March has been an interesting month for reading. Some good. Some great. Some I was a bit disappointed with. There’s the list.
Lost and Found by Brooke Davis - Paper - 3.5 stars
This book has been everywhere for the last few years. Finally, I found a copy on a trading table, curious about its longevity. And sure, it was okay – a book about grief in many ways, but I found this a bit all over the place, with some great ideas and writing thrown in. It’s hard to rate a book when you both like it and dislike it all at once. There ere some things, like the two older characters, who were great, but their quirks were off putting. Would I recommend it? Yeah… nah… maybe. It is well written, but…
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir – Audiobook - 4 Stars
I decided to listen to the book before seeing the film. Hopefully, I’ll see the film over Easter.
Regardless, I really enjoyed the audiobook of this. It’s very science driven, whether this science is accurate, I do not know or care. And to be honest, if they're going on about the science stuff, it's explained in layman's terms - which is one of the great things about Grace's character - being a teacher. The book keeps you on your toes, as Ryland Grace firstly tries to work out what has happened, and then he tries to save earth, with his new friend, the alien, Rocky, who’s in exactly the same boat. I’m looking forward to the movie, but the book is excellent.
The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage – Paper – 3 Stars
I feel a bit bad, as I bought this for my mother for Christmas. This book of revisionist history fictionalising the current royal family wasn’t my cup of tea. I was after something light and fluffy after the book before - but this was far too superficial for my liking.
What Rebecca Armitage has done is to take elements of the current Royal Family and mess with it. The main character, Lexi, has run away to Australia, become a doctor, only to return to England when her father and brother, first and second in line to the throne, are killed in an avalanche. She has to navigate family politics, her vile Uncle and his daughters (a bit too similar to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his daughters) and her feelings for her housemate in Australia.
There were too many brand names mentioned for my liking. It just wasn't for me.
My Friends by Fredrik Backman – Audiobook – (4 Stars)
I think Fredrik Backman is a Swedish national treasure. And yes, I find him a little formulaic, and I have to be in the mood to read him, but he writes about humanity like no other writer.
My Friends stands up with his best. (My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises is my absolute favourite) We meet a young woman on the run from the foster system and an artist. Then we meet his friends through the road trip the girl and the artist's friend embark upon.
This is a book about friendship, and art, and finding your family and the transformative power of all three of these things.
I listened to it - and loved it. This is up there with Backman's best.
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey – Paper – 4 Stars
New Zealand writer, Catherine Chidgey whites a chilling novel about an England we barely know. The Book of Guilt revises the history of World War II, things are different. Some of the experiments the Nazis were doing in have continued in these homes as a part of the Sycamore Scheme. According to the Amazon blurb, "England, 1979. Vincent, Lawrence and William are the last remaining residents of a secluded New Forest home, part of the government's Sycamore Scheme. Every day, the triplets do their chores, play their games and take their medicine, under the watchful eyes of three mothers- Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night."
This is a very good read. My only qualm is that it reminded me of Kazuo Ishiguru's Never Let Me Go - one of my most favourite books. Chidgey creates this alternative world well - but she's not Ishiguro.
Definitely worth a look - especially if you're not aware of its Booker nominated relative. (Interestingly, both sets of people, when no longer required, end up at a seaside town...)
Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes – Audiobook – 4 Stars
I read Rachel's Holiday when it first came out and I loved it. My battered copy sits behind me now. Listening to it as an audiobook was like having an old, and rather funny friend in the car.
I'm gently working my way through Marian Keyes' back catalogue. Although parts of this have dated a little bit, it's forgiven. You come out fighting for the badly mothered, strong willed, very funny Rachel - and you want to meet tight-pants Luke - still hot after all these years. I
And yes, I've read her second Rachel book, which is just as good.
Very enjoyable if you needs something light, but not stupidly so.
Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood – Paper – 4.5 Stars
This book has been sitting on the cat's throne at my place for 18 months. Finally, I picked it up and read it - and my mind was blown - but Margaret Atwood is incredible, and this is as amazing as her other works.
Hag-Seed is a reworking of Shakespeare's The Tempest. According to Booktopia, "Felix is at the top of his game as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he’s staging a Tempest like no other. It will boost his reputation. It will heal emotional wounds.Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. Also brewing revenge. After twelve years, revenge finally arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Here, Felix and his inmate actors will put on his Tempest and snare the traitors who destroyed him. It’s magic! But will it remake Felix as his enemies fall?"
You don't need to be a Shakespeare boffin to like this, but it does help. It's a miraculous book, where the protagonist, like Prospero, exacts revenge on those who have done him wrong. It's also a book about grief and overcoming adversity.
I loved it - but of course I would. Shakespeare and Margaret Atwood are two of my most favourite things.
The Tempest by William Shakespeare - Paper – 3.5 Stars
Because I was reading Hag-Seed, I also had to get out my old copy of The Tempest to remind myself what was going on. One of his later plays, and stranger plays, reading it reminded me why I prefer seeing Shakespeare on the stage or screen.
Still, it was good to do as an exercise. I was reading it along as I was navigating Hag-Seed. I'm glad I did it.
I'm asking because I somehow ended up with nearly $50 worth of coin in my wallet. Yes, it's legal tender, and yes, it does fit in my oversized wallet, but it weighs a tonne. Along with this, at last count, there was over $100 in notes in there as well. Also, there is a cheque that needs to be banked.
Yes. A FREAKING CHEQUE.
How did I come across nearly $50 of coins? Well, that would be a mason's thing. We take up a collection for charity at the end of each meeting. As the treasurer of my lodge, I need to take this collection and bank it.
As a human being of the modern world, I count up the funds, send the collection amount from my own bank account to the lodge account and then pocket the cash (and yes, I always have a second see me do this - honest like that)
Still, I end up with a wallet full of coin?
Then how do you get rid of it?
Some places don't take cash.
Often, I don't take my wallet with me - using the card function on my phone or watch instead, so the coins sit around doing nothing.
On the way home from the gym I went to the supermarket, getting rid of around $20 of the weighty buggers in the self-checkout (after waiting a few minutes to get a check out that took cash).
I remember when I was in England saving the 'old' fifty pence pieces to feed the meter to have a shower in this boarding house I was living in for a few weeks. Smaller 'new' coins didn't fit the meter. It was the 90's - what could you do?
I remember having correct change to buy and Evening Standard on the way home.
All the little rituals around coins.
Now, they're just an inconvenience.
Though not nearly as inconvenient as that bloody cheque, which has been sitting there waiting to get to a Bendigo Bank branch for over a month...
This is a little cracker of a film. I went in, not expecting too much and came out, heart-warmed, a little more knowledgeable, and happy to have seen a glorious British film based on a true story.
This one comes highly recommended.
At the start of the film, we meet John Davidson (Robert Aramayo) on the verge of receiving an MBE from the Queen. John's nervous. Of course he is. John has Tourette Syndrome - anything could happen. And some very funny moments occur in the film.
Yet this is not about making Tourette's the whipping boy of this film. This biopic gives in some pretty harrowing details John's journey, from his first symptoms to his family situation, to the unrelenting bullying that happened to him at school. The poor kid saw only one way out, which lead him to being drugged and institutionalised, and finally living back with his mother (Shirley Henderson) in the Scottish border town of Galashiels.
It's when, some ten years on, when he meets an old school friend, who takes him hope for dinner that things change. He meets Dottie (Maxine Peake), his mate's mum, who helps him turn his life around. A psychiatric nurse by training, allegedly, she has terminal cancer and sees John as a pet project - but it becomes so much more.
We see John's life slowly turn around. He finds first job, becomes a trusted member of staff, and becomes an activist, educating the country about Tourette over the back end of the film.
Kirk Jones' script and direction are on point in this. John is a smart, sensitive, intelligent kid who has a condition that keeps him back and puts him in danger. You quickly feel for him and his plight, championing his actions and watching what can happen when you're understood, rather than ostracised.
And sure, it's a bit twee in places, but it's a fabulous story. As John says at one point, "The problem is not Tourette's, the problem is that people don't know enough about Tourette's."
Robert Aramayo is excellent in this as the hapless, but seeking John.
I'm just back from the movies - and what a cracker that was - a little Scottish film called I Swear, about a fellow with Tourette Syndrome. A biopic it shows his struggles and how he came through to make the most of life. Great little film. Seek it out.
Anyway, on with the questions, brought to us by Sunday Stealing. There's a few more questions this week. Cool.
1. Is your phone Apple or Android? What about your laptop?
My phone is an Apple iPhone - I believe it's a 15 Pro. I love the camera on it. My laptop is a very old HP. I use Windows for most of my work and I've no idea how MacBooks work. It does the job.
2. Can you say "thank you" in more than one language?
Hell yeah.
I can say thank you in the following languages:
French (Merci)
Spanish (Gracias)
Italian (Grazie)
Bahasa Indonesian / Malaysian (Terima Kasih)
Balinese (Suksma)
Finnish (Kiitos)
Dutch (dank je)
German (Danke)
Greek (ευχαριστώ - Efharsito)
Japanese (Arigato)
Thai (Khopkun ka)
Arabic (Shukria)
Australian Standard Sign Language (two fingers to the lips then let the hand drop)
Australian Bogan - Beaut mate
Danish (Tak)
Not bad for a dumb Aussie.
3. What do you draw when you doodle?
Circles and five-pointed stars. And sometimes spiderwebs which I fill in. I've tried to break myself of the habit of doodling.
4. Which do you enjoy more, Scrabble or bowling?
Um, I think I would say barefoot lawn bowling is my favourite kind of bowling. I don't mind scrabble, nor bowling with a hard ball with pins and a lane, but it's been an age - and lawn bowls are great. Just don't tell my mother I like it on a social level.
5. Can you juggle?
I used to be able to juggle three balls - but it's not a skill that I've practiced.
6. Have you ever worn pajamas in public?
Yes! I have a very cool pair of silk pyjamas that I like to where when I dress up and go to the Rocky Horror Picture show. I go as Columbia. This is an allowable use of pyjamas in a public setting. I need to find another pair of Mickey Mouse ears.
7. Was your best subject in school the one you enjoyed the most?
Pretty much. I enjoyed English and French and did fairly well in them - but my Maths and Chemistry scores weren't too far behind them.
8. When you're offered the senior discount before you ask for it, are you offended or grateful?
I'm not there yet and I've never had it offered. If offered a seat on public transport, if it's a kid offering, I will take it. I still give up my seat to the elderly when required.
9. Do you agree that with age comes wisdom?
It often does, but not always.
10. Do you consider Sunday the first day of the week or the last day of the weekend?
Sunday, unfortunately, is the last day of the weekend. I wish there were more weekend days.
This will go down as one of the MTC's triumphs. A play about a bridge collapse. Who knew? West Gate is a feast for the senses working on a piece of never forgotten Melbourne history, when in 1970, a section of the unfinished West Gate Bridge collapsed, killing 35 and changing the lives of many forever.
West Gate is an emotional, eye-opening, startling play about the events leading up to the West Gate Bridge collapse and what happened after. Playwright, Dennis McIntosh researched this impeccably. After all, he remember the event. In the programme, he states, "At 11.50am on October 15 1970, I was an eleven-year-old boy standing on the netball court on top of the Sacred Heart Primary School in Newport. I was looking through the cyclone wire fence at the mighty West Gate Bridge that was being built across the horizon. It had just collapsed while under construction and the thud radiated out across the western suburbs of Melbourne."
The event left an indelible mark on Melbourne.
What McIntosh has done with his script, has created a number of exceptionally well-drawn characters who bring out the drama of the site, the times and sense of impending doom.
There's Vincent (Steve Bastoni) the "Wog" welder who loves taking the piss out of his young assistant, Young Scrapper (Darcy Kent). There's Pat (Rohan Nichol) the shop steward, trying to keep warring factions on the site together. There's Vinny (Simon Maiden) the union man who backs up Pat. And of course, there are the engineers, company men and bridge designers. Stevenson (Paul English) who'snd trying to keep the build on time and budget (Sound familiar?), Cooper (Ben Walter) who's working for the engineering company making the supports and concrete. And of course, there's McAlister (Peter Houghton) who's seeing the problems but is being stopped from speaking out at every turn.
Later in the play, we meet Francesca (Daniela Farinacci) , grieving wife to Vincent, who is just coming to terms with the disaster.
The cast are all excellent, but Steve Bastoni, playing the wise, sensible new Australian, and his okker counterpart Scrapper, played by Darcy Kent, truly stole the show.
The script, along with Iain Sinclair's careful and sensitive direction bring an incredibly emotional play to life. There is enough light and shade to keep things interesting without turning the play into an emotional mess. Knowing you're walking into a play about a bridge collapse in one thing. Walking out not feeling overwrought is another. Many left the auditorium visibly moved.
I cannot leave this review without mentioning the staging and the sound engineering. These elements made the play. It's quite a feat to have a large bridge collapse on stage but Christina Smith's set design made it happen. Making it even more real, Kelly Ryall's soundscape, from the ubiquitous seagulls' cries to the crackle of the welders to the final fall of the bridge. It's incredible.
At the end of the play, some of the cast stood in front of one of the supports, where the names of those killed were displayed. It was incredibly moving.
West Gate may not be the most uplifting of plays, but it is an important play, incredibly staged and acted. It is definitely worth a view, if not to see a bit of our city's history, but to see what modern theatre can actually do.
One night only, but playing small venues around country Victoria for the next week or so.
4 Stars.
We were supposed to see Grace Petrie tonight, but unfortunately, there was a loss her the family and she cancelled. By we, I mean my mate Alice and our friend Kat.
We were given the option of coming to see her replacement, Irish Mythen, or get our money back. After I did a bit of digging on your tube, I told Alice we should take the risk.
It was a risk that paid off.
For lovers of music in Melbourne, The Corner is known as the place to see the up-and-comers, the tribute bands, the 30 year regroup tours and everything in between. I saw The Whitlams there about 18 months ago. The thing about The Corner - if you're not up the front, you're behind a pillar. Most inconvenient. And there is the crowd surfing sign - love that.
This was not The Corner I have known. This was a seated event. There were about 50 people there.
And this is Melbourne's loss.
Irish Mythen is wonderful, as was their opening act Emily Ulman - who was as fragile as she was funny, human and just great.
We came in halfway through her set,and found a seat at a table at the back of 40 or so other people.
Irish came on at nine on the dot.
What can I tell you about Irish? They're Irish, but have been living in Canada for many years, and they've recently married a Dane and moved to Copenhagen. They are short and wear a Canadian Mounties hat. They're close to their parents and they have a huge social conscience. Oh, and they use they/them pronouns.
They also have a huge voice, some wonderful songs, such as Tullamore Blues (their mother is from County Offaly) Little Bones (about the Tuam Convent controversy) The Dancer and many more cracking folky, funny, observant songs.
When I said to Alice we should go, I said that they were a bit KD Laing-ish. I was wrong. Irish Mythen has the boldness of Melissa Etheridge with a lot more heart.
They are also very fond of telling a story. Maybe it's an Irish thing. I liked their story about how the Bishop of Stockholm, a fellow Liverpool supporter, asked them to play their song Jesus at the Cathedral. This request was reiterated a while later in Boston, where the Bishop of Boston asked the same of them. See the song of the day. It's a great song - even if it can be seen as a little subversive. Being raised an Irish Catholic, they know what they're doing.
After an hour, they were treated to a standing ovation. It was well deserved. Even if there were only around 50 people in the room, including security and the barman, it was well earned.
For a night of simple entertainment. A person, a pint of beer, merely sipped, a well-used guitar and some exceptional songs, it was one of the best on spec evenings I've been too.
And I will never see The Corner Hotel, with its sticky carpets, pillars and small stage in the same way again. It was a joy to be there on this quiet, contemplative evening.
If they're playing near you in a small hall in a small town, go. They're wonderful
