Seen The Four Seasons Three affluent, middle-aged couples meet 4 times a year to indulge in 5-star quality weekend breaks. They deal with dissolving marriages and the sudden, unwelcome intrusion of mortality. […]

Read The Wanted by Robert Crais This LA-set detective thriller is good, tense stuff with well drawn characters. It does feature both first and third person narrative voices which always throw me out of a […]

Goldfrapp – Seventh Tree Durutti Column – Vini Reilly

There seems to be a lot of love / respect between players and manager on display at Spurs currently. And the players seem to be happy in each other’s company. Something not seen there since the days of […]

Yep – I’ve read all 3, and enjoyed them very much. I think my favourite was Ascension – it’s a tight combination of spy and detective thriller. Plus Ascension Island itself was a vivid and unusual backdrop. I […]

Read The Shame Archives by Oliver Harris A cache of files incriminating evidence is being used to blackmail royals, politicians, and general ne’er do wells – and when the blackmail doesn’t work, the files are d […]

Done.

Not sure I have seen it mentioned much (if at all) in the tributes but one of his standout films is Spartan, a tense, tricky thriller scripted by David Mamet. Well worth seeking out.

Read The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty by Sebastian Barry. 2 World Wars, Irish independence, colonial rule in Africa, love, loss, family, the mutable nature of national identity and the immutable notion of home […]

Whizzer & Chips / Krazy Action 2000AD NME Time Out Viz Q Empire Loaded The Word Haven’t bought a magazine on a regular basis since Word turned up its toes.

Seen To the pictures on two drear January evenings to watch Nosferatu and Wolf Man. Whilst neither was especially scary, they both built up an atmosphere of dread. Handsome films to look at, too. Couple of […]

Signed. I remember watching stuff like magnificent Big Wednesday there, but also some terrible movie about bee attacks that was lip synced live. It’s that kind of place. On a trip to the smoke last December […]

Seen All of us Strangers It’s a story about storytelling, when a scriptwriter in his 30s revisits memories of his parents, who died when he was a child. A dreamy, ambiguous tale that picks away at themes of l […]

You’re right – it’s a gem. Already looking forwards to a re-read. I’ve not read any other work by JL Carr, so thanks for the recommendation. I shall add to my wishlist.

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes A strange, mysterious book where we follow a microbiologist from the depths of the oceans to the outer reaches of space. It’s a book that I find hard to summarise, including as i […]

Minnie Riperton. I watched Jordan Peele’s ‘Us’ at the weekend and Les Fleurs plays over the end credits…

I didn’t realise he was an author, I’ll keep an eye out. His films are very striking – with eye watering moments of violence mixed with periods of longueurs.

Here are a few recommendations. In a Lonely Place by Dorothy Hughes. Utterly gripping LA set noir. James Ellroy. The Black Dahlia was the first of his that I read – and it might still be my favourite. Like […]

Read The Last King of California A boy witnesses a violent act committed by his father, following which the dad is sent to prison and the boy and his mother flee to Colorado. The novel commences as the boy, now […]

Cheers. I’ll keep an eye out