Dark, beautiful, and clever are 3 words I’d use to describe Ben Wheatley’s Rebecca. I’d never read the books,written by Daphne du Maurier, but I’d always heard good things about the story of Rebecca. So when I heard it was coming onto Netflix, I knew it was the perfect time to give the story a…
Books, Venue
The politics of dystopia: The Handmaid’s Tale
For the most part, dystopian fiction provides us with a source of escape: it allows us to see alternative universes in which the worst elements of humanity are brought to the forefront. So, how should we as readers feel when the things we are meant to fear begin to crop up in real life? Margaret…
Books, Venue
The unstable future of book reviews
Sometimes dealing with the fallout of the Coronavirus feels like tackling a hydra; when one issue seems to be resolved, two more grow in its place. A significant blow to the economy has seen a disastrous domino effect, wherein cuts to the most “unnecessary” sectors have been made through practical, economic reasoning. Formal book reviews…
Arts, Books, Venue
Turning over a new leaf with our book buying
When it comes to buying books, I love a charity shop. I love looking through used pages and finding pages with old fold marks, fumbling upon reader’s notes, perhaps the previous own has left a book park within the pages… Not only do second-hand book invoke an extreme sense of nostalgia within me, but they…
Arts, Venue
‘Secrets, trust, and danger’: the three promises of Rachel Sargeant’s new novel
Rachel Sargeant is quickly rising the ranks in psychological thrillers, with her novel ‘The Perfect Neighbours’, becoming a top ten Kindle bestseller. Now she talks to us ahead of the release of her upcoming novel, ‘The Roomates’. Sargeant’s new novel revolves around a university campus and explores the story of a stalker. Packed with darkness…
Creative Writing, Venue
The Attic Head
The ceramics teacher wanted to make mothers of us, ‘Make yourself in your image,’ and we all got to work, squeezing these wet slabs, pressing, thumbing, stretching lids over eyes, strands over scalps, building a mirror from the dust that layered every hand. Back from the kiln, the ward, its birthing heat, and I…
Film, Venue
The Shining: An inverse Christmas Carol
Here’s the premise: an old man, extra spiteful during a season meant for joy, taken through a series of short misadventures intended to change his wicked ways forever with the help of several ghosts. He’s a better person for it and all the viewers learn to follow his example. But what if you wanted to…
Arts, Venue
Literature themed around Christmas
For as long as I can remember, my favourite festive literature has been JRR Tolkien’s Letters from Father Christmas. Every Christmas, children write to St. Nicholas about their wishes. This book tells us what he would say if he could write back. Some years, he would have illustrated multi-layered letters with a handmade stamp. In…
Arts, Venue
Rachel Sargeant, The Roommates
The Roommates is the latest novel from best-selling author Rachel Sargeant. Set on a university campus, the book is a psychological thriller with promises of a shocking twist. When summing up her upcoming release, Sargeant says: “The Roommates is a psychological thriller set in a university. Four girls arrive for freshers’ week and find themselves…
Latest Comments