Bits and Pieces

The Manchester Literary Festival is due to kick off next month, from the 8-23 October in various venues around the city. You can join Simon Armitage, Clare Balding or Iain M Banks among many other names, in talks, debates, readings and even walking tours of the city. To view a full calendar of events use the link.

Bookbrowse have compiled a list drawing together all of the movies that are released this autumn that are based on books, with trailers to whet your appetite. Some highlights include Anna Karenina, On The Road, The Hobbit, The Life of Pi and Cloud Atlas. To view the Movies From Books, Autumn 2012 list, use the link.

I ran across a blog called Bardfilm, written by a literary professor celebrating all of Shakespeare in movie form. It also covers plays and other uses of Shakespeare. Recent posts include pieces on the use of Shakespeare quotes in Friends and Star Trek, as well as the Tempest speeches during the London Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, by Kenneth Branagh and Timothy Spall.

Lastly, I am having a dry spell reading wise, and have got behind on my reading. In fact I have read about 9 pages in a month. I am enjoying the book but am finding it difficult to concentrate. I am blaming my lovely holiday in Italy for my distraction and hope to be back on form soon. The last time that this happened was about 3 years ago, when I couldn't lift up a book then either. So bear with me for now, and you will be the first to know when this strange mood has passed.

August Roundup

My apologies for the lack of posts in August but I do have a good excuse...I was here in Florence and Tuscany for a few weeks. It is a beautiful part of Italy and I was retracing some of the places I had been when I visited 15 years ago. It has always been one of my favourite places, along with Siena and San Gimignano.

On to the books...
Read - not very much at all (even though I took 3 books away with me!)
Completed - none
Currently Reading -
All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Notes From Walnut Tree Farm by Roger Deakin
The Organic Year by Patricia Gallimore
TBR Pile - currently at 125 (according to GoodReads) with 2 novels added...
Harry Hop-Pole by Wispy Gorman
Chef of Distinction! by Wispy Gorman
Both of these were sent to me by the publishers, acorn books, after seeing Harry Hop-Pole on my wishlist last month. Received with thanks.
I also picked up a beautiful little book in San Gimignano called The Unhappy Trees by Alessandro Togoli, giving voices to some of the figures depicted on antique urns. Its a gorgeous book and a lucky find.
Challenges - I still have not bought any new novels in accordance with #1 of this years personal challenges.
Wishlist Additions -
Art In Nature by Tove Jansson
The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman
Discoveries -
Alessandro Togoli's book, The Unhappy Trees.
Events -
Visiting the lovely Villa Vignamaggio in Chianti, Italy which was the location for the film Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare starring Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Keanu Reeves, Denzel Washington, Michael Keaton and Maggie Smith.
Rediscovering Florence and Tuscany, a region portrayed in many novels and films.