I thought I’d add a quick post to say that I have started reviewing for The Wee Review based in Scotland. I have been doing this for the past couple of months and will be focussing on Theatre and Books for the time being.
Inerestingly, the theatre shows seem to tour all over the place and at the different festivals, so if you are into this sort of thing, keep an eye on my reviews!
And just like that, August has passed us by. This has been the most enjoyable and productive month. I have been reviewing non-stop since the seventh and I am unable to watch something without tearing it apart dialogue-by-dialogue. If anyone asks me to pick up tickets again, I will cry. But honestly, I have no idea what to do with myself or my evenings anymore. I had gotten into a wonderful routine of work, theatre, review, polish up. Rinse and repeat. And I watch the advent of fall with mixed feelings. I have always found autumn the hardest to deal with anyway… So what did I learn?
2. Fame is a brilliant thing. I have realised that fame is quite important to me. I went to the press office somewhere towards the middle of the Fringe and did *not* have to spell my name. You know when you are an Indian in Edinburgh how often that happens? NEVER. Like, never. And here I was “You should have press comp tickets in my name. It is U-D-I…”
“Yes, Miss Banerjee right? You write for Fringe Guru?”
WIN.
3. Some of my most satisfying moments have been walking into venues and seeing my comments being used for marketing the shows themselves. That is pretty cool. I’ve never reviewed before and so never had the honour of seeing my opinion validated, even celebrated. See?
4. There is nothing worse than coming out of a show and thinking that it is going to be a 2* or a 3*. Everyone is trying so hard and everyone is trying to put on a great show. But sometimes, a show just doesn’t do anything for you and as a reviewer, you have to analyze what your audience might or might not want to see. Still, always hard, no matter how clinical your approach is.
5. Logistics. I really wish they gave you a leaflet with the venue info about the temperature and the food/drink quality. I have been roasting hot to freezing cold. The temperatures in venues have had nothing to do with temps outside. And I have had some terrible overpriced food and some rather love coffee. Have I ever picked a show because I know the coffee at the venue is fab? What do you think?
A special shout out to:
My top three shows are
Cell, The Ascension of Mrs Leech, The Trials of Galileo
All my reviews are all here.
Edinburgh is back to its quiet self again. I can have her back to myself. I am all for tourists and sharing my lovely city with them. But it is nice now that I can stand and stare at things for as long as I want.
Three Cheers! I’ll be watching the fireworks from my living room tonight.
I bought this book at the book fair because it was an old edition and was selling cheaply. I also read the blurb and saw that it was about the art of tattooing. Since it was something I had never read about before, I picked it up. Right at the onset, I was aware that the style of writing was very very different from ones I’d encountered in the recent past. This was the story of a young boy, who grows up in a seaside town in Northeast England.
You know the deal with Northeast England? It’s very grey… the sky, the waves, the wind, sometimes even the sand… it’s all grey. And this coast it very beautiful in this colour, it looks sad, beautiful, and mysterious. So, at this seaside town where people frequently come to spend their summers, our protagonist grows up. He is used to death from an early age too, the inn that his mother runs is a haven for people with sickly pulmonary diseases, who come to spend their last days here by the sea.
When the protagonist becomes a tattoo artist and later travels to America, what follows is a tale of art, emotion, love, and despair. What is the story of tattoos, who gets them done, who inks them in, who, why, what’re their thoughts… What is everyone thinking? How does art transcend an ocean? Is love like art? Is art love? The writing of Sarah Hall is beautiful, and it took me into tattoo parlours and hearts. I expected this book to end badly… but it didn’t. It just ended.
The only slight drawback is that there isn’t much in the way of action for the longest time and then a set of very action-packed pages! But it worked well for me because I enjoyed the descriptions as much as the events! If anyone has any other recommendations of books that are set against the backdrop of tattoos, I’d love to hear them…
Quote: “By midsummer of 1940 there were one hundred and nine tattoos on Grace’s form, from the soles of her feet to the base of her neck, so that she looked like a most extraordinary tree of eyes. And in retrospect, when Cy would try to relive his journey across her body and remember the revolution of its archaic landscape under his unyielding bevelled brush, perhaps those were the times he was making love to her after all.”
My teaser: “By midsummer of 1940 there were one hundred and nine tattoos on Grace’s form, from the soles of her feet to the base of her neck, so that she looked like a most extraordinary tree of eyes. And in retrospect, when Cy would try to relive his journey across her body and remember the revolution of its archaic landscape under his unyielding bevelled brush, perhaps those were the times he was making love to her after all.“ From page 282 (Faber and Faber 2004) of The Electric Michaelangelo.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Enjoy!
Taken today at Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland
My Musing:
I have followed this series since its inception as I used to follow his wife Nicole’s Blog (she does incredible work too). I think he does a fabulous job on every piece and I enjoy what seems to be a very original idea.
Details: Obvious State
Musing Mondays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
Describe one of your reading habits.
Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!
Taken somewhere near King’s Buildings, Edinburgh, Scotland
Taken in Cramond Village, outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland
(image courtesy parajunkee.com)
What’s your favourite book from your childhood? If I had to pick top three, they would be Moby Dick, Treasure Island, and the Famous Five series.
BookMark 