by Sonali Dutta
In between working full time, packing up my old life and moving to a new country, I think I managed to get a respectable amount of reading done. Here`s the list including any comments that sprang to mind.
by Sonali Dutta.
Manga, Japanese comics and cartoons, is the artistic medium that is hugely popular both in Japan and abroad. The illustrated medium has greatly influenced video games and also anime (televised version of the comics) similarly well-loved across the globe. The literal meaning of “manga” in Japanese translates as “picture run riot” which perfectly sums up how big the artistic expression has become. Nearly all of us will have at least heard of a popular series such as Pokemon or the Studio Ghibli films if we haven’t seen them. The British Museum is hosting the Citi Exhibition Manga as part of UK/Japan Season of Culture 2019-2020, in what is the biggest exhibition outside of Japan. As a former teenage manga nerd who still enjoys a manga comic or five, I eagerly spent an afternoon exploring the history, technique and influences of this type of graphic art and how it’s evolved.
J.Fernandes.(c) The Trustees of the British Museum
Non-spoiler review.
by Sonali Dutta
Rewriting the past, normally in the form of time travel, is a common trope in fantasy literature. Bridget Collins explores this in a new way through book binding in her new novel The Binding. Our protagonist, Emmet Farmer, is from a rural family and is recovering from a mysterious illness at the opening of the novel. He has lived a simple life, yet one day is summoned to become a apprentice to a bookbinder. Books in this world are created by removing a person’s memories to create a physical object of what has happened to them. As the novel progresses, teenage Emmet is surprised to find a binding with his own name on it.
by Sonali Dutta
This review contains spoilers for the novel Jane Eyre.
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is a much loved novel for many of us. As well as having read the book, it’s just as likely that we’ve seen an adaptation such as the 2011 film. Sally Cookson directs this performance which was first shown at Bristol Old Vic and now returns to the National Theatre following a UK tour.
by Sonali Dutta
Science fiction may be seen as a niche interest or a modern genre. However, the Barbican Centre’s Into the Unknown exhibition shows the breadth and depth of this diverse area. Into the Unknown demonstrates science fiction’s earliest origins in literature and painting, moving towards the familiar films and comic books. The Barbican also commissioned Conrad Shawcross to create a new piece for the exhibtion called In Light of The Machine. Into the Unknown also provides the context of the works it showcases. Into the Unknown is curated by writer and historian Patrick Gyger and features more than 800 works from across the globe.
Kay Plunkett-Hogge is a cookery writer whose work include writing a book for the Leon chain and recipes for Cook Yourself Thin. Her latest book, with the appealing title Adventures of a Terribly Greedy Girl, is an autobiography detailing the author’s childhood in Bangkok, and her international career spanning across England and America. Being so well travelled, Plunkett-Hogge’s culinary influences come from a range of countries. Plunkett-Hogge has had an amazingly exciting, busy and jet-setting life so far, making her memoir a joy to read.
by Sonali Dutta
Non-spoiler review.
Famous for the harrowing novel (and later film) Room, Emma Donoghue’s latest novel is set in eighteenth century Ireland and explores the phenomenon of “fasting girls”. Stretching across the sixteenth century to as late as the twentieth, “fasting girls” claimed to be able to live without food. One such example is Sarah Jacob in 1860s Wales. “Fasting girls” drew attention from the religious and medical professionals as well as the general public as they seemed to live on air, light or plain water alone. Quite often the motivation was attributed to religious fervour, although anorexia and monetary gain were also reasons. And quite often, a “fasting girl” was put under surveillance and discovered to be a fake or coerced into not eating. Donoghue’s protagonist Lib Wright is an English nurse who undertakes a two-week observation on the eleven-year old Anna O’Donnell in rural Ireland. The Wonder is set not long after the Great Famine and during the pre-harvest “hungry month” of August.
© Hachette Book Group/Little Brown
Non-spoiler review.
by Sonali Dutta
Jojo Moyes’s 2012 romantic novel Me Before You is a bestseller that moved readers to tears. Moyes wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of her book, so expect similar tugging at the heartstrings in this tearjerker film. Louisa Clark (played by Games of Thrones actor Emilia Clarke) is a sweet and bumbling twentysomething who loses her job. In her desperation to find employment, she takes a job as a carer for Will Traynor (Sam Clafin) who is paralysed from the neck down. Will was a high-flying City boy until he was paralysed in a motorcycle accident. The film is director Thea Sharrock’s first film.
Photograph by Alex Bailey/Warner Bros.
Non-spoiler review.
by Sonali Dutta.
Adapted from Colm Tóibín’s 2009 novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, Brooklyn depicts the journey of a young Irish girl Éilis Lacey (played impeccably by Saoirse Ronan) who moves to New York on her own. At the start of the film, Éilis is living in a small town in County Wexford with her mother (Jane Brennan) and older sister (Fiona Glascott). There is little opportunity here beyond working part time in a local shop for an awful boss. So, somewhat reluctantly, Éilis moves to Brooklyn, New York to take a job and to make a better life as arranged by her sister. John Crowley directs an excellent cast in this beautifully made film.
Photograph by Lionsgate
by Sonali Dutta.
Non-spoiler review.
Jessie Burton’s debut novel has been a spectacular success, becoming the book to read and being awarded Waterstones’ book of the year. It is a historical thriller set in seventeenth century Amsterdam. Burton was inspired to write her novel after seeing a real doll’s house at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Nella arrives in Amsterdam from her childhood home following her wedding to Johannes Brandt. Having grown up in the country, teenage Nella finds marriage and Amsterdam an adjustment. As well as her thirty-nine year old husband, Nella will be living with his cold sister Marin, their maid Cornelia and Johannes’s African manservant Otto. But already the reader gathers that Nella will not live happily ever after with her husband.
© Picador
Teaspoon of Sunshine 