BOOK – The last book that struck a chord with me was Elio Vittorini’s novel Conversations in Sicily. Written in 1930s Italy under the constraints of fascism, it is a subtly anti-fascist book which in very few pages explores themes such as the nature of humanity and social injustice. As there is little detail about Mussolini’s Italy, it is a timeless work equally relevant in any oppressed state. It deals with weighty issues but is a pleasure to read, with stunningly crafted characters and a lilting, lyrical language.
FILM – I can’t remember the last time I went to the cinema, which says something about Oxford life, but I recently saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and felt like everything was right with the world. My all-time favourite film is A Room with a View, the adaptation of Forster. It’s a period romance that really works, particularly with the star turns from Helena Bonham-Carter, Maggie Smith and Daniel Day-Lewis as you have never seen him before. It was also one of the films my parents went to see when dating…
MUSIC – My music taste is eclectic. Right now, however, I’m really enjoying the latest album Visions by Grimes, a Canadian musician who takes bizarre artistry to a whole new level. Apparently when writing the album she locked herself alone in her flat for three weeks, starved herself and alternated between cigarettes and amphetamines. Which should have made this album pretentious and self-indulgent. Instead it’s mesmerising, as though Bjork had written for Crystal Castles.
OPERA – I was desperate to see Bieito’s Fidelio at the Coliseum this year, but missed it. What I did see was Grange Park’s interpretation of the Poulenc opera Les Dialogues des Carmélites. Written when Poulenc’s boyfriend was dying of TB in Paris, it uses the story of the martyred Carmelite nuns in the French Revolution to examine how to approach death. It is tense and atmospheric and deeply uncomfortable, particularly during the final Salve Regina, sung as the nuns mount the guillotine. It is a masterpiece.
