Jeremy Reed is one of the most prolific poets currently working in Britain. He has published novels, poems, literary criticism and a number of translations. In other words, his work is not in short supply. Black Russian: Out-Takes from the Airmen’s Club, 1978-9 occupies, then, a curious space in his catalogue. The poems it contains Read More
Fred D’Aguiar’s The Rose of Toulouse is in many ways a highly eclectic text, with the poet not only flitting between free verse and more formally laid out pieces, but also managing to move seamlessly between themes. The blurb states, rather lazily, that this book is one of geographies; while that is certainly a dominant Read More
The Crumb Road may be Maitreyabandhu’s first book-length poetry collection, but he is by no means new to poetry having, for instance, already won the Keats-Shelley Prize. Born Ian Johnson, he converted to Buddhism in 1990 and his affinity with spirituality shows in his verse. The Crumb Road is for the main part concerned with Read More
Much like its predecessor, Peter Jackson’s latest film inevitably falls victim to the success of its forebears. No film deserves to be judged by such high standards, but Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy is trapped between the exceptional standards set by his previous Tolkien adaptations and the hallowed source material itself. Admittedly Jackson and his team have Read More
Director David O. Russell strikes again with another darkly comedic and original take on a genre film set to a zesty score by Danny Elfman. Loosely based on the F.B.I. ABSCAM operation in the 1970’s, the film centres on renamed con artists Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and his mistress Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) as they Read More
It’s a challenge for a novelist to engage readers with a novel that takes climate change as its central theme. Even this “non-denier” (climate change sceptic) was initially turned off by the prospect of doomsday polemic. I needn’t have worried. Kingsolver’s eighth novel displays all the subtlety, grace and balance of her previous work, regardless Read More
We wanted more. We knocked the butt ends of our forks against the table, tapped our spoons against our empty bowls; we were hungry. We wanted more volume, more riots. We turned up the knob on the TV until our ears ached with the shouts of angry men. We wanted more music on the radio; Read More
Back in October, I caved in to temptation and read A.A. Gill’s review of this book. It concluded: This is a book that cries out like one of [Morrissey’s] maudlin ditties to be edited. But were an editor to start, there would be no stopping. It is a heavy tome, utterly devoid of insight, warmth, Read More
Recreating one of the most ancient and well-known works of world literature is a significant task. Historically, the Ramayana has acquired more importance than a mere piece of poetry. Regarded as one of the greatest epics in Hinduism, these words hold heavy religious significance. Reworking a text of this magnitude is quite a task, and Read More
George Szirtes is a well-established poet, editor, and Literary Fellow. Born in Budapest, he came to England as a refugee in 1956 and was brought up in London, where he studied Fine Art, before publishing his first poetry book in 1979 . His poems have been published by several houses, earning him a host of Read More