This here’s an archive of the stuff we decide to put in the monthly sidebars.

August 2008 – July 2009

October 2009

Words

Sunnyside, by Glen David Gold

Though its central story of Charlie Chaplin’s early years in Hollywood is brilliantly done and Chaplin himself terrifically drawn, Sunnyside wants to be More Important than that. It therefore splices on a lot of stuff about fantasy and movies, World War I and the nascent Russian Civil War, which hits its mark in so far as its mark is the unwieldy, but fails to engage the reader over its full length. There is some really very funny stuff here, but expect to do some skipping – as worth reading as it is for the best bits, this is a novel which just doesn’t quite hang together.

Sounds

Truelove’s Gutter, by Richard Hawley

Dan’s followed Hawley since his first self-titled EP, and can’t shake the idea that it’s all been downhill since 2002’s Lowedges. Hawley doesn’t quite abandon his later period love for sentimentality and syrupy arrangements here, either, but it’s better than either Cole’s Corner or, especially, Lady’s Bridge. For the uninitiated, this is old school pop of the maudlin kind, the sort of thing Cousteau used to do very nicely.

September 2009

Words

The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño

Quite a novel. Bolaño doesn’t need any more hyping, so suffice to say that the manner in which he here maintains a tight focus across 600 densely populated and diffuse pages, whilst also never allowing his reader to fix upon his novel’s central characters and situations is quite stunning. This is a rich and intensely considered work which looks the spectre of futility square in the face and yet doesn’t blink. Brilliant.

Flicks

Coco Avant Chanel (2009)

Not nearly as worthy as it might have been (and depending on your point of view, that could be a good or a bad thing!), Anne Fontaine’s biopic of Coco’s early years decides to be about two types of masculinity, represented by the louche French aristocrat Balsan (Benoît Poelvoorde, who threatens to steal the movie) and the cold materialism of Brit Arthur Capel (Alessandro Nivola, who threatens a convincing English accent), and how Coco is able to negotiate her way around both. That she does this by adopting masculine forms of dress is a wink that the film is more consciously ambivalent than its reviews perhaps allowed.

August 2009

Sounds

Lungs, by Florence and the Machine

Florence and the Machine’s debut album is one of the best sounds of this year, we think! Quirky, angry and passionate songs soar into uplifting climaxes. A good angry or breakup album! Florence Welch has a clawing cat-cry of a voice, in a good way – if you like Björk! The visual imagery used in the album’s artwork and videos is very pre-Raphaelite and loaded with dark symbolism. Good all round! We hope she wins the Mercury.

Words

December, by Elizabeth H Winthrop

Elizabeth H. Winthrop’s second novel ‘December’ is a brilliant read. The book provides an acutely observed portrayal of a family struggling to cope with the silence of their eleven-year-old daughter, Isabelle. Winthrop weaves a sympathetic and frustrating narrative, which explores the perceptions and miscommunications of each of the three family members. Winthrop’s skill lies in her close depiction of small and seemingly insignificant occurrences, which overwhelm the senses of eleven-year-old Isabelle, whose adolescent world seems to her both pointless and full of promise. Compelling and tragic and uplifting, Anna could not put this book down.

Flicks

Live Forever (2003)

Having recently seen Blur’s gig at Hyde Park, we ordered a copy of the 2003 documentary ‘Live Forever’. Directed by John Dower, the film explores the ‘Britpop’ music trend in the mid to late nineties, and the desire of the young artists central to the scene to ‘live forever’. Having been fans of Blur, Pulp and Oasis (Dan liked Oasis, Anna preferred Blur!) in the nineties, we enjoyed the nostalgia trip.

The film recalls the feelings of euphoria harnessed in a musical energy created by youngsters who had grown up under conservative rule and economic crisis. It shows how powerfully music can combine with political change. This is quite sad to see in hindsight (will we need another Britpop generation in years to come?). “I used to feel like no one could touch me,” Damon Albarn recalls. “But now, I feel more vulnerable.” This is also, quite clearly, about young men growing up, and the realisation that nothing is ever as it seems.