tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88461075960668054922024-03-07T22:38:38.247-08:00davidgeebooksWelcome to SHAIKH-DOWN author David Gee's blog. Share your views on the books he's reading and the TV and movies he's been watching. Details of forthcoming David Gee novels will also be posted here. Watch this space!David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-81757078402232199862022-06-09T01:40:00.013-07:002022-07-13T03:29:30.662-07:00BLOG MOVED TO WEBSITE<h4 style="text-align: left;"> June 2022</h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;">I have moved the blog onto my website:</h4><h2 style="text-align: center;"> www.davidgeebooks.com</h2><div>Go there for my latest posts, including the progress of my new novel - under a new pen-name (which is actually a previous pen-name revisited)</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSfDzcC2AwBzgcUBgp3FGt_6uXjEpWMpPkQEeyETGDp5wPphoKebGCKDZ-3oI-AC24rEzWtpoZcfyxcl6LhUleCs3l_RbWmT613n6ERbqqbcZwob0jirhgFC5zFzmYaxB-kunX84-Kz0YM_s9eY6DRNnI5LjQ96mHiPbRZNGoWj1xo2C3K2eK0CYlP/s2560/Soap-Stud%20and%20Blue-Movie%20Girl%20Front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1659" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSfDzcC2AwBzgcUBgp3FGt_6uXjEpWMpPkQEeyETGDp5wPphoKebGCKDZ-3oI-AC24rEzWtpoZcfyxcl6LhUleCs3l_RbWmT613n6ERbqqbcZwob0jirhgFC5zFzmYaxB-kunX84-Kz0YM_s9eY6DRNnI5LjQ96mHiPbRZNGoWj1xo2C3K2eK0CYlP/w414-h640/Soap-Stud%20and%20Blue-Movie%20Girl%20Front.jpg" width="414" /></a></div><br /><h2 style="text-align: center;"><br /></h2><h2 style="text-align: center;">first chapters can be read on www.davidgeebooks.com </h2><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-43164496398399866202022-05-18T05:33:00.000-07:002022-05-30T01:54:25.076-07:00What I'm re-reading: Siberian setting for brilliant thriller<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjErbG5_ssXXTMtfi81bm5aJJ2l-sBYWvhSPwivYI1H0SXqjDnYHU5eWMAr-AFtuFIZbc5pFtLx8VDhLCmlNXRqHuB6ausmDh2XWQbRnbUE3XfdNATOudWzlqfgNHVwQGjUTi6oBL7xyarJ2y8a4zJ19MThCtiYjroe2ezbpldmKhqfeOusVqIEuSK/s299/kolymsky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="198" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjErbG5_ssXXTMtfi81bm5aJJ2l-sBYWvhSPwivYI1H0SXqjDnYHU5eWMAr-AFtuFIZbc5pFtLx8VDhLCmlNXRqHuB6ausmDh2XWQbRnbUE3XfdNATOudWzlqfgNHVwQGjUTi6oBL7xyarJ2y8a4zJ19MThCtiYjroe2ezbpldmKhqfeOusVqIEuSK/s1600/kolymsky.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"> Lionel Davidson: KOLYMSKY HEIGHTS</h2><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I’ve decided to re-read a few of my favourite books.
When I read it in the 1990s I thought that <b>Kolymsky Heights </b>was one of
the best adventure thrillers I’d ever read.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">A captive scientist in a secret research station
deep in Siberia smuggles a message to an Oxford professor he knew earlier in his life. The CIA send Jimmy Porter into the post-Soviet wilderness to infiltrate the station. Porter is a Canadian-Indian (now more wokely called a "native
Canadian"), a gifted linguist and survival expert. Getting him into Siberia in
the guise of an “indigenous Russian” takes up two thirds of the narrative. What’s
going on at the secret establishment has echoes of the </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">X-Files</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">. Getting him out with this world-changing secret is
another challenge.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Lionel Davidson vividly recreates the Siberian
permafrost and the people who live there (it’s where gold and other minerals
are mined in huge quantities). This is a story like no other, bone-chilling in
its setting and nerve-shredding in its tension. After twenty-five years I still
rate it in my all-time top ten thrillers – maybe in my top five.</span></p></div><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-48090476370561236102022-05-12T03:57:00.002-07:002022-05-12T04:00:30.303-07:00David at the Movies: Upstairs, Downstairs and on the Riviera<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfX5tkWHMf9dbcT3AoypD_3WAmxlpuUvAUBQLuPsqwoFkNMPb2KtXLKzUbrOeFttQIxuhYCpvJBdnr4eGv9FaoF8YjCGyIaUY1mHIgOIZAVAnl8Wbzd-6R8MKsUs8cXwsMX8TsQ1Z455-3Mj6CSiMxSOiIWc5MEvL3Myxkrb-3O56mOGIZPlmKspLr/s1280/downton%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfX5tkWHMf9dbcT3AoypD_3WAmxlpuUvAUBQLuPsqwoFkNMPb2KtXLKzUbrOeFttQIxuhYCpvJBdnr4eGv9FaoF8YjCGyIaUY1mHIgOIZAVAnl8Wbzd-6R8MKsUs8cXwsMX8TsQ1Z455-3Mj6CSiMxSOiIWc5MEvL3Myxkrb-3O56mOGIZPlmKspLr/w640-h360/downton%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: center;">DOWNTON ABBEY: A new era</h2><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">Another episode in the upstairs/downstairs
soap-opera life of the Crawley family, their heirs, their spouses and their friends
– and, especially cherished, their servants.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">We’ve moved on a year or so from last episode. Tom
Branson has married Lucy, Imelda Staunton’s heiress daughter. Lady Mary’s
car-crazy husband is away on a rally, leaving her to develop a crush on the
director (Hugh Dancy looking cuter and less fraught than he was in </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Hannibal</i><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">) who’s filming a historical
(almost hysterical) movie at Downton (the fee will restore the leaky roof).
Mary will also have a key role when the movie goes from Silent to
Talkie. The film crew brings new romance into the life of Barrow, the gay
butler in a very anti-gay era.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLdGsVYg21TkhKjArDP6snKWRzs2EvdtAz8RvG3yf_a77XlVcvNnqeFC47QYJzSmtRs9oCm-eX-aHNQucmQgiqYI8l4vK8JaGazzPgbjhP7iz-y4m_SGInzm8APPtPlgV1dA7VHcCVisS36gG4QAbh0piDNzpghXXL2N_voIm9Vlp_n9szXJfjDTVo/s500/downton%203.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="413" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLdGsVYg21TkhKjArDP6snKWRzs2EvdtAz8RvG3yf_a77XlVcvNnqeFC47QYJzSmtRs9oCm-eX-aHNQucmQgiqYI8l4vK8JaGazzPgbjhP7iz-y4m_SGInzm8APPtPlgV1dA7VHcCVisS36gG4QAbh0piDNzpghXXL2N_voIm9Vlp_n9szXJfjDTVo/s320/downton%203.jpg" width="264" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maggie Smith as Duchess Violet<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">His lordship and most of the family decamp to a
gorgeous villa in the South of France which Violet, the Dowager Duchess (Maggie
Smith in her usual Lady Bracknell form) has inherited from an old
flame. The French scenes are very Scott Fitzgerald (minus the sex), and the
Downton film invasion brings strong echoes of other movies about movie-makers.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">How wonderfully all the cast slip back into their
familiar (and much-loved) roles after a gap of two years or more. Dame Maggie,
of course, dominates her every scene. Hugh Bonneville is given reasons to cry
and he does tearful as believably as he does starchy. </span><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">Mary and Edith are adorable as always. Mr Molesley gets
to save another day.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">Plenty of people pooh-pooh </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Downton</i><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;"> and its fans. I don’t watch any of the British or Aussie
soaps, but I wouldn’t miss an instalment of this. There’s talk of a third movie.
Bring it on!</span></p></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"> </h2><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-8969332256844042372022-04-29T07:43:00.002-07:002022-04-29T07:48:26.309-07:00David at the theatre: Edna's comeback - she never went away!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivMhh89GOwzN6JZyt-vMgrbIzfrvj1kiZvh87uzelpgVjqEqJ4eeVs7wMrLcZTtexsepLfD2-gQ22X_0n6ejbvZo8m95ccVpksrGRo1qSyw99v-fiD57X3TnHuitFDskr66hyVxyKIcLRHxEaQxFrA1RJ6z2xnQfUeaWarheOvIH_XW3SKgY4_bh95/s1700/barry%204.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1700" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivMhh89GOwzN6JZyt-vMgrbIzfrvj1kiZvh87uzelpgVjqEqJ4eeVs7wMrLcZTtexsepLfD2-gQ22X_0n6ejbvZo8m95ccVpksrGRo1qSyw99v-fiD57X3TnHuitFDskr66hyVxyKIcLRHxEaQxFrA1RJ6z2xnQfUeaWarheOvIH_XW3SKgY4_bh95/w254-h400/barry%204.jpg" width="254" /></a></div><br /><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">In 2013, on Dame Edna’s “Farewell Tour”, Les Patterson
and the lady herself tottered onto the stage of Brighton’s Dome gasping for
breath. I half expected to see one of them die on stage, like Sid James or Tommy Cooper.
But last night Barry Humphries toddled onto the stage of Eastbourne’s Devonshire
Theatre, seemingly sprucer than ever at the age of 88.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">This is not (not quite) the Les and Edna show; this is the ‘Making
Of’ show, with Humphries talking about his early life in Melbourne and the ‘conceptions’
of Dame Edna as a send-up Australian housewife and Sir Les as a drunken Events
Director who got promoted to Cultural Attaché. These two long ago took on lives of
their own and are now much-loved figures on the global celebrity circuit.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJhhDzyhy4FV_S36U_69tr834sr169_SxIq_HIY9caoXKTzgW1Dn18uzPV9Msj8GjGKVLs53xxSIkGjw8BPAoATLB9qyml3QBuXFOA5bywnUfXXqPWfaiPTdgzRpjeAuDCRgifir-rIccddrS2gc0ZdsJgbLZw9dyqeQXToJIf23CXHBbXEnpoWwHq/s680/barry%201.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="680" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJhhDzyhy4FV_S36U_69tr834sr169_SxIq_HIY9caoXKTzgW1Dn18uzPV9Msj8GjGKVLs53xxSIkGjw8BPAoATLB9qyml3QBuXFOA5bywnUfXXqPWfaiPTdgzRpjeAuDCRgifir-rIccddrS2gc0ZdsJgbLZw9dyqeQXToJIf23CXHBbXEnpoWwHq/s320/barry%201.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">Humphries talks candidly about his boyhood and his near-fatal
struggle with alcoholism. If there was one jarring note last night, it was his
quizzing members of the audience about their bathroom decor: cringe-making when
Edna does it, this doesn’t work when performed out of Edna costume. Throwing ‘gladdies’
was probably another misjudgment, especially without inviting the lucky
recipients to wave them during the closing song.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">Overall, the evening was a joyous reunion with Edna and
Les – in hilarious video clips, including Edna’s naughty invasion of Charles
and Camilla’s box at the the Royal Variety Show in 2013 (</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r3S5UKP7ME" style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r3S5UKP7ME</a><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">The Barry Humphries show is touring. Don’t miss it
if it’s anywhere near you. Newsflash: we are promised </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">another</i><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;"> ‘Farewell Tour’ next year. Edna may take as long to leave
the stage as that earlier Australian diva, Dame Joan Sutherland!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2p3OJvehmaBrRFRePndLW5g7QtWBxw0HtGjpuhSs_nUcRd1fbVqkLlGvJWr3dMMEUK6cCIY8J8v0WFLQ9B5K2KR4-86T72skEbM45CMgkFi-byTEaizR2dNVrBbAYAIC6ir7L5f7kF4NW1Nhy1MBWBr-YDRQPgmMQ7DD6XmON5l9wrp482L0YgYBs/s1200/barry%203.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2p3OJvehmaBrRFRePndLW5g7QtWBxw0HtGjpuhSs_nUcRd1fbVqkLlGvJWr3dMMEUK6cCIY8J8v0WFLQ9B5K2KR4-86T72skEbM45CMgkFi-byTEaizR2dNVrBbAYAIC6ir7L5f7kF4NW1Nhy1MBWBr-YDRQPgmMQ7DD6XmON5l9wrp482L0YgYBs/w400-h200/barry%203.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-78423168409166968142022-04-28T02:10:00.000-07:002022-04-28T02:10:58.605-07:00What I'm reading: Gay icons resurrected <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxeXq3L4qbLOIdkQdN0hy4fXKmXW5RLBX0dyI7B_Z5BgZfg1bqf9rHoHwUHmWCd9hHUtWzUmT6DM543A1bXNlC7dA_eWWrW4OjXLcpqw9jNIZQ9AHmSPaS_krNU9ur0weyOsg-fzYQS9Jm6CvJ0s-ryfyavHF-qudFpHXIdpBLM22MA8-KYJhT0NX-/s499/gay%20century.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="326" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxeXq3L4qbLOIdkQdN0hy4fXKmXW5RLBX0dyI7B_Z5BgZfg1bqf9rHoHwUHmWCd9hHUtWzUmT6DM543A1bXNlC7dA_eWWrW4OjXLcpqw9jNIZQ9AHmSPaS_krNU9ur0weyOsg-fzYQS9Jm6CvJ0s-ryfyavHF-qudFpHXIdpBLM22MA8-KYJhT0NX-/w261-h400/gay%20century.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: center;">Peter Scott-Presland: A GAY CENTURY</h2><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></h2><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This is a collection of ten short plays, designed to
be performed as mini-operas. I watched several of them, played but not sung, on
Zoom last year. They each encapsulate a chapter of gay history, revisited or re-imagined.
All of them are clever and interesting. They are all good. A few of them are
outstanding. My absolute favourite is the first one, <i>Two Queens</i>, set in 1900, in which Queen Victoria visits Oscar Wilde
on his deathbed in Paris. Her Majesty is given liberty to borrow some of
Oscar’s most famous lines!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Wilde (or his ghost) pops up in some of the
later dramas, affirming his role as the “patron saint” of gay liberation. EM
Forster, Siegfried Sassoon. Noel Coward – many iconic gay figures of the
century are here, revisited or re-imagined. Radclyffe Hall supplies, rather
earnestly, the L in LGBT. Ivor Novello, sentenced to prison for fiddling petrol
coupons during WW2, shares a cell with a psychotic gangster. The Jeremy Thorpe
scandal is re-interpreted with Norman Scott’s dogs given voices and a key role!
There’s an episode in Weimar Berlin that features Gerald Hamilton, said to be
the inspiration for Christopher Isherwood’s Mr Norris; the play is a splendid
‘companion piece’ to </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Cabaret</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">; I’d love to hear it sung.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Peter Scott-Presland has risen splendidly to the
challenge of giving historical characters an ironic and incisive new script (to
sing!). </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">A Gay Century </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">is a towering achievement. And Volume Two is due
out soon.</span></p></div>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-4211974734764366682022-04-12T02:10:00.004-07:002022-04-12T02:10:38.008-07:00What I'm reading: Brighton & Hove, crime capital of south-east England!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiNNPXcq3LfBDmd4m6FPJYcDtfQt3_ww2w_fbeCRVDnj-2ixwsGckcJOB52dxv6FbClqQMn0Cpp7s0VsX-eNWtt7Em3lHxUb5TKpbXIs3pRzkLZh6tWrDaBLEorNlDFH4d7kHiNCHaMlVPk8h5UeGi6sBMyCglj4Z9Yd3MJt9A5C3Lc1-FlhdTvndV/s499/after%20jaq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="328" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiNNPXcq3LfBDmd4m6FPJYcDtfQt3_ww2w_fbeCRVDnj-2ixwsGckcJOB52dxv6FbClqQMn0Cpp7s0VsX-eNWtt7Em3lHxUb5TKpbXIs3pRzkLZh6tWrDaBLEorNlDFH4d7kHiNCHaMlVPk8h5UeGi6sBMyCglj4Z9Yd3MJt9A5C3Lc1-FlhdTvndV/w263-h400/after%20jaq.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: center;">Christine Mustchin: AFTER JAQ</h2><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A former detective, now a doctor, Kate Green goes to
Brighton to take up a locum post, only to find the friend she was to stay with
has been brutally murdered. With the police keen to write off Jaqueline’s death
as a suicide, Kate turns detective again. Her investigation uncovers a web of
corruption involving drug distribu-tion and the trafficking of foreign girls
into prostitution. There are more killings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Peter James’s 17-year series featuring Inspector Roy
Grace has already made Brighton & Hove the ‘murder capital’ of south-east England! Christine
Mustchin looks set to offer Mr James some strong competition. A sequel to </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">After
Jaq </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">is promised. Ms Mustchin writes a lean elegant prose and builds her
story to a thrilling climax.</span></p></div><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-82134815657479793812022-03-26T01:51:00.002-07:002022-03-26T01:51:48.303-07:00David at the Movies: a dog and Channing Tatum - two star attractions<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheidzLkJoYbMzkw0kmoEi7LbO_-yS3uikAlHD8YShdxsCT34jXxUtPxMYg_DgbTfW7cxtc_fbPS0eqi6MiEEKPMIFbiqKw9XKW6mgyRi2cUiZArVpRmpJJDwlVidl7Klhm7wfDoYOb2e-wFMHmWw_diuinzMgzb_7rph4f7oSGaX4x2Jr-kL1L7QvN/s500/dog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="354" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheidzLkJoYbMzkw0kmoEi7LbO_-yS3uikAlHD8YShdxsCT34jXxUtPxMYg_DgbTfW7cxtc_fbPS0eqi6MiEEKPMIFbiqKw9XKW6mgyRi2cUiZArVpRmpJJDwlVidl7Klhm7wfDoYOb2e-wFMHmWw_diuinzMgzb_7rph4f7oSGaX4x2Jr-kL1L7QvN/w284-h400/dog.jpg" width="284" /></a></div><br /><h1 style="text-align: center;"> DOG</h1><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Two good reasons to see this. The title – it’s a
movie about a dog. And Channing Tatum, one of the most likeable as well as one
of the most attractive of Hollywood stars.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Tatum plays an Afghanistan war veteran recovering
from traumatic injuries who is assigned to escort army dog Lulu (a Belgian
breed similar to German Shepherd) on her final mission. Trained to sniff out
and attack terrorists, Lulu is unstable after all she’s been through and is to
be put down after Channing takes her to the funeral of her former handler.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Needless to say, on the long road journey to the
funeral Channing and Lulu are going to bond and meet some weirdoes. To say
more risks spoilers. This is a less mawkish movie than </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">A Dog’s Purpose </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">(which I
loved, btw), but Lulu is adorable despite her forays into viciousness (three
dogs are credited with playing her) and Tatum too is (very) adorable, in his way.
See it.</span></p></div><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-55313584845431289762022-03-22T02:58:00.000-07:002022-03-22T02:58:18.435-07:00What I'm reading: Graham Greene territory<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEK4fpRRSzg3x9QqhLC6-60WywxEbAS8CBLsYtxxiy1pbjIJOa_v2NkAcLV_IsRq6Ijfa-AF3CMHq7KxEi5xIwkTSVfwDo2X4vlv15_ABM-I5-3s3JHHAL-B-H9ec1_eK15koPExWDud_eH7_A-kAl49FWlfgB1aGwYP32xtUr3tKF0qT6toRPy5o7/s475/Boyd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="309" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEK4fpRRSzg3x9QqhLC6-60WywxEbAS8CBLsYtxxiy1pbjIJOa_v2NkAcLV_IsRq6Ijfa-AF3CMHq7KxEi5xIwkTSVfwDo2X4vlv15_ABM-I5-3s3JHHAL-B-H9ec1_eK15koPExWDud_eH7_A-kAl49FWlfgB1aGwYP32xtUr3tKF0qT6toRPy5o7/w260-h400/Boyd.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><br /><h2 style="text-align: center;"> William Boyd: TRIO</h2><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The three protagonists in William Boyd’s novel
are linked by being in Brighton in the summer of 1968 while a movie is filmed.
Elfrida, whose philandering husband is directing the picture, is trying to start
a new novel about the last day in the life of Virginia Woolf (who went into a
river not far from Brighton). Talbot, the film’s harassed co-producer, fears
that his partner is trying to freeze him out; he also has mild urges to venture
down new sexual paths. Anny, the movie’s self-obsessed American star, is
juggling two lovers and having to deal with an ex-husband on the FBI’s Most Wanted
list.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM2ECJxmE15Zh_uR0BKfbe55i4t-smAtALP4tVGWY4U0sYlgVqEshPHCxcbZfWt4l0C8AevUkosRMV3cwjI9dSZUNLotaS-IrZ4326MoE-7LSzDbjcplN7-KoqvSNRkWwCFKiyYaWTROkt89K44Rf42xqBOeoAwvCD3O0RYKkzDQ6hesX9lHdTF9Ur/s273/boyd%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="273" data-original-width="184" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM2ECJxmE15Zh_uR0BKfbe55i4t-smAtALP4tVGWY4U0sYlgVqEshPHCxcbZfWt4l0C8AevUkosRMV3cwjI9dSZUNLotaS-IrZ4326MoE-7LSzDbjcplN7-KoqvSNRkWwCFKiyYaWTROkt89K44Rf42xqBOeoAwvCD3O0RYKkzDQ6hesX9lHdTF9Ur/s1600/boyd%202.jpg" width="184" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">William Boyd</td></tr></tbody></table></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">This trio of diverse human dramas is a variant on
familiar Boyd ‘territory’. The 1960s Brighton setting evokes Graham Greene, who
clearly has been a major influence on Boyd’s writing life. The story teeters on
the edge of both comedy and tragedy. None of the main characters is
particularly sympathetic to the reader (to this reader), and the first chapters
are a bit scrappy, but towards the end Boyd’s writing recaptures the quality of
his best novels (</span><b style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Restless </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">is the most outstanding of the last
half-dozen).</span></p><br /></div><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-83138616905732260492022-02-28T03:05:00.001-08:002022-02-28T03:18:04.704-08:00What I'm reading: the new First Lady of spy fiction<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjDQ_opDcCeA2t0RxL1O9YOdK4MRLtA9iPW58G0lxr4JJK1vJE1JZM66UM7vo6XBYmmp4gKSbbh4Romk3z1oPxCQ55N-a2vMDXNW26hHmP2iFUKEJmVjrvkhtW6gsWSTurkP9iIMphKiN20TjgU0gLlDNPxBNbaJHpV5BF_u-xQFNZH0xKl26NTBBJ8=s475" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="308" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjDQ_opDcCeA2t0RxL1O9YOdK4MRLtA9iPW58G0lxr4JJK1vJE1JZM66UM7vo6XBYmmp4gKSbbh4Romk3z1oPxCQ55N-a2vMDXNW26hHmP2iFUKEJmVjrvkhtW6gsWSTurkP9iIMphKiN20TjgU0gLlDNPxBNbaJHpV5BF_u-xQFNZH0xKl26NTBBJ8=w259-h400" width="259" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: center;">Hillary Clinton & Louise Penny: STATE OF TERROR</h2><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The principal character in Hillary Clinton’s
literary debut is – can you believe it? – a female US Secretary of State. With
terrorist bus bombings in three European cities and a clear and present danger
of outrages in the US, Ellen Adams, newly appointed to the new administration
of President Douglas Williams, goes on the diplomatic offensive, jetting to
Kabul, Tehran and Moscow to meet leaders who may help to defuse the situation.
She is handicapped by hard-right ‘moles’ in Washington who are in league with
those - a global group - orchestrating the outrages. It’s very gung-ho, very Jason
Bourne; Ms Adams is frequently in the firing line, from fisticuffs in the
Oval Office to shoot-ups in caves in the mountains of Baluchistan.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">President Williams has a potty mouth which calls Richard
Nixon to mind more than the current incumbent. His predecessor, Eric Dunn, presided over “</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">four years of chaos” </i><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;">and
now lives in kingly splendor in Florida – hmmm. Other world figures, up to and
including Iran’s Supreme Leader, are lightly (very lightly) fictionalized.
Russia’s President Ivanov was famously photographed shirtless on a horse!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOjeiZW7nJOTsAk3Uvi8mJF5ItA_XFjq5s_tLS3TMBQBRzq1slePA6WJUpPVU3VpVTeqK7bpeFlDA0ZlZSTJqf88ze2f0yHXlhbVfkjoY5xmeMcTDhnk5zxT-gDFq7wlrFqvMWvFqtdGMWNHkuP5I3hpUz6ietAyT25fDXi8-JxrP3WDSX2ArnDz4N=s1160" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="773" data-original-width="1160" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOjeiZW7nJOTsAk3Uvi8mJF5ItA_XFjq5s_tLS3TMBQBRzq1slePA6WJUpPVU3VpVTeqK7bpeFlDA0ZlZSTJqf88ze2f0yHXlhbVfkjoY5xmeMcTDhnk5zxT-gDFq7wlrFqvMWvFqtdGMWNHkuP5I3hpUz6ietAyT25fDXi8-JxrP3WDSX2ArnDz4N=s320" width="320" /></a></div>The sheer geopolitical scale of this taut and tense
thriller suggests that Mrs Clinton has contributed more than just her name to
the project. I’m guessing it’s the Second Lady rather than the Former First
Lady who’s responsible for the actual writing. Characters are pithily
described. The pithiness extends to the staccato prose style: short sentences,
short paragraphs – a style practiced by the late Jackie Collins, among many
others. Not a style I warm to, but the exhilarating plot and the sheer pace
kept me engaged through to the nerve-shredding (if slightly daft) conclusion.<p></p></div><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-5644769556429011632022-02-11T07:38:00.001-08:002022-02-11T07:38:53.327-08:00David at the Movies: Penelope Cruz, an incandescent presence<div class="separator"><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="948" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdMTsmzC1SLE5plvfu5PtaFJ-rgt70OZNL2smS5dex3ip7hHGebws-qBAOhWMHzdwrGsCxmaapKX0kh4iM6UncowETlDkDa7DymL7y0LIZ6iGL4QDz1gac4K45DYEl54I-zxPt9hXdz6sUmWgNgXW0ManH1AbEGTFj7MGlKm9SXadD5ynWpg4k_AGv=w270-h400" width="270" /></div></div><h2 style="text-align: center;">PARALLEL MOTHERS</h2><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Pedro Almodovar is the maestro of the modern Women’s
Picture, and <b>Parallel Mothers </b>is emphatically that. Two women give birth
to their babies in a Madrid hospital. Ana (Milena Smit) is the teenage daughter
of an actress who is only interested in her career. Janis (Penelope Cruz) is a
fashion photographer and the mistress of a man who isn’t free to marry her. Ana
and Janis’s lives and destinies are irrevocably bound by something that happens
in the hospital. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">If that sounds like a soap-opera story – well, it
is, and a well-worked one. Almodovar’s gift is to take this trite situation and
give it a glossy sheen that makes it seem almost fresh. All the cast take their
roles seriously. Penelope Cruz is the best of them; on screen she has an
incandescence that reminds me of Sophia Loren’s early films.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">There’s a background story in which Janis’s lover is
trying to get permission to excavate the grave of some villagers savagely
killed in the early years of the Civil War. I rather wish that this had been
given more screen time. The final scene of this movie is nothing less than
magnificent.</span></p></div>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-6171317868669736052022-02-07T03:32:00.002-08:002022-02-07T03:33:26.157-08:00What I'm reading: Ballard & Bosch back on the beat<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj31HhXoRXfgZdYZghi4lG94iZc_hKVaaAg-A5kFGXzxqtjT_LPkHXrfHnRhShLaVtANDeiclPJ7-LiZtz8GDuvyKuWfZ17NdHs6wqTVwE6eMjb244DcziFv-ZQRH9Ek9xZEuXPygcaB_fb1zgCPvcZsdSm5rJWh1u85KKhFvGqSo8HxL2Ux1yMHz7j=s346" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="224" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj31HhXoRXfgZdYZghi4lG94iZc_hKVaaAg-A5kFGXzxqtjT_LPkHXrfHnRhShLaVtANDeiclPJ7-LiZtz8GDuvyKuWfZ17NdHs6wqTVwE6eMjb244DcziFv-ZQRH9Ek9xZEuXPygcaB_fb1zgCPvcZsdSm5rJWh1u85KKhFvGqSo8HxL2Ux1yMHz7j=w259-h400" width="259" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: center;"><br /></h2><h2 style="text-align: center;">Michael Connelly: THE DARK HOURS</h2><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">With Covid restrictions in place and the
“insurrection” in the post-Election Capitol, the latest case for night-shift
LAPD detective Renee Ballard and retired cop Harry Bosch is about as on-the-button
as you can get. A murder on New Year’s Eve has a ballistic link to an unsolved ten-year-old case of Harry’s. The pair are hamstrung by lazy
and inept colleagues/superiors, a recurring theme in Michael Connelly’s books –
and presumably a factor in real-world police work.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Ballard is also investigating an ongoing serial rape case – a
creepy brace of rapists called the “Midnight Men”. Both cases require dogged
detective work and interviews that occasionally reveal a tiny clue to move the
team forward. Connelly writes the best dialogue in current crime fiction, which
gives an edge – a “zing” – to all this routine stuff. As he always does, he ratchets
up the tension to a nail-biting finale. Nobody does it better in Police Department
thrillers.</span> </p></div><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-47404648288349722422021-12-20T02:25:00.002-08:002021-12-20T02:25:32.902-08:00What I'm reading: Another take on the plot to kill JFK<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4PuPTS6brcAxeM5bZXg6Ngq8VRIjrZUX33ffbbwLMUcc31Ql_PIBO5PsfGWkBPSRC07-CqNDY7Zrh87fy7U3IqEf-UcaiizWEIsh_1nklAswR42sW_QWhsC2QGyQ0vsAJg5jK4w_KdKzbmAOuFtWO_FXKgTF5KTGPyRpJkSRleK1TwQ6kihnFQNNn=s475" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="310" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4PuPTS6brcAxeM5bZXg6Ngq8VRIjrZUX33ffbbwLMUcc31Ql_PIBO5PsfGWkBPSRC07-CqNDY7Zrh87fy7U3IqEf-UcaiizWEIsh_1nklAswR42sW_QWhsC2QGyQ0vsAJg5jK4w_KdKzbmAOuFtWO_FXKgTF5KTGPyRpJkSRleK1TwQ6kihnFQNNn=w261-h400" width="261" /></a></div><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Perhaps taking a leaf from Stephen King, espionage writer
Philip Kerr invites us back to the Kennedy era. </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">The Shot </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">starts with
Jack beating Nixon in the election in November 1960, narrowly and – Kerr
repeats an oft-told tale – with some help from the Mafia in the key state of
Illinois.</span></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">A professional assassin (presidentially named Tom
Jefferson) is hired by mobster Sam Giancana (who famously shared a girlfriend
with JFK) to murder Fidel Castro, so that Cuba can revert to its
previous Mob-dominated money-spinning status. But there are other pressures on
Jefferson, and he diverts his attention to a plot to remove Kennedy before the
inauguration.</span></p></div></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">“</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Georgetown
lay on his soul like a dead weight.</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">” Philip Kerr, as we know from his WW2 and
Cold War novels, has a neat way with words. His extended dialogue scenes
reminded me of Robert Ludlum at his most prolix, but the assassination theme
pulls the reader through the occasional slow patch. As with </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">The Day of the
Jackal</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">, you think the end won’t spring any surprises – but it does!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Most conspiracy buffs believe that Cosa Nostra did play
a key role in the events in Dallas in 1963; Oliver Stone’s movie </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">JFK </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">included
this and several of the other scenarios in a mash-up of the conspiracy to end
all conspiracies. </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">The Shot </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">offers one more tense, imaginative chapter to
the Mythology of “Camelot”.</span></p></div>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-45957560727450204532021-12-04T03:35:00.000-08:002021-12-04T03:35:14.667-08:00What I'm watching: Is crime drama getting too sick?<p><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nQdOMhJWXJg/YatQRAyg2qI/AAAAAAAAK1M/zYNKdZC8Wkkwh5dHqSJCnudx0L-4oVyVgCNcBGAsYHQ/s259/hannibal1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nQdOMhJWXJg/YatQRAyg2qI/AAAAAAAAK1M/zYNKdZC8Wkkwh5dHqSJCnudx0L-4oVyVgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/hannibal1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen & Laurence Fishburne</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: center;"> HANNIBAL</h1><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Clearly I’m very late catching up on this, the TV
version of the crimes of Hannibal Lecter, our favourite cannibal. Three series
– 39 episodes – of crime and punishment. Mostly crime. I found it terrifically
watchable but deeply disturbing.</span></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">The credits tell us this is “based on characters
from </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Red Dragon </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">by Thomas Harris”, but the “Tooth Fairy”, the
family-slayer from that book, doesn’t appear till the last few episodes of
Series Three. The first thirty-plus hours introduce other killers, other crimes
– and, of course, Hannibal whose crimes are sometimes attributed to others.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The ill-fated Florence detective and Mason Verger (and
his sister) (from Harris’s third book) are featured, and there are scenes
augmented from <b>Hannibal Rising</b>, Book Four – the “prequel”. Conspicuously
absent is Clarice Starling and the whole storyline from <b>Silence of the Lambs</b>.
Clarice is replaced by some new female characters, including Gillan Anderson as
a shrink who is close to Hannibal and also close to psychosis herself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">The big liberty taken in this version is that
Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen) is working with Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and Jack
Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) at the FBI as a consultant; he’s also Will’s psychotherapist.
We, the viewers, are shown his killer/cannibal side, but it takes a while for
the others to catch on to the viper in their bosom. Will Graham bonds with
Hannibal and learns what happens when the moth gets too close to the flame.</span></p></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Production values are high and the cast, down to the supporting players, are all on top form. Mikkelsen’s Hannibal is a lot creepier than Anthony Hopkins’s near-pantomime baddie. The screenwriters have pushed the envelope way beyond the Tooth Fairy (and even the absent Buffalo Bill from<span> </span></span><b style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Silence of the Lambs</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">) to introduce their own bevy of serial slayers. Bryan Fuller is credited as creator/producer, so I guess this gore-fest is what he set out to achieve. One killer in the first series turns bodies and body parts into totem poles. This I found genuinely nauseating. This show takes us close to torture porn, of which we see increasing amounts on TV and in the cinema. I worry that this kind of thing gives nourishment to already sick minds.</span></p><div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Yes, I found the whole 39 episodes relentlessly compelling – apart from a few longueurs (Dancy’s breakdown is over-extended and Anderson’s character becomes tiresome). But I think it’s time we reappraised the current definition of what is classed as Suitable Viewing.</span></p><br /></div><div>(I watched this on DVD, but it's also available on Amazon Prime)</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sm2YMSczU1c/YatQ3dqDDoI/AAAAAAAAK1U/DXRjYM9AbdY4A3Xfl5a5Iz0HRu31lVmmQCNcBGAsYHQ/s259/hannibal2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sm2YMSczU1c/YatQ3dqDDoI/AAAAAAAAK1U/DXRjYM9AbdY4A3Xfl5a5Iz0HRu31lVmmQCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/hannibal2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner at Hannibal's. Who's on the menu?</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></span></p></div>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-13240113374399002782021-11-26T02:52:00.000-08:002021-11-26T02:52:42.417-08:00David at the Movies: Diana's not-so-merry Christmas<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X9YvYgdZavY/YaC45TGWp5I/AAAAAAAAK0g/bvszWPRDYn4d_Fyes3Vv9uFmLHfAQFTagCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/diana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1090" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X9YvYgdZavY/YaC45TGWp5I/AAAAAAAAK0g/bvszWPRDYn4d_Fyes3Vv9uFmLHfAQFTagCLcBGAsYHQ/w273-h400/diana.jpg" width="273" /></a></div><br /><h1 style="text-align: center;"> SPENCER</h1><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I wasn’t going to bother with this, since <b>The
Crown</b> and all those documentaries have given us an overdose of Diana
and the Princes, but Kristen Stewart has received such rave write-ups I thought
I’d give it a go.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">It’s a blistering performance that blows all the
other versions of Diana out of the water. During three days over Christmas in
Sandringham when her sons are about 10 and 8, Diana’s bulimia escalates into a full-blown
breakdown. She has visions of Anne Boleyn, whose life as a royal bride
famously didn’t end well.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Apart from the young princes and a starchy equerry
played by a cadaverous-looking Timothy Spall, Stewart gets pretty well all the
screen time. HMQ and Charles are almost background extras in this one-woman
show. Sally Hawkins has a touching turn as a dresser with whom Diana is able to
let her hair down.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z49rgAj1y9g/YaC54ATU3kI/AAAAAAAAK0o/8f-Ma-669nAO6hIVEHn7EtZ6otVZ_t8qwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/diana%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z49rgAj1y9g/YaC54ATU3kI/AAAAAAAAK0o/8f-Ma-669nAO6hIVEHn7EtZ6otVZ_t8qwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/diana%2B2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">We’ve gotten used to seeing Diana as petulant and
put-upon. Steven Knight’s screenplay for </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Spencer </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">amplifies her into a
histrionic diva, prowling the corridors and pastures of Sandringham like Lucia
Di Lammermoor. Kristen Stewart will surely pick up some awards, though Charles
probably won’t suggest a DBE.</span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">This is very much a ‘fantasia’ on the life of the
People’s Princess. Worth seeing? Hmm, maybe wait till it’s on free-to-view.</span></p></div><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-53954865766232490742021-11-24T03:08:00.001-08:002021-11-24T03:08:15.522-08:00What I'm reading: A hustler's odyssey in pre-Aids America<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dQNGsnoxG9Q/YZ4Z7DTad0I/AAAAAAAAKz0/GUsLqK7KbUwYIc3IEs6O5PhsgpRbnRxkACLcBGAsYHQ/s499/city%2Bof%2Bnight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="326" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dQNGsnoxG9Q/YZ4Z7DTad0I/AAAAAAAAKz0/GUsLqK7KbUwYIc3IEs6O5PhsgpRbnRxkACLcBGAsYHQ/w261-h400/city%2Bof%2Bnight.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><p></p><h2 style="text-align: center;">John Rechy: <br />CITY OF NIGHT</h2><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Resuming my trawl through yesteryear gay fiction
with this ‘classic’ from 1963, John Rechy’s chronicle – which we assume to be
autobiographical – of a few months in the life of a nameless hustler haunting
the cruising zones of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Mardi
Gras New Orleans. It seems a bit dated today, but it’s one of the seminal books
in the literary gay canon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Rechy sets the tone on the opening page: “</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">One-night sex and cigarette smoke and rooms
squashed in by loneliness</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">.” Every other chapter explores the life and
mindset of a fellow hustler or one of the punters (“scores”), those men who are
part predator and part prey. There is some humour, especially in the full-on
Attitude of the camper gays and drag queens – the most extravagant of these are
Miss Destiny, the self-crowned Queen of L.A.’s Pershing Square, and Chi-Chi, a
mixed-up Muscle Mary in New Orleans. But for the most part the tone is
unremittingly bleak. Sylvia, the bar-owner haunted by a guilty secret, is given
more depth than many of the scores.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3j-jUSesBIQ/YZ4ah8ror1I/AAAAAAAAKz8/Kc0CwAEL9QwGIKSz2fqc1sGjsCIAavuJACLcBGAsYHQ/s231/rechy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="218" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3j-jUSesBIQ/YZ4ah8ror1I/AAAAAAAAKz8/Kc0CwAEL9QwGIKSz2fqc1sGjsCIAavuJACLcBGAsYHQ/w302-h320/rechy.jpg" width="302" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Rechy</td></tr></tbody></table>The narrator portrays himself as the macho street
kid who’s only doing it for money but occasionally, with another hustler or one
of the scores, he almost feels the tug of involvement. But that tug has to be
resisted, because it would undermine his conviction that he isn’t really a fag.
These are some of the book’s most revealing scenes. He never admits to love and
only rarely to desire. Desperation is what drives the denizens of the Cities of
Night onto “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the lonely, crowded, electric
streets</i>.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">John Rechy creates a syntax of his own, routinely
omitting the apostrophes in words like “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">isnt</i>”
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“dont</i>”. Fragmented paragraphs bristle
with dashes and ellipses (...). Past and present tenses are randomly mixed. He
sandwiches words together to create a vivid new vocabulary: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nightworld</i>”, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">malehustler</i>”, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sexhungry</i>”.
The hallucinatory writing recalls Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, so much
so that I wonder if either of them contributed to the edit. The fractured
narrative becomes repetitive, but there’s no denying the powerful impact of
this nightmarish journey through the Gay Underworld. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We’re trying to swim in a river made for drowning.</i>”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eFKH7sMw3nA/YZ4a1Nn8XjI/AAAAAAAAK0E/Y7oJZA-RxCQ-b6NLCHD_dVnNz2hkCKiiQCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/city%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eFKH7sMw3nA/YZ4a1Nn8XjI/AAAAAAAAK0E/Y7oJZA-RxCQ-b6NLCHD_dVnNz2hkCKiiQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/city%2B2.jpg" width="229" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the original 1960s cover</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">This is not an erotic novel. The sex between hustler
and score is rarely described and never detailed. Rechy’s second novel – </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Numbers
</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">– and its successors were a lot more explicit, and he abandoned the zonked-out
Beat-poetry style for the pared-down prose of Harold Robbins or Mickey
Spillane.</span></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Reading </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">City of Night</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"> in the 1960s, it seemed
exotically different and daring. London’s gay scene was a pale echo of New
York’s; Piccadilly and Leicester Square never quite had the lurid tawdriness of
42</span><sup style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif";">nd</sup><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"> Street or Times Square. A few pages from the end Rechy seems to
foresee the rich harvest the Grim Reaper will gather from this relentlessly
promiscuous community two decades later: “</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">death
lurking prematurely in a threatening black-out</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">”. In 1963 John Rechy was a
kind of “Pied Piper” figure, and as we know, the Piper – one way or another –
has to be paid.</span></p></div>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-81856000344745450662021-11-22T03:14:00.000-08:002021-11-22T03:14:02.450-08:00David Gee at the Brighton Book Fayre: 20 November 2021<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qTlYsye2phQ/YZt7LgeTXMI/AAAAAAAAKzs/5PUE8oa3IyEahauqSwPq1WypG8nuWN7BACLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/Brighton%2BBook%2BFayre%2B2021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="728" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qTlYsye2phQ/YZt7LgeTXMI/AAAAAAAAKzs/5PUE8oa3IyEahauqSwPq1WypG8nuWN7BACLcBGAsYHQ/w228-h400/Brighton%2BBook%2BFayre%2B2021.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-55796934625534527862021-11-02T04:50:00.001-07:002022-05-30T01:51:03.283-07:00What I'm reading: An ending that will stay with you forever<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WGyPYSQzOUI/YYEkt3s0PpI/AAAAAAAAKxw/Ea8TdinQSAQplcwQrV2UozySgFUTRbNfgCLcBGAsYHQ/s475/crawdads.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="295" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WGyPYSQzOUI/YYEkt3s0PpI/AAAAAAAAKxw/Ea8TdinQSAQplcwQrV2UozySgFUTRbNfgCLcBGAsYHQ/w249-h400/crawdads.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: center;">DELIA OWENS: Where the Crawdads Sing</h2><p style="text-align: left;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">I’m a couple of years late reading this novel, which
is surely set to become a modern classic. Aban-doned by her mother and her
siblings, Kya Clark grows up in a shack in the North Carolina marshes with only
her brutal alcoholic father for company until even he disappears. Scorned by
almost all the townspeople, she gives up on school after just one day. A
local boy teaches her to read; they both become experts on the flora and fauna
of the swamp and the ocean. When the boy leaves to go to college, Kya replaces
him in her affections with a rich-kid lothario who we know from the
beginning is destined to die under mysterious circumstances.</span></p><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">Delia Owens brings the marshes and the creatures
that live there vividly to life. She has a wonderful way with words: ‘</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Barkley Cove served its religion hard-boiled
and deep fried.</i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">’ Inevitably, </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Where the Crawdads Sing</b><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"> brings echoes
of other great writers from the Deep South, notably Harper Lee and Truman
Capote. The rustic courtroom scenes have all the drama and tension of </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">To
Kill a Mockingbird</b><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">More than once this heartbreaking story of love and
loss brought tears to my eyes. The ending is one that will stay with you
forever. This is without doubt one of the finest novels this century is likely
to produce.</span></p></div><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-39346829132521433812021-10-09T02:20:00.001-07:002021-10-09T02:21:50.461-07:00LILLIAN AND THE ITALIANS: Two more reviews on my Blog Tour<p>Two five-star reviews I garnered during my US Blog Tour with Gay Book Promotions this week:</p><p> <a class="leftAlignedImage" href="https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/90086023-juniper-greer-ashe" style="background-color: white; color: #00635d; display: inline; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="90086023" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1607121403p2/90086023.jpg" style="border: 0px;" /></a></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span class="reviewer"><a class="userReview" href="https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/90086023-juniper-greer-ashe" itemprop="author" style="color: #382110; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: none;">Juniper Greer-Ashe</a></span>'s review</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><div class="right dtreviewed greyText smallText" style="color: #999999; float: right; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><span itemprop="datePublished">Sep 23, 2021</span><span class="value-title" title="2021-09-23"></span></div><br /><div style="clear: right;"></div><div class="rating" itemprop="reviewRating" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Rating"><span class="value-title" title="5"></span><span class="staticStars notranslate" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; display: inline-block; font-size: 0px; height: 15px; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap; width: 75px;" title="it was amazing"><span class="staticStar p10" style="background-image: url("data:image/png;base64,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"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 15px; float: left; height: 15px; width: 15px;">it was amazing</span><span class="staticStar p10" style="background-image: url("data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAB4AAAAeCAYAAAA7MK6iAAABvUlEQVR4Ab2WNZDXQBTGcWtxd+173PYFh5bJ5uBK3B0q3N3d3RvkoMalb6hw6DY5yQ8np5v8s5l5sfe+7zezXi/tVa7HDSDqub5CX60knIONlleEU2h58Zh+xlflBO/umlmrZb/BvDsDx8AXv8G8u2nm6RP6APw3+OdgNMuSJJh/DppZniXB/Mu3mYvG9gJUVZDLr5kDtag6MDkrsyjwpka+bI+07DVaDhnfO260OhtquRRqdSN+3o3jfhyP4++P1YHJUUMtGrR44IUn3jBgwWQxaGF8OYPYRcCC+U8zytzQlygvIN4wqu7DIm9oXPAhB+gHvGsZuaqr0eppoaB44Vm3aTN7SnOj5URWKB542S8WgcwKtQptgWjQZlwixw63BaPJvmhM8wbZgtEUYu9dZwtGU5gjjiU465GIk2TntCMabWqwCaS4OuMokF1EdXm0GfpXrlaxCn2KAm/C7xre+ZesQ5uumVdNaRKLvyfMHlfVhPwjl6j9joc1mLX1H5PS0Jc15eenNKyunhw11P7W4ZFm09/0C/rOZl5SiwYtHmmm0Vs283jvbGWrRYMWD0vhxPbG92bWy3jhgVdVuQp3XI5mu1kSTwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg=="); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 15px; float: left; height: 15px; width: 15px;"></span><span class="staticStar p10" style="background-image: url("data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAB4AAAAeCAYAAAA7MK6iAAABvUlEQVR4Ab2WNZDXQBTGcWtxd+173PYFh5bJ5uBK3B0q3N3d3RvkoMalb6hw6DY5yQ8np5v8s5l5sfe+7zezXi/tVa7HDSDqub5CX60knIONlleEU2h58Zh+xlflBO/umlmrZb/BvDsDx8AXv8G8u2nm6RP6APw3+OdgNMuSJJh/DppZniXB/Mu3mYvG9gJUVZDLr5kDtag6MDkrsyjwpka+bI+07DVaDhnfO260OhtquRRqdSN+3o3jfhyP4++P1YHJUUMtGrR44IUn3jBgwWQxaGF8OYPYRcCC+U8zytzQlygvIN4wqu7DIm9oXPAhB+gHvGsZuaqr0eppoaB44Vm3aTN7SnOj5URWKB542S8WgcwKtQptgWjQZlwixw63BaPJvmhM8wbZgtEUYu9dZwtGU5gjjiU465GIk2TntCMabWqwCaS4OuMokF1EdXm0GfpXrlaxCn2KAm/C7xre+ZesQ5uumVdNaRKLvyfMHlfVhPwjl6j9joc1mLX1H5PS0Jc15eenNKyunhw11P7W4ZFm09/0C/rOZl5SiwYtHmmm0Vs283jvbGWrRYMWD0vhxPbG92bWy3jhgVdVuQp3XI5mu1kSTwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg=="); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 15px; float: left; height: 15px; width: 15px;"></span><span class="staticStar p10" style="background-image: url("data:image/png;base64,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"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 15px; float: left; height: 15px; width: 15px;"></span><span class="staticStar p10" style="background-image: url("data:image/png;base64,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"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 15px; float: left; height: 15px; width: 15px;"></span></span></div><div><div class="greyText" style="color: #999999;"><br /></div></div></div><br class="clear" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #181818; display: block; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1px; height: 0px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px;" /><div class="reviewText mediumText description readable" itemprop="reviewBody" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">There’s something about this book that just feels beautifully crafted: the world building is careful, deliberate, and thorough: it brings to life a glittering picture of Italy in the 1960s and the complicated codes of conduct that regulate it. The characters too are finely drawn: they’re each so much more complicated than they might seem at first glance, and their stories unfold through a series of revelations and insights that makes them, and their experiences, feel nuanced and real. Lillian gets more and more compelling, the more time she spends on the page, and her search for her son is an exercise in love and growth that it’s impossible not to get caught up in. The Andrew we see through her eyes at first both is and is not the one she finds herself looking for as the story goes on, and that just adds to the overall sense that this is a journey worth going on.</div><div class="reviewText mediumText description readable" itemprop="reviewBody" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></div><div class="reviewText mediumText description readable" itemprop="reviewBody" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><div class="a-row a-spacing-mini" data-hook="genome-widget" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 4px; width: 1120px;"><a class="a-profile" data-a-size="small" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AG7OMORATXYGQNAGSUWC5CK4YWRA/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_gw_btm?ie=UTF8" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c7511f; cursor: pointer; display: table; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><div aria-hidden="true" class="a-profile-avatar-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: table-cell; padding-right: 9px; width: 43px;"><div class="a-profile-avatar" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 34px; position: relative; width: 34px;"><img data-src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/default._CR0,0,1024,1024_SX48_.png" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/default._CR0,0,1024,1024_SX48_.png" style="border-radius: 34px; border: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top; width: 33.9931px;" /></div></div><div class="a-profile-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: table-cell; min-height: 34px; vertical-align: middle;"><span class="a-profile-name" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; position: relative; unicode-bidi: isolate;">Susie Umphers</span></div></a></div><div class="a-row" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; width: 1120px;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R6LVAWMGNWDGD/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B09286YL6L" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" title="5.0 out of 5 stars"><i class="a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating" data-hook="review-star-rating" style="background-image: url("https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/3-fm1Jbg4IHlyhq.png"); background-position: -166px -36px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 512px 256px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 18px; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; width: 80px;"><span class="a-icon-alt" style="box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: circle(0px at 50% 50%); display: block; font-size: inherit; height: 17.9861px; left: auto; line-height: normal; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 80px;">5.0 out of 5 stars</span></i></a><span class="a-letter-space" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; width: 0.385em;"></span><a class="a-size-base a-link-normal review-title a-color-base review-title-content a-text-bold" data-hook="review-title" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R6LVAWMGNWDGD/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B09286YL6L" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-weight: 700; line-height: 20px; text-decoration-line: none;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Excellent novel</span></a></div><span class="a-size-base a-color-secondary review-date" color="rgb(86, 89, 89) !important" data-hook="review-date" face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px;">Reviewed in the United States</span></div><div class="reviewText mediumText description readable" itemprop="reviewBody" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span face="Amazon Ember, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #565959;"><br /></span><div class="a-row a-spacing-mini review-data review-format-strip" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 4px; width: 1120px;"></div><div class="a-row a-spacing-small review-data" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 8px; width: 1120px;"><span class="a-size-base review-text review-text-content" data-hook="review-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px;">An excellent, serious book with the beauty of Italy acting as backdrop to a story </span></div><div class="a-row a-spacing-small review-data" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 8px; width: 1120px;"><span class="a-size-base review-text review-text-content" data-hook="review-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px;">about the mafia and </span>kidnappings, but more importantly about family and how </div><div class="a-row a-spacing-small review-data" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 8px; width: 1120px;">we both know our family members and don't <span class="a-size-base review-text review-text-content" data-hook="review-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px;">know them. There are excellent </span></div><div class="a-row a-spacing-small review-data" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 8px; width: 1120px;"><span class="a-size-base review-text review-text-content" data-hook="review-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px;">depictions of m/m and m/f relationships h</span>ere. This is an author I want to read </div><div class="a-row a-spacing-small review-data" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 8px; width: 1120px;">more of.</div></div>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-90995809245297355542021-09-21T02:04:00.000-07:002021-09-21T02:04:16.289-07:00What I'm reading: The very best of English writing<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nzyj65FcKa8/YUmfd4iA37I/AAAAAAAAKtE/FR7VgH4hJ8sgwM5ZyW6HOLg52a3Ok3vWwCLcBGAsYHQ/s475/atkinson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="305" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nzyj65FcKa8/YUmfd4iA37I/AAAAAAAAKtE/FR7VgH4hJ8sgwM5ZyW6HOLg52a3Ok3vWwCLcBGAsYHQ/w256-h400/atkinson.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><br /><h2 style="text-align: left;"> Kate Atkinson: TRANSCRIPTION</h2><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Eighteen-year-old Juliet Armstrong takes a job with
MI5 in 1940, typing up tedious transcriptions of the monitored conversations of
Nazi sympathizers. She also infiltrates their ranks as a ‘fifth columnist’. It
takes her a while to realize that one of her team is a double agent and even
longer to do something about it. The operation leads, more or less accidentally,
to two murders. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">A decade later, Juliet is a junior producer with
children’s radio at the BBC. An anonymous letter threatens consequences from
past events. As more of that past is revealed, </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Transcription </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">acquires increasing
hallmarks of a spy thriller, although the author’s sprightly prose means that
comedy overtones accompany even death and burials. “</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">They were at a loose end without a funeral tea to go to. Poor Joan didn’t
seem entirely dead without a glass of sherry and a slice of Dundee cake to send
her across the Styx.</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">As in Atkinson’s previous novels, the writing is
crisp and witty, often aphoristic, with pleasing echoes of the late great
Muriel Spark and even Alan Bennett. The ending – and a fascinating Author’s
Note – provides a splendid surprise and a resonance with one of history’s
greatest spy scandals. Kate Atkinson is without doubt one of our finest current
writers.</span></p></div><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-57725166765571820192021-06-24T05:21:00.026-07:002022-05-30T01:57:42.806-07:00From the SUSSEX EXPRESS and HASTINGS OBSERVER - this week<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #6c6c6c; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 22.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Newhaven author David Gee is in print with Lillian And The Italians,
published by The Conrad Press, Canterbury at £9.99 paperback, £3.99 Kindle,
available from Amazon and bookshops – a book about second chances.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8846107596066805492/5772516676557182019"><span style="color: black;">By Phil Hewitt</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.25pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K5mNmBObca0/YNR7mFt3FKI/AAAAAAAAKeI/cEAuqpKy09gMk7eg07XKI23xmghvH9V_wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Ravello%2B2019.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K5mNmBObca0/YNR7mFt3FKI/AAAAAAAAKeI/cEAuqpKy09gMk7eg07XKI23xmghvH9V_wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Ravello%2B2019.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 15.0pt; margin: 15pt 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">David Gee is the pen-name of David
Helsdon, aged 78. He says: “I set out to write a novel in which a widow gets a
second bite of the cherry.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.05pt; margin-bottom: 12.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.5pt; margin: 12.5pt 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“Searching for her wayward son Andrew
in the summer of 1966, Lillian Rutherford, a 50-year-old widow from Hastings,
goes to Venice, where she meets the ex-gigolo who has shared the last four
years of Andrew’s life. His revelations about Andrew’s bisexuality shock
her.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.05pt; margin-bottom: 12.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.5pt; margin: 12.5pt 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“Going on to Amalfi, she meets Prince
Massimo Monfalcone, whose playboy son has disappeared with Andrew.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.05pt; margin-bottom: 12.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.5pt; margin: 12.5pt 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“Massimo distracts Lillian with his
life story: his first wife was murdered in a Sicilian blood-feud; his second
wife killed herself because of his infidelity. As they wait for news of their
sons, a bond grows between Lillian and the prince. A different world – a
different life – opens up for her. Is she ready for this?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.05pt; margin-bottom: 12.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.5pt; margin: 12.5pt 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“The book will, I hope, appeal to women
of all ages. Lillian learns in Venice that her son has had male as well as
female lovers, so I hope this will draw in LGBT readers. Prince Massimo’s life
includes 50 years of Mafia history, so maybe fans of <i>The Godfather</i> –
and movie producers! – will be attracted.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.05pt; margin-bottom: 12.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.5pt; margin: 12.5pt 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“<i>Lillian and the Italians</i> is
a book for women who worry that their lives will flatline after their children
– or their husbands – leave home.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.05pt; margin-bottom: 12.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.5pt; margin: 12.5pt 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“I promised my mother years ago that I
would write a novel in which an English widow finds romance and adventure in
Italy. Lillian’s girlhood and a late-term miscarriage are taken from my
mother’s life story, although she was widowed at an earlier age and fate did
not bring her a Sicilian prince; Alzheimer’s took her down a different road.
Lillian and the Italians is the life she should have had.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.05pt; margin-bottom: 12.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.5pt; margin: 12.5pt 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“My mother accompanied me on some of my
research trips to Venice, Amalfi and Sicily. The first draft of the book was
largely written on location, in cafes and bars and sitting on church steps.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.05pt; margin-bottom: 12.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.5pt; margin: 12.5pt 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“I started it in 1976 but then my job
took me overseas and I didn’t finish it until the 1990s. I’ve had to overcome a
surprising amount of resistance from editors and literary agents to a book with
a heroine aged fifty; they prefer a book with a sexy young bimbo!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.05pt; margin-bottom: 12.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.5pt; margin: 12.5pt 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“I’ve started a follow-on novel in
which Lillian’s son’s life intersects with a hotel owner from Hastings in Spain
in 1968, the year of student protests in Europe and anti-war protests in the
US. Hopefully it will soon be possible to fly to Spain for some location
research. For now I’m relying on memories of my first visit to Benidorm in the
1960s when Benidorm had had an unfinished promenade and very little highrise –
not the Benidorm we know today.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.05pt; margin-bottom: 12.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.5pt; margin: 12.5pt 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">This link will take you to the full
article online:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.05pt; margin-bottom: 12.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.5pt; margin: 12.5pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">https://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/arts-and-culture/books/east-sussex-author-pens-the-life-he-wished-his-mother-had-led-3267700</span></p><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-24162021455338347702021-06-04T04:21:00.037-07:002021-06-04T22:37:58.793-07:00LILLIAN's BlogTour hits the USA<div id="kt-skip-link" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><h1 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NNoLBdG9ykw/YLsMrmqKx6I/AAAAAAAAKYM/5THbuculSHMjQ6QUgkByUcLg6e6tGLmZQCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="960" height="166" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NNoLBdG9ykw/YLsMrmqKx6I/AAAAAAAAKYM/5THbuculSHMjQ6QUgkByUcLg6e6tGLmZQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h166/image.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /></h1><h4 style="text-align: left;">Review from Allison D:</h4><div><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;">Oh, this book. This book had so many layers. I honestly don’t know if my simple review can do it justice. One character more interesting than the next. There is Lillian, a widow who travels to Italy to find her son who is somewhat of a free spirit. It has been some time since she has seen him, and she decides it is time for a mother son reunion.</span></div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">There is a bit of mystery throughout, as her son continuously eludes her for nearly the entire tale, (not necessarily of his own doing), a Prince who Lillian develops a very comfortable bond with and then…..Italy. Beautiful, beautiful Italy and her Amalfi coast and her food, her drink, her coastline and her amazing history. Venice, and sailing and afternoon naps in the sun. The loud, loving Italians, living life to the absolute fullest.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">I normally do not read men authors. And certainly not when the main character is a woman. This was written quite well, though. Gee was able to (I think) correctly capture the spirit and attitude/behaviors of a 1960’s woman, traveling to another country in search of her son. Her life has changed dramatically- she has lost her husband and in a way, her purpose. Her daughter is off in Hong Kong raising her own family, and Lillian seems a bit….restless. What does life have in store for her now?</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">As she spends more time in Italy, the friendship between Lillian and Prince Massimo is a bit convenient, but it is played out nicely. (No spoilers here, folks.) I want to say SO MUCH MORE about this storyline, but will simply say I liked the way it was tied up at the end.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">My favorite character- by far- was Italy. This book was the PERFECT read for me this month, as I am deep into researching the Italian side of my family tree. The descriptiveness that Gee bestows on his readers is remarkable. I could taste the wine, I could feel the sun toasting me to a golden brown. I could hear the water and see the beautiful sights of Venice. If I did not want to travel to Italy before, I certainly do now!</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">For me, the book was a straightforward story of a mother who starts out on a journey to find her son. What she doesn’t realize is she will find out a lot more than where he has been for the past 4 years, and will find herself along the way as well.</p></div>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-56826751396773960642021-05-13T04:16:00.003-07:002021-05-13T04:19:16.393-07:00What I'm reading: Dark deeds at the Vatican<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2-dk6hTaG-Q/YJ0IAmanmQI/AAAAAAAAKQc/1EYhh-5y5oQuvdQrpq78cjuxumOlKkp6gCLcBGAsYHQ/s346/daniel%2Bsilva.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="229" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2-dk6hTaG-Q/YJ0IAmanmQI/AAAAAAAAKQc/1EYhh-5y5oQuvdQrpq78cjuxumOlKkp6gCLcBGAsYHQ/w265-h400/daniel%2Bsilva.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">Daniel Silva: THE ORDER</h1><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"><p><span style="font-size: 13pt;">We’ve met Pope Paul VII before: Daniel Silva’s fictional
successor to John Paul II, he has survived several assaults on the Vatican, all
thwarted by Israeli master-spy Gabriel Allon. Holidaying in Venice when His
Holiness dies of a supposed stroke, Gabriel is invited to investigate the
possibility that the pontiff was murdered by enemies within the Church who are
plotting to manipulate the conclave that will elect his successor. A secret
gospel has been discovered in the archives which could undermine Catholicism’s
foundations.</span></p></span><p></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">There are brief excursions to Florence, Zurich and
Hitler’s old “roost” in Berchtesgaden, but most of the action takes place in
Rome where a right-wing coup threatens not just the papacy, but the governments
of Italy and other EU states. “</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The
backbiting bureaucrats of the Curia</i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">” are disturbingly credible.</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> </i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">Silva reminds us that the Vatican has a
dismal history with the Jewish nation, dating all the way back to the
crucifixion of Christ. Let’s not forget that Pius XII cosied up to Mussolini
and Hitler and avoided harsh condemnation of the Nazis during the Holocaust.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IgZlu4hkchA/YJ0J0_-D0XI/AAAAAAAAKQk/UktpX8wjAlYiOFffaBY4hTEeHgCYyLdXACLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/john%2Bpaul%2B1.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IgZlu4hkchA/YJ0J0_-D0XI/AAAAAAAAKQk/UktpX8wjAlYiOFffaBY4hTEeHgCYyLdXACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/john%2Bpaul%2B1.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pope John Paul I: was he murdered?</td></tr></tbody></table><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">Alternative gospels and dark doings in the Holy See
have provided fodder for historians and many other writers of fiction (including
Dan Brown – twice!). There was much speculation that John Paul I, Pope for only
33 days in 1978, was murdered by rogue cardinals; this theory provided part of
the plot of Francis Ford Coppola’s third </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Godfather </b><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">movie.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">Outlandish as it ought to be, </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The Order </b><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">has
the ring of believability; it’s almost as pacy as a Bond film. This is the most
enthralling thriller I’ve read since Gabriel Allon’s previous misadventure and
is unlikely to be equalled until his next one.</span></p><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-53987874805168709642021-05-10T03:12:00.004-07:002021-05-10T03:17:31.675-07:00LILLIAN : 4-star review on Amazon!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GgWw4xGb0bs/YJkGxFJLGuI/AAAAAAAAKQQ/ZpAvcJrJdXwyAtuIJCWBm8oDNz6OwkyewCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Lillian%2Bfront%2Bcover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1326" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GgWw4xGb0bs/YJkGxFJLGuI/AAAAAAAAKQQ/ZpAvcJrJdXwyAtuIJCWBm8oDNz6OwkyewCLcBGAsYHQ/w259-h400/Lillian%2Bfront%2Bcover.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="a-row" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 680px;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R3TE0XF04NCHA0/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B09286YL6L" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" title="4.0 out of 5 stars"><i class="a-icon a-icon-star a-star-4 review-rating" data-hook="review-star-rating" style="background-image: url("https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/3-fm1Jbg4IHlyhq.png"); background-position: -84px -8px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 512px 256px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 18px; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; width: 80px;"><span class="a-icon-alt" style="box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: circle(0px at 50% 50%); display: block; font-size: inherit; height: 18px; left: auto; line-height: normal; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 80px;">4.0 out of 5 stars</span></i></a><span class="a-letter-space" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; width: 0.385em;"></span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">An elegantly-written guide to Italy and the past</span></div><div class="a-row" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 680px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div><span class="a-size-base a-color-secondary review-date" data-hook="review-date" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(86, 89, 89) !important; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px !important;">Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 May 2021</span><div class="a-row a-spacing-mini review-data review-format-strip" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 4px !important; width: 680px;"><br /></div><div class="a-row a-spacing-small review-data" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 8px !important; width: 680px;"><span class="a-size-base review-text" data-hook="review-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px !important;">There’s a long and honourable tradition in literature of chilly Englishwomen finding themselves abroad and this is in many ways a fine addition to that canon. It’s very well-written, perfectly paced and finely plotted. It takes the reader through what in other hands would be a series of melodramatic events with a restraint and an elegance reflective of the main character herself.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />David Gee says in his afterword that he began writing the novel in the 1970s, and it has clearly benefited from its long gestation. The characters and their attitudes are convincingly of their time and remind us that the 1960s were not just the Swinging Sixties but a period in which many adults had been shaped by living through the Depression and two world wars.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Gee does a good job of depicting his main characters’ disapproval of homosexuality without endorsing it, as he does with similar lightness of touch when it comes to other characters’ approval of violence and murder. It is unfortunate though that the resolutions of some of the characters’ stories could be seen as confirming some of the prejudices depicted in the novel.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Despite its twentieth-century setting, Lillian and the Italians is essentially a historical novel, at its best when reflecting on the workings of a society that is not our own. Gee shows himself a sure guide here to both Italy and the past.</span></div><p></p><div class="a-row" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 680px;"><i class="a-icon a-icon-star a-star-4 review-rating" data-hook="review-star-rating" style="background-image: url("https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/sash/3-fm1Jbg4IHlyhq.png"); background-position: -84px -8px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 512px 256px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; display: inline-block; height: 18px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: text-top; width: 80px;"><span class="a-icon-alt" style="box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: circle(0px at 50% 50%); display: block; font-size: inherit; height: 18px; left: auto; line-height: normal; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 80px;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R3TE0XF04NCHA0/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B09286YL6L" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007185; text-decoration-line: none;" title="4.0 out of 5 stars">4.0 out of 5 stars</a><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1111;">.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></span></i></div>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-54897560571145679082021-04-13T03:34:00.005-07:002021-04-15T02:34:21.948-07:00What I'm reading: the brutal reality of ladyboy bars<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--H7E4pDmRfU/YHVyxftuQCI/AAAAAAAAKK0/1NFNW2n93PokJx_33uECGaHR4ynHazNDwCLcBGAsYHQ/s475/bangkok.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="316" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--H7E4pDmRfU/YHVyxftuQCI/AAAAAAAAKK0/1NFNW2n93PokJx_33uECGaHR4ynHazNDwCLcBGAsYHQ/w266-h400/bangkok.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">Robin Newbold: BANGKOK BURNING</h1><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Forty-year-old Londoner Graham leaves his wife to start a new life in Bangkok, opening a cabaret bar with a ladyboy lover. The
obstacles to this enterprise include corrupt policemen and an American hardman
who muscles in on both the business and Graham’s lover. Other rivals meet
grisly deaths.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">Robin Newbold does not dwell on the glamour and camp
of the cabaret scene. He highlights the squalid streets of Patpong and the intense
trafficking of young flesh for those visitors who are not in Thailand to admire
its temples and beaches. When Graham goes to Cambodia to renew his visa he doesn’t tour Angkor Wat: he visits a genocide museum and bars with teenage prostitutes. </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Bangkok Burning </b><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">is a grim, unflinching read.</span></p></div><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846107596066805492.post-55934955045584166522021-03-10T03:19:00.051-08:002021-03-10T03:43:10.226-08:00What I'm reading: Gay porn and Barbara Cartland<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1JCyFNE2vKU/YEissWfqbnI/AAAAAAAAKCo/MMDlbK1Nl_kjQAJcaK6F5GSVjeR95-LCACLcBGAsYHQ/s475/forth%2Binto%2Blight.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="297" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1JCyFNE2vKU/YEissWfqbnI/AAAAAAAAKCo/MMDlbK1Nl_kjQAJcaK6F5GSVjeR95-LCACLcBGAsYHQ/w250-h400/forth%2Binto%2Blight.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: center;">Gordon Merrick: FORTH INTO LIGHT</h2> <p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Originally published in 1974, this concludes the gay
trilogy that began with <b>The Lord Won’t Mind</b>. Painter Charlie and art-dealer
Peter are spending another summer in their Greek island villa with Martha, by
whom they have each fathered a child. Martha is not the only woman in their
life: art historian Judy arrives to consult Peter about some paintings that may
be fakes. She inspires a heterosexual hiccup in Peter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">The paintings have been bought by celebrated New
York author Mike who is on the island visiting his friend George, a not-so-celebrated author
with a drinking problem and a rocky marriage. George’s teenage son Jeff thinks
he may be gay and develops crushes on Mike and our two heroes (and one of the
natives).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face=""Verdana","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mkuD7CSKQAM/YEit6WzwRuI/AAAAAAAAKC4/vUsAHzJWNfE61Vx5vZ9UwM_xqTnL9PTjQCLcBGAsYHQ/s300/merrick.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mkuD7CSKQAM/YEit6WzwRuI/AAAAAAAAKC4/vUsAHzJWNfE61Vx5vZ9UwM_xqTnL9PTjQCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h200/merrick.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gordon Merrick</td></tr></tbody></table><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">Large dollops of sex are duly introduced as Jeff
works his way through his crushes. And Peter consummates his heterosexual
hiccup with Judy in scenes that veer between Barbara Cartland daintiness – “</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">He opened his mouth, and she gave him hers</i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">”
- and cinematic hardcore. Charlie is not simply well-hung; his endowment is “</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">prodigious</i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">”. Graphic – not to say
pornographic – sex is Gordon Merrick’s trademark, though I wonder if gay and
straight porn belong in the same book: is there a demand for “</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">bi</i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">-porn”?</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">Aside from the sex, which comes close to the “classic”
turgidity of the </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Song of the Loon </b><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">trilogy, the book consists of long –
even tedious – conversations about love and fidelity. There’s a “MacGuffin”
involving a missing wad of dollars which, with the extended dialogue, has echoes
of one of Terence Rattigan stodgier dramas. The debate about the “openness” of
many gay relationships is an interesting one, to which Merrick makes a
thoughtful contribution. </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Forth Into Light</b><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"> brings his ultra-erotic trilogy to
an uneven climax (if I may use that word).</span></p><p></p>David Geehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04518527396860672252noreply@blogger.com0