Art in Liverpool

Hello reader,

Last week I went "up north" to visit my boyfriend in Sheffield... and of course take in as much art as possible! We have wanted to visit Liverpool for a while, as it's not too difficult to get to from Sheffield, and so finally we took the plunge. Being a Londoner, and therefore, I admit, very London-centric I was surprised by just how much art there was to see, so I thought I would share my findings, as it really isn't that grim up north, and plus, they've got some REALLY great art and architecture! 

 I've wanted to visit Liverpool since learning about its town hall whilst studying eighteenth-century British architecture. St George's Hall is a monumental masterpiece of classical architecture, incorporating two law courts, an assembly hall and a concert hall, all in one building- it's HUGE and it's a massive statement of civic pride; it's Latin inscription ARTIBUS LEGIBUS CONSILIS translates as for arts, law and counsel describing the ways in which it served the City. It was designed by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes in 1839-40 and, although he had not by travelled abroad to see the architecture of Greece and Rome for himself, may have been inspired by illustrations of the Classical designs of Schinkel in Germany, particularly the Altes Museum. 

St George's Hall, Liverpool
Yes, that's me in the yellow jumper. In front of Frank Salmon's door!
Image: Tom Furnival

But St George's Hall doesn’t just have a really amazing classical exterior [and boy, do I love columns]. Oh no. It has a frankly ASTOUNDING mosaic floor made up of Minton tiles. This is usually hidden under floor boards to preserve it, however, for the month of August it is uncovered for public viewing- YAY! So, we decided this was too much of a good opportunity to miss. Only £2.50 to see a crazy, huge, colourful mosaic that’s been hidden since 1886 and only uncovered in recent years – I call that a BARGAIN! Luckily for me, my boyfriend Tom has a super-duper camera and took lots of high-res photos for me. I thought it would be rude not to share...

The interior of St George's Hall, Liverpool
Image: Tom Furnival

Minton tiled floor, St George's Hall
Image: Tom Furnival

St George's Hall isn't the only MASSIVE building in Liverpool. We also took a trip to Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral [NOT the Catholic one that looks like a cone with a big spiky crown- very cool]. I wasn't hugely keen on the architecture- it's big and... well... bricky- but I'm a sucker for views and stained glass window, so off we went up the hill [being a southerner, it felt like a hill to me] and up 2 lifts to the top of the tower. Thank goodness for those lifts. The tower is 331ft (101m) tall, but thanks to this, and it's location on a hill, the views are AMAZING. The Cathedral is also home to a collection of artworks including sculpture by Elizabeth Frink and a painting by Christopher Le Brun. However, my favourite was a neon by Tracey Emin called For You (2008), placed prominently under the vast stained glass over the west doors. It reads

I Felt you And I Know You Loved me

Liverpool is home to a wealth of Museums and galleries, so many that it was impossible to see them all in the space of a day. Not knowing much about him or his work, I really wanted to see the Chagall exhibition, so we went to the Tate Liverpool to have a look. Going near the end of the day, we didn't manage to see the rest of the gallery, but I was interested to see how the space worked, having been converted from an old warehouse in the Albert Dock to a space for exhibiting art- two very different functions. Personally, I wasn't sure. I felt that the exhibition space had a strange layout that wasn't easy to navigate- it was hard to know in which order the paintings were intended to be viewed. This wasn't helped by small wall text that was hard to read, and often didn't really help provide links between the chosen works. The paintings themselves were wonderful- colourful and dreamlike, and full of love for those that mattered to him, his people and his family members. One of my favourites was his work Lovers in Blue (1914). In fact, I loved it so much, I bought a print for my wall:

Marc Chagall, Lovers in Blue (1914)

I hate to be gushy and soppy [no, I really do, honestly!] but I think this is very romantic without being over-the-top and sentimental. It's intimate, but not so much that you feel like you're intruding. The palette is so strongly blue, yet it's not sad. It's sweet, but not saccharine. It captures a brief, happy moment between two people, and it makes me happy just to look at it. What do you think?

Now, last but not least, I give you The Walker Art Gallery. How we nearly managed to missed this, I do not know [yes, I am one of those people who plans itineraries], but thank GOODNESS we didn't. Free entry- check, massive collection of painting AND sculpture from the 13th century to contemporary art- check, a hefty selection of pre-raphaelite paintings- check... AND you can take photos! Amazing. It's as if it was made for me! I mean, just look at this, look how happy I am:

Helen of Troy by Frederick Sandys (1866)
Ginger twins?

Well.... I was happy. Anyway, my point is, I highly recommend the gallery. 

So if you can go, DO! 

Whilst in Sheffield I also went to the Yorkshire Sculpture park, but I think this post has gone on long enough already. Tom took some pretty good pictures whilst we were there, if you'd like to see them you can find them here.

I'm off to Cornwall tomorrow and am hoping to make it to St Ives to check out the Tate there [to "complete the cycle" as such] and to also see some Barbara Hepworth. Hopefully I'll have something interesting to say about it when I get back. Until then...

Thanks for reading!

Jennifer

Tosca- Opera al Fresco

Hello reader!

I must apologise for the absence of posts in recent months. Things got pretty hectic at the Festival I'm interning at leaving me little time to attend to my blog! But hopefully I'll be back to more regular postings soon, and here is a short one to get back on track!

So last week I FINALLY got round to watching a production from the Royal Opera House Covent Garden streamed live to screens across the UK. It's something I've been meaning to do since I first saw the posters on the tube as a teenager. I thought it would be a great thing to do- try out Opera for FREE! That way, if I didn't understand it so well, or hadn't had the time to get to know the plot beforehand, or even just didn't enjoy it, it wouldn't matter so much having not paid lots of money for a ticket. So I bought myself a little picnic [including strawberries and chilled cans of Gin and diet Tonic- M&S just keeps getting better and better!] and made my way to Canada Square Park in Canary Wharf. 

I didn't fancy sitting on the concrete of Trafalgar Square, having only been reminded about the event by twitter on the way to work and being sadly sans cushions and picnic blanket. However the event organisers had thought of this- plastic sheets were provided, even though I was happy to sit on the gress, and even BETTER... INFLATABLE CUSHIONS! A Brilliant idea for sitting through 3 hours of Opera.

Boy was I in for a treat. Puccini’s Tosca, not to be confused with the play upon which it is based La Tosca by Victorien Sardou, is set in one of my favourite cities- Rome- and is as powerful and dramatic as the architecture of that city.

Sant'Andrea della Valle, where our story begins...

Now I won’t go into details of the plot, I don’t want to spoil it for those of you who haven’t yet seen it, but it is a romantic rollercoaster. The combination of the swelling music and poetic language acts almost as an aphrodisiac, to the point where I’ve frantically scribbled in my note-pad:

“SO ROMANTIC...I feel like I’m in love with both of them [the lovers- Cavaradossi and Tosca] ... and the entire world... when he sings about Tosca’s eyes it is the lovliest thing.”

Ok. So realistically, it was bordering on cheesy at times, and a little over the top- “never have I loved life so much”- but I LOVED it. It made me feel so happy and alive. It made me feel. I laughed, nearly fell in love and nearly cried, all in the space of 3 hours on a patch of grass in Canary Wharf. Most importantly of all I knew I had to experience it again.

In Act 2 of the opera, Tosca sings “I lived for art and love”. I too live for art and love. Opera, you have a new fan.

Thanks for reading!

Jennifer

It's Shakespeare's birthday... cocktail o' clock!

Hello Reader!

Spring has sprung! Isn't it wonderful? 


"O, how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day;
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away."

The Two Gentlemen of Verona (I, iii, 84-87)



It's also St George's Day AND Shakespeare's birthday, so to celebrate I thought I would take advantage of the balmy weather and make a summery, fruity, and frankly fabulous cocktail... with a Shakespearean theme! 
Now, I realise that so far on this blog I've written about art, architecture, books and music.... BUT NOT COCKTAILS. Well now the time has come to correct this heinous error.

I present to you... A Midsummer Night's Dream [Jen edition]*


You will need:
Vodka
Cherry Brandy
Tonic water
Strawberries 

High ball glasses [or tall tumblers- I am a great believer in using the correct/ nearest to cocktail glasses]
A blender/ food processor

1. Chop the green tops off the strawberries. If they are big strawberries, use 3 per cocktail, and slice into quarters. If they are small strawberries, use 5 per cocktail, and slice in half. Place in the blender and blend until it looks like a smoothie.

Be careful when using a knife...

Can you tell I only thought to do this blog post AFTER I finished making the cocktail?

2. ALCOHOL TIME. Measure 1 shot [50ml if you're feeling adventurous, 25ml if you're making it for your mum.... which I was] of vodka, and 1 shot [25ml regardless] of cherry brandy into the bottom of the glass.

3. Pour in the strawberry smoothie. Top up with Tonic water [the froth tastes AMAZING].

4. Mix thoroughly with a spoon or a jazzy straw. I like jazzy straws, but I didn't have one to hand this time :(

5. ET VOILA...

Whoops I had already drunk half of it before thinking... maybe I could turn this into a blog post.

It was all A Midsummer Night's Dream!

I hope you try it, if you do let me know. Even my mum liked it... and that's saying something!

Thanks for reading!

Jennifer


* This is called "Jen edition" as the original recipe calls for Strawberry Liquer and Russian tonic... neither of which I could locate after work today in local supermarkets. But the result turned out ok, so do try!

22- a closer look

Hello reader!

And now for something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...

Who said this blog was just going to be about, so called, "high culture"? I hope I didn't, because IT ISN'T. Anyone who knows me well knows that I like an equal dose of Beethoven and One Direction, of Four Weddings and a Funeral and the architecture of City of London churches, of Rubens paintings and Green Wing etc. I enjoy both "high" and "low" culture in different ways.* So I thought my blog should reflect this.

I first had the idea for a post of this nature AAAAAAGES ago when I heard One Direction's song Little Things. Now. In case you don't know, I am just going to put it out there right now. I LOVE One Direction. [I don't care what you have to say against them, their music is up beat, their faces are cute, THEY MAKE ME HAPPY, OK? And being happy is important! Anyway, moving on...]. But. BUT. I was listening to the lyrics of the song, as I always do, and I found myself thinking, WHAT? Seriously, what were they thinking? 
e.g.:

You've never loved 
Your stomach or your thighs 
The dimples in your back at the bottom of your spine 
But I'll love them endlessly 

YOU TRYIN' TO CALL ME FAT? One Direction. Lesson number one. However sweetly you say it. NEVER, I repeat NEVER try to tell a girl she's a bit chubs! 

Anyway. My point was, I wanted to dissect some ridiculous pop lyrics, because a] I think the catchy tunes are distracting some of you from some pure comedy gold and b] it's fun. 
 The reason I didn't do it at the time was because one of my favourite bloggers, Stuart Heritage, got there first, with his Rational Deconstruction of Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys. I laughed so much at this I cried.

However recently another song has cropped up that deserves some attention and which has indeed already been parodied by Radio 1 DJ Greg James. 

22 by Taylor Swift

Now, I'm 22 and the first time I heard this song, I was 22. I still find it laughable, and Greg James version [link above] almost summed up how I felt about it. Almost. But I would like to pay homage to Stuart Heritage and try my hand at my own RATIONAL DECONSTRUCTION of Swifty's somewhat rose-tinted lyrics. Here goes...

It feels like a perfect night to dress up like hipsters
Hmmm, am pretty sure a lot of 22 year olds are still Hipsters.
I thought Taylor Swift was a hipster. OH GOD I AM SO OLD I DON'T KNOW WHAT TRENDS ARE ANYMORE ARGHGHGHGH.

And make fun of our exes, uh uh uh uh
Not everyone has as many as you Swifty, talking about mine would last me less than an hour, let alone a whole night.

It feels like a perfect night for breakfast at midnight
More like midday.

To fall in love with strangers uh uh uh uh
Ermmm STRANGER DANGER. That still exists! Clearly Swifty has never been to Ilford. No chance of falling in love with strangers round here.

Yeaaaah
NO.

We're happy free confused and lonely at the same time
Well I'm definitely confused by this point.

It's miserable and magical oh yeah
The most magical thing that has happen in my 22nd year is bits of money magically disappearing out of my monthly paycheck. Turns out its National Insurance. No one taught me about this at school or uni. But you will learn it in the magical world of TWENTY-TWO! woooooooo.

Tonight's the night when we forget about the deadlines, it's time uh uh
I'm 22. I graduated last summer. No more deadlines for me buddy. Oh apart from those pesky job application deadlines... and I thought I'd escaped the D-word.

I don't know about you but I'm feeling 22
Everything will be alright if you keep me next to you
I thought she was lonely. Wait... is this the stranger she's fallen in love with? God help us.

You don't know about me but I bet you want to
Swifty, we know ALL about you, you keep telling us in your albums.

Everything will be alright if we just keep dancing like we're 22, 22
Or, y'know, if we could get well paid jobs. Dancing is NOT going to help that problem. Goshhhhh #22yearoldproblems

It seems like one of those nights
Gosh swifty goes out a lot. Clearly she isn't 22 because I haven't been out THAT much since uni. Too skint for it now. [What I really mean is too tired. At 22 I am so tired on a Friday night after a week of 9-5ing that I just want to snooze on the sofa with a bottle of wine and some New Girl. But that's too embarrassing to admit to anyone... oh wait...]

This place is too crowded
 too many cool kids
Emphasis on the word KIDS. Seriously. Being 22 means when you go out clubbing now one of the most common phrases heard is, "he looks about 12". Clubs turn into kindergartens. It's soooo depressing and weird.

It seems like one of those nights
We ditch the whole scene and end up dreaming instead of sleeping
Or more typically, ditching the club early because either a] My feet hurt b] I've got the munchies c] A tantalising combo of the two.

Yeaaaah
We're happy free confused and lonely in the best way
It's miserable and magical oh yeah
Tonight's the night when we forget about the heartbreaks, it's time uh uh

The lyrics are basically the same after that. You catch my drift.
So now I've completely embarrassed myself on my blog, I don't expect anyone to come back. I bet you've clicked the x already and no one is even reading this sentence. But IF YOU ARE, thank you! I will be back. Maybe with something about art, or architecture or even, if it doesn't mortally offend thee, One Direction!

Thanks for reading, and remember, it doesn't matter what you listen to, BE HAPPY!

Jennifer



*I actually HATE the terms high and low culture, hence the speech marks. I think they have the potential to be elitist and aren't useful in classing different types of culture. However, I don't wish to open this can of worms NOW, but am interested in considering this topic in wider detail once I've read more on it at a later date

Photoblog: Architecture of the City of London, or, What I've seen on my ramblings...

Hello Reader,

I have been VERY BUSY the last few weeks, so I must apologise for the lack of post.
However, this means I have seen lots of interesting things, it just means that sadly I haven't had the time to write about them. I very much enjoyed the Manet exhibition at the Royal Academy, so much so that I bought the catalogue. Lots of gorgeous portraits that I would otherwise have never seen. I was hoping to write a post about it, but I fear I won't have the time. However I do have time to share with you some shots I've been taking of various things I've seen in the past few weeks.

As you may know, I've recently started a traineeship in the City of London, and it is a WONDERFUL place to work if you like architecture. There are quirky bits of it EVERYWHERE. From 12th Century churches, to the more famous works of Wren and Hawksmoor, not forgetting the shiny new towers springing up everywhere and even including nice little details on shops and banks. I am often distracted by buildings, and am surprised I haven't walked into many people from looking up all the time. I am very lucky to have a quite decent camera on my phone, so, if I can, I try and capture as many of these details as I can. What I really like about the city is the juxtaposition of the old and the new. Within tiny tiny spaces, one can see something that was built within the last ten years towering above something that, in its day (so probably hundreds of yeasr ago) may have been the tallest building for miles! It's exciting, and if you can't see it for yourself, then allow me...

 CHURCHES

Temple Church

Temple Church

St Stephen Walbrook

St Stephen Walbrook [by Christopher Wren]

St Anne and St Agnes

  

ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS

The Entrance to Drapers' Hall

VIEWS

You can just about see the Tower of London in the distance...

TALL TOWERS

 

and thus brings us to the end of my tour... tune in again for [no doubt] more photos of bits of Architecture that i've spotted on my travels!

Thanks for reading

Jennifer

Jen's beginners guide to architecture. Part I: The orders, or HOW I LOVE COLUMNS

Hello reader,

On the suggestion of one of my most avid readers, my good friend food-blogger Highball Emy, i have decided to do my very own beginners guide to architecture. I have to thank Emy for the idea, as she knows how prone I am to get carried away by exciting buildings. She was one of the people who had to put up with me going ON about columns as i learnt about them at uni and then got very excitable as i was then able to explain away the craziness and eccentricity of the architecture of the Cambridge colleges we walked past on our way to dinner.

Clare College, Cambridge

Clare College, Cambridge

So, in my own way, I will try and guide you through one of my favourite things so that in future you might understand one of my gushing rants about a new [or more likely, really old] building I've just discovered. 

  
PART I:  COLUMNS

Before I start, I just thought I would give you a wee diagram so that you know what I'm talking about when I say things like CAPITAL or FLUTING. First thing I learned when I started studying architecture is that there are SO MANY really WEIRD names for bits of architecture, and they are REALLY hard to remember. So I won't bore you with things like this:

What even IS a modilion? 

I'll just tell you the main bits you need to know, and any other extras that I think might be interesting. 

So, columns. They come in all shapes and sizes, but adhere to 3 main types. These types are called orders and the main ones are the DORIC, IONIC and CORINTHIAN. 

You may be thinking - Why on earth do they have these ridiculous names, and how on earth will I remember which one is which? Well this is where my favourite Roman comes into play. 

Vitruvius was a Roman architect and engineer during the time of Augustus. He's SUPER IMPORTANT because he wrote, not one, but Ten Books on Architecture- De Architectura. These ten books, in addition to being the earliest surviving treatise on architecture, tell us a great deal about Classical architecture, written during the time it was being built- in other words, REALLY REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT TO ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY!!! 

But why do we need to know about him? Well, in his 3rd and 4th books he describes the orders and how they were "invented". I use the term invented loosely here, Vitruvius spins some fairly elaborate tales in order to give us a reason for these columns being the way they are. They are probably complete canis excrementum*, excuse my Latin, but they do help you to distinguish the three types, and they do make some sense. Let me show you what I mean: 

The Doric Order

According to Vitruvius, this order was named after a temple built by Dorus, the King of the Peloponnesus, which "happened" to be in the Doric order. Subsequently all temples in the surrounding area [Achaea] had temples built in that same style, and so when the Athenians rocked up [read: invaded] and saw these temples, they in turn began to set up temples in the same style, calling them "Doric" as they had first seen them built by the Dorians. 

Ok. Cool. So far, so Doric. But why does it LOOK the way it does? I'll continue...
The Athenians [being Greek] wanted to create their temple in a more symmetrical and "ordered" fashion, so they set out to give the column a set of standardized proportions. Vitruvius says that they measured the length of a man's foot [1ft] and compared it with his height [6ft] and therefore gave the column a width to height ratio of 1:6 i.e the height of the column must be 6 times the length of the width of the base.  
At a ratio of 1:6 the Doric is the stoutest order, hence Vitruvius' tale of it being based upon the proportions of a man. This is also in fitting with its capital [see diagram!]. Of the 3 main orders, the Doric has the plainest capital, because it is a masculine order. It can often be found in military buildings, mints and strongholds, or on the bottom storey of a building, as being the stoutest, it is also the "strongest". 

The Ionic Order

Vitruvius' description of the Ionic is far less complicated [and less dull- you thought what I wrote was bad, I heavily condensed the real deal, just for you!]. He claims that Athenians [the guys that just created the Doric order] wanted to build a temple to the Goddess Diana, but they thought that the Doric order, because it was based on the proportions of a MAN, would be too manly and therefore unsuitable. UH-OH, dilemna!  
They solved this problem by creating a new order based on the proportions of a woman. They measured the foot and height of a woman and TA-DAH the proportion of the Ionic order was formed. Vitruvius explains the extra adornments of the Ionic order as dressing it like a woman, with a base in the place of her shoes, the volutes [the "scroll" like elements in the capital] like curls of hair, and the flutes [see diagram!] like folds in her robes. This one is usually really easy to spot because of the big volutes on the capital, and is frequently used in interiors, and in "intellectual" type buildings such as libraries and museums e.g. The British Museum

The Corinthian Order
The Corinthian column has the most slender proportions of the three, in "imitation of the slenderness of a maiden". Vitruvius tells a tragic story to explain the appearance of the capital. A young girl from Corinth, [of marriageable age i.e. a VIRGIN] became ill and died before she could be married. After she was buried her nurse collected up her things and put them in a basket on top of her tomb. This basket just HAPPENED to be placed on the root of an acanthus plant, and so when spring came the stalks and leaves grew up over the basket. At this time an architect just HAPPENED to be passing by [a lot of coincidences here, EY VIRTRUVIUS?] and was pleasantly surprised by it, having never seen anything like it before, and so felt he OBVIOUSLY had to design a column after it for the Corinthians- thus inventing the Corinthian order with appropriate proportions to suit a virginal maid i.e. tall and slender. The Corinthian has the most ornamental capital of the three, which fits in with Vitruvius' identification of it with a pretty, delicate young girl. 

Ok. Now I've told you about the 3 order its time for a fun game of GUESS THE ORDER [I do this to EVERYONE who I've ever tried to teach the different orders to. My mum is an expert now and she gets really excited when she gets them right. Its quite cute].

1. I LOVE this building. It even has statues of Inigo Jones and Palladio either side.
WHOOPS that was a bit of a clue.

2.  Some of you will know this building VERY well. But WHAT ORDER IS IT?

3. This "monument" is unfinished and pays homage to an original in another country...

4. Played a starring role in the recent adaptation of Les Mis and ALSO in the 2012 Olympics!

5. Not to be confused with the Parthenon!

Extra points of you guess the NAME of the building. I said GUESS, not Google. Let's not spoil the fun! A hint is that all of the buildings are in the UK except ONE, and they are all places I have visited [all photos are my own!].

Answers in my next post!

Hope you've enjoyed this guide, and I hope it hasn't been too boring or heavy. Do let me know so I can make Part 2 even better!

Thanks for reading

Jennifer




P.S Disclaimer: I am aware that some of the things I've said in this post aren't completely precise. I hope no one will be offended by my somewhat crude generalisations. I didn't want to make it too boring for you to read, after-all, this is a blog and not an essay, and is no place for pedantry!

World book day!

Hey Readers!

Who says world book day is just for children? NOT ME!
I've been at work in the library ALL DAY and not read a single book today! That is so so sad 
:(

But as it's world book day, and I do LOVE books. Today people have been talking on twitter about their favourite books. I can never do that. I find it impossible to list my "all time favourite" things. My favourite things change all the time, depending on what mood I'm in. Also I find it really difficult to rate things in order, especially when some things are so different- how do you compare books of completely different genres or writing styles? And how can you measure your level of enjoyment? Impossible and not worth worrying about. 

So instead I thought I would share with you 3 books I can read again and again. I don't frequently read books twice. I rarely buy books as I work in a library and am saving up money at the moment, and I also try to read as many books as possible, as there are SO MANY books I want to read and so little time. So it seems illogical to read a book I've already read when I could be reading another one. HOWEVER, there are some books which are SO GOOD, which I enjoy so much, and which never seem to get boring, that I can read them over and over again. Here they are:

1. Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding
Oh. My. GOODNESS I LOVE THIS BOOK. This book, for me, is the equivalent of a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows on top- fun, comforting, like a big hug EXACTLY when you need it. Jones is HUMAN and HILARIOUS and has the ability to always make me feel better at times in life when I feel like I have majorly messed up or embarrassed myself.  If you haven't read it yet, seriously, do yourself a favour and READ IT. I don't even know why you haven't already.

2. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Someone at school recommended this to me whilst we were studying Atwood's better-known, The Handmaid's Tale as part of our English Literature A-Level. I borrowed it from the library the next day, and in two days I had finished it. Now it usually takes me a few weeks to finish a book, one week if I REALLY like it and have a lot of train journeys that week [I mostly read on public transport]. But I've never read anything that quickly. This book is compelling. It is structured in such a way that it flits between two narratives- the "present" which appears to be in a post-apocalyptic wasteland version of earth, and "past" which gradually unravels the series of events which lead up to the disaster which caused earth to transform into the world the protagonist inhabits in the present. Like The Handmaid's Tale it is a dystopian novel, a genre which I quite enjoy, like science-fiction but seemingly more grounded in reality- as if it had the potential to happen- you can see clear parallels in the world we live in. It's scary, but it makes you think, and I think a good book should do just that.

3. Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan
Ok. I have to confess. I have only read this once. BUT, it was so so good, that I know it is one I will revisit! Ian McEwan is one of my favourite authors and I have read almost all of his books that are available to borrow from the Library consortium. With Sweet Tooth, I really enjoyed his creation of the sense of time and place. I haven't read many books [possibly any!] set in London during the Cold War, and I think McEwan captured the greyness and sense of thick tension perfectly in this. What I really love about reading a McEwan novel is that you really get to inhabit the head-space of the protagonist and this intimacy means you gain a very in-depth view of their interactions and relationships with other characters, something I find fascinating. However, what REALLY struck me with Sweet Tooth was the utter PERFECTION of the ending. That may sound like an exaggeration, but I can tell you, I am rarely fully satisfied with the ending of a novel. Many are lazy, many are rushed, many leave me with several unanswered questions, leaving me frustrated or wanting more. But the ending to this novel is AMAZING and definitely the best, or at least most satisfying I've read so far. If you haven't read it yet, I urge you to give it a go. It's worth it for the ending alone.

And with that I shall end this World Book Day edition of A Life in Arts!

Thanks for reading,

Jennifer