(1) Things which I have read and enjoyed

In December I revisited both Little Women and Good Wives (or just Little Women, as it apparently is in the US) ahead of Greta Gerwig’s new film. I don’t remember the last time I read either of these - I used to return to Little Men and Jo’s Boys much more frequently as a child, oddly enough (but I watched Little Women a lot, in both the Elizabeth Taylor and the Winona Ryder iterations). It was really nice to return to them and appreciate lots of new things as an adult. I have always liked Professor Bhaer, and I continue to - it turns out that, as an adult, I am much more attuned to Jo’s loneliness, and really appreciate her relationship with Bhaer.

Over Christmas I read The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel (coming in Spring). You Will Be Safe Here by Damien Barr, and Hyperion by Dan Simmons.

From my point of view, You Will Be Safe Here was the weakest of them: I found it really interesting that a British guy who had never been to South Africa before chose to write a novel linking together the Boer War and post-apartheid Afrikaner dissatisfaction, but to me it never stopped feeling like someone from the outside looking in rather than being written from the inside (and half the novel is a first person narrative). I suspect there are better novels out there about both parts of this story, but this wasn’t bad.

However, the other two, I really enjoyed. The Glass Hotel was a particularly smooth read, beautifully written and atmospheric. I’m still not 100% I sold on the story itself: I didn’t dislike it, but I don’t think it was what I was expecting and I’m not quite sure it fits with the mood and atmosphere - but I really enjoyed reading it. It took me a while to get into Hyperion, at least half the book. Up till that point (Sol Weintraub’s story, if you know the book), I was interested but not involved, but his story really caught me emotionally, and then I was in. I understand the ending is or was controversial, and I am Team ‘It Works’. It is moving and beautiful and really satisfying.

(2) Things which I have watched and enjoyed

I saw the ‘big two’ this month: Greta Gerwig’s new Little Women, which I adored, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which I did not.

Little Women just hit all of my emotional buttons and I howled as quietly as possible into my scarf for the best part of an hour and a half while trying not to sniff REALLY LOUDLY. The framing of the story really worked for me, as did the tactility of the whole thing and the different relationships. I thought Florence Pugh was an incredible Amy, somehow believably a child and a young woman, and obviously Saoirse Ronan was wonderful as Jo - and the film really drew out the way that the novel emphasises the strength and ambition of both Jo and Amy, and also highlighted the reasons why Jo and Marmee are (IMHO) right to think that Jo and Laurie wouldn’t be a good match (too similar) and Amy and Laurie would (quite complementary, but not forced to be in competition like Amy and Jo). And I want all Jo’s outfits.

Rise of Skywalker on the other hand, hit almost none of my emotional buttons (Oscar Isaac was still foolishly handsome, obviously, I’m not DEAD). Now, I did not grow up with Star Wars and I really liked The Last Jedi, but I did not enjoy the Disney-Star Wars press machine throwing Rian Johnson and his film under the bus nor the new film’s walking back of certain plot and character developments from the last. I missed Rose Tico a whole lot and am bored by the whole Sith thing (look, I find the Force and Jedi stuff some of the most dull bits of Star Wars - it’s mostly a fairly bland presentation of religion / spirituality, and even in The Last Jedi, which tried to do something more interesting with them, I found it the least engaging bit). I’m not sure even Oscar Isaac will get me back to see it again.

I also saw Charlie’s Angels, which I did not expect to bother with, much less enjoy. However , Mark Kermode gave it a positive review, and I had a free Saturday afternoon, so I went and I had a huge amount of fun. The cast were generally delightful, and the story simple but fairly effective, but the highlight was definitely Kristen Stewart (big K-Stew fan since Panic Room, here) being the comedic element. More comedy, K-Stew, please!

Finally, at the cinema, I saw the Ballet Boyz film of the Royal Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet. It is gorgeous. It does such a wonderful job of compressing the ballet without feeling like you’re missing anything much (I missed some of Juliet having to forgive Romeo after Tybalt’s death), and you’ll have to trust me on the fact that this cast is insanely good - both live and on film. Frankie Hayward is deliriously perfect as Juliet, and my personal faves are Marcelino Sambé and Matthew Ball as Mercutio and Tybalt. This is now on BBC. iPlayer, and you should watch it.

And, at the theatre I saw Dear Evan Hanson and The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I would definitely recommend the latter, which was magically staged and wonderfully adapted, and is a great story about memory and the value of forgetting, but not the latter. Essentially, I have some fairly fundamental problems with the plot of Dear Evan Hanson (what he does is horrible and the show does not deal with that adequately) and the songs didn’t get me past that. And, in addition, I had problems hearing the lyrics clearly (potentially a problem of the London staging), which is not what you want in a musical.

(3) A recommendation of some kind

The British Museum’s exhibition one Troy and its legacy is really pretty good. It tries to have its cake and eat it a bit in terms of talking about it as historical reality and archaeology, but also sort-of dancing around how mythology interacts with that, but there’s some lovely pieces in there.

(4) In the pile for January

In all honestly, I have no idea what I really want to read going into the New Year. I have a ridiculous pile of books. I’m also going to be away for a chunk of it, and will be reading on my kindle - so we’ll see what is on there. I know I have Ducks, Newburyport on there, so maybe I’ll read that while sitting with my feet up in a coffee plantation in Colombia.

(5) A photo from the month gone by