2014/01: The Gospel of Loki – Joanne Harris

2014/01: The Gospel of Loki – Joanne Harris

Order is like ice that creeps, bringing life to a standstill ... the ice will creep back. Stagnation will come. My kingdom will fall into darkness. I cannot be seen to break my own rules. But I do need someone on my side who can break them for me when necessary. [p. 42]

The Gospel of Loki is a prequel to Joanne Harris' Runemarks and Runelight, which are set 'five hundred years after the end of the world'. This novel, narrated by Loki himself, is the story of how a creature of Chaos was tamed (ish), brought on board by Odin to do his dirty work. Using the poem Völuspá (a version -- I believe it's Harris' own translation -- of which is appended to the novel) as an outline, it tells the story of Loki from Chaos to, er, Chaos. (Ragnarok, anyway.) Many of the episodes will be familiar from Norse mythology: others are invented, but are seamlessly in-character.( Read more... )

[theatre] Mitch Benn is the 37th Beatle - Arts Theatre, 7-Apr-14

In which Mitch Benn is a complete fanboy (mostly the Beatles, but he managed to get in a couple of Doctor Who references) and also remarkably educational. Also, for a show he's performed quite a few times, it still feels fresh and spontaneous. (Reading a review of the show's debut at the Edinburgh Fringe last year made me realise how many off-the-cuff comments were scripted.)

My knowledge of the Beatles' catalogue is less than encyclopaedic, so I probably missed a lot of references. I did, however, get the joke about the whiteboard ('Beatles board') and am familiar enough with 'Tomorrow Never Knows' to be utterly fascinated by Mitch Benn's one-man recreation, with a digital recorder (iPhone?), of the various loops and beats involved.

Interesting asides about how Liverpudlian accents vary by gender; John and Paul as Cleese and Palin; the awfulness of Oasis; the various people who've been called 'the fifth Beatle' and how some are less wrong than others; and a fascinating set of Mitch Benn's Tenous Beatles Connections, culminating in an epic tale of love, loss and Pete Best.

Kudos, too, for never explicitly drawing our attention to the Sekrit Message on the whiteboard (replicated here using bold rather than green).

2014/02: Life After Life -- Kate Atkinson

2014/02: Life After Life -- Kate Atkinson

Would she really be able to come back and start again? Or was it, as everyone told her, and as she must believe, all in her head? And so what if it was – wasn’t everything in her head real too? [loc. 2437]

A snowy night in the early years of the 20th century. Sylvie hopes the doctor will arrive in time. Will her daughter Ursula live or die?( slightly spoilery review )