How thrilling, Jo and how fair and fitting. AMATEURS IN EDEN is a subtle evocation of an extraordinary marriage, and beautifully written.
Michelle Spring Feb 18
[on London Book Award Nomination Joanna Hodgkin: 'In this account of her mother Nancy's first marriage to novelist and travel writer Lawrence Durrell, Joanna Hodgkin is mindful enough of a history that places wives on the margins. This is not just a memoir of her mother. This is the history of a literary wife. On both counts, Hodgkin succeeds beautifully.']
michellespring Feb 18

A thoroughly well-deserved nomination for an enchanting book - many, many congratulations Jo!
[on London Book Award Nomination Joanna Hodgkin: 'In this account of her mother Nancy's first marriage to novelist and travel writer Lawrence Durrell, Joanna Hodgkin is mindful enough of a history that places wives on the margins. This is not just a memoir of her mother. This is the history of a literary wife. On both counts, Hodgkin succeeds beautifully.']
revlindsaym Feb 18

Many congratulations Jo on your nomination and richly deserved. It's a wonderful book.
[on London Book Award Nomination Joanna Hodgkin: 'In this account of her mother Nancy's first marriage to novelist and travel writer Lawrence Durrell, Joanna Hodgkin is mindful enough of a history that places wives on the margins. This is not just a memoir of her mother. This is the history of a literary wife. On both counts, Hodgkin succeeds beautifully.']
jane.turnbull Feb 17

Durrell 2012: The Lawrence Durrell Centenary congratulates Joanna Hodgkin on her nomination.

Well done, Jo!

DURRELL 2012 :: THE LAWRENCE DURRELL CENTENARY
13 JUNE 2012 - 16 JUNE 2012

:: THE BRITISH LIBRARY :: LONDON
:: GOODENOUGH COLLEGE :: LONDON

http://durrell2012.com/
[on London Book Award Nomination Joanna Hodgkin: 'In this account of her mother Nancy's first marriage to novelist and travel writer Lawrence Durrell, Joanna Hodgkin is mindful enough of a history that places wives on the margins. This is not just a memoir of her mother. This is the history of a literary wife. On both counts, Hodgkin succeeds beautifully.']
charles-sligh Feb 16

Durrell 2012: The Lawrence Durrell Centenary congratulates Joanna Hodgkin on her nomination.

Well done, Jo!

DURRELL 2012 :: THE LAWRENCE DURRELL CENTENARY
13 JUNE 2012 - 16 JUNE 2012

:: THE BRITISH LIBRARY :: LONDON
:: GOODENOUGH COLLEGE :: LONDON

http://durrell2012.com/
[on London Book Award nominee Joanna Hodgkin: 'David Hare in one of his dramatic monologues said something that registered with me, along the lines of: as you get older memory replaces imagination. That feels like the journey my work has taken, almost accidentally: biography, trying to create a kind of sense from past events, is taking the place for me of the imaginative leap that creates fiction.']
charles-sligh Feb 16

Zoe Rahman is a composer/pianist deserving wider recognition. Brava Zoe!
[on London Jazz Award Nomination Zoe Rahman: '.. currently touring the surprisingly compatible confection of American, Bengali and Irish music... Ireland and the east were joined in two Rabindranath Tagore pieces (the Bengali polymath tuned into Celtic music while studying in the UK), brought to life by the band... It was an evening of broad-ranging jazz played with glee.']
ristich54 Feb 11

This brilliant duo continually leaps into new musical territories - they should be rewarded now for their life-long service to the life of improvisation!
[on London Jazz Award Nomination Trevor Watts and Veryan Weston: 'A mark of invention pervades throughout, as the duo fuses sublime persuasions, inverted theme-building jaunts, and mesmeric passages with fleeting melodies and rhythmical dynamics.']
mikephillipson Feb 02

I'll second that....even if he is family!
[on London Jazz Award Nomination Trevor Watts and Veryan Weston: 'A mark of invention pervades throughout, as the duo fuses sublime persuasions, inverted theme-building jaunts, and mesmeric passages with fleeting melodies and rhythmical dynamics.']
helen.watts Jan 29

Pleased to see recognition for these wonderful musicians. The instinctive feeling that flows between Watts & Weston is an exciting and stimulating adventure for the audience.
lesley cornish
[on London Jazz Award Nomination Trevor Watts and Veryan Weston: 'A mark of invention pervades throughout, as the duo fuses sublime persuasions, inverted theme-building jaunts, and mesmeric passages with fleeting melodies and rhythmical dynamics.']
lesley.cornish89 Jan 28

These are great musicians, whose work is always a delight. We had the great pleasure to hear them several times in Chicago and it was memorable. Congratulations on this well-justified recognition!
[on London Jazz Award Nomination Trevor Watts and Veryan Weston: 'A mark of invention pervades throughout, as the duo fuses sublime persuasions, inverted theme-building jaunts, and mesmeric passages with fleeting melodies and rhythmical dynamics.']
alankt Jan 27

Long overdue recognition for a great musician!
[on London Jazz Award Nomination Trevor Watts and Veryan Weston: 'A mark of invention pervades throughout, as the duo fuses sublime persuasions, inverted theme-building jaunts, and mesmeric passages with fleeting melodies and rhythmical dynamics.']
watts_martyn Jan 27

I am just thrilled to have discovered Clare Holtham and The Road from Herat.
[on London Poetry Award Nomination Clare Holtham: 'Her poems' rhythms mimic the energy of the landscapes she encountered; they echo the sea in Istanbul ‘running up under the planks of the old Galata bridge’ and ‘the tide of people, the small boats pecking at the shore.’ You can almost smell the ‘Bazar in Herat’ in these pages.']
kristinebyrne Jan 15

Tracy Emin to become a professor of DRAWING? She can't draw! (much less paint)
[on Tracey Emin to become Professor of Drawing at RA]
ahmelia Jan 08

Extremely moving poem. I hope it conveys, however humbly, how much her son is loved and missed to Doreen Lawrence, who is in the hearts of this country.
[on 'Stephen Lawrence' by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy: 'Cold pavement indeed / the night you died, / murdered;']
nadaholland Jan 07

I agree 100%. Since Cuddy left the show is a crapfest and it´s not worth watching anymore. Who are those pathetic actresses hired to replace Lisa Edelstein and Olivia Wilde. Are they really actresses or just some kind of lame joke? Seriously, if the show doesn´t improve after the holiday season, i´m out.
[on House without Cuddy is like bread without butter or, as King Lear’s Cordelia would say, meat without salt]
norea20 Dec 28

Screw the purists. I say Peter Jackson has deserved the option to implement a new character. He's done wonders in bringing the LOTR trilogy to a new generation of kids and adults alike, so I think Tolkien would allow him this one, small change if he were alive today!
[on Evangeline Lilly to play elf called Tauriel in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit]
jonnyneeves Dec 06

I think that the sentiment "until my dying breath" demonstrates her commitment to equality; her understanding of its impact upon those individuals who are continually oppressed. If you have any empathy or understanding of prejudice it ought to be impossible not to emanate the desire for change and demand it when you have the power to do so.
[on London Book award nomination Pauline Black: 'Above all matters of racial identity is the simple fact that all human beings deserve to be treated equally.']
abigail.harrison Nov 11

We must be watching a different show called House. Cuddy is not even a secondary character. Cuddy should've remained a background character like she originally was. What was killing the show with the audience and in the ratings was House and Cuddy and making Cuddy a main character. The only important relationship in the show is the friendship between House and Wilson. Thank goodness cuddy is gone and they can focus on making the show great again. House with cuddy is like stale bread... butter or not. 
[on House without Cuddy is like bread without butter or, as King Lear’s Cordelia would say, meat without salt]
AvaL Oct 29

Ah, so you believe in freedom of thought & freedom of speech - except when the thinkers decide to believe in God, when you sneer at them instead?
The school in question has a perfect right to decide which authors they want to invite; just as an atheistic school might not want to have the Archbishop address it.
[on Award-winning kid’s author Meg Rossoff barred because of her 'blasphemous' book 'There Is No Dog']
edddwicke Oct 23

this this this and THIS! House without Cuddy is simply not worth it. I know Hugh Laurie is the star but he was at his best around Lisa Edelstein. Being surrounded by subpar actresses like he is this year just proves that even the most brilliant star needs a solid suporting cast around to shine.
[on House without Cuddy is like bread without butter or, as King Lear’s Cordelia would say, meat without salt]
norea20 Oct 20

In America they just call it a 'sausage in the mouth!' So psyched about the movie!
[on Michael Cera is not a Diva, and other things we learned from the Arrested Development reunion]
stuart_masters Oct 11

The terrible naming convention almost bugs me as much as the soulless nature of many films. 
[on The Straw Dogs remake is Exactly as Bad as it Sounds]
spaceylittlecowgirl Sep 24

Dome sweet dome!
[on Stephen King's Under the Dome to be showtime TV: a bunch of small-town Americans under a big dome, who go nuts and try to kill each other]
spaceylittlecowgirl Sep 24

That's a shame. I read the books when they came out and I don't remember what my feelings were at the end. While I didn't not enjoy them, I had basically come to reading them out of compulsion by that point, unable to leave the series unfinished. 
As for the movies, I stopped at Order of the Phoenix, which wasn't particularly good. Too much content to try and cover and it has my least favorite moment, plot-wise, in the series. I did see Part I of Deathly Hallows, though, and I was surprised by how well done it was.
Haven't seen the last part yet, though. 
[on Harry Potter Feels More like a Long Running Children's TV Program, Where the Audience Tunes in to See What Wacky Misadventures the Magical Trio Get into This Time]
spaceylittlecowgirl Sep 24

While I feel the anaylsis is apt, I think Real Steel looks fantastic. Maybe I'm blinded by my inner child and love for that hunk Hugh Jackman, but the movie looks so damn fun it should be easy to ignore the stupid bits. 
[on Real Steel, the new robots movie .. perhaps wealthy toy companies are secretly funding movies, in the hope of boosting their product sales]
spaceylittlecowgirl Sep 24

The comment about "bangers" and "crikey" showed up in an article from London's Telegraph, written by someone who is obviously not familiar with the show, as neither of those terms is, or ever has been, used as part of the dialogue in the show on either side of the Atlantic.
In addition, the article stated that a "respected critic" had indicated that at least ten pages of dialogue were being changed. First, critics are not part of the creative team for the show, so how would a critic know what is or isn't being rewritten? Second, why would the writer not get the real story from a member of the team itself ?
I'm afraid the answer to those questions is that the writer of the article took a lot of liberties about a tidbit of news about the Broadway show instead of searching out facts from the people actually involved with the changes.
[on Hit Broadway Musical Billy Elliot Is Set to Have Its Script Adapted so Americans Can Understand What the Hell Is Being Said]
ellenrolland Sep 22

Yep, that how felt when I read the last book too, you wanted a climactic ending and it was just like meh... screwed up the whole series for me
[on Harry Potter Feels More like a Long Running Children's TV Program, Where the Audience Tunes in to See What Wacky Misadventures the Magical Trio Get into This Time]
BlueRed823 Sep 21

And let's not forget the Apple Child Labour Disgrace :/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/feb/15/apple-report-reveals-child-labour
[on Mobile phones financing child slavery and war in the Congo]
jon.bagshaw Sep 21

Whilst I enjoyed the Harry Potter series immensely as a kid, I understand where you are coming from with this artice. It doesn't help that most of the actual "substance" that the books had were essentially boiled down to the same formula in the films. Harry has crap summer, goes back to Hogwarts under the impression that things have taken an even bigger turn for the worse, discovers a new corny love interest for comic relief and the scores of teenage fans, foils Voldie.
[on Harry Potter Feels More like a Long Running Children's TV Program, Where the Audience Tunes in to See What Wacky Misadventures the Magical Trio Get into This Time]
angus_636 Sep 20

What really turned me off about the end of the movie, is the "all grown up part" near the end. It was just weird. Maybe the best word to say it is awkward.
[on Harry Potter Feels More like a Long Running Children's TV Program, Where the Audience Tunes in to See What Wacky Misadventures the Magical Trio Get into This Time]
captainblink84 Sep 20

'Ethnicised...' what an ugly, obtuse turn of phrase. It marrs an otherwise decent review.
 
 
[on Re-Funked and Rebooted, This New Clockwork Orange Kicks Serious Jazz…]
tola Sep 15

This will be unknown territory for Lenny Henry. So far he's only played the tragic role of Othello to positive reviews, so the shift into Shakespearean comedy will stretch him.
The Telegraph's reviewer Charles Spencer, who is nobody's fool, described Lenny's Othello as a 'triumph':
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturecritics/charlesspencer/4696028/Othello-with-Lenny-Henry-at-the-West-Yorkshire-Playhouse-review.html
[on Lenny Henry - Everything's Premier but the Shakespeare]
ace.translator Sep 14

Like you, I saw the show with Miller as the Monster and Cumberbatch as Frankenstein. It was a filmed performance, so Jonny kept his pants on -- perhaps just as well given the amount of writhing in the opening sequence. Great set, lighting and sound, and both leads were brilliant. Just a shame that the casting of the rest of the Frankenstein family was so eccentric.
[on Danny Boyle’s Olympics - Has he bitten off more than he can chew?]
sustraug Sep 07

Farrago is the right word for this one and you're spot on about the overrated Ms Mulligan. I really didn't like Clayton's version either -- though he made some great films in his brief career. Will Leo be channelling his inner Howard Hughes again?
[on An Australian Tragedy: Baz Luhrmann Sets About Turning F Scott Fitzgerald’s Greatest Novel into a Potential 3-D Farrago]
sustraug Sep 06

That sounds very interesting. I would have thought most people want to throw stuff out! I guess it all depends on the relationship... I might pop along to review for musicals in london. thanks Keith
[on Museum of Broken Relationships ★★★★]
m3ntalist Aug 26