12.03.2019 - ‘On Chesil Beach’ (2007), by Ian McEwan A stunning ‘novella’… It is July 1961. Edward and Florence, young Innocents married that morning, arrive at a hotel on the Dorset coast. At dinner in their room they struggle to...
18.02.2019 - ‘Educated’ (2018) by Tara Westover Maria, Georg, Heinz, Sandra and Andrew discuss this extraordinary book: ‘an unflicnching account of love and brutality, of the strength of blood ties and the power of imagination’ (Sarah...
18.02.2019 - Texts read & music played: Jacques Offenbach: Ballet of the Snowflakes, from Le Voyage dans la Lune Walter de la Mare: Snow Claude Debussy: The Snow is Dancing, from Children’s Corner Katherine Mansfield: Winter Song Wallace Stevens: The...
23.01.2019 - Playlist: Gustav Holst/ Christina Rossetti: ‘In the Bleak Mid-Winter’ Chris de Burgh: The Head and the Heart Virgil: ‘Aeneid’ Book IV (death of Dido): translations by Jackson Knight & Dryden, and the original Latin John...
23.01.2019 - Christmas Texts read and music played: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel Henry Livingston Jr.: Account of a Visit from St.Nicholas Corelli: Concerto no.8, Fatto per la Notte di Natale (Allegro) Robert Frost: Christmas Trees Catalan Christmas Carol: Song of...
23.01.2019 - ‘Unsheltered’ (2018) by Barbara Kingsolver Maria, Sandra, Susie and Andrew discuss the parallel storylines, contrasting characters, diverse themes and original narrative structure of the novel. ‘How could two hardworking people do everything...
23.01.2019 - ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’ (2012) by Rachel Joyce When Harold Frau leaves home one morning to post a letter, with his wife hoovering upstairs, he has no idea that he is about to walk from one end of the country to the...
23.01.2019 - ‘The Sympathizer‘ (2015), by Viet Thanh Nguyen Tom, Sandra and Andrew discuss the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. This 2015 debut novel by Vietnamese American Viet Thanh Nguyen deals with the psychological aftermath of the Vietnam...
13.12.2018 - Guillaume Apollinaire (1880 — 1918) Texts read and music played: Apollinaire: The Landor Road Emigrant Francis Poulenc/ Apollinaire: Hyde Park Pierre Bernac: The Interpretation of French Song Apollinaire: The Ballad of the Ill-Beloved Leo...
13.12.2018 - Hamlet: ‘To be, or not to be’ Texts read and music played: Cleo Laine: The Compleat Workes of Shakespeare from the Worksheets on ‘Hamlet’ for Vienna’s English Theatre John Dowland: In Darkness Let me Dwell John...
