6th July 2007 I have decided to embark on an occasional blog charting the progress of a re-reading (the 10th? 20th?) of Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time. This is not intended as literary criticism, although there will no doubt be attempts at this, but more of an examination of my relationship with …
Author: nick2209
Anarcho-socialist, Birmingham City Women supporter, lover of Americana/Country, Byron fan, atheist - and clinical depressive, which should be unrelated to foregoing although you have to wonder!
The end of Rome (OP)
30th July 2007 The second, and presumably last, series, of Rome came to its triumphant and stunning conclusion. I cannot really praise this brilliant series enough; for me it sets a benchmark for historical television series - and this is despite its lurid exploitation of sex and violence. It is interesting to examine though why …
Malcolm and Barbara, Linebaugh, Fallen Angel (OP)
13th August 2007 Last week we watched Paul Watkins' remarkable documentary 'Malcolm and Barbara', which recorded how Malcolm fell ill with and eventually died of dementia. Filmed over a number of years the documentary was at times almost unwatchable in its unsparing presentation of the reality of dementia. Sadly, the programme's message was obscured by an absurd media …
Continue reading Malcolm and Barbara, Linebaugh, Fallen Angel (OP)
Work, work, work (OP)
15th August 2007 Peter Linebaugh in The London Hanged (p14) writes... >>new morality became triumphant among the capitalist class at the end of the seventeenth century. Christopher Hill contrasted it with the religious attitudes prevailing earlier: 'Labour, the curse of fallen man, had become a religious duty, a means of glorifying God in our calling. …
The Threat to Liberty (OP)
19th November 2007 The Birmingham Book Festival was once a major event but in recent years it has declined into a pathetic populist charade, populated by the latest celebrity biographers, and aimed at boosting Waterstone's profits as far as one could tell. This year however, it returned with a serious and interesting programme. We would …
Grayling on Reading (OP)
Although when I started this blog I only transferred a few entries from their old home, I have decided that the time has come to move over everything that I might want to refer back to in the future. The excellence of the WordPress search facility is another compelling reason for doing this, as is the …
2009 in Reading
This entry is inspired by (or a blatant rip-off of!) my friend Ellen's wonderful blog at http://ellenandjim.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/another-year-in-reading/ about the books she read in 2009 which made a particular impact on her. It is also a personal celebration of the fact that I am now able to do this fairly easily since switching to a new blog provider …
December Miscellany (2009)
December, as may be surmised from the comparative paucity of blog entries, was not a good month. This should come as no surprise to me as it is, with January, one of the two worst average months. Although this might indicate some form of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) this is not so as February is one of the …
Some Musings on 2009 (of purely personal interest!)
The following consists very much of personal musings on the year unlikely to be of interest to anyone other than myself - they form part of that blogging activity which for me is part-diary, part-meditation. I just wanted to chronicle a few of the things which have happened in my life in 2009. First, I …
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Some Very Short Introductions
The Very Short Introduction Series is published by the Oxford University Press and consists of an ever-increasing number of pocket-sized (11mmx17mm) introductions to a range of philosophic, scientific, literary, political, theological, historical, sociological and other subjects. The main practical joy of the books is their size: they are absolutely ideal for carrying in a pocket and being read …
Moving Toyshop 