in which I wrap up February

(1) Things which I have read

For a lot of this month, reading felt like wading through glue. I’m stuck where I was in Ducks, Newburyport, so maybe it’s safe to say I’m staying there until I’m away with just my kindle for a while.

I read Weather, by Jenny Offill, which I was so excited to read, because I loved The Department of Speculation - but this one just didn’t really work for me. Something about the fragmentary nature of the narrative didn’t quite manage to convey the strange build up of change over time in the main character that I think it wanted to, and while it did get at the scattered-ness of thoughts in response to an apparently un-solvable crisis, it mostly felt a bit aimless. Sadly.

Then I read Rootbound, by Alice Vincent, which you should probably be advise I have a slightly complicated relationship with owing purely to some experiences in a book club about five years ago - but I am glad to report that I liked it despite my worse self. It’s totally weird reading books by people you’re acquainted with or by people who you’re acquainted with are acquainted with - because the poor book gets loaded with the emotional baggage of those relationships. Anyway: it’s a really nice memoir and meditation on the value of nature and plants, and if you like a nice memoir or plants, I would recommend this.

Fortunately for my soul, which really just wanted to read something I unreservedly loved, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ first novel, The Water Dancer arrived in February, and HAI, IT’S GREAT. Coates has talked a bunch in the past, on twitter (when he had it) and his old blog and in interviews, about how much he works at the practice of writing - and I don’t want to say it shows, but it really does show in how much the work doesn’t show. The writing flows, beautifully, deploying new (to me, at least) vocabulary and ways of describing slavery and exploring the possibilities and complexities of escape. I was completely absorbed from the very start, and in some ways I could have spent longer reading the stories in the space Coates was both describing and creating - and yet, it finished exactly where it should.

(2) Things which I have watched

At the cinema this month I saw Parasite and Emma - so it was a good month.

I’m so glad that I went to see Parasite - which I only really did because the reviews were so incredible and because enough of them assured me that it really wasn’t horror (I think I’d heard somewhere, early on, that it was horror, and I don’t really do horror). It’s both exactly as rich and layered as everyone has said and also more so, and it is aesthetically beautiful and surprisingly (to me) funny. I was totally delighted by and also disturbed by the things that it is about, because there is so much to think about.

I was concerned about new Emma when I saw the trailer, because it looked almost farcical. I was therefore pleased to discover that it is not farcical, but smart and witty and warm. I have always massively enjoyed Emma the book, and liked Emma the character (who is not always well liked) - and also Mr Knightley, the eminently sensible and competent human who turns out to be perfect for her. It did a few things particularly well, in my opinion: it made it clear how good a judge of people Mr Knightley is (and so there must be something in the fact he carries on liking and having time for Emma, despite everything), and by emphasising Emma’s affection for and patience with her father, allows the best of her character to shine throughout, even in a film that really allows her to be quite unlikeable at times.

At the theatre I saw Uncle Vanya in the West End, with Toby Jones and Richard Armitage, which I massively enjoyed and would recommend. Everyone is a hopeless mess, and yet they’re (nearly) all fairly loveable anyway. I would also recommend seeing Richard Armitage on stage, if you’ve only seen him on film or TV: he’s good on screen in the right role, but he’s really good on stage.

And finally, I saw Onegin, and the double bill of Dances at a Gathering and The Cellist at the Royal Ballet. The double bill was lovely: Dances is so pure - if a little long; and I thought The Cellist had some really spectacular moments that overcame some of the busy-ness of the narrative. I’m so glad I saw Beatriz Stix-Brunell as Jackie, because I always enjoy her and the way she conveys emotion on stage - and while I’m sad Cesar Corrales didn’t perform for all sorts of reasons, getting to see Matthew Ball as Barenboim was a treat, because he really is foolishly charismatic.

Onegin is a great favourite of mine, because the storytelling is so good, so it was really nice to see it again. Onegin (a bit like Albrecht in Giselle) is one where it’s always interesting to see how the guy plays it: deliberate ass-hat, careless muppet, or broken flower, or anywhere along that spectrum. I saw Federico Bonelli (with Yasmine Naghdi as Tatiana), and I would describe his take as ‘careless sophisticate who doesn’t realise he’s really a broken flower’ - and I very much enjoyed the devastation of his finale.

(3) A recommendation of some kind

If I’ve not recommended it to you before, I would thoroughly recommend the London Review Bookshop around the corner from the British Museum in Bloomsbury. It’s a wonderful bookshop and has a lovely cafe. It’s a great treat to go for a pot of tea and a cake with a new book.

If you’re in New York, The Lehman Trilogy opens on Broadway. I still think it’s one of the best things I’ve seen on stage, so you should go.

(4) In the pile for March

I picked up Tyll, by Daniel Kehlmann and Tyrant Memory, by Horacio Castellanos Moya at the LRB shop so they are in the pile. I am also getting the new Hilary Mantel, strictly for reading in the home (903 pages!)

I’m hoping to get to see The True History of the Kelly Gang and Portrait of a Lady on Fire at the cinema, and I’m going to see Tom Stoppard’s new play, Leopoldstadt.

(5) A photo from the month gone by

Pancakes: best eaten with cinnamon, sugar, and lemon