So, here we are at the end of 2022 – a difficult, exciting, awful year. Lets hope 2023 brings better things.
Firstly, here are a few bits and pieces I bought in the run up to Christmas:
I’m a Fan – Sheena Patel
With rave reviews (‘A twisted romance blazing with angry verve‘ – the observer; ‘Pure fire from start to finish‘ – Niven Givindn) Patel’s debut promises a lot. The blurb on the back makes it sound a little po-faced and worthy (‘offering a devastating critique of access, social media, patriarchal heteronormative relationships and our cultural obsession with status..but when it comes wrapped in glitter, twinkling seductively, I just couldn’t refuse.
Ghost Stories for Christmas – M.R. James (BBC blu ray)
The master of the short horror story and remastered versions from the BBC’s unsurpassed 1970s adaptations. Some may find them ponderous and lacking a jump scares and violence, but if you want a chilly shudder on a darkened winter evening, look no further.
The Modernist – issue 45
Entitled ‘Municipal’, issue 45 of this glorious magazine contains articles from ‘Municipal Modernist Maisionettes in London, 1946 – 65’ to ‘The Chester Tapestry’, an eclectic selection of articles on the long principle of architecture and design made for people and communities rather than the current obsession with business and money. Maureen Ward sums up this attitude in her piece on The Modernist’s birth place: ‘Manchester today is more brand than city’
And so to the festive season and a few of the wonderful gifts I was lucky to receive:
The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories – edited by Jessica Harrison
A gorgeous tome, packed with stories with very few of the usual suspects. Here you’ll find Dostoyevsky rubbing shoulders with Chekhov and Dorothy L Sayers; Langston Hughes cosies up with Truman Capote; Ray Bradbury shares a glass or two with Lucia Berlin and Muriel Spark shares rude cracker jokes with Angela Carter.
House of Nutter – Lance Richardson
Manchester’s City Art Gallery has recently put on ‘Dandy Style’, an exuberant exhibition of men’s fashion, and this book was on sale to support the show. Tommy Nutter was THE fashion designer of the 1970s, dressing everyone who was anyone. Tommy was the designer, his brother David the photographer and between them these two gay brothers straddled the Atlantic and the arts world. I had heard of Tommy Nutter but knew nothing of his life. Another chink uncovered in the gay history project.
A History of Council Housing in 100 Estates
I do have an issue with council housing (or ‘social housing’ to give it it’s current, ghettoising tag). Council housing represents the finest post war impulse to make the world a better place and is no greater example of how the Conservative party since 1979 have been determined to line the pockets of the rich and the expense of everyone and everything.
And finally, a surprise.
A Writer’s Diary – Toby Litt
I wasn’t expecting the latest tome from Galley Beggar until early in the new year, but here it is: a novel in which a writer (‘Toby Litt’) records the ups and downs, birth and death and the emotional impact of it all.
wordsandpictures 