Reading and listening

Just finished:

David Lodge - The Art of Fiction

A collected edition of the articles David Lodge wrote for the Independent and Washington Post in the early 90s focusing on different aspects of the "art of fiction". He examines subjects like the use of magic realism, time shift, point of view and the intrusive author in great depth. Well illustrated with a range of examples from a variety of novels which would be familiar to the average reader. An engaging book that was a treat to read.

Louis MacNeice - Collected Poems

"World is crazier and more of it than we think,
incorrigibly plural. I peel and portion
a tangerine and spit the pips and feel
the drunkenness of things being various."

Snow

When I was at Primary School we used to visit Louis MacNeice's grave and tidy away the older flowers and tufts of grass. Once a meeting place of Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon and Michael Longley in the 1960s, MacNeice was a prolific poet deserving of an updated edition of his poetry. This edition has been edited by Peter McDonald and over the first few decades it certainly retains the spirit of the collections published in MacNeice's lifetime with a few surprising inclusions. I find MacNeice to be an accessible poet and in this the year of his centenary, a poet that should be celebrated as a true Northern Irish talent.

Aluminium - Aluminium

Developed by Joey Talbot from an idea by Richard Russel based on the Andrew Loog Oldham "Rolling Stone Songbook" (used to great effect on Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve). Their starting point was the songs of The White Strips, a band who I have never been especially fussed about. However the idea of orchestrating these songs offers a cleaner and more interesting dynamic to the sound. The songs sit well within this setting of harps, strings, woodwind and the rest.

Johnny Boy - Johnny Boy

Sounding like a Phil Spector production with their well written and really catchy pop tunes, this is the sound of melodic twists and turns pulling at you. Lifting you up and throwing you about, this is one of the strongest releases of the year so far and is well worth seeking out.

Also mentioned: Good, the bad and the Queen, Fujiya Miyagi - Transparent Things, Tap Tap - Lanzafame