jazzy_dave | Oct. 25th, 2015

Oct. 25th, 2015

What did you have for your brealfast ths morning?

I had egg on toast.

When you sleep in bed what do you wear or not?

I am usually naked

Dou you prefer coffee or tea?

I am an avid coffee drinker.

[Error: unknown template qotd]I really do not remember. I might have been an alien pod at the time.

(Beam me up Scotty)

[Error: unknown template qotd]Well i would definitely have to be Holmes and my nemesis would be Moriarty, The only catch phrase i would use is "It is certainly so".

Clocks went back an hour, so I hope you all in the UK managed this -

Timothy Hilton "The Pre-Raphaelites" (Thames & Hudson World Of Art)

Like most of the World of Art Series, it is an all-round good, accessible scholarly tool for the general interest reader and student alike. It deals with the movement chronologically and thematically, and includes many (mostly black and white and a few colour) illustrations.

Most aspects of the movement are covered, but in my opinion, more could be said about the Pre-Raphaelites' transition towards social realism (For instance, barely a page is devoted to Ford Maddox Brown's 'Work', one of the most richly socio-political paintings of the movement).

Also, Hilton can be quite opinionated, especially on the artist as a social revolutionary: commenting on Holman-Hunt's 'The Awakening Conscience', a very controversial painting dealing with the plight of the mistress, he exclaims 'Who can say that paint which does not have the power to please is not impoverished?'

So apart from these caveats i would still recommend this slightly dated book first before delving deeper into this art period, and then if you do delve more, you will have a solid overview.

Current Mood: accomplished
Crossposts: http://davesmusictank.livejournal.com/1874642.html

Kate Mosse "The Winter Ghosts" (Orion)

This was a very fast-paced gripping read. I finished it in a couple of days.

Set in the Ariѐge region of France, nearly a decade after the end of the first World War, the main character Freddie - still desperately struggling to come to terms with the death on the battlefields of France of his beloved older brother George - ends up in an isolated village in Haute Vallee of the Pyrenees.

In Nulle it is the Feast of St. Stephen. Freddie is invited to the celebrations and, though still reeling from a near-death car accident and the unsettlingly strange sights and sounds he experienced on his desperate scramble through the dark mountain forests down to the village, he decides to accept. Here, at the antique celebration of the festival he meets the lovely Fabrissa to whom he finds he can bear his soul and unburden his heart of the terrible feelings of loss he has suffered alone now for so many, many years.

The Winter Ghosts purports to be a ghost story and I suppose on the surface it is. However, it is more than that .... the telling of the historic end of the Cathars in southern France. The book is about extreme melancholia: the pain and anguish and constant torment of grief not understood. It is through the horror of Fabrissa’s story that Freddie is transformed. By his experience in Nulle he at last finds the ability to embrace life rather than dwell among those who have died.

I enjoyed reading it for the atmosphere that was created, and the desciptions of post war France, and how people were affected by the war. It is not action packed, but reads quickly and was engrossing , with beautiful writing.