Greydoll Reads The Women: Angela Carter and Colette

Sleepless nights a month or so back caused me to experiment with short stories as bedtime reading choice. Then too,  I fancied a break from gritty crime and instead to enjoy the company of ... not wolves as such but women.

Spurred on by listening to extracts from a biography of Angela Carter on the radio (The Invention of Angela Carter by Edmund Gordon) I raided my bookshelves and found a copy of her collection The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories - re-imagined and retold fairy tales including Bluebeard, Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast and Puss in Boots amongst others. Each is a detailed tale spun from imagination, blood, eroticism, love and identity.  Angela Carter was a writer who loved language so much that her pages spangle and glitter with the relish of it and may not be to your taste if your relish is not equal to Carter's. Verdict: dark and toothy myths from female experience and imagination, rich enough for reading again and again. And if that ain't part of the definition of legend then I don't know what is.

But after this powerful dip into alternatives, I opted for another old favourite from my bookshelf - the French writer  Colette with The Rainy Moon, And Other Stories.
This is a collection filled with Colette's sharp observation and description in which, in the main, Colette casts herself as witness to and narrator of stories of love, obsession and relationship all set during the first half of the twentieth century. Her sharp but cool eye is as much a delight as her writing (in this edition translated from the French by Antonia White) and each of these short stories left me with something to think about.

In Front Of The Telly - The Living And The Dead: River, The Bridge And The Last Kingdom

Yes this is how it is. I spend my life watching telly... when I am not writing posts for this blog. Some of my viewing has been a disappointment... some has been stupendous.

Let me say I do not know what has got up the nose of the telly writers on a certain national TV listings magazine when it comes to the detective series "River". (I know that this finished several weeks ago but I just had to say something about it.) I thought it was a fantastic show. It wasn't "depressing", it wasn't dreary, the lead actors were brilliant, subtle and wonderful (Yes, this includes Stellan Skarsgard) and pardon me for being a viewer that does not mind an "art house ending"... though I am not sure what such a thing is. True, I did lose The Old Man's company after a couple of episodes. Those who follow this blog will know that The Old Man can be challenged when it comes to telling one face from another (this is very variable... some times he sees resemblances that I have not spotted). Add factors such as flashback scenes and "hallucinations" and his brain do give up and he stomps off to do the washing up. Me, I loved the concept of a cop who chats to dead people. In fact I loved it all, acting, plot, photography....

However both The Old Man and I are present and swashing and buckling in front of "The Last Kingdom" - BBC's adaptation of Bernard Cornwell's historical novel series The Saxon Stories. (Well look there are Scandinavians in it, yes?) There are criticisms of the occasional chronological lapse in the prop department... and some reviewers have lashed out at the production as a whole. I did dread a cod CGI'd world of action, stereotypes and gore. But I got drawn into the plot and the action and...by the subtleties. Blimey I wouldn't want a night out with Alfred... I expected a man who burned the cakes to be much more fun... and as for his wife..... Thankfully and praise-worthily (such a word?) the CGI is largely reserved for the landscape. Which is understandable. 9th century England was much emptier than it is now. So...if it is possible to swash, buckle and be thoughtful then "The Last Kingdom" does it for me.

Meanwhile Scandi-Saturdays on BBC Four continue in style with the return of Swedish-Danish production "The Bridge" in its third season. Episodes 1 & 2 set it off to a good start but I suspect that lead character Saga's new Danish cop partner may prove a challenge to The Old Man again.... for I'm not sure who that Danish cop talks to at home or what realm they are in.

On a disappointed note... I am persisting with the second series of French "dead" and "living" drama "The Returned"... but I think it has lost its way... or me. There are an awful lot of scenes between characters involving silent stares and very little conversation. So, so disappointed. I loved the first series.

Grey Doll Turns From A Life of Crime...To Magic: Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell

I loved the BBC TV serial adaptation of the novel "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" by Susanna Clarke which ended last month. The story is a blend of alternate English history and fantasy with perhaps... an element of satire. The production is a terrific blend of script, performances, visual effects, sets and props... which re-creates the book's world beautifully. And I find this a great relief..... because I am a little tired of visuals produced by over-clocking the CGI in a production so that everyone and everything, including the light, appear to have been been fed through a single smoothing filter.

Not so with this one. So...every hat I own is taken off to director Toby Haynes and adapter Peter Harness. Eddie Marsan's "Mr Norrell" is pitch perfect - all timorous distrust, dull wig and little pot belly. Berti Carvel's "Jonathan Strange" is as dashing and Byronic as you could want. (The whole thing seems to take a nod at the distinctions and conflict between the Augustan Alexander Pope's "Norrell" versus the Romantic Lord Byron's "Jonathan Strange"....er... I think). Most of the performances were really strong so I would if I could not stop here with me glowing praise but......

Anyway, I love it all so much that I have downloaded the hours and hours of the spoken word version of the book from Audible and am plunging into its world of Georgian England alternate history and the battle between Theoretical Magicians and Practical Magicians all over again. A wonderful book, wonderfully written... and a long-time in writing (am I surprised?).

Note: Whilst researching Susanna Clarke, I see that she is the partner of (perhaps under-estimated) British sci-fi writer Colin Greenland, quite a few of whose books sit on my shelf from my sci-fi-reader phase. Well. There you go.

Travels With My Film Life: Ireland, 1930s - Ken Loach's "Jimmy's Hall"

.... County Leitrim during the 1930s ...and Ken Loach's latest,  and perhaps last, feature film. (He says you need a lot of energy to make a film... and as he is nearly 80....)

A right blood-boiler is "Jimmy's Hall"  too... based on the true story of Irish exile-returned Jimmy Gralton who rebuilds the local "hall" as a place to learn, dance (jazz even), meet and so on. But it is shortly after the Irish War of Independence and such socialist goings on were not to be countenanced.
The film tells the story of Jimmy and his friends' struggle to keep the Hall going against strong opposition from the Church and local Law and Order....

Beautifully shot and filmed...
You know how you can see a scene in a film and know what time of day it is by the light and the quality of the sound? Well that's just what happens with some of the exteriors around the "Hall" ....And... veteran Irish actor Jim Norton gives a splendidly chilling performance as the local Priest.

Grey Doll And Criminal Reading: Homegrown Reading

You know me as a bit of a Scandi-crime enthusiast. Bit? Huh... total reading matter more like.....
But recently I do return to home roots with  M.H. Baylis's "The Tottenham Outrage" which I certain do enjoy... packed full of multi-culture and a lively view of the streets of North London.

It opens with the death of a family picnicking in Finsbury Park on a lovely spring day. The Hasidic family are found slumped over their food and onlookers are accusing a group of Muslim youths of spraying them with something. Local journalist Rex Tracey and his photographer friend Terry get caught up in the event and what follows takes us on journey amongst the streets of Tottenham and the Hasidic communities of Stamford Hill with Terry getting accused of another murder along the way. The crime story is interspersed with the account of one "George Smith" and his involvement with a true-life historical event, the failed Anarchist robbery of 1909 known as the "Tottenham Outrage".

The writing is characterful and funny and Baylis handles the two time threads very well. In all, this series featuring Rex Tracey and the streets of North London is certainly one I would visit again. You can read the full review here.

Re-Reading A Favourite Book: A Question of Upbringing

A month or so ago I posted about re-reading Peter Hoeg's Borderliners for a group's "education" reading theme.

But I also took the opportunity to re-read the first novel in Anthony Powell's 20th century literary cycle Dance To the Music of Time  whose twelve, browning, 1970s paperbacks sit on my shelf. I loved them when I first read them. But would I still? Well here goes. If I had often wondered about picking them up again, this seemed as good a reason as any. The first novel in the cycle - A Question of Upbringing - could fit the "education" theme quite well.

In a drastically different world from Hoeg's story of institutional power and abuse, Powell paints a portrait of a time and place where the possible seeds of influence are sown by the connections formed in a privileged educational establishment.

 Set in early 1920s England, the book establishes some of the "Dance" cycle's central characters - notably its narrator Nicholas Jenkins and the persistent-in-more-ways-than-one Kenneth Widmerpool, a perpetual outsider destined for greater things. They meet at public school (probably modeled on Eton) where, unlike in Hoeg's world of abused children, it seems that in this educational institution an unpopular teacher is as likely to be pilloried as any pupil. Ultimately each young man moves on, either to study at Oxbridge or into business, the law, or the City. Their paths occasionally recross until Jenkins realises that some have diverged so far from his own and into completely other circles that the immediate bonds of friendship seem broken.

In some ways Powell also offers that continuous assessment of class and status during that time that we English are so famously obsessed with. (Are we really the only ones?) The title - "A Question of Upbringing" - may say it all.

...And did I still enjoy reading Powell? Oh yes. It required a step down from "adrenaline thriller mode"... and a recognition of an earlier style of writing... but I still love that elegant understatement and wit that is Anthony Powell at his best.

In Which The Old Man Takes Comfort In A Ken Loach Documentary

What with "The Funeral" and the upcoming local elections at which we have no candidate we can vote for .... The Old Man do grow increasing apoplectic.

Last night he do take comfort in his Ken Loach documentary - "The Spirit of '45" ... and do nearly weep he be so moved about it all.

Tis our generation that basked in the welfare state, I know. And what a fine thing it was. What a shame it is being buried as we speak ... and without benefit of a ceremonial "do" like the woman what broke it. There. Colours to the mast. Nailed.
For myself I shall be following columnist Owen Jones with close attention.

In Which The Old Man And Me Discuss "Broadchurch"

Under the influence of Mrs D...(who do herself seem to be mostly under the influence of "a large glass of red")... The Old Man be taking an interest in crime drama on the telly.... and has loyally followed the recent British serial "Broadchurch" on ITV.

Now that we do know whodunnit... (well we do cos we did watch the broadcast of the last episode last night...) we fall to discussion this morning at breakfast....

..... and The Old Man do pronounce judgement which be rather a harsh one. He do feel it is largely the strong acting of the cast that saved the day. Now..anyone who knows The Old Man do know he often pronounces harsh judgement....

For myself....(in my best "Mrs D" mode but with a cup of tea instead of the wine)... I do offer that I feel a bit cheated on certain plot points and feel as though we be led up the garden path of episodic suspense and "would-be" murderers. Indeed some of those paths do be conspicuous dead-ends and I do feel a bit grumpy about that.

But we did indeed enjoy watching it. And the news is out that the series.... "will be back"
.

The Parting Of The Recordings

So us euro-telly watchers in the UK who do favour BBC4 on a Saturday night... wave bye-bye for now (we hope it's just for now) to "Borgen" and all that Danish drama and politicking.

The Old Man do watch this alongside me.. in real-time broadcasting... but do occasionally get confused and asks me when is "the crime" coming in. I do remind him that this be a series about politics not crime... though......come to think of it....

Good news for me is that the slot will be filled by the new series of the French Flic crime buster "Spiral"... what I do like and what The Old Man do not. Too violent he do say. So I will not be able to partake in real-time broadcasting.. but will have to insist that it be recorded for me to catch up with.

I can see that The Old Man is getting tetchy with "Ripper Street" as well... what I do thoroughly enjoy despite some slightly sniffy press. That may end up being recorded and all.

Then there's the return of "Being Human".... vampires, werewolves and ghosts... not The Old Man's kinda thing at all....

But then.... he be on his own when we get those documentaries about "early steam power" or "Hitler" so...

to each his own.... and praise be for recording technology. (No. I don't have an iPhone.)

Mrs D Admits Her Ignorance

We do listen today to the first episode of  Mark Lawson's series of 15 minute programmes on European crime fiction on BBC Radio4 called "Foreign Bodies" as mentioned in my previous post. This episode looks at Christie's "Poirot" and Simenon's "Maigret".

Now I did make that Mrs D stand in the corner wearing a dunce's cap. For she tells me that despite reading a lot of crime fiction and sometimes writing about it.... she have never (pregnant pause) read a Poirot or a Simenon. (Gasp!) I tell her she be admitting ignorance then.

But she remains defiant, I do hear her muttering into the corner that she does not want to read Agatha Christie. After some silence, I do hear her say that maybe she should read some Simenon.

Ha-ha. I think so too.

Travels With My Film-Life: Brittany 1969 - and Chabrol

Alors mes enfants. The other evening we do travel to Quimper in Brittany courtesy of Claude Chabrol and his 1969 thriller "Que La Bete Meure". Tis elegant, thoughtful and dashed clever this one. I very much enjoy it as do The Old Man. A grieving father seeks revenge on the "beast" hit and run driver who knocks down and kills his young son. Having located the man with obsessive cunning and a few coincidences, he do find a thoroughly unpleasant piece of work who bullies and terrifies everyone around him. There are twists and turns and the whole thing is very good. Not a thriller so much as a cool puzzler. Add a Brittany landscape that be very reminiscent of Cornwall....

I didn't know that the film is based on a British crime thriller written in the thirties by Nicholas Blake. Even more... I do not be aware that "Nicholas Blake" be the pseudonym of  Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. There's a thing.

You can read a Eurocrime review of the 1938  "The Beast Must Die" by Nicholas Blake, republished by Vintage earlier this year,  here.

Steampunk On My Bookshelf

Well it turns out, as I frantically try to research the title of a book I once read that qualified as Steampunk ... that it's sitting on my own bookshelf.

I knew I liked it. Must have. 'Cos I bought it.

I been remembering the imagery you see - the docks of High Haven and the Victorian sailing ships travelling the solar system. As the the book's jacket says:

"...the pleasure gardens of the Moon... the perilous Asteroid Sea and the cruel canyons of Mars where Angels fill the red sky with their ravenous cries..."

It's the splendid "Harm's Way" by British sci-fi writer Colin Greenland.

Dare I read it again? Or will I be disappointed after all these years?