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Monday 20 June 2016

A Weekend With Claude


A Weekend With Claude - Beryl Bainbridge
(I read the revised 1981 issue of what was her first published novel.  The dust jacket describes it as "virtually a new book". Having not read the original I can make no comment on this.)

"With each circlet of grease I rubbed away one or more layer of romantic love and sat exposed with shiny nose and oily mouth, suburban, self-tormenting, waiting to be hurt."

I have been inspired to try to put together this post by the Beryl Bainbridge Reading Week (which ended yesterday). I participated in a previous iteration of this event in 2012 and have been gradually accumulating a number of posts on novels by Bainbridge, who has become firmly ensconced in my own personal canon over the lifetime of this blog. In it's original form A Weekend With Claude was Bainbridge's first published novel, but given that the rather brilliant Harriet Said had been written before meant this didn't dampen my expectations.

Friday 3 June 2016

Another mix of my Favourite Songs

Another Mix of my Favourite Songs

The last time I tried to put together a list of Favourite Songs it got out of control - One; Two; Three; Four. This time I was trying to put together a Top Five but that proved impossible so I expanded the parameters. Here are five songs from: Before 1950; the 1950's; 1960's; 1970's; 1980's; 1990's and the 21st Century.

The list is totally subjective and would be different if I did it again. For a couple of the decades I had alternate lists and simply 'pinned the tail on the donkey'. But I like it and hope that you do too.