Books
- I always have a book on the go. When I was a student, I became a lifelong Jane Austen fan after reading Emma. There are a number of authors I read on the strength of having enjoyed their previous works. One is William Boyd. I particularly enjoyed Any Human Heart and Ordinary Thunderstorms. In my younger days, I was a great fan of John Irving. I have reread The World According to Garp several times and once queued for hours to have him sign a copy for me. My guilty pleasure is Stephen King. I was delighted to lose myself in 11.22.63, which is based around the idea of stopping the assassination of JFK.
Film
- I usually take myself off to the pictures on a Saturday afternoon and for the past couple of years I’ve been going to a weekly film discussion group at the University of Glasgow. This introduced me to films I’d never have thought of seeing. A great favourite recently was the Argentinian film The Secret in Their Eyes. Last year was a good year for movies. One favourite was Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin. I enjoy most of Quentin Tarantino’s movies; Pulp Fiction is one of my all-time favourites. I adore most musicals and can’t wait to see the film version of Les Miserables in January.
TV
- I always make time for TV. I’ve watched Coronation Street for years and love being able to dip in and out. I enjoy some American sitcoms. Frasier is a firm favourite in our house. It has great dialogue and such well- rounded characters. My favourite programme currently is Mad Men. I haven’t seen the latest series yet as we don’t have Sky Atlantic. Hopefully, the DVD I’ve ordered will arrive by the end of this month.