Emergency Kit Edited by Matthew Sweeney and Jo Shapcott Published in 1996 by Faber and Faber John McCullough says: “This Faber anthology from 1996 focuses on twentieth century poetry. Specifically, it isolates individual poems that take surprising angles on their subjects, valuing strangeness and imagination. More than any other single…
The White Hotel D.M. Thomas First published in 1981 “Loosely inspired by the case histories of some of Sigmund Freud’s female patients, “The White Hotel” is an idiosyncratic and erudite piece of fiction. I read it many years ago, and will almost certainly never do so again, because the book’s…
The Burial Jennifer Lash First published in 1961 John Wetherell says: “I can’t remember the plot at all. There was a woman who loved geraniums. But the atmosphere is with me vividly, and the personality of the narrator (1st person). One of the author’s poems (Seventh Song from her Suffolk…
Bing Bang Boing Ideal Inc. Released in 1972 Kona Macphee says: “When I was aged 3 or 4, Andrew who lived next door was given the classic 70s game Bing Bang Boing. One of my most vivid early childhood memories is sitting in his living room and watching the balls…
Poems 1980-2008 Jan Owen John Leonard Press, 2008 Tony Linde says: “My recommendation is the poetry of Jan Owen. I’d not come across her before a trip to Australia and New Zealand last winter. Whenever I’m there, I look out for literature, especially poetry, published there that we don’t get…
Life After Birth Kate Figes First published in 1998 Polly Clark says: “This honest, fulsome, generous and rigorous examination of what happens when a woman becomes a mother was a life-changing document for me when I had a baby. I seemed to enter a world of half-truths, compromises and downright…
Dogs In Space Directed by Richard Lowenstein First released in 1986 Kona Macphee says: “Probably best known for featuring the late Michael Hutchence of INXS, Richard Lowenstein’s apparently semi-autobiographical film “Dogs In Space” is an ensemble piece set in a chaotic Melbourne share-house / squat in 1979. It’s by no…
Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman As told to Ralph Leighton First published in 1985 Patrick Andrews says: “A flatmate of mine once handed me his copy of this book, two days before my second-year exams. He was studying International Relations, so he had plenty of time to read whatever the…
They Were Better Live Weddings Parties Anything Recorded live at the Central Club, 1998 Kona Macphee says: “It’s been a long time since I lived in Australia, but one thing that never fails to transport me back there is the music of Weddings Parties Anything – rocky, folky, raucous, political,…
The Wilton Diptych Unknown artist c. 1395–99 Douglas Robertson says: “As a maker, in whatever discipline you practice, one thing you need to do every now and again is to feed your creative soul. One of my favourite places for this type of artistic nourishment is The National Gallery, in…
