Two good reads

I have just finished reading two excellent books - "Another World" by Pat Barker and "A Perfectly Good Man" by Patrick Gale. I rarely dissect novels in the way I remember having to do for A level English Literature at school (that approach almost put me off for life!) but I have spent some time in the last day or so identifying what it was about these two books that so intrigued me. In the Pat Barker I think it was the plot that carried me along, eager to see how a difficult family situation could resolve relatively harmoniously. In "A Perfectly Good Man" it was the characterization; the author had created characters about whom I came to really care. For me he achieved this by only gradually revealing their backgrounds and life events; he built up their complex natures not in a chronological fashion but by interspersing chapters on other periods in their lives with the basic narrative. I found it incredibly effective. If you're not familiar with Patrick Gale's writing, do check it out.

Jennie reading from
"My Grandmother Skating"

New Bohemians on Friday evening was certainly a good setting for the launch of Jennie Farley's poetry pamphlet, and musical interludes provided  by Geoff March and David Butcher and the busker Jodie added to the festive atmosphere. Thank you to Su Billington yet again for providing such a super venue! Another venue that lends itself well to poetry is Smokey Joes in Bennington Street in Cheltenham - if you're free at 7pm on Wednesday evening, December 14th, Anna Saunders, the Director of the Cheltenham Poetry Festival, is the guest poet there for Poetry Cafe Refreshed. No doubt another fun, and interesting, evening.

Geoff and David