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The Complete MAUS – Art Spiegelman
The Complete MAUS by Art Spiegelman is a renowned graphic novel about the Holocaust that switches between the present day and the past.The book tells the story of the author’s father and his harrowing experiences as a Jew during the Nazi period. It also beautifully portrays the relationship the author has with his father as he tries to bring out his father’s memories.
It’s a horrifying, moving and sometimes funny story, and is highly recommended.
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The Heretics – Will Storr
The Heretics by Will Storr is a fabulous read!In the book, which is subtitled ‘Adventures With the Enemies of Science’, the author travels the world to interview some wacky heretics. [Heretics are people who hold an opinion at odds with what is generally accepted. Or, as put on the back of the book, ‘obviously intelligent people who believe things in spite of the evidence against them’!]
I liked the quote from the review of the book by Q magazine – “Read this and never trust your own mind again”.
Everyone should read this book – probably twice!
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Battersea Power Station
Finally, Battersea Power Station is being redeveloped! The station ceased producing electricity in 1983. It’s a Grade II listed building and is the largest brick building in Europe. For a while you could visit the inside of the derelict building (see the second image). But now, development is under way – see the image and video below.
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The Hitch-Hiker (B & W movie from 1953)
I randomly picked The Hitch-Hiker, a 1953 b&w movie from the Internet Archive. It turned out to be a tense and highly watchable thriller and, at a mere 70 minutes, well worth watching. It was the first film noir by a female director (Ida Lupino).The Internet Archive is “a non-profit digital library offering free universal access to books, movies & music, as well as 435 billion[wow!] archived web pages”, and looks as if it could be an interesting place to explore.
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Oscar Restaurant & Bar, Charlotte Street, London
Oscar is a lively and attractive restaurant which is part of the Charlotte Street Hotel. For £35 per person we enjoyed a three-course late-lunch, followed by a film (Gone Girl) in the private cinema.One of the cheaper bottles of wine at £27, plus coffees and a service charge of 12.5% bumped it up to £200 for the four of us, but we did have a very nice time and I would thoroughly recommend Oscar.
The film was pretty good, too, though the front couple of rows in the comfortable and small cinema are pretty close to the screen! The film Gone Girl is a curiosity. It’s a thriller, with several twists, that holds your attention for well over two hours. I was disappointed midway through the film when the the basic mystery was revealed. And I think many people were left stunned by the ending (“No way!”). But overall it was a pretty good movie.
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A hike on a fabulous, sunny day
Dorking to Guildford along the North Downs Way. What a glorious day, which got better as the day progressed. Twelve miles, five hours, 2 sore feet!
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When we woke up this morning….
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Mini manipulation
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A grey, muddy walk in the Surrey hills
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I’m hooked on Serial!
I’m hooked on Serial, “the whodunit that has become a cultural phenomenon”! So far there have been 8 forty-minute episodes and I’ve listened to 6.A Guardian article by Linda Grant explains what all the fuss is about and all the episodes can be listened to at http://serialpodcast.org/
Make sure you listen to them in order! I think he’s innocent! [Updated 8:30pm: Having just listened to episodes 7 & 8, I now think he might be guilty!]
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