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mousetrapplingBooks
Fiction: Still reading "The Bear & The Dragon", Tom Clancy. Didn't take it away with me at the weekend so I've not got much further.
Non-fiction: Still reading "The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East", Robert Fisk - the Iran-Iraq war, in particular how the West cast Iran as the villains at all points, even when the Iraqi regime was gassing both Iranian soldiers and Iraqi civilians. And the accidental shooting down by the US of an Iranian civilian flight which was again treated as being somehow the fault of the Iranian government/military rather than an appalling error of judgement of the US military personnel involved.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: General Introduction - more background on how the world of the theatre worked in Shakespeare's time.
Listening
Podcasts: ep 14-28 of The History of England - we've covered the Norman Conquest and are into Henry I's reign.
Live Music: we went to see Marillion play at the Cambridge Corn Exchange. Support were Jennifer Rothery (vocals) & Riccardo Romano (keyboard) doing a mix of her stuff and his stuff, I preferred the stuff she'd written I think. Marillion were excellent, as they generally are, and played some of the current album (F.E.A.R.) plus a range of songs from the last 30 years or so - including some old favourites like Easter.
Watching
ep 7 of Civilisations - Simon Schama looking at the use of colour in art, covering things as varied as Gothic cathedrals, Goya and Hokusai.
ep 2 of Kim Philby: His Most Intimate Betrayal - the downfall of Philby, which he bounced back from at least once, and how upsetting the final discovery of betrayal was for those who'd supported him. We'd watched this in our depressing TV slot but it wasn't really, other than that he got away with it for so long because he was Our Sort of Chap so no-one really believed he could be a spy.
ep 1 & 2 of An Art Lovers Guide - Alastair Sooke & Janina Ramirez visit 3 cities to look at their art & history in a travel-guide sort of way. These episodes covered Lisbon & Beirut and I think the theme is cities where different cultures mingle.
