Read this three times this week.
Roll on end of school holidays.
Great book, excitement and even more excitement at every page turn.
I’m thinking in the long term this is going to cost me a lot of money.
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Audrey Hepburn was one of the most interesting of Golden Age stars. There’s her beauty of course, her unmatchable style and presence, and her many talents.
But there’s also her incredible life - born in 1929 to a mother of Dutch nobility and a ne’er do well British father (who was interned during the war for his fascist sympathies), her early adolescence was blighted by war and hunger (she and her mother lived in Arnhem, and were first-hand witnesses to the farce that was Operation Market Garden). The passages about having to grind up tulip bulbs as a flour substitute, her gorging herself on chocolate when Holland was liberated (only to throw up straight afterwards as she wasn’t used to rich, sweet food) and her resultant lifelong addiction to rare steak are all pretty striking, as is the tale of her smuggling messages for the Dutch Resistance in her two-sizes-too-big shoes.
By the end of the war she was gravely ill, suffering from malnutrition, jaundice, erratic periods, anaemia, oedema and respiratory problems and it was only thanks to her mother Ella selling thousands of cigarettes on the black market that Audrey was able to obtain medicine to treat her conditions. In light of her poor health, it is a wonder that she made it (sort of) as a ballet dancer and later as a stage actress, before moving into films and thence mega-stardom.
Although he didn’t speak to Hepburn herself, author Paris did manage to interview many family members, friends and associates. Although the tone is a little dry, many episodes are rather affecting, not least the ones dealing with her death, and while packed with facts (and genealogical details) it rattles along at quite some pace.
A good biography, one which makes you want to watch her movies again.
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Just read/listened to this. I have a trading background which first attracted me to it, but I found it a very good, if a bit depressing at times. I have no doubt that others will hate it. You pays your money…
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After listening to the above book I watched Gary on a few yt videos. On The Rest is Politics he mentioned the book below.
Wow. The first chapter is a kick in the guts. But Gary is right, it is a kind of poetry - a constant stream of hard hitting, often shocking but beautiful language that I barely recognise.
It’s brilliant!
Again, others will hate the daylights out of it.
I like him in many ways but the harsh reality is that he had his own programme and actual economists ripped him to pieces so badly most were shocked it was broadcast. The direct consequence being he’s now on a “break”.
There is a big difference between being a charismatic and convincing influencer and actually having your ideas tested in the real world by experts with questiona to which he plainly had no answer.
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There is a wonderful apocryphal story regarding Paul Desmond the alto player who although never having met her through shyness was much in awe of Audrey. When he was playing in New York he set the intermission time with Brubeck so that he could watch her leave the theatre. He even wrote a tune called Audrey ( on Brubeck Time ) I think.
After her death having still not met her he learnt from her husband
That she played the record every night before bed.
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Soho 1935 Sergeant Leon Geats’s patch.
A snarling,skull-cracking misanthrope
Geats marshals the grimy rabble according to his own elastic moral
code.
Sounds just up my street.
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I agree. I like him too, but the more I watch him the more I think he has become a bit marginalised, even a joke figure.
He’s got half an idea and no way of executing it, and he trots out the same anecdotes every time. There is more than a grain of truth in what he says but he’s not crossed over to mainstream and he’s probably the wrong person to deliver the message.
But the book is very good, though a bit sad at times.
Tony
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Maggie O’Farrell - Land. Beautifully written poetic novel set in Ireland in the aftermath of the Great Hunger. Family saga with cartographical themes of mapping the country and it’s layers of history and myth.
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Puzzling over words and phrases. A gentle read for the amateur etymologist. Perhaps one a night to think about whilst falling asleep.
Hospice charity shop.
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Really wasn’t sure of what to make of the Gage book at first. Loved her book on J Edgar but this was a very different beast and initially I thought I must have misread the reviews in terms of the contents and intent. In the end I grew into it and it actually works really well. It’s a road trip across the USA taking on board those places which supposedly helped define the country. It looks at the many contradictions in the ways American museums and historical sites remember, misremember and wholly rewrite their history and what that tells us about now and the future. Absolutely fascinating, hugely entertaining albeit with a, for me, slightly unconvincing conclusion.
The book pile is now down to single figures and I find myself having to make a more considered decision given our upcoming 4 flights and days away. Watch this space 
.
Took a second or two but I’ve opted for this. Hardback version so the 2nd most expensive book I own. Ridiculously tiny print and I managed to scratch my 8 diopter readers recently so a new pair are on the way from the low vision clinic. If they arrive before we fly then this goes with me. If not then I need to check which of my remaining books to read has the largest print.
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That’s been on my wish list for a while but the small print is an issue.
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It is. I’ll just be using the 8 diopter when they arrive and confine myself to no more than a chapter at a time. A quick glance suggests it is as wonderful as reviews suggest.
Written by a British historian (whose interview in the WSJ attracted my attention), the history of the city from the times of the bible to the present.
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Max Hastings raved about this book so I figured if he likes it, it must be good. And so far, it most certainly is.
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I saw his presentation on it at Chalke Festival. Certainly looks interesting. There’s a Vol 2 to follow I think.
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