culture
Book — Black Snow
Black Snow
by Mikhail Bulgakov
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: When Maxudov’s bid to take his own life fails, he dramatises the novel whose failure provoked the suicide attempt. To the resentment of literary Moscow, his play is accepted by the legendary Independent Theatre and Maxudov plunges into a vortex of inflated egos. With each rehearsal more sparks fly and the chances of the play being ready to perform recede. Black Snow is the ultimate back-stage novel and a brilliant satire by the author of The Master and Margarita on his ten-year love-hate relationship with Stanislavsky, Method-acting and the Moscow Arts Theatre.
While this book is a harsh satire of his own peers, the book is certainly timeless and you can happily read without knowing anything of Communist Russia, Stanislavsky or the Moscow Arts Theatre. The characters are wonderful, funny, horrible. The conversations real. The situations usually hilarious. Very enjoyable.
Book — Chronicle of a Blood Merchant
[ US | UK ] Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua, Hua Yu Rating: ★★★★★ Synopsis: A cart-pusher in a silk mill, Xu Sanguan augments his meager salary with regular visits to the local blood chief. His…
Book — The Fifth Witness
[ US | UK ] The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly Rating: ★★★★☆ Synopsis: In tough times, crime is one of the few things that still pays, but even criminals are having to make cut-backs. So for defence lawyer…
Book — Stet
[ US | UK ] Stet by Diana Athill Rating: ★★★★☆ Synopsis: Diana Athill has had a most interesting and varied life, and the title she has chosen for her autobiography is proofreaders’ jargon for “Let it stand”. In…
Older articles
- Book — Scrivener's Moon - May 17, 2011
- Book — Shit My Dad Says - February 27, 2011
- Book — Pereira Maintains - February 12, 2011
- Book — The Passage - January 4, 2011
- Book — Heartstone - December 20, 2010
- Book — Leviathan - December 20, 2010
- Book — The Reversal - November 7, 2010
- Book — Worth Dying For - October 25, 2010
- The Globe Theatre - Henry IV Part I - October 8, 2010
- Wilco - Royal Festival Hall - September 14, 2010
- Book — Mockingjay - August 30, 2010
- Book — Wolf Hall - August 28, 2010
- Book — Revelation - August 7, 2010
- Book — Sovereign - July 30, 2010
- Book — Dark Fire - July 22, 2010
- Book — Over Sea, Under Stone - June 23, 2010
- Book — Dissolution - June 13, 2010
- Book — The Dark is Rising - May 15, 2010
- Book — 61 Hours - May 14, 2010
- Josh Ritter - Tabernacle - May 4, 2010
- Book — The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - April 14, 2010
- Book — The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society - April 11, 2010
- Book — A Parrot in the Pepper Tree - April 5, 2010
- Book — A Web of Air - March 30, 2010
- Book — This Is Where I Leave You - March 23, 2010
- Book — The Girl Who Played with Fire - March 17, 2010
- Book — The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - March 7, 2010
- Book — Gone Tomorrow - February 16, 2010
- Book — Three Men in a Boat - February 6, 2010
- Book — Longitude - January 17, 2010
- Book — Longitude - January 17, 2010
- Book — People of the Book - January 7, 2010
- Book — Nine Dragons - December 18, 2009
- Book — The Lost Symbol - December 16, 2009
- Modest Mouse - Shepherd's Bush Empire - December 14, 2009
- Book — Catching Fire - December 5, 2009
- Wilco - Kentish Town - November 27, 2009
- Book — The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher - November 25, 2009
- Book — The Hunger Games - November 20, 2009
- Book — Pyramids - October 25, 2009
- Book — Moving Pictures - September 16, 2009
- Book — The Brass Verdict - August 20, 2009
- Book — Mort - August 2, 2009
- Book — Cathedral of the Sea - July 15, 2009
- Book — Love in the Time of Cholera - June 15, 2009
- Book — Fever Crumb - May 5, 2009
- Book — Journey to the End of the Night - April 25, 2009
- Book — A Darkling Plain - April 24, 2009
- Book — Predator's Gold - April 18, 2009
- Book — Infernal Devices - April 14, 2009
- Book — Mortal Engines - April 8, 2009
- Book — Crown of Shadows - March 1, 2009
- Book — When True Night Falls - January 24, 2009
- Book — Last Tango in Aberystwyth - January 10, 2009
- Book — Black Sun Rising - January 6, 2009
- Book — The Faithful Spy - November 23, 2008
- Book — The Lincoln Lawyer - November 17, 2008
- Book — Nothing to Lose - November 3, 2008
- Books — The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce - October 28, 2008
- Book — Book of Joe - October 6, 2008
- Book — The Closers - August 26, 2008
- Book — The Narrows - August 14, 2008
- Book — The Poet - August 7, 2008
- Book — Supercrunchers - July 14, 2008
- Book — Blood Work - May 16, 2008
- Book — Lost Light - April 29, 2008
- Book Review - All Lee Child's books - April 28, 2008
- Book — Echo Park - April 25, 2008
- Book — The Overlook - April 20, 2008
- Book — Void Moon - April 16, 2008
- Book — The Heart of a Dog - April 11, 2008
- Josh Ritter and Dawn Landes - St Barnabas Church - April 2, 2008
- Book — The Master and Margarita - March 27, 2008
- Book — A Darkness More Than Night - March 2, 2008
- Book — Angels Flight - February 28, 2008
- Book — Trunk Music - February 27, 2008
- Book — The Last Coyote - February 16, 2008
- Book — The Black Ice - February 6, 2008
- Book — Bad Luck and Trouble - January 24, 2008
- Book — The Black Echo - January 24, 2008
- Book — One Shot - January 21, 2008
- Book — The Enemy - January 14, 2008
- Book — Persuader - January 7, 2008
- Book — Without Fail - December 27, 2007
- Josh Ritter: All grown-up! - November 23, 2007
- Book — Ways to Live Forever - August 10, 2007
- Book — Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - July 17, 2007
- Book — Carry Me Down - March 17, 2007
- Book — Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - February 6, 2007
- Book — The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir - February 1, 2007
- Book — The Amber Spyglass - January 14, 2007
- Books — The Subtle Knife - January 7, 2007
- Book — Northern Lights - January 5, 2007
- Books — Made in Italy - December 13, 2006
- Was that Santa? - December 3, 2006
- Book Festival — Giorgio Locatelli - November 8, 2006
- Book — From Finland with Love - July 30, 2006
- Book — The Ballad of Lee Cotton - July 30, 2006
- Play — Avenue Q - June 26, 2006
- Books — Doctored Evidence - June 19, 2006
- Books — Death at La Fenice - June 12, 2006
- Books — Uniform Justice - June 4, 2006
- Books — Gods in Alabama - May 18, 2006
- Books — Dublin - May 14, 2006
- Books — The Forrest - April 8, 2006
- World Book Day 2006 - March 2, 2006
- Play — The Exonerated - February 22, 2006
- Play — James Saunders' Games & After Liverpool - February 3, 2006
- Puppet Show — Seas of Organillo - January 27, 2006
- Exhibition — China: The Three Emperors - January 5, 2006
- Books — The Diving-bell and the Butterfly - January 3, 2006
- Books — The Sum of All Fears - December 28, 2005
- Play — The Nutcracker - December 23, 2005
- Books — Red Rabbit - December 14, 2005
- Concert — Ezio - November 16, 2005
- Book — Bon Appetit!: Travels Through France with Knife, Fork and Corkscrew - November 7, 2005
- Chihuly at Kew Gardens - October 30, 2005
- Books — A Year in Provence - October 23, 2005
- Julius Caesar at the Lyric Hammersmith - September 23, 2005
- Book — If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things - September 16, 2005
- Play — Guys & Dolls - September 13, 2005
- Book — Freakonomics - August 30, 2005
- Book — Collapse : How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive - August 16, 2005
- Concert — Kings of Leon - June 19, 2005
- Books — Flashman and the Dragon - April 16, 2005
- Book — At the Edge of Honor - April 9, 2005
- Book — In Praise of Slow - March 9, 2005
- Play — A Raisin in the Sun - February 24, 2005
- Book — The Five People You Meet in Heaven - February 23, 2005
- Book — The Difference Engine - January 28, 2005
- Book — The Last Lighthouse Keeper - January 22, 2005
- Book — Trowel and Error - January 10, 2005
- Book — Back to the Garden - December 15, 2004
- Concert — Beastie Boys at Wembley - December 7, 2004
- Book — Defensive Design for the Web - December 1, 2004
- Books — The Last Days of Haute Cuisine - December 1, 2004
- Play — The Producers - November 30, 2004
- Book — Mother Tongue: The English Language - November 20, 2004
- Book — Kitchen Confidential - November 19, 2004
- Book — A Walk in the Woods - October 2, 2004
- Book — Notes from a Big Country - September 19, 2004
- Book — Made in America - September 15, 2004
- Book — Notes from a Small Island - September 7, 2004
- Book — A Short History of Nearly Everything - August 2, 2004
- Book — Darwin's Radio - July 20, 2004
- Books — Star of the Sea - July 12, 2004
- Opera — Die Fledermaus - July 2, 2004
- Play — The Shape of Things - May 15, 2004
- Opera — The Mikado - May 7, 2004
- Play — Endgame - April 22, 2004
- Play — The Pugalist Specialist - January 26, 2004