![]() ![]() But the story was enthralling, and I kept reading and reading, and eventually my bookmark was sitting around the middle of the book. I seemed to be reading it day and night on the train, in the lunchroom at work, in bed, while I was stirring things on the stove and not making so much as a dent in the pages. Then, once I actually started reading The Forsyte Saga, I didn’t think I would ever get through the book. ![]() ![]() I didn’t think I would ever actually get around to reading The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. My edition has The Man of Property, In Chancery and To Let in a single volume of 724 pages and I had been saving the book up in case I ever broke my leg and couldn’t get to the library. The book has been hiding in the stash of books inside my bedside table for about 25 years,* and only came out when I was watching the television news a few weeks ago (sigh) and thinking about the things I would regret not having done if the world came to a sudden end. ![]()
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![]() It was first performed in New York at the 'old' Metropolitan Opera House on 20 March 1901, with Lucienne Bréval in the title role, Albert Saléza, Eustase Thomas-Salignac, Marcel Journet, Charles Gillibert, Eugène Dufriche, and Antonio Scotti with Luigi Mancinelli conducting. The American premiere was at the French Opera House in New Orleans on 25 January 1900 with Lina Pacary in the title role. ![]() The Parisian premiere at the Palais Garnier took place on with costumes by Eugène Lacoste and sets by Eugène Carpezat (Acts I and V), Auguste Alfred Rubé and Philippe Chaperon (Act II), and Amable and Eugène Gardy (Act IV). Initially refused by Paris, Reyer's opera enjoyed its first performance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, on 10 February 1890, with sets designed by Pierre Devis and Armand Lynen. It is based on the homonymous novel by Gustave Flaubert (1862). ![]() Salammbô is an opera in five acts composed by Ernest Reyer to a French libretto by Camille du Locle. ![]() ![]() First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC television series about which the Sunday Times critic commented: 'This is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings. John Berger's Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and influential books on art in any language. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.' It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world we explain that world with words, but word can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. 'But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.' ![]() ![]() Based on the BBC television series, John Berger's Ways of Seeing is a unique look at the way we view art, published as part of the Penguin on Design series in Penguin Modern Classics. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Then I looked at the reviews and discovered that this is the abridged version. About 45 mins in I realised that the story seemed to be moving very fast. I made the mistake of buying this version and was glad of Audible's return policy. As the days rolled by, the fridge grew into a personality in its own right, developing its own identity and bringing people together wherever it went.ĭon't buy this version, find the unabridged one. And unexpectedly, the fridge itself became a momentary focus for the people of Ireland. In their month of madness, Tony and his fridge met a real prince and a bogus one they surfed together and entered a bachelor festival the fridge was christened and one of the pair had sex without the other knowing. ![]() Here is his record of the unlikely pair's fortunes as they made their way from Dublin to Donegal, from Sligo through Mayo, Galway, Clare, Kerry, Cork, Wexford, Wicklow, and back again to Dublin. Only in the magical land of Ireland could such a notion lead to such fruitful adventure. Joined by his trusty travelling companion-cum-domestic appliance, he found himself in the midst of a remarkable adventure, at times emotional, at times inspirational, but more often than not, downright silly. Have you ever made a drunken bet? Worse, still, have you ever tried to win one? In attempting to hitchhike round Ireland with a fridge, Tony Hawks did both, and his foolhardiness led him to one of the best experiences of his life. ![]() |