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I know the 1961 Club is long over but I thought I would write a little more on The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone, having finally finished the marathon read a couple of evenings ago. What a wonderful book on the life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, starting from when the artist was aged 12
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It’s Kaggsysbookishramblings‘ and Simon Stuck-in-a-Book‘s Year Club week, and the year in question is 1961. As per the norm I was late starting my book with the result that I am only one-quarter of the way through The Agony and the Ecstasy, Irving Stone (1961). The following is therefore my quarter-of-the-way through review! The Agony
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The Duke by Matteo Melchiorre Translation by Antonella Lettieri. (Foundry Editions, 2026) The Duke is in fact not a duke – that is a semi-affectionate/semi-ironic name by which the locals in Rubino’s bar refer to him- but he is a titled aristocrat, a young man who grew up in a (now sold) palazzo in Berua.
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Film: Project Hail Mary (2026) Cert. 12A Genre: Sci Fi Drama with some comedic elements and some dark bits Directors: Phil Lord / Christopher Miller Starring: Ryan Gosling/ Sandra Hüller/ James Ortiz I have just staggered home from a record breaking 2.5 hours in the cinema watching this film – and before anyone asks, no
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Carys Davies has set her book in 1843 at the cross section between the disestablishment of the Free Church of Scotland and the Highland clearances – as well as a potato famine. The clearances took place between 1750 and 1860. Deciding that small tenanted dwellings and farms were too unprofitable, landowners sought ways to expand
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I read this book for Classics Club Spin # 43. I read my own copy published by Vintage, 2002. *** Cry, the Beloved Country stands as an impassioned plea for an end to the horrors of apartheid. The reader is immediately drawn into the beauty of the surroundings in which the chief protagonist, Reverend Stephen
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(Canons, 2015) Trans. Philip Mitchell. Foreword (2009) by Niall Griffiths. Afterword (2009): Jan Morris Last year Paula at BookJotter handed on the baton from the Reading Wales challenge having hosted for many years. This year I am joining in with Karen from Booker Talk and Kathryn Eastman from Nut Press for #ReadingWales26 a celebration of
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Header image: ‘The Road to the Chapel’ by John Dd. Evans Publisher: Hutchinson & Co, 1964. Last year Paula at BookJotter handed on the baton from the Reading Wales challenge having hosted for many years. This year I shall be joining in with Karen from Booker Talk and Kathryn Eastman from Nut Press for #ReadingWales26
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I’m just in time to announce that I’m taking part in the #readingwales event which runs 1st – 31st March 2026. Last year Paula at BookJotter handed on the baton from the Reading Wales challenge having hosted for many years. This year I shall be joining in with Karen from Booker Talk and Kathryn Eastman
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Italo Calvino (Vintage) 1998 Trans. William Weaver. “I have had the idea of writing a novel composed only of the beginnings of novels”. The protagonist could be a reader who is continually interrupted…” This novel begins in a railway station (but it actually begins in a bookshop). The protagonist ‘I’ does not appear until the
