Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish - reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!
Last week, I reviewed The Ghost Map about the 1854 cholera epidemic in London. Heather reviewed the memoir of the yeoman warder who tends the ravens at the Tower of London, The Ravenmaster. Tina reviewed the 29th book in the Agatha Raisin series, set in the Cotswolds and featuring the bell ringers at a village church, The Dead Ringer. Sim shared her memories of visiting her grandmother in Preston, near Liverpool. Gaele reviewed the audiobook version of Sheer Mischief by Jill Mansell, the romance Coming Home to Maple Cottage by Holly Martin, and the holiday story The Magic of Christmas Tree Farm by Erin Green.
As I mentioned in my review of the first Paddington movie, Paddington Bear was not a creature of my childhood. I'm surprised by how charmed I am by the film adaptations. They don't feed a nostalgia of my youth, exactly. Although, they do portray a London that fits right in with the nostalgia that comes from a long appreciation of British literature and from my one trip to the city.
Paddington 2 touched on several topics that I enjoy exploring.
British theater, both the high-brow London style and the lower-brow traveling troupe style. Hugh Grant plays an aging actor who is the opening act for a traveling fair.
Antique books. The plot turns around clues hidden in an old pop-up book.
London landmarks. The pop-up book features the landmarks of London - Hugh Grant's character visits The Tower Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral in fun scenes.
British baking. I've avoided becoming a fan of The British Baking Show for fear of developing an insatiable craving for cake. But I enjoyed the scenes in Paddington 2 that show the kinds of things one would love to find on the top level of a tiered tea tray.
Steam trains. The final scenes take place on a pair of steam trains that, natch, leave from Paddington Station.
Have you seen Paddington 2? What did you think?
About Joy Weese Moll
a librarian writing about books
