Hilary Mantel, Jonathan Franzen, Mohsin Hamid, Ruth Rendell, Tom Stoppard, Malcolm Gladwell, Eleanor Catton and many more recommend the books that impressed them this year
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (Fourth Estate) is a brilliant, sprawling, layered and unsentimental portrayal of contemporary China. It made me think and laugh. I also love Dave Eggers' The Circle (Hamish Hamilton), which is a sharp-eyed and funny satire about the obsession with "sharing" our lives through technology. It's convincing and a little creepy.
William Boyd
By strange coincidence two of the most intriguing art books I read this year had the word "Breakfast" in their titles. They were Breakfast with Lucian by Geordie Greig (Jonathan Cape) and Breakfast at Sotheby's by Philip Hook (Particular). Greig's fascinating, intimate biography of Lucian Freud was a revelation. Every question I had about Freud – from the aesthetic to the intrusively gossipy – was...
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (Fourth Estate) is a brilliant, sprawling, layered and unsentimental portrayal of contemporary China. It made me think and laugh. I also love Dave Eggers' The Circle (Hamish Hamilton), which is a sharp-eyed and funny satire about the obsession with "sharing" our lives through technology. It's convincing and a little creepy.
William Boyd
By strange coincidence two of the most intriguing art books I read this year had the word "Breakfast" in their titles. They were Breakfast with Lucian by Geordie Greig (Jonathan Cape) and Breakfast at Sotheby's by Philip Hook (Particular). Greig's fascinating, intimate biography of Lucian Freud was a revelation. Every question I had about Freud – from the aesthetic to the intrusively gossipy – was...
- 11/23/2013
- by Hilary Mantel, Jonathan Franzen, Mohsin Hamid, Tom Stoppard, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, William Boyd, Bill Bryson, Shami Chakrabarti, Sarah Churchwell, Antonia Fraser, Mark Haddon, Robert Harris, Max Hastings, Philip Hensher, Simon Hoggart, AM Homes, John Lanchester, Mark Lawson, Robert Macfarlane, Andrew Motion, Ian Rankin, Lionel Shriver, Helen Simpson, Colm Tóibín, Richard Ford, John Gray, David Kynaston, Penelope Lively, Pankaj Mishra, Blake Morrison, Susie Orbach
- The Guardian - Film News
The Heineken product placement in Skyfall is all very well but our hero is clearly bombed, James bombed
✒ I saw the new Bond film, Skyfall, at the weekend, and enjoyed it mightily. But there were one or two puzzles that I can mention without spoiling it for those who haven't seen it. Heineken paid a fortune for product placement, and you do see a couple of Heineken cases during the car chase. But when Bond is drinking it, he has his fingers over the name on the label, and is clearly a boozy wreck. Does Heineken want to send the message, "the lager for drunken sots"?
There were no Americans at all, and there was no scene in America, but lots in China. Has Hollywood finally decided that's where the big money is? Oh, and I think I've spotted the baddie for Bond film 24, and I'd be interested to know...
✒ I saw the new Bond film, Skyfall, at the weekend, and enjoyed it mightily. But there were one or two puzzles that I can mention without spoiling it for those who haven't seen it. Heineken paid a fortune for product placement, and you do see a couple of Heineken cases during the car chase. But when Bond is drinking it, he has his fingers over the name on the label, and is clearly a boozy wreck. Does Heineken want to send the message, "the lager for drunken sots"?
There were no Americans at all, and there was no scene in America, but lots in China. Has Hollywood finally decided that's where the big money is? Oh, and I think I've spotted the baddie for Bond film 24, and I'd be interested to know...
- 11/3/2012
- by Simon Hoggart
- The Guardian - Film News
I want to tell you about a woman named Betty Brandenburg. You've not heard of her, but her passing must not go unremarked. I've written many times about the Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She made it run. She dealt with the most impossible man in Colorado. She was a young widow who raised two children on her own. I met her the first year I went to Boulder, in 1969, and saw her the last time a few years ago at one of the annual Wednesday night dinners our little group held at the Red Lion Inn.
Are you wondering why I'm telling you this? Is this only something personal with me? Why am I involving you? Maybe it's because of a piece I wrote not long ago, about when we die the most important thing we leave behind is our memory, and when those who remember us die,...
Are you wondering why I'm telling you this? Is this only something personal with me? Why am I involving you? Maybe it's because of a piece I wrote not long ago, about when we die the most important thing we leave behind is our memory, and when those who remember us die,...
- 5/9/2012
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
A pioneering film collective brings Free Cinema to Manchester
A report about Unit Five Seven, a Manchester film-making collective formed by Michael Grigsby in 1960, appeared in the From the Archive column on 18 October (see how the piece originally appeared in the Guardian here).
The work of Unit Five Seven, as Grigsby himself says in the article, was influenced by the Free Cinema movement in London, a series of documentary programmes shown at the National Theatre, representing a new approach to film-making. The Guardian's London film critic, reviewing the Look at Britain programme in 1957, welcomed the "introduction of a little fresh air into the fusty notions of our film studios".
The Free Cinema movement, whose founders included Lindsay Anderson, Karel Reisz and Tony Richardson, encouraged Grigsby and his work was shown at the final Free Cinema programme in 1959.
Grigsby's film Enginemen captured both the ethos of Free Cinema and the aims...
A report about Unit Five Seven, a Manchester film-making collective formed by Michael Grigsby in 1960, appeared in the From the Archive column on 18 October (see how the piece originally appeared in the Guardian here).
The work of Unit Five Seven, as Grigsby himself says in the article, was influenced by the Free Cinema movement in London, a series of documentary programmes shown at the National Theatre, representing a new approach to film-making. The Guardian's London film critic, reviewing the Look at Britain programme in 1957, welcomed the "introduction of a little fresh air into the fusty notions of our film studios".
The Free Cinema movement, whose founders included Lindsay Anderson, Karel Reisz and Tony Richardson, encouraged Grigsby and his work was shown at the final Free Cinema programme in 1959.
Grigsby's film Enginemen captured both the ethos of Free Cinema and the aims...
- 10/18/2011
- by Lauren Niland, Guardian Research Department
- The Guardian - Film News
Pioneering director of theatre-in-the-round and musical shows in the Potteries
Once described by Simon Hoggart as the "furry caterpillar" because of his habitual woolly sweaters, Peter Cheeseman, who has died aged 78, offered a unique vision of the role of theatre in the community. He pioneered theatre-in-the-round and, as the artistic director of the Victoria theatre in Stoke-on-Trent and then the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme, installed a vibrant, creative hothouse in the industrial sprawl of the Potteries.
English regional theatre in the late 1950s was still dominated by the Edwardian values of the West End, the star system and the cosy conventions of the French-windows farce. Peter's passionate commitment to breaking the fourth wall of the proscenium arch stage, and rooting a resident company of actors, writers, musicians and designers in the local community, was revolutionary. He became involved in 1961 with the Studio Theatre Company, founded by Stephen Joseph. Peter put...
Once described by Simon Hoggart as the "furry caterpillar" because of his habitual woolly sweaters, Peter Cheeseman, who has died aged 78, offered a unique vision of the role of theatre in the community. He pioneered theatre-in-the-round and, as the artistic director of the Victoria theatre in Stoke-on-Trent and then the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme, installed a vibrant, creative hothouse in the industrial sprawl of the Potteries.
English regional theatre in the late 1950s was still dominated by the Edwardian values of the West End, the star system and the cosy conventions of the French-windows farce. Peter's passionate commitment to breaking the fourth wall of the proscenium arch stage, and rooting a resident company of actors, writers, musicians and designers in the local community, was revolutionary. He became involved in 1961 with the Studio Theatre Company, founded by Stephen Joseph. Peter put...
- 4/29/2010
- by Robin Thornber
- The Guardian - Film News
Which came first, orange the colour or orange the fruit? Why you couldn't ambush the 9th Legion at night; When Blur were better than Oasis
Is an orange called an orange because it's orange, or is orange orange because of the orange? Which came first, the fruit or the colour?
The fruit came first. The English word "orange" has made quite a journey to get here. The fruit originally came from China – the German word Apfelsine and the Dutch sinaasappel (Chinese apple) reflect this – but our word ultimately comes from the Old Persian "narang". Early Persian emperors collected exotic trees for their landscape gardens, which may well have included orange trees. Arabs later traded the fruit and spread the word all the way to Moorish Spain; the Spanish word for orange is "naranja". In Old French, the fruit became "orenge" and this was adopted into Middle English, eventually becoming our orange,...
Is an orange called an orange because it's orange, or is orange orange because of the orange? Which came first, the fruit or the colour?
The fruit came first. The English word "orange" has made quite a journey to get here. The fruit originally came from China – the German word Apfelsine and the Dutch sinaasappel (Chinese apple) reflect this – but our word ultimately comes from the Old Persian "narang". Early Persian emperors collected exotic trees for their landscape gardens, which may well have included orange trees. Arabs later traded the fruit and spread the word all the way to Moorish Spain; the Spanish word for orange is "naranja". In Old French, the fruit became "orenge" and this was adopted into Middle English, eventually becoming our orange,...
- 3/30/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
I have lived more than nine months of my life in Boulder, Colorado, one week at a time. Here I am again. Here more than anywhere else I have heard for the first time about more new things, met more fascinating people who have nothing to do with the movies, learned more about debate, and trained under fire to think on my feet. So please don't zone out on me because I use the zzzzz-inducing term "Conference on World Affairs."
For 61 years, this annual meeting at the University of Colorado has persuaded a very mixed bag of people to travel to Boulder at their own expense, appear with each other on panels not of their choosing, live with local hosts who volunteer their homes, speak spontaneously on topics they learn about only after they arrive, are driven around town by volunteers, fed at lunch by the university, and in the...
For 61 years, this annual meeting at the University of Colorado has persuaded a very mixed bag of people to travel to Boulder at their own expense, appear with each other on panels not of their choosing, live with local hosts who volunteer their homes, speak spontaneously on topics they learn about only after they arrive, are driven around town by volunteers, fed at lunch by the university, and in the...
- 4/14/2009
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.