Christmas, and I have a few coffee table books in sight.
In December I watched some TV (by that I mean catching up with the BBC iPlayer - I don't watch TV, I read). I loved Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings in The Lady in the Van (2015). How Alan Bennett put up with Mrs Shepherd for fifteen years is beyond my kin. On BBC there was a documentary, Alan Bennett's Diaries (2016), by Adam Low that I enjoyed. I'm thinking about reading Bennett's diaries after viewing his latest volume, Keeping On Keeping On, in a bookshop. And oh yes, I was in awe of BBC2's adaptation of Zadie Smith's NW, directed by Saul Dibb, screenplay by Rachel Bennette, which I watched after finishing the book. The cast was fantastic and Nikki Amuka-Bird better receive an award for her role as Natalie/Keisha Blake. She was extraordinary. My only disappointment with the film was that they left out the hilarious and tragic character of Annie, from the 'guest' chapter about Felix, but I completely get why they did.
Well, it's time to finish sprucing up the home for the weekend. I will soon share my review of Map Stories by Francisca Mattéoli, which I meant to do before Christmas, and I have a few coffee table books in sight.
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