In which I wrap up March

Hello, 2015, you’re rolling along rather fast…

(1) Things which I have read and enjoyed

I didn’t read a lot, because, I don’t know, the Internet ate my brain or something. I read The Quiet American by Graham Greene, as a chaser after In the Light of What we Know, and I always find Greene quietly clarifying on the nature of humanity. The world hasn’t changed much since he wrote this, I think.

I also read The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall for book club, which was a bit disappointing, and took me aaaaaaages, despite being only 200 pages. I’d wanted to read her for ages, which was why I nominated the book (sorry guys), but while I liked the female-centricity and thought some of the individual moments were really well written and atmospheric - especially the descriptions of landscape and weather (it’s set in the Lakes) - it was really too short to be as rich a story as it could have been.

(2) Things which I have watched and enjoyed

Basically, I am all in on Poldark on the BBC, and finding its week-to-week-ness simultaneously infuriating (Give me MOAR Cornish historical drama with beautiful romance) and delightful (yeah, I actually miss that sense of anticipation when you can just get a whole series at once on Netflix). I also loved Wolf Hall, which wrapped up earlier in the month, and was really good at making your remember that Henry VIII’s wives were actually people not just pawns.

At the cinema I saw Big Hero Six which I have some ~feelings~ about bah-a-la-la-la, and during which in no way scoped out the San Fransokyo skyline for future AT&T Park, because there should totally be San Fransokyo Giants in this future. I also saw Suite Francaise, which I liked a lot more than most critics. It was nice to see a film about the war in which most of the characters are properly complicated humans.

(3) Things which I wrote that I’m fond of…

Just the one post this month (Internet ate brain, remember). There may be more Miroslav Volf in our future, but it’s hard to write about without extensive quotation, because he doe have a way with words.

(4) A photo from the month gone by

I went to Conflict, Time, Photography at the Tate Modern, which was so interesting and well done. The Vonnegut quote was a key for it, and this is a photo of Dresden after the bombing.

image

(5) In the pile for April

The next book club book is We are not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas, which is fat so I have to get on that. Then I’m travelling with work, so I might finally get myself into Wolf Hall, which is on my kindle. I don’t really like reading on my kindle so I tend to only do it when I travel.

At the cinema there will be Fast and Furious 7, which will be emotionally traumatic, and Avengers: Age of Ultron, which will probably also be emotionally traumatic, because it is made by Joss Whedon, and Joss kills characters for fun. I shall also be seeing La Fille Mal Gardee at the Royal Ballet, and an Ashton ballet with clog dancing will probably be the most delightful contrast.