Drharrietd

LATEST ARTICLES ( 303 )

• Woman Painting

  

  This remarkable painting is a self portrait by Laura Knight (1877-1970). I was lucky enough to see the original last weekend in London, at the exhibition... Read more

  Posted on 28 September 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Old Filth

  

  I cannot believe that until a few days ago I had never heard of, let alone read, Jane Gardam. Considering that she has published twenty five... Read more

  Posted on 26 September 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Cat Smelling Flowers

  

  This cat was painted by Ruskin Spear (1911-1990), a British artist who lived in Hammersmith, in London, where I also lived when I was growing up. Read more

  Posted on 21 September 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Longbourn

  

  A few years ago I had a little flurry of reading Jane Austen sequels. I enjoyed a few of them -- Diana Birchells' Mrs Darcy's Dilemma impressed me very... Read more

  Posted on 17 September 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Girl Having Breakfast

  

  Painted by the incomparable Carl Larsson (1853-1919), this is actually called 'A Late Riser's Miserable Breakfast'. Larsson had a shockingly awful start i... Read more

  Posted on 14 September 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Love-charm of Bombs: Restless Lives in the Second World War

  

  For the past couple of years, I have been fascinated by the events of WW2, and have found myself drawn again and again to novels written during or about this... Read more

  Posted on 09 September 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Woman Painting

  

  I think this is the first painting by a Hungarian artist we have had on here. The painter is Miklos Barabas (1810-1828) and this is called Roza... Read more

  Posted on 07 September 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Phineas Finn

  

  This lovely illustration, showing Phineas Finn and Lady Laura in Scotland, is one of a series of 20 done by John Everett Millais for the first edition of... Read more

  Posted on 03 September 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Portrait of a Young Lady

  

  I think this is a really beautiful painting, or perhaps I should say a painting of a really beautiful young woman. Dated 1560, it is attributed to Caterina van... Read more

  Posted on 31 August 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Stamboul Train

  

  I think I'm getting the hang of Graham Greene. Judging at least from the few novels I've read so far, and what I've read about the ones I haven't read, he... Read more

  Posted on 28 August 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Woman Reading

  

  I really love this painting, which is by the American artist Irving Ramsay Wiles (1861-1948). Painted in 1900, it is just called The Reader. You can see lots... Read more

  Posted on 24 August 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Quiet American (reprise)

  

  I'm reprising this review from -- amazingly enough -- 2008 -- have I really been at this for such a long time? I was going to save it for a bit later in the... Read more

  Posted on 19 August 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Third Man

  

  I decided to read something by Graham Greene, in response to Simon Savidge's Greene for Gran month. But my reading has somehow got very unfocused at the moment... Read more

  Posted on 18 August 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Girl with Flowers

  

  Actually Portrait of a Girl, painted in 1840  by the German artist Ferdinand von Rayski (1806-1890). I like the dog, which looks as if it might be smellin... Read more

  Posted on 17 August 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Life After Life

  

  As you will have noticed if you pop in here from time to time, I'm not a great reader of newly published fiction. But of course there are exceptions -- if I... Read more

  Posted on 13 August 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Reclining Woman

  

  I love it when people send me pictures to put on here. Mostly I seem to go for ninteenth and early twentieth century images, but this was painted in 1993 by... Read more

  Posted on 10 August 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Graham Greene, Anyone?

  

  If you read that delightful blog Savidge Reads (and if you don't, you really should) you will know that Simon Savidge's amazing Gran passed away recently. Read more

  Posted on 31 July 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Giving up on The Prime Minister

  

  No, not David Cameron -- no giving up called for there, as I knew from the start he was going to be a dead loss. I'm talking about the penultimate novel in the... Read more

  Posted on 30 July 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Reading by Candlelight

  

  A kind occasional visitor to this blog sent me this picture a few days ago. It's by the Danish artist Poul Friis Nybo (1869-1929). Read more

  Posted on 27 July 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Last Chronicle of Barset

  

  And now, if the reader will allow me to seize him affectionately by the arm, we will together take our last farewell of Barset and of the towers of Barsetshire. Read more

  Posted on 23 July 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE