(The) Art of Anne Sofie von Otter

WRITTEN IN THE BODY (The Gathering - Anne Enright)

Advantages: beautifully written, has staying power
Disadvantages: grim, not much happens, unlikeable narrator

Summary: beautifully written internal-monologue tale of bodily anguish It's not difficult to see why Anne Enright's "The Gathering" has been short-listed (and eventually, selected) for that ultimate literary fiction accolade, the Man Booker prize. If our (or the jurors') idea of the the peaks of literary novel is, almost unavoidably, defined by the Great Moderns, if it's all of Joyce, Woolf and Lawrence; Proust and Kafka; then "The Gathering" had to be recognised because it's steeped in that tradition. Veronica Hegarty, one of the twelve Hegarty siblings is bringing her brother Liam home to bury. He walked to his death in the Brighton sea, his brain muddled by drink, his pockets filled with stones. The gathering of the title refers to the family coming to the funeral in Dublin, but most of the book consists of Veronica ...

magdadh 23.05.2009 · Read full review
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Review of The Gathering - Anne Enright

The art of the book

Advantages: Most glamouros book I have ever bought
Disadvantages: costs £25

This book was my white whale for some time, I first spotted it in waterstones and had a quick look whilst waiting for my boyfriend to come and find me. When he did find me, he glanced at some of the pictures from over my shoulder and smiled broadly, but then in his ever-sensible fashion, he looked for a price tag. £25. This was just too much for an impulse buy, even one as beautiful as this huge glossy hardback with gorgeous pictures and the most charmingly witty writing style. So, regarding it as what would have been a lovely impulse buy, I regretfully put it back on the shelf and walked away from it. However, since that first meeting, I have been back to visit this book many times, and eventually I decided it wasn't an impulse buy any more, and what I really needed in my life was a coffee table book of beautiful pictures of Dita Von ...

Rcalvert3 03.02.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Burlesque and the Art of the Teese / Fetish and the Art of the Teese - Dita Von Teese

St Annes NOT Lytham

Advantages: lovely
Disadvantages: rubbish when it rains

Before I start there is one thing I need to get straight Lytham and St Annes are two different places with 2 different town centres and I am reviewing St Annes and not Lytham. (ok it is now a single borough but the people that live in these places see them as separate towns) If you put either St Annes or Lytham into google etc you will get information on both Lytham and St Annes The full name is St Annes-On-the-Sea which is shortened to St Annes . A Bit of History Colonal Clifton the squire of Lytham wanted to develop the area known as 'West End' (That part is now St Annes) All there was in 1870 was Dunes, a railway from Blackpool to Lytham and some farms and cottages that paid rent to the Clifton's. They had seen the good of Lytham as a resort so saw the dunes as somewhere they ...

rojm 23.08.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Lytham St Annes