october 2024 books…

Duncan Grant+The Bloomsbury Group (Douglas Blair Turnbaugh): For some time now, I’ve been fascinated by the artists and work that have come out of the Bloomsbury Group/Charleston – particularly Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant (1885-1978). Turnbaugh’s book (published in 1987) provides not so much an analysis of his art, but something of his life and relationships (and there were SEVERAL – involving both sexes but, more often than not, men). Grant was a talented painter and designer of textiles, pottery, theatre sets, and costumes. He became involved in the Bloomsbury Group, where he made many great friends including Vanessa Bell. He would eventually live with Bell (though she was a married woman), who became pregnant with his child in 1918. Following the birth, their relationship was mainly domestic and creative, but they continued to live together for more than 40 years (mainly at Charleston). They often painted in the same studio together, praising and critiquing each other's work. Turnhaugh knew Grant and spent many hours interviewing him (and with Grant’s friend Paul Roche) – with Grant providing a wealth of personal stories (many of which are included in the book). As can be gathered from this eulogy at his funeral, Grant was clearly a well-loved man: “an artist, generous and whole-hearted in his response to all that could engage with his genius, richly endowed to express his many-splendoured vision. As we call to mind his art, we remember also his gift for making and keeping friends, suffusing his own life and theirs with a spontaneous, unselfconscious delight in all things of man’s making or imagining…”. A fascinating book.
The Empusium (Olga Tokarczuk): This is our next Storysmith bookgroup book. I’d previously read (and greatly enjoyed) her “Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead” book 5 years ago (plus a stage performance at the Bristol Old Vic last year). This book is set in September 1913 and it’s described as a ‘Health Resort Horror Story’. A young Pole suffering from tuberculosis arrives at a ‘Guesthouse for Gentlemen’, a health resort in the Silesian mountains. Every evening the residents gather to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur and debate the great issues of the day… but, meanwhile, disturbing things are happening in the guesthouse and the surrounding hills… someone (or something) seems to be watching. In the words of the book’s cover: “Little does the newcomer realise, as he tries to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target”. I found it a beautifully-crafted, haunting and disturbing book. It’s not particularly long (326 pages), but I thought that the first 200 or so pages were just too pedestrian (a ‘slow reveal’ taken a bit too far, in my view). However, all becomes clear(er!) as the book comes a gripping conclusion. Did I enjoy it? Well, I found its pace somewhat frustratingly slow at times but, ultimately, a compelling book.
The Towers Of Trebizond (Rose Macaulay): This is our next Blokes book (first published in 1956). It’s an absurd novel (although much of it reads like a travel journal) involving three main characters – Aunt Dot, her niece Laurie (who’s also the narrator) and Father Chantry (note: a camel also plays a starring role!) – who set out on an expedition to Turkey (and beyond) to “explore the possibility of establishing a High Anglican mission there”. On the way, they meet various characters (magicians, young British travel writers, lovers etc). According to Wikipedia, the book is partly autobiographical (deciding which parts could be an amusing task). It’s a strange, and yet, captivating book – a mixture of fantasy, high comedy, plus ‘digs’ about love, sex, politics, life, class, religion and church buildings. There are LOTS of amusing/cutting references to the Anglican church and belief generally (which I found myself agreeing with on numerous occasions!)… as well as some depressing reminders (especially given the current horrors taking place in Israel/Palestine) of Britain’s historical role in the Middle East. But, thankfully, lots of high farce along the way – including Laurie purchasing an ape and deciding to teach it chess, croquet, snakes+ladders, tennis and, of course, driving a car! All in all, an unusual and entertaining book.
Egon Schiele: Masterpieces of Art (Rosalind Ormiston): I’ve again been somewhat obsessed by Schiele’s art over recent weeks. Austrian artist Schiele (1890-1918) died at the age of just 28 (as a result of the Spanish flu pandemic). He was a controversial individual (and perhaps not a particularly ‘nice’ person?) but, in his brief career, he was a prolific artist – creating over 3,000 works on paper and some 300 paintings. I love that he painted both figures and buildings with a brash boldness (raw, sometimes shocking, beauty of the human form… and brightly coloured, jumbled façades and landscapes). He was clearly influenced by his mentor Klimt but, for me, there’s also a hint of Mackintosh and Modigliani in his work. The book provides a useful insight into his life and work – as well as a comprehensive collection of colour illustrations of his paintings.
The Half Hunter (John Sherwood): First published in 1961 (another green cover Penguin Crime book from the Oxfam bookshop!). An unusual thriller with 17-year-old Jim Marsden (about to start at Oxford University), in his bright yellow, pre-war Austin Seven car, playing the part of the sleuth. It’s certainly not a run-of-the-mill crime book: a disappearing young woman; rebellious youths with too much money (and rich, powerful parents); an unsolved murder; and several suspects. Lots of imagined conversations and scenarios as Jim speculates on the true course of events. A clever plot and a quick and satisfying read.

oysterband+june tabor at the beacon…

I went along to the Beacon last night to see the Oysterband in their “A Long, Long Goodbye” tour, alongside June Tabor. After 45 years on the road, legendary folk rock collective Oysterband are hanging up their touring boots and concluding their ‘live’ career (whatever that means). 
I last saw them perform, again alongside June Tabor, at St George’s 13 years ago (according to my ancient blog!)… and, of course, we’re ALL getting older! Yes, just like me, they’d all aged and yet, they projected a wonderful celebratory spirit and acknowledgement of their respective musical journeys – the people they’d met, the stories they’d heard, the experiences they’d encountered, the songs they’d sung.
Yes, they’d all aged. Tabor is a year older than me and somewhat frailer than she was in 2011… but her voice has maintained its powerful, brooding majesty which, last night, I found quite moving. Likewise, John Jones still has a wonderful voice and a lovely warm, on-stage presence. Last night obviously involved lots of old familiar songs (the audience were in good voice too!) but, among the highlights for me was the cover of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart”.
They’re coming to the end of their time of performing after 45 years on the road. There were lots of memories, words of gratitude and much laughter. It was a brilliant, quite emotional, evening… and one that I will long remember.
Photo: From last night’s performance.

three cane whale at st george’s (again)…

Hannah and I went to a Three Cane Whale concert at St George’s last night. My blog tells me that it’s more than 10 years since I first attended one of their gigs (and I’ve seen them/Paul Bradley perform perhaps a dozen times since then).
I first came across their music when I was working at the pop-up shop at The Architecture Centre in November/December 2013 (one of their songs was on our regular playlist).
They really are an extraordinary, ridiculously-talented group of musicians (and very nice blokes too); they often like to associate their music with ‘Place’ and have recorded a number of their pieces ‘on location’ – in barns, old chapels, on hillsides and even next to main roads!
The three musicians (Alex Vann, Pete Judge and Paul Bradley) play an incredible, eclectic range of instruments. Last night’s concert was absolutely beautiful (no surprises there) and focused on music from their sixth album, “Hibernacula”.
In a broken world, it was just so lovely to know that beauty, joy and peace still exist. Hannah and I both felt we needed this!
Photo: From our seats in the gallery at last night’s concert.
PS: 3CW always seem able to have rather wonderful ‘support acts’ and last night was no exception… last night Boss Morris were excellent! 

september-october 2024 books…

Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys): I remember starting this book (first published in 1966) many, many years ago but gave up after only a few pages. I recently picked up a copy while we were staying at Alice’s and read it in a couple of days. The novel, initially set in Jamaica, opens a short while after the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 abolished slavery in the British Empire in August 1834. It’s a ‘postcolonial novel’ that serves as sort of a hypothetical prequel to Jane Eyre, the novel details the tragic decline of a young woman, Antoinette Cosway, who is sold into marriage to an English gentleman, Mr Rochester. Rhys portrays Cosway amidst a society so driven by hatred, so skewed in its sexual relations, that it can literally drive a woman out of her mind. It’s a tough, compelling read.
The Matisse Stories (AS Byatt): My friend Tony recommended this book (good man!). The book (first published in 1993) consists of three short stories and pay homage to the artist Matisse. Each of them offer verbal portraits of apparently ordinary lives driven by pain and disquiet. At first, they begin on a deceptively simple, almost cosy way: a middle-aged woman having her hair cut; a mother trying to work at home while she waits for the doctor to check her son's chicken pox; and a woman meeting a colleague for lunch at the Chinese restaurant she regularly patronises. But darker forces emerge or, as one reviewer put it: “Byatt is adept at rendering disintegration in a series of more or less macabre, violent and comical set-pieces”. I really enjoyed the book and thought Byatt’s writing was rather beautiful.
The Outrun (Amy Liptrot): This is our next Storysmith bookgroup selection (which I first read in 2020 – and decided it was one of my ‘books of the year’)(I haven’t changed my mind). It’s a beautiful, lyrical, brutally-honest memoir. At the age of 30, Liptrot finds herself ‘washed up’ back home on Orkney. The previous ten years of her life had been an utter nightmare; she left Orkney, went south, ended up in London and started a downward spiral of hellish alcohol addiction. She lost jobs, a boyfriend she loved, her health and self-respect – and ended up in rehab, with her psyche teetering on the edge of the abyss (I couldn’t see how anyone could survive what she had been through). So, Liptrot returned home (she briefly tried a couple of times before without success). She was alcohol-free, but an absolute mess. She retreated to the ‘outrun’ (the name given to a rough pasture on her parents’ farm) and, very slowly, thanks to her amazing resolve and determination, her life is gradually restored and re-formed. For a time, she works on her father’s farm then gets a job on a survey of the endangered corncrake (which immediately set me back with my own memories of the corncrakes of Iona!), and eventually she retreats to the tiny island of Papa Westray, off Orkney. There she walks the hills, goes wild swimming, tracks the wildlife, stares at the skies and discovers a new meaning for her life. Thanks to the internet, she constantly learns new things – astronomy, rock formations, history and the like… and, crucially (and wonderfully), she’s remained sober for two years (and resolved to being sober the rest of her life). She writes beautifully. It’s an incredibly brave, eloquent and hopeful book. I loved it all over again… and, now, it’s been made into a film (starring one of my favourite actors, Saoirse Ronan) – which, much to my huge relief, doesn’t let the book down!
Raffles (EW Hornung): First published in 1899 (my copy: 1950). Wikipedia describes Raffles as a ”gentleman thief” - living at the Albany, a prestigious address in London, playing cricket for the Gentlemen of England and supporting himself by carrying out ingenious burglaries. Raffles has Harry "Bunny" Manders – a former schoolmate to help him. It’s a bit like Holmes and Watson in reverse. Fascinating in theory, but I actually found this book of short stories unremarkable, not particularly clever and, frankly, rather boring.
Akenfield (Ronald Blythe): I’ve started ‘gently’ reading Blythe’s wonderful book ‘Next To Nature’ (a year’s observations, gossip and stories compiled about his Akenfield village home on the Suffolk/Essex border), but have been determined to try to read it slowly - on a monthly basis (January, February etc) in the way the book has been set out. But I also felt somewhat frustrated not to be able to continue to immerse myself in Blythe’s wonderful prose… so ended up reading this book (first published in 1969) about his account/portrait of modern rural life in his village, compiled during the course of 1967 – its inhabitants (ex-soldiers, farm labourers, district nurses, teachers etc etc), their stories, their experiences, their hardships and their joys. It’s a beautiful, fascinating and frequently moving book. Highly recommended.