Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction Shortlist

The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction is the UK's most prestigious and the richest non-fiction prize in the UK, worth £20,000 to the winner.The prize aims to reward the best of non-fiction and is open to authors of all non-fiction books in the areas of current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. The winner is to be announced on November 12th.
The six books shortlisted are:

 
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum, by Katherine Boo

 
 Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest, by Wade Davis

 
The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot, by Robert Macfarlane

 
The Better Angels of our Nature: A History of Violence and Humanity, by Steven Pinker

 
The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain, by Paul Preston

 
Strindberg: A Life, by Sue Prideaux

They all look very interesting and will be added to my 'always growing at a faster rate than I can read' list of books. Good luck to all the authors for November.

London- Lesser Known Places to Visit

We all know the Top ten places to visit in the main European cities but every city has either secret of less well known places to visit. I live in Dublin and am always on the outlook for new places to discover. But London where I come from is enormous in comparison to the little city of Dubli and will always yield the unknown as long as you keep searching. Here are a few places that even the most seasoned London visitor might have missed.

1.The Photographers Gallery 16 – 18 Ramillies Street, London W1
The Photographers' Gallery is the largest public gallery in London dedicated to photography. From the latest emerging talent, to historical archives and established artists.
http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/ for opening hours


2.Dennis Sever's House 18 Folgate Street, London E1
Created by Dennis Sever who recreated and lived in the house much as the original 18th century owners would have done.
http://www.dennissevershouse.co.uk/
 

3.Sir John Soane's Museum 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A
A house museum. Soane, Royal Academy architect designed this house to live in, but also as a setting for his antiquities and his works of art.  http://www.soane.org/
 

4.Freud Museum  20 Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead,  London NW3
The London home of Sigmund and his daughter Anna Freud. Now a museum containing Freud's library, and his collection of antiquities.
www.freud.org.uk/


5.Geffrye Museum 136 Kingsland Road London E2
A museum specialising in the history of the English domestic interior.
www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/
 

6.Sherlock Holmes Museum 221b Baker Street,London NW1
A museum dedicated to the life and times of Sherlock Holmes,. The interior has been  maintained as described in the published stories.
http://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/
 

7. Leighton House  12 Holland Park Road, London W14.
Former home and studio of the leading Victorian artist, Frederic, Lord Leighton,  designed to display Leighton's collection of Islamic tiles brought back from Damascus giving the interior a vision of the Orient. http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/subsites/museums/leightonhousemuseum.aspx
 

8.Berwick Street Market- Berwick Street (of course), London W1 off Oxford Street
Who doesn't love a market and this long-running London mainly fruit and veg street market continues to serve as a place for lunchtime office workers, tourists and locals alike. Flanked by sandwich bars and coffee shops it is also a spot to just sit and watch the, suprising for it's location, less touristy side of London pass by.
 

9. Chelsea Physic Garden 66 Royal Hospital Road, London SW3.
Established in 1673 it is the second oldest botanical garden in Britain.
www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/
 

10.Regents Canal -walk from Warwick Avenue (Little Venice) to Camden (or vice versa!)
Many Londoners have never done this walk, rushing in on the tube each day and often only lingering for a quick Friday night work drink of to visit town for the theatre or a meal.
Very good article here http://www.visitlondon.com/discover-london/london-areas/central/regents-canal
 

11.Jermyn Street London W1
Just to soak up the finer side of life away from the main drag of tourist taps like the awful Piccadilly Circus wander down this handsome street and window shop the fine quality on show. Don't miss wandering through the beautiful Picadilly Arcade.
  

12. Inns of Court Middle Temple Lane, London,  EC4 (only open weekdays)
Don't miss the small arched entrance. In the main building you can visit an Elizabethan banqueting hall. Eat lunch after at Fuzzy's Grub at 62 Fleet Street.


  

Mo Yan wins Nobel Literature Prize

The BBC reported just before noon that the Chinese author Mo Yan had been awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.

 

 

Mo Yan is the author's pen name and can be translated as "don't speak". He is a short story writer and the first Chinese resident to win this prestigious prize worth 8 million kroner (approx €925,000).

Baldongan Castle, Co.Dublin

Now, I found this drawing really interesting because the ruin for Baldongan Castle is just a few miles away from me.


The church ruin is still basically across a country road in a field.
The website archiseek.com tell us;
 "The castle was constructed in the mid 13th Century, possibly by the Knights Templar, rectangular in plan with towers on each corner. The church was built in the 15th century and was also furnished with a fortified bell tower, 70 feet tall. The castle was the home of the De Berminghams and the Barnwells families until the Cromwellian invasion. At this time, a group of assorted Irish anti-Parliamentarians held the Castle until 1642 when it was pummelled by the artillery of the forces of Colonel Trafford. Over time the ruins of the castle have disappeared. The ruined church still stands today and is a National Monument".

A National Monument no less! I will pay it more reverence net time I'm passing!

 

Dublin's Lost Loos

After the wide reading and obvious interest in my previous post in relation to the location of loos in Dublin (http://dublinduchess.blogspot.ie/2012/10/toilets-in-dublin-issue-1.html ), this slide show by Bryan O'Brien has been brought to my attention.

Dublin's Lost Loos  (Click to watch): http://www.irishtimes.com/indepth/slideshows/dublin-toilets/

His photography of such an everyday mundane subject as toilets is brought to a new level and I really like his work. See more on his website http://bryanobrien.com/

Laura Collins

I came across the sublime voice of Laura Collins whilst listening to RTE Lyric FM last night, in particular the radio show 'The Blue of the Night' which is on from 10pm-1am every night. Carl Corcoran (Mondays-Thursday) serves up a great selection of music to relax you in to inevitable slumber at that time. The track played last night was Laura Collins recording of Wichita Lineman written by Jimmy Webb but first recorded by the great Glen Campbell. I had friend way back when we were teenagers who loved Glen Campbell and played his tape back to back in her car. At the time I thought it was pretty weird-we were seventeen for god's sake and I was into The Jam. But with the benefit of time I have come round to the velvety tones of ole Glen, and Wichita Lineman is one of my favourites.



Meanwhile, back to Laura Collins. She's clasically trained but turned to Jazz finding choral singing too restrained and so studied Jazz performance in London's Guildhall Music school. The track is from an album called Baltimore Oriole. The track can be listened to here. I hope you like it as much as I do. http://www.myspace.com/lauracollinsmusic/music/songs/wichita-lineman-70802644

Reservoir Dogs

I watched this most excellent film again the other night and it got me thinking about some of the aspects of it. First is the title. The much-quoted explanaion for this refers to Tarantino's calling the film Au Revoir Les Enfants  'the reservoir film' when he worked in a video shop. Added to the second part of the name of a film he liked by director Sam Pekinpah, Straw Dogs.
The other prominent aspect of the film is the music- in particular the use of music and voice from K-Billy's Super Sounds of the Seventies  radio show. Tarantino's use of music in the film showed his cool taste and reaquainted film goers with some of the best of the 70s. Probably most well known now is the Gerry Raferty track Stuck in the Middle with You with his band Stealers Wheels. The track itself has become as iconic as the film.
Watch it again soon-you won't be disappointed!