Tom's treasures of fiction, poetry, literature and more...

I just wanted to start off by wishing all those who celebrate a very happy Christmas! I am also going to give you another review, this time of the 1983 TV film of Macbeth. This is quite possibly a favourite of all the different films of Shakespeare's plays I have seen. At the start of the play, the witches are presented looking like rocks. The way they blend in with the background is clever. Then when they unfurl and show themselves in full, standing up it can be seen that they are wearing ragged clothing. Brenda Bruce, Annie Dyson and Eileen Way play the three witches well, offering a good visual idea of the witches. What adds to their opening scene is how lightning is used. It not only boosts the supernatural and mysterious atmosphere. The film additionally stood out thanks to Jane Lapotaire's Lady Macbeth who portrayed the character excellently with a huge depth to the character of Lady Macbeth and a range of such strong and vivid emotions. One particular scene is when Lady ...

I decided that all you readers of my blog deserved yet another review of another Caryl Churchill play. Today I am reviewing her 1982 play Top Girls . This play asks what it takes to be a woman, particularly a woman who wants something for herself. It also asks what implications that can have other women. The central character Marlene, becomes head of an employment agency known as Top Girls. It is evident how misogyny and adhering to the Patriarchy were present in the 1980s. One of the workers at the Top Girls agency, Howard becomes sick. When his wife turns up at the agency, it is discovered that his sickness is shock at having to work for a woman. Mrs Kidd even suggests that Marlene could give up the job to allow Harold to have it. I am glad that things are different now even if things in life could be better! Now despite Marlene's advancing career, there is the underlying fact that she has a unwell mother and a sister with her own daughter. The familiar aspect of her life seems t...

Hello all, here I am again. Today I am giving you a review from author of the month, Kazuo Ishiguro. This time, it is his booker prize-winning best selling novel, The Day of the Remains  (1989). Some novels I seem to get through rather quickly. This one was not. Now it was a good book, though personally for me, it was not something I would naturally get drawn to. I thought the novel was good because I liked how the protagonist, Stevens experiences things for the first time. HIs character is different I guess to others around him are. For instance, I find it amusing how he does not quite understand banter. He seems to find it crucial to maintain a correct level of banter. Something else I like is how he moves backwards and forwards to tell his story, even admitting when he gets too carried away with a story. On the other hand, this novel to me, seemed to drag at times. I often wanted to know what would happen next or whether Stevens would accomplish what he had originally set out to...

Today blog readers I am supplying you all with the first author of the month review. I give you my thoughts on Kazuo Ishiguro's short story ‘A Family Supper’ (1983). I read this short story and thoroughly liked it. First of all, the short story was only nine pages long which made easily manageable for anyone to read. Even with it being nine pages though, it nevertheless carried a strong narrative through which I could follow. The short story often moved back to reminisce on past events and thoughts, which helped to bind the short story together. As far as the nameless narrator is concerned, I find him to be unsure as a character. This for me was interesting. He was similar to his sister in this retrospect though had a juxapositional personality to that of his sister. Where his sister came across as bright and fun, he came across as dull and mellow. It is clear that his relationship with his father is somewhat strained so perhaps that has a bearing on how he is as a person. Anyway, ...

Hello to all the hes, shes theys and zies. I wanted to do an opinion piece on how and why I think Atwood's work can be useful to us in society. Take her 1985 classic  The Handmaid's Tale , when Donald Trump was elected as the 45th president, the novel rose in the bestseller charts as the handmaids were seen as figures of resistance against Trump's regimes targeting women. This tells us something about her work. Notice how Trump became president in 2017 until 2021, and his presidency caused a rise of interest in Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale . Then two years later The Testaments  (2019) was published, winning the Booker prize. There must have been a clear interest in a sequel all of a sudden because The Handmaid's Tale  was published in 1985. It took thirty-four years until we arrived at the sequel. Though her book also rose in prominence again, I think because of the book banning in the United States of America. Some people saw her book as "bad" or ...

It's me again... Your favourite book reviewer back with another Margaret Atwood book to review. This time I thought I would tuck into Atwood's 1988 novel Cat's Eye . This novel is gripped with spectral memories of the narrator's past, it is a bildungsroman. A bildungsroman is just a novel that goes through a character's life, from being a child, to growing up as a young person to becoming an adult. Great Expectations  (1861) by Charles Dickens is another example. Anyway, the narrator, Elaine is haunted by Cordelia who I will not give too much about her away. This novel threw me, many times. We had Elaine and her various friends. First we were introduced to Carol, then Grace and finally Cordelia. But it is Cordelia, who's presence is felt throughout the novel. The thing is, I cannot understand why. Without giving too much away, Cordelia was hardly being nice to Elaine and I just expected that as Elaine grew up that she would move on; that she would not have Corde...

Hello all, I wanted to post a review of the first ever Atwood text I read: The Handmaid's Tale  (1985). I fell that this novel is very significant at the moment, considering events that are occurring in the USA. This novel challenged ideas namely about sex and the differences between both man and woman. I noticed this the first time I read this at college for my English literature A-Level. That was necessary but I since read it again for pleasure. Considering all that has happened in the past years , especially in the U.S.A, I can understand why they made a T.V series of this book. I have not seen that yet as I am struggling to find it on any service except Amazon. Considering Amazon's support for Israel and the thought of a extremely rich man, getting even richer because of me, I decided I was not that  desperate. But this is not a blog about social politics, you want my authentic and honest book review. It was the vivid descriptions that made this book stand out to me. Right...