I bloody love Andrew Scott. As Moriarty, he was – is – the perfect villain. You only have to see the @moriartyenterto Twitter account (not even the whole show) to see that he exudes sass. If he asked me to do anything – strip, give him a kidney, sell my soul – I’d do it. Personally, I’d… Read More Hamlet at the Almeida (moriarty!)
If you didn’t sing that title as a hymn, it’s highly unlikely that you were forced through a Christian (Catholic) education, as I was/am. Books about religion aren’t normally my forte, but this is wonderfully written. Religion seems to be a whole other character. Going to a Catholic school – and typing this will probably… Read More Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
When I announced in English today that I’d read this novel – describing The Master and Margarita as ‘Satan causes havoc in Russia’ – I was met with the kind of look that said ‘You need to step away from the books and go outside’. Although I acknowledge there is an element of truth in… Read More The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
What surprised me most of all about this book was not its contents, but the fact that it belongs to my dad. He normally confines his tastes to crime (Lee Child) and hefty history books, so to have a domestic novel about forced marriage on his shelves was a revelation. Other than that, nothing else… Read More Brick Lane by Monica Ali
The poetry collection is expanding. Worryingly so – I never thought that I’d ‘get into’ poetry, but then William Blake arrives on the scene, blows my mind and I’ve never looked back. Fast forward to a year later and I’m sat on a bus from the seediest part of Somerset trying not to cry. I… Read More Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
Happy Valentine’s Day to me, destined to die alone with a bottle of red. Oh well – I can drown my sorrows not only in alcohol, but also in literature, as I am certain that there are characters out there worse off than myself. They probably don’t have Hamlet tickets. With Andrew Scott in the… Read More Happy Valentine’s Day
I really, really wanted to love this book. To be honest, I wanted to finish it even more. Alas, it was not to be. Started off brilliantly, ended as nuclear waste. I’ll start with its bearable aspects. An intelligent, female, black protagonist who is ready – and willing – to plant scissors into thighs. A… Read More The Girl Who Saved the King Of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson
