Category Archives: Writers

Just finished reading Rachel Joyce’s romantic novel ‘The Music Shop’ (Penguin) as part of my ‘get more reading done before you run out of shelf-space’ initiative.

This story is very light and an easy read. If you’ve read her bestselling ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’ you may be surprised at the plaudits heaped on ‘The Music Shop’ because it’s not as good, nor as much of page-turner. Having said that it’s clear Joyce had to do a lot of music research and it really pays off.

Beginning in January 1988 we’re introduced to the dowdy figure of Frank who runs a record shop in a run down part of town. He sells all types of music, provided it’s on vinyl, and is vehemently anti-CD – aren’t we all. His customers are hugely varied, as are his neighbours, but he has a recording answer for everyone’s ills or interests – mostly ones they’ve never ever considered. For his insight into peoples troubles, and supplying a potential cure, he’s a hit

Surrounded by a strange, but convincing set of shopkeepers, friends and other locals, Frank is happy in his universe, until Ilse Brauchmann appears at his shop window. From there on it’s mayhem! Who is she? What does she want? There are lots of suggestions, most of them wrong. Basically it’s a romantic musical romp with Frank at the centre and his well-meaning friends attempting to help him discover the real Ilse. If you love vinyl, you’ll love Frank and ‘The Music Shop’.

Very sad news that Man Booker Prize winning author Dame Hilary Mantel has died aged 70, according to her publisher. Her Wolf Hall trilogy, charting the fortunes of Thomas Cromwell, has been serialised by the BBC.

Over the years she has produced numerous books, historical fiction, reviewed films, books and papers, for newspapers and TV. The sequel to ‘Wolf Hall’, ‘Bringing Up the Bodies‘ won her the 2012 Costa Book of the Year and the 2012 Booker Prize. She became the first British writer and the first woman to win the Booker more than once. Her books were adapted into plays by the RSC and produced as a mini-series by BBC. The final book The Mirror & the Light was published in 2020.

After several weeks if not months of prevarication, I am, hopefully, getting it together.

Having attempted to struggle through a 6 week futurelearn course on ‘Reading Macondo’, which examines the work of Gabriel García Márquez’, I finally had to admit defeat this time round. Sadly, at least for those of us with only a smattering of any language other than English, the videos are all in Spanish. Even though the transcripts are bilingual it proved very hard work. Consequently I got too far behind.

I’m now in a more comfortable arena studying another furturelearn course ‘William Wordsworth: Poetry, People & Place’. This is proving no less fascinating than Macondo (which I will eventually return to). I heartily recommend anyone to look at the range of futurelearn courses – not restricted to literature by any means.

Now I’ve broken out of the mould I intend to continue this blog – at least weekly – without interruption!