by NRB | 1 Jun 2018 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
I’ve been listening to memoirs by people who attended what Sir Humphrey in Yes, Minister referred to as ‘both universities’ – that is, Oxford and Cambridge. Geoffrey Robertson, Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens have all made their marks and, in different degrees,...
by NRB | 11 May 2018 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
Listening to Stephen Fry’s autobiography (The Fry Chronicles, 2010) with its accounts of his black depressions, it dawned on me that, at the risk of sounding smug and not sufficiently empathetic towards sufferers, I’ve never experienced anything that could be...
by NRB | 21 Aug 2015 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
I remember some years ago seeing a snatch of John Denver in concert. At the end of a song he opened his arms and said to the adoring audience, ‘He sings, he plays, he dances.’ He performed a few steps. ‘But can he juggle?’ Someone offstage threw him three balls and he...
by NRB | 14 Aug 2015 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
Some time ago I wrote a column about how my defective eyesight had pushed me first to big print books and then to e-books where I could blow up the font on my e-reader. This was a great boon and by 2014 all 40 or so books I read that year were e-books. Unfortunately,...
by NRB | 1 Aug 2014 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
I first began keeping a diary in London in 1970. I was there on a post-doctoral travelling fellowship from the ANU to continue my research into aspects of Pacific history. I rented a room in a flat on Brompton Road in South Kensington. The lessee of the flat, on the...
by NRB | 14 Feb 2014 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
I’m growing a beard, again. The first thing I had to do was seek Jean’s agreement. Some women dislike beards. Others prefer them. I’ve known several men who, on shaving off their beards, have their wives or partners request them to grown them again. Jean offered no...
by NRB | 1 Nov 2013 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
Smells can powerfully evoke memories. I can’t smell night-blooming jasmine or pipe tobacco smoke without remembering places and people. Music does the same. As a devotee of the popular music of the 1950s to 1970s, I was listening to a ‘best of’ CD from...
JUNE WRIGHT Mother Paul series. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm6 December 2024June Wright has faded from view, but in 1948 her novel Murder in the Telephone [ … ]
ANDREW O’HAGAN Caledonian Road. Reviewed by Catherine Pardey5 December 2024This new novel from the author of Mayflies is set in London, but Glasgow is [ … ]
IAIN RYAN The Dream. Reviewed by Ben Ford Smith3 December 2024Iain Ryan’s latest novel continues his fascination with 1980s Queensland and [ … ]
MARINA YUSZCZUK Thirst. Reviewed by Ann Skea28 November 2024Argentinian writer Marina Yuszczuk puts her twist on the vampire novel in [ … ]