Tring Book Club - The Storyteller by Jodi Picault

This was my first time reading of a Jodi Picoult novel and only because it was a book club choice. We get one joke very early on: "My husband hogs the remote because women control everything else". After that it is a story that becomes darker and darker. There were some good parts, discussions about forgiveness in particular.

But to me, there were things that were too unrealistic. In hindsight, some of the co-incidences were hard to accept. When I read it, I liked the bit where Sage talks about "the idea of my grandmother and Josef co-existing in this world". It was only later I thought this was way too much to be real.

The writing seemed a little heavy handed and the prose felt clunky and at times almost amateurish. However, the main character, Sage, is an interesting creation and it was always a delight to be in her company. Obviously, the passages that revealed the horror of the holocaust were powerful and I thought they were sensitively handled. 

Rita, Sue and Bob Too at the Oxford Playhouse

Out of Joint is one of the best touring companies, and although Rita, Sue and Bob Too is an "important play", I'm surprised that they thought it would attract even the firmest fan of live theatre. So when the Oxford Playhouse is less than half full, I was not surprised.

The play is important in that it reflects the state of northern working class Britain at the beginning of the 1980's. The Bradford estate is there for all to see in the run down tower block and on the backcloth of the hills above. Andrea Dunbar lived there and wrote the play at nineteen. So the language and story are pretty basic and uncomfortable. We can pretend this is the eighties and things have changed. But have they really? Alcohol and cigarettes have been replaced by drugs, so maybe now it's worse. 

Fortunately, there is humour and emotion in the friendship of fifteen year old Rita and Sue played by the excellent Taj Atwal and Gemma Dobson. The older married Bob is also well performed by James Atherton. This is a very short play, only a little over 75 minutes. Director Kate Wasserberg has pulled no punches and the burst of songs from the eighties between scenes is very clever.

However, plays are so rarely performed in the provinces, and the failure to attract audiences will not improve matters. Thank goodness for London productions being shown live in cinemas. The National Theatre's "Follies" up next.

The Mountain Between Us, The Snowman and Happy Death Day

I nearly missed The Mountain Between Us because of many negative reviews. However I didn't find it slow and there was always the scenery to admire. I thought the screenplay was good and the direction by Hany Abu-Assad satisfactory. But what convinced me to see this movie was the two leads. Kate Winslet didn't disappoint, she was excellent. It was just a shame that her acting showed Idris Elba to give the usual wooden performance. He is fine in action films, but in, what turns out to be a romantic drama in the latter stages, he fails. However, thanks to Kate and the snow, I enjoyed it.

There are so few decent thrillers these days so it was refreshing that a Jo Nesbo Scandi police procedural made it to the big screen. Although messy at times, this turns out to be a watchable movie with Michael Fassbender in the lead detective role, a flawed character, but aren't they all. Tomas Alfredson directs with relish if not cohesion. Oh yes, and once again  there is a lot of snow.

OK, it was just a rip off of Groundhog Day, but it was interesting to see all those events that initially are ignored by the lead, knowing that at the end they all see her better side. I'm not a fan of slasher movies, and that aspect did put me off. But there were enough scenes that relied on a decent script and likeable actors that made it worth seeing. Jessica Rothe is perfect in her role of the witty and bolshie Tree. Again, a young female Bill Murray. Very clever. So well done director Christopher Landon and writer Scott Lobdell.

Fats Domino 1928-2017

I actually posted a piece on my blog about Fats on 16th March 2015. The December 1949 recording of The Fat Man is often cited as one of the very first rock and roll records. Check it out on YouTube. Musicologist Ned Domino said that this was rock and roll before anyone had heard those words and says that " Domino crossed a line by playing a stripped-down, more aggressive boogie woogie piano with a series of "piano-triplet-and-snare- backbeat hits".

The Independent's obituary also says: Beginning his music career in 1949, he teamed up with trumpet player and band leader Dave Bartholomew, who produced and co-wrote Domino's first record "The Fat Man" that same year. It was the first rock and roll record to sell over a million copies, and achieved a No.2 ranking on the R&B charts.

But watching last night on Sky Arts, Jon Cleary said that "The Fat Man" was almost identical to "Junker's Blues" recorded by Champion Jack Dupree in 1940. And it is. What Fats Domino did was to blend boogie woogie and rhythm and blues with his own style and "bam!", rock and roll was born.

Winchester Cathedral

We had originally planed to visit Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard on the way home from the Great South Run. But Monday morning's rain changed our plans and instead we headed to Winchester. Fortunately the rain had stopped when we arrived and we found our way to the Cathedral.

We were here a few years ago, but there is always something new to see.

I was interested in the Jane Austen exhibition. Where she is buried, there is a brass plaque...

.... and above is a window....

Also on display in a temporary exhibition is part of The Winchester Bible. This giant bible was commissioner around 1160. It has nearly 1,000 double sided pages. Apparently, there were six artists who created the illuminated title letters for each page, using gold leaf and an ultramarine blue pigment made from the mineral lapis lazuli that was mined in Afghanistan. Under preparation is a permanent exhibition space for all the rebound four volumes.

The Cathedral has an excellent large, modern cafe next door so we could rest with tea and cake. A wander around the town and it was time to head home. It had been a memorable weekend.

Great South Run

When we set off on Saturday morning for our long weekend in Portsmouth for the Great South Run, the weather was putting the event in great jeopardy. The races and events for Saturday had already been cancelled due to the strong winds and stormy conditions. The forecast for Sunday was that the winds would not be quite as bad so we hoped for the best.

Arriving at the Holiday Inn at just after midday, we decided to have a stroll along the seafront to see how bad it was. We found it difficult to stand up in the wind, and the waves were crashing over the seawall onto the road which was the location for the start and finish of the race.

That is the flooded road just beyond the grass and boulders.

Back along the front we met some friends from parkrun before heading back to the hotel for a restful afternoon. We were due at Jamie's at seven pm for dinner with Alison's friends from her running club OnTheRun. There were 41 of us on two tables which was quite something. Thanks to Penny for the photo.

Gunwharf Quays was busy on a Saturday night, and on the way back we had a good view of Spinnaker Tower.

The wind was still howling overnight, but had abated slightly when we woke to a sunny morning. The race was on. Only a light leisurely breakfast, there was no rush as it was very nice to be able to walk to the start, leaving at 9.45am for the 10.20 warm up. I had never before participated in a mass organised warm up, tv screens and loud music. So that was an experience.

I was in the first wave to start, somewhere towards the back of thousands lining up along the wide seafront road.

Apart from the wind, I really enjoyed the run. A great route that took you past the Historic Dockyard, lots of support along the way, lovely wide roads, lots of runners mostly about my pace. I seemed to get tired after 5 miles which was a little worrying, and although miles 6 to 8 had the wind behind, it was too sheltered to be of much use, and I just had to hang on. The last two miles is along the seafront with the strong wind against us. But knowing that the finish was not too far away, I put my head down (literally on occasions) and actually went a little faster.

In the end, I was very pleased with my time of 1.33.59, coming in 6,894th place out of 16,330 finishers and 16th out of 80 in the 70-74 age category. Alison also did very well with 1.40.17. She was wearing her club vest for the first time.

Although we had planned where to meet after the race, I was tired and cold by the time Alison arrived. So I headed back to the hotel while she went off to find her club friends and ultimately to the pub with a few of them.

Whilst there, she and I were invited to meet for dinner at the Brewhouse and Kitchen (www.brewhouseandkitchen.com/venue/portsmouth) where they had their own craft beers. Very nice. And the company was excellent. We were so glad we had booked the extra night.

Monday dawned to a miserable rainy start. After a proper cooked breakfast, we were off to Winchester, where we hoped the rain would have stopped and we could visit the Cathedral. More in the next post.

People, Places and Things at the Oxford Playhouse

The sell-out success at The National Theatre and West End productions, has brought Headlongs People Places and Things on tour. The Oxford Playhouse was also sold out on Thursday. Duncan Macmillan's brilliant writing has won this play many awards and it shows. The dialogue crackles and pops as it explores the depths of addiction. Directors Jeremy Herrin, Artistic Director of the wonderful Headlong company (The Seagull, 1984 and Herrin's own superb The Absence of War), and Holly Race Roughan pull no punches with an inventive and masterly staged production.

Lisa Dwyer Hogg plays the addict who (typically) goes by a number of names and ends up in rehab. When she refuses to take her pills, flushing them down the toilet, you are not surprised when things go haywire. Is Hogg up to the task of carrying the play? Almost but not quite. But the rest of the cast are good and, for a touring company, the general acting is OK. More than OK is the set and the sound, both key to modern shows.

Goodbye Christopher Robin, Home Again and Blade Runner 2049

For someone that was brought up on the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and then read them to his children, Goodbye Christpher Robin is a magical and emotional movie. The story and the screenplay are superb, written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce from the original script by co-writer Simon Vaughan. Directed with aplomb by Simon Curtis, he is fortunate to have such a strong cast on fine form. For me, there is one outstanding contribution from Stephen Campbell Moore in a small role as Alan Milne's illustrator Ernest. He should be nominated for a best supporting actor at least.

The moments that really knocked me out were the words spoken from the poem Vespers, father and son walking in the snow and racing bits of wood in the river dropped from a bridge, but most of all a tiny, almost missed,  fleeting reference to a poem my father recited to us young boys called Disobedience. There were just a few words about looking after mother at three (although Christopher said he was now six). That was it.

The poem starts off:

James James Morrison Morrison Weatherby George Dupree
Took great care of his mother,
Though he was only three.
James James said to his mother, "Mother," he said, said he;
"You must never go down to the end of the town, if you don't go down with me."

Near the top of the poster for Home Again is the name to draw in the audience, and me, Nancy Meyers. Unfortunately her daughter Hallie Meyers-Shyer is not in the same league as writer- director of this flimsy though watchable movie. The plot is all over the place, the premise totally unbelievable. I guess there are few movies for Reese Witherspon to choose from these days, but as usual she puts her heart and soul into some ropey dialogue. The same cannot be said for the rest of the cast including Michael Sheen.

Blade Runner 2049 is a classic in the making. Fortunately, I took advice from Mark Kermode on his Film Review and watched the original (the final cut which is Ridley Scott's own work - no voice over) before seeing the new movie. There were many references to the original that I might have missed otherwise. At two and threequarter hours, there are times when it feels a little ponderous, but I never lost interest and it is so beautiful to look at. It is visually stunning. Cinematographer Roger Deakins has done it again. The sound, or "music?" by composers Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer also respect that of Vangelis’s themes of the original, bringing in a fiercely up to date synthetic background.

Director Denis Villeneuve’s and co-writers Hampton Fancher (who created the original story) and Michael Green, have respected the first film in so many ways. In some ways this is a true "quest" movie as blade runner "K", played by a typically brooding Ryan Gosling, searches for his own identity within his mission from Robin Wright's human boss.

There are twists and turns as "K" and we try to unravel the truth of his own self. "To be human is to die for a cause worth fighting for". But is he? I was less than impressed by the late introduction of Harrison Ford as the older Deckard, but Ana de Armas as K's virtual girlfriend Joi is a marvel.

parkrun elevations

The running wear website jegmar.com lists the locations for all the 458 parkruns in order of the elevation gained. It was nice to see that in first place (i.e. the flattest course) was Southsea at an elevation gained of just 8 feet, and where we take part in the Great South Run in seventeen days time. Aylesbury was the 84th flattest at an elevation of 34 feet.

We also found that we have run three of the fourteen hilliest parkruns. Tring is in 445th position with an elevation of 346 feet, Lyme Park at 453rd with 411 feet and last of all in 458th place is Lanhydrock in Cornwall with 453 feet. And I don't like hills!

detectorists

We have just caught up with Series 2 of the BBC comedy detectorists. The first series gained merited glowing reviews and awards. We loved it. The second series is equally excellent. Mackenzie Crook writes, directs and stars alongside a brilliant cast including Toby Jones and Rachel Stirling. Even Diana Rigg puts in an appearance.

One critic on IMDB says: "Detectorists is probably the most complete comedy sit com of all time, it's gentle humour really shines". Even the title song (Detectorists by Johnny Flynn) is superb. Series 3 is due to be screened in the coming months.

R.I.P., Under a Pole Star and Hag-Seed

It only gets three stars for the odd witticism ("the trouble with banks is that they're too interested in money") and occasional laugh out loud moment. In between, after a promising start, the passages about the family are really boring. And half way through it becomes too silly for words. At least it's a quick read.

An epic sweeping novel set not only in the Arctic of the late nineteenth century, but in New York, Dundee and London. I was just a little afraid the story would get bogged down in the (not always) icy cold of Greenland, but the various expeditions never outstay their welcome in terms of the narrative. We guess that Jacob de Beyne from Manhattan would always meet the book's other main character Flora Mackie somewhere in the north. Their affair is described in surprising and lengthy anatomical detail. Quite extraordinary for a drama about polar exploration. The only time I felt that 600 pages was too long was an unnecessary diversions to Zermatt and Wales just over halfway through.

As with her other novels, Steff Penney is such a great writer. Her research is amazing and her prose top drawer. "Had she assumed that intimacy with her would be a healing balm? That she could wipe away bitterness, self-pity, time? If so, she overestimated her charms".

A truly amazing re-imagining of Shakespeare's "The Tempest". The plot mirrors that of the play which is itself about to be performed. The author loves her Shakespeare and that comes across loud and clear. The way the play is analysed in such entertaining detail makes you want to see it again soon. Compulsory reading for anyone taking an exam.