Mr Wilder and Me, The Gathering and A Slipping-Down Life

 

This is Jonathon Coe at his best. Equally good as his "Number 11" and "Middle England". It is amazing how he tell this story in the first person of Calista, looking back to when she was twenty one, and her very short time working for the famous, but now ageing, film director. This is such a happy book, not filled with trademark Coe wit, but one where the prose flows in a glow.

Just over halfway through there is a story told at a dinner party that is in the form of a film script. Exquisite. There are a few mentions of Halliwell's Film Guide. I had to check out my copy for the notes there about Billy Wilder. I rarely read the "Acknowledgements and Sources" at the end of a book, but this time these felt quite emotional. I was sorry when I finished.

Anne Enright's Booker winning novel is a story about the Hegarty family. Little dramas told in flashback rather than a novel with forward momentum. But what sets this book apart ( and obviously the judges in 2007 thought the same) is the wonderful, intelligent, modern but highly accessible and almost musical prose. Told in the first person by Veronica Hegarty, (married, two children) but it seems more like a third person novel. "So here they all are, going to the races, finally. It is Easter Monday and every car in Dublin is making for Fairyhouse in a convoy, there are charabancs in line down O'Connell Street and trains going every twenty minutes from the station in Broadstone".

Veronica's brother Liam is dead. She has a funeral to organise. But the past comes back to her in waves. She was the closest sibling to Liam. There is more about her grandmother Ada than there is about her own mother. Because that is where her memories of Liam are most vivid and wild when they live there as children. And the visits of Lambert Nugent she cannot erase. But it is the prose that stands out, I haven't read anything like it for ages.

I read somewhere that Anne Tyler disowned her first three novels and this was one of those. I was not surprised. There is nothing remotely heart warming about this story. There are glimpses of the writer's intelligent prose, but the best thing about the book is that it is so short. Fortunately I have still a couple of her later novels to read.

Recovery Runs

I had to remind myself why I used to have a slow run the day after my one fast run of the week that was usually the 5K parkrun on a Saturday. This was followed by that slow run on the Sunday. Looking back at all the four day training schedules from the last few years, these always included that Sunday recovery run. Recently I thought I would drop one of the four day runs and Sunday seemed to be the obvious answer. However, I now think that this was the wrong call. 

That  was when I had to remind myself about what I remembered about recovery runs. There is plenty on the internet and below are just a few of those. So I will go back to my original running schedule, albeit that my Sunday runs will be really slow. 

"Recovery runs are most effective if performed within 24 hours of an intense training run".

What is the Real Benefit of Recovery Runs?

In short, recovery runs do not enhance recovery. Nevertheless, recovery runs are almost universally practiced by top runners. That wouldn't be the case if this type of workout weren't beneficial. So what is the real benefit of recovery runs? The real benefit of recovery runs is that they increase your fitness--perhaps almost as much as longer, faster runs do--by challenging you to run in a pre-fatigued state (i.e. a state of lingering fatigue from previous training.)

Here’s Why You Should Slow Down for a Recovery Run

“The most common mistake most runners make is that they think if they’re running easily, then they’re not getting much benefit,” says Brian Rosetti, a running coach in New York City and founder of the Run SMART Project. That couldn’t be more off-base because easy (or sexy pace) running comes with a laundry list of benefits.

First of all, as your body becomes more adapted to aerobic, slow runs, it’s going to use fat more efficiently, Ghazarians says. “This process is known as the fat adaptation effect,” he explains. “Faster anaerobic runs upwards of two hours mainly deplete stored muscle glycogen from carbohydrates. Slower aerobic runs, on the other hand, use approximately 50 percent fat for energy while the remaining 50 percent is a combination of glucose and protein for energy.”

The reason for this? Fat oxidation requires oxygen—and it’s very hard to run long distances at an all-out fast pace. “Long, slow distance runs are easier to sustain. So during these runs, your body has to constantly replenish the oxygen reserves it’s using to continue to produce energy,” he says. “And since fat metabolism requires oxygen, you condition your body to use fat as its main energy source rather than carbs. Eventually, this adaptation will allow you to run longer distances without having to refuel.”

Easy runs also train the cardio, respiratory, and muscular systems to work more efficiently. “They allow the body to better integrate its various systems,” says Ghazarians. “In turn, this will allow you to run with less effort on your faster running days.” Slower runs also train your slow twitch (type I) muscle fibers, “the ones that allow you to work aerobically to sustain your pace on long distances,” he says.

The Songs and Sights of Last Night in Soho

 I'm not going to list all the songs from Last Night in Soho, but I will pick out a few of my favourites that took me back to 1965 when I was twenty, and like Ellie (above) was living in London. We know she loves the sounds of the sixties when at the start she dances around her bedroom at home  to Peter and Gordon's "A World Without Love". This is quickly followed by my favourite song from the film "Don't Throw Your Love Away" by the Searchers. The reason being that I have never heard this recording played so loud and so clear. Even my headphones do not compare. The guitar riffs at the start are quite something. 

"Don't Throw Your Love Away" was the follow up to The Searchers' number one hit "Needles and Pins" and producer Tony Hatch encouraged an equally distinctive sound for another, but their last,  number one in the UK. Goodness knows who came up with the idea to cover the B side of a recording by The Orions in the USA that reached the dizzy heights of 55 in their charts. 

Dusty Springfield's "Wishin' and Hopin'" was an obvious choice for Ellie leaving for London. I loved the way Ellie puts on a record before she goes to sleep, and that first time as she hits night time  West End to the sound of Cilla Black's "You're My World", only to enter the night club to find Cilla actually performing the song. 

Two instrumentals rattled by brain cells. "Beat Girl" by John Barry was for the film of the same name and  "Wade in the Water - Live at Kooks Kleek" by The Graham Bond Organisation. Then Sandie Shaw's "Puppet on a String" will never be the same after this movie, as will Barry Ryan's "Eloise": the second half of the film reflects an altogether darker tone. Even Anya Taylor-Joys own rendition of "Downtown" is surreal. I cannot say I remember the title track at the end credits by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky Mick and Titch. But it does work so well.

There is a lovely piece on denofgeek.com about the poster for Thunderball that is lit up for the movie. I remember seeing the film at the Odeon Hammersmith the day it was released. Or that should be the night as it was shown a  minute past midnight on 29th December 1965. I'm sure I nodded off during the over long underwater sequence near the end.

I wasn't sure how Ellie could afford a bedsit on her own in Goodge Street. In 1965 I was also sharing an attic in Chiswick with my friend Bob that was far less salubrious than Ellie's top floor room. I cannot remember visiting the West End much in those days. Only seeing A Hard Day's Night at the London Pavilion, now part of the Trocadero Centre near Piccadilly Circus.

Dune, The French Dispatch and Last Night in Soho

 

I cannot remember if I saw the original 1984 movie directed by David Lynch. The trailer does not look familiar, but that was thirty seven years ago. The new Dune is directed with style by Denis Villeneuve but, despite being two hours and thirty five minutes long, it is only Part 1. I felt as if there were definitely parts that could have been cut out but the director wants us to wallow in the sets. These are obviously very impressive as is much of the hardware and CGI. But they do at times overwhelm the story. The script was better than I expected and the cast were all excellent, even Rebecca Ferguson is almost good. When I saw this in Cineworld's IMAX screen, I was a little alarmed when the aspect ration of the screen changed between IMAX and normal widescreen where it left a gap at the bottom of the screen. That was weird.

Wes Anderson is at his best (weird, wacky and wonderful) with The French Dispatch. The one hour forty minutes seemed to go in a flash. The three stories are not obviously a dramatic choice, but it is what is shown on the screen that is so wonderful, full of colour, brilliant sets, fabulous costumes (both a shoe in for Oscars). The high class cast are all on form including Anderson favourites such as Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Benicio Del Torro and Frances McDormand. Again there are switches in aspect ratio as the picture changes to black and white and the academy 1.37.1 size favoured by old French movies. I never have been a fan of heavy narration, but I got used to it. Some of the dialogue is very fast and so is the editing. So I need to see it again. For the sets, go to elledecor.com - "6 Design Secrets: hollywood reporter". 

I wondered why Last Night in Soho was given an 18 certificate. Still not sure if the "strong bloody violence" deserved it. When I found that half the film is actually set in 1965 I knew I was in for a treat, I was actually twenty in that year and the film brought back so many memories. I had deliberately avoided any mention of the 60's soundtrack as I wanted to be surprised during the film. And what wonderful surprises. My favourites are all in the first half of the movie, but I will write a separate post on all the songs, and sights of London.

We know from early on that Eloise is particularly attuned to certain emotions, her mother died when she was young and she is prone to sometimes be overwhelmed. So starting out on her own as a student of fashion design in London would always be strange. But it is her dreams at night that are so vivid as she follows Sandie through her 1965 experiences in the more squalid parts of the West End, almost being Sandie. Dreams seem to melt into reality as Ellie becomes more unhinged. As the review on polygon.com puts it "the message that nostalgia is just a pair of rose-tinted goggles, obscuring darker realities hidden beneath the glitzy surface."

This is not a comfortable tale of London in the Swinging Sixties, increasingly more a seedy and  revolting as the story unfolds. But a good story nonetheless and terrific dialogue. Some of the sets are dazzling, the colour palette is turned up to high. Edgar Wright is one of my favourite directors and he does not disappoint. His cast is mainly excellent. Thomasin McKenzie (so great in JoJo Rabbit) is so vulnerable and believable as Eloise and Anya Taylor-Joy (brilliant in Emma)  is wonderful as Sandie. So are Rita Tushingham as Ellie's mother, Terence Stamp and I particularly liked Diana Rigg (in her last screen role) as Ms Collins, Ellie's landlady. The only poor casting was Matt Smith as Sandie's greasy manager. There was also a tiny part for Elizabeth Berrington as Elly's fashion teacher, known in our house for Paula in Stella. Next up the soundtrack.

Things I Don't Want to Know, The Cost of Living and Real Estate

 

The first book of Deborah Levy's three part "Living Autobiography" delves into childhood whilst telling us what it is to be a woman and how this effects her writing. Except the first section "Political Purpose" sees her as an adult visit an isolated hotel near Palma, Majorca to write. Here, not a novel but memories and thoughts about her place in the world. She thinks "perhaps women secrete their own despair in the process of being mothers and wives. Perhaps, their whole lives long, they lose their rightful kingdom in the despair of every day". And so on. Now, as a man, I don't pretend to have even considered some of the things she says. But this a thought provoking introduction that I will try to read again.

"Historical Impulse" follows Levy's childhood in apartheid South Africa in 1964. With her father in prison, I liked the part where she is palmed off on Grandmother Dory. Her cousin Melissa is seventeen and arrives like a whirlwind. Somehow the book here turns into a brilliant story, full of wit and love. Just a short piece (not twenty pages) but a reminder of Levy's extraordinary prose. Is she remembering exactly what it was like at seven or eight? Or are there some embellishments? But we know she is "Melissa's little chum" and the piece in the convent school is very funny. Levy's father returns from prison after five years and the family leave for England by boat. Waving goodbye to her friend she tells us "Melissa was the first person in my life who had encouraged me to speak up ...... she was spirited and brave and she was making the best of her lot". But the only memory of South Africa she wants to keep is that of the maid Maria. "I don't want to know about my other memories of South Africa. When I arrived in the UK what I wanted was new memories".

In "Sheer Egoism" we are in England in 1974 and Levy is fifteen and had been in West Finchley for six years. "I was born in one country, and grew up in another, but I was not sure which one I belonged to." She is starting to realise that she wants to write, even on napkins in a cafe.

The last part is "Aesthetic Enthusiasm" is only twelve pages and we are back in the Majorca hotel. And in that tiny room, with a desk she is at home, "to become a writer, I had to learn to interrupt, to speak up, to speak a little louder, and then louder, and then to speak in my own voice which is not loud at all". That I never learnt.

Having loved Deborah's Levy's first memoir "Things I don't want to know", I was a little disappointed in this, the second installment of her autobiographical trilogy. The theme about a woman's place in the world did have interesting things to say, but I found it overwhelmed by the recent break up of her marriage. She seems to have very mixed feelings about men. Obviously. Whilst there is some anger there, she recalls one incident in a Boston hotel where a man was "attentive and gentle and kind". And there are others such as the gardener, the Turkish newsagents and "the man who cried at the funeral". who are equally impressive. I was also interested in her new life in a seedy tower block with her daughters and the kind elderly Cecilia who lets her write in her shed. Her Booker shortlisted novel "Swimming Home" is already making a stir.

The third and last in Deborah Levy's memoir (I didn't like the pretentious Living Autobiography tag). Actually the whole book has a certain pretentious quality. That does not mean I was not interested. I enjoyed the first of these three books, less so the second, and even less this one. These are more like musings on her current life, much of which is is fairly boring. Although as a window into a writer's life it is oddly captivating. There are lots of philosophical stuff which interrupt her memoir, and not in a good way.

Now don't get me started on the feminist stuff. Her feelings about men are kind of contradictory. Mostly this "patriarchal culture" dominates the book: "she's (women) always being told what she wants" (some hope in our house). I'm not sure what sort of life has led her to these generalisations. But then there is "my best male friend" who to me is typical of all the men she cannot stand and who I would avoid like the plague.

If it's true that a male writer "viewed every female writer as a sitting tenant on his land" , is she just unlucky, was she joking or just being provocative. But Levy will not let it go: "his final last gasp at crushing her imagination and capabilities is to accuse her of causing his impotence". One reviewer says "she makes the reader want her for a companion". Don't you just hate it when someone tells you what to want, as I would not. Levy goes on and on: "Domestic space, if it is not societally inflicted on women, if it is not an affliction bestowed on us by patriarchy (she does use this word so often) can be a powerful space". And angriest of all: "I was furious about the pain that men inflict on women and girls".

Back to the autobiography, and Levy is off to Paris with a fellowship awarded by Columbia University. One of twelve in the Institute for Ideas and Imagination. Lots about Paris, very little about her colleagues. Although having said that, one does take her to the nightclub Silencio. Her daughters couldn't believe their mother (nearly sixty) was so cool. There is then one passage that, for me, stands out above the rest. It's about goodbyes, inspired by suddenly wanting to hear that Leonard Cohen song ("Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye") she first heard at thirteen. Five brilliant pages. That should have ended the book but unfortunately it does not.

What is it about Deborah Levy's writing that is, at times, so captivating? Her prose it not easy or straightforward. Somehow I like the challenge. On Goodreads there are some very articulate reviews from some intelligent people. I don't classify myself as dumb, but these reviews are something else. And here is part of a review of her latest novel August Blue: "reads like a fever dream of the themes explored in her memoirs". There we go.

Imagine - David Chiperfield: A Place to Be ?

 

Not my favourite presenter, but Alan Yentob does find some interesting people for his Imagine series. And I always want to watch when it is an architect as important as David Chipperfield. Or Sir David Alan Chipperfield CBE to give him his full title (never mentioned on the programme). Here are the first words from Yentob:

"In an archive inside what was East Germany (resides) ....eleven years of work. 3,000 files, 352 metres of shelves, all from a pre-digital age. One architectural project - The Neues Museum in Berlin. We hear all about it's restoration (yes, employing a British architect), "a new building created from the remains of the old". Combining classical architecture with "crisp modernism", some of which to my eyes is startlingly good. 

We are told about the tortuous gestation of the competition and design, the committees exploring every detail. The commission was won in competition in 1997 and in 2011 it won the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture. There was a nice story about the selection of the architect from the final two, the other being Frank Gehry. Apparently at one point The General Director, who heavily favoured Gehry, walked  out, humiliating Chipperfield's.  presentation. 

We hear about other projects. The Museum of River and Rowing at Henley.

Hepworth Wakefield.

Turner Contemporary Margate.

The Royal Academy. See my blog posting of 23rd November 2018 for my visit there).

I was less impressed with a walk around Berlin with Wim Wenders. The three, in identical black suits were described somewhere, a little unfairly,  as "Reservoir Dogs meets Last of the Summer Wine".

Nor did I want to hear about Chipperfield's expensive house in Corrubedo in Spain and a pretentious explanation why this is where he feels at home. If only. Both the above segments went on far too long.

The programme ended in New York where Chipperfield has won the competition to design a new gallery for the South West Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His most prestigious project yet according to some. It involves knocking down some of the existing building! It is still at the concept stage and the model is still under wraps.

Campanula portenschlagiana

 

The campanula flowers well in the narrow conservatory border and has done so for many years. The photo above is from June this year. I don't feed or ever water this low growing plant, it just goes on and on. It is called "hardy, vigorous and persistent" on the Gardener's World website. It likes full sun and a south facing aspect which it does have here. I guess the reflected warmth from the conservatory brickwork also helps. 

The same website says it flowers in July and August, but the above photo is from June. Mine is over by end of July and I chop it right back. However, it then flowers again, the photo below is from late October!

Tring Book Club - The Midnight Library by Mat Haig

 

It's Mrs Elm who Nora meets in that fantastical place called The Midnight Library and tells her that she has a choice of just not "parallel lives. Some are more ....... perpendicular". When she explains The Book of Regrets, we are prompted to think about are own. But these other lives for Nora are not all what they might seem. Even though I was looking forward to Nora's other life with The Labyrinths, it was not what I expected. When Nora meets Hugo, there are quite deep philosophical conversations about what it is to exist. And we are treated to bits about "open quantum wave function" and "quantum superposition" whatever those might be.

Matt Haig is good at combining a decent narrative with clever prose that, though written in the third person, sometimes feels like the first. Nice short chapters, each with a title. A little bit sentimental at the end, but who doesn't like a bit of sentimentality. However, upon reviewing this novel again for book club, I did find the reasons for Nora's  exit from these "trial" lives too lightweight. In fact the I just didn't get why she wanted to end her life at the beginning. All this should have been a lot darker, but I guess it was not that kind of book. A comfortable read instead.

Grace Slick and The Matrix 4 Resurrections

 

The trailer for The Matrix 4 Resurrections is accompanied by Jefferson Airplane's great recording of White Rabbit. What I did not know was that the song was written by the singer Grace Slick. She only joined the band in 1966 after the previous vocalist left. Grace had previously been part of a band called The Great Society and it was while she was there that she wrote White Rabbit. She told Rolling Stone magazine how much the royalties have meant to her over the years. I guess more to come from that trailer. The picture above is from Jefferson Airplane's performance of the song at Woodstock in 1969 and the video is on YouTube. Great having the artist sing live her own song,

The song is about Alice in Wonderland and the first  lyrics "One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small" is played in the trailer over Keanu Reeves taking .... a pill. Clever. And then The Matrix Club in San Francisco was famous for a band who played there. Jefferson Airplane.

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Call Alice
When she was just small

When the men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know

When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head
Feed your head

The South West Coast Path

Inspired by Raynor Winn's memoir "The Salt Path" that we read for book club, I have placed below a few of the photographs from the seventeen years we stayed for a week in September or October on the north coast of Cornwall. The book brought back many happy memories and it has been a pleasure looking back at my posts from when I started this blog in 2007. The South West Coast Path starts in Devon but it's not until the book reaches Bude that I'm on familiar territory. I have not yet looked at the photos in albums from 2002 but I know we visited Tintagel, Boscastle and Bude in the early days. The photos on my computer (and on the cloud with Google Photos) start in 2005 but they are here in order of the route itself.

The first two are from above Crackington Haven.

Next is Trebarwith Strand.

Then Port Isaac.

This is Port Quinn where we stayed for sixteen years at the National Trust properties at Doyden and Lacombe. Or as the book puts it " a lost collection of weekend homes". 

The path from Port Quinn  with Rumps and the island Mouls in the distance.

From the same path.

Lundy Bay.

Rumps and Mouls getting closer.

Rumps.

The path from Port Quinn arrives at Polzeath. We have walked there and back every year we stayed at Port Quinn and never tired of the scenery.

Daymer Bay at Rock.

The ferry from Rock to Padstow.

Padstow.

The path out of Padstow.

And on the way to Harlyn.

Porth Mear.

View to Porth Mear from NT cottage Trescore where we stayed this September.

Path at Park Head.

Bedruthan Steps.

Staircase down to Bedruthan beach.

Mawgan Porth.

Porthcothan.

St Ives.

St Michel's Mount.

Porthleven.

Kynance Cove.

Path to the Lizard.

Lizard Point.

The Lighthouse at Lizard Point.

Pendennis Castle, Falmouth.

Falmouth.

The Fowey to Bodinnick ferry.

Fowey.

Polruan.

The path from Polruan.

In June 2007 we stayed for five nights at the Manor House Hotel (now Pig on the Beach) at Studland in Dorset and walked some of the path mentioned in the book. See blog posting 26th June for Poole, Weymouth, Old Harry Rocks, Charmouth, Chesil Beach.