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February Reads | 52 Books 2014

03.08.2014 by Nicola //

Aside from being maddeningly short, and my schedule being a bit ridiculous at the moment, February is also time for films.

The final 2 weeks of February is home to the Glasgow Film Festival, so I was whiling my spare hours away in dark rooms instead of reading.

Here are the few books that I managed to squeeze in.

7. The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves by Stephen Grosz
★★★★★– This collection of brief insights and anecdotes from a seasoned psychoanalyst was an interesting read. I enjoyed the episodic style and insights Grosz brought together and the ways in which he encourages you to imagine and explore his process. A few stories are resolved far too neatly, but as a casual read this is a great way to understand psychoanalysis beyond the “how does that make you feel?” movie tropes that we see so often. Very accomplished.

8. Manage Your Day-to-Day edited by Jocelyn Glei
★★★★★ – Let’s be honest, if you’re into reading productivity blogs, you’ll have heard most of this advice before. However it’s nicely packaged, well designed, and quick to read. Can’t argue with that.

9. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
★★★★★ – Another book club pick, and one that I had been meaning to read for a long time. It’s hardly a page-turner, but its various character view-points are impressively broad and the story of a disconnected small town within demonstrates a deep understanding of humanity. I wish I’d had a bit more time to appreciate it fully.

I also spent much of the month reading ‘S.‘ by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst. More on that next month…

What did you read in February?

January Reads | 52 Books 2014

03.07.2014 by Nicola //

No you’re not lost in time in space, I’m just super late to reviews this month/year!

In January I began a new ridiculous work schedule, and while I got a reasonable amount of reading in, it left little time for writing and absolutely none for video-making, so here we are in March trying to get caught up.

So without any further ado…

1. Swamplandia by Karen Russell
★★★★★ – This was a November buddy read with Kevin which bled over into January – and we haven’t even caught up to chat about it yet. I’d heard nothing but raves about Karen Russell and her crazy short stories, and this was promising. It was sweet and often touching, as books with child narrators go, with some lovely prose; but the late switch in narrative voice was jarring and it didn’t ever recover from that point for me. I’ll give her short fiction a go, though.

2. So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport
★★★★★ – This one wasn’t a life- or mind-changer for me, but it could be for you. Newport’s thesis is a rejection of the passion hypothesis, and it’s a convincing and well illustrated. He elucidates some great points clearly and succinctly (though occasionally ad nauseum) — so its strength is in its structure and reinforcement above all else. While his form is fairly one-note and occasionally dry, it has definitely given me some personal takeaways on how to think about my work and progression. If you’re young and/or starting out on your own path, or are chronically dissatisfied at work, though? This is an absolute must-read.

3. Remote: No Office Required by David Heinemeier Hansson
★★★★★ – This book probably preaches to a very self-selecting group – myself included. While I work from home for the majority of each week, this is a super quick read and gives some great tips for working remotely as part of a team. Those 37 Signals guys know their shit.

4. Maggie Cassidy by Jack Kerouac
★★★★★ – I love me some Kerouac, but this definitely read like a first attempt. Kerouac requires patience, a bit of a run-up, time to settle in to his rhythms. But that doesn’t stop his sexism from being kind of – no, totally, horribly grating. That aside, when its good, it’s really, really good, and following at its natural pace can feel all too fleeting. One for the fans, not the best place to start.

5. Ask the Dust by John Fante
★★★★★ – This book seemed to come out of nowhere. It was a book club pick, and Fante’s a big inspiration of Bukowski’s, so it’s writerly angst and grumpy dudes all round. something about his prose really sparked for me, and I can hardly resist 1930s Hollywood, so ultimately it quickly became my read of the year so far. I immediately went out and bought the Quartet of Fante’s 4 novels based around the same character. Safe to say would recommend this one.

6. Red Dust Road by Jackie Kay
★★★★★ – This is poet and author Jackie Kay’s memoir about finding her birth parents in adulthood. It’s sumptuous and lyrical, filled with sadness and disappointment but also a great sense of honesty and generosity. While I’m sure some of it is constructed, it always rang true and had a real element of life’s messiness about it. A great read.

What’s your favourite read of 2014 so far?

Film Review: Everybody’s Child at Glasgow Film Festival

02.25.2014 by Nicola //

Everybody’s Child is a documentary by emerging Scottish filmmaker Garry Fraser.

A documentary in which recovering heroin addict and film director, Garry Fraser, takes us to the heart of the poor marginalised community he grew up in. Garry faces up to the damage done by his life of crime and drugs as he works to ensure his three children have something he never had; a loving, supportive family.

The film had its Scottish premiere at Glasgow Film Festival earlier this month.

Fraser opens the film with a musical flourish, a rap track about his personal journey and the harrowing conditions under which he grew up. His story kicks off with an introduction to Muirhouse, an estate in the North of Edinburgh which was once the HIV-AIDS capital of the UK and which, it seems – like many a problematic residential estate – has been largely ignored and underfunded by the Edinburgh City Council. Some statistics are thrown in for good measure here, demonstrating the dearth of the drug problem that led to HIV-AIDS epidemic in the area; however no real sense of Muirhouse’s current place in the city or country is achieved.

This is a theme that continues throughout the film: a place, a time, a bit of backstory, but no real insight into the wider context in which the filmmaker’s life sits. Fraser has chosen his set pieces well, building up a picture of life in an abusive household, moved from home to home, falling into a life of drugs and dealing, then finally making his way out with the love of a new family and a passion for filmmaking. However, it does not reach far beyond the life experience of one man and his triumph over his demons.

One of the tenets of criticism is not to criticise a film (text, artwork, etc) for something that it does not try to do. This rule makes a documentary like Everybody’s Child difficult to discuss – and the problem is in its presentation. Fraser is very much at the centre of the film, and of his world. The trouble is that film itself hints at being an issue-based documentary. In fact it is more of a personal work or memoir which addresses, but does not fully explore, a few key issues along the way. As a personal film, it is a Theroux-esque examination of personal struggles, and its content is at turns disturbing, compelling, and sad. As an issue-based doc, it falls short of poignancy. For example, Fraser condemns the methadone programme, but does not suggest an alternative practice. He later extolls his terrible experiences within the foster care system, but does not further examine its motivations or, again, any specific issues that ought to be raised for policy changes to take place. While one is compelled by Fraser’s personal story, there is not a great sense of how his personal successes (many of them works in progress) can become a hand up for others.

As the ended, I couldn’t help but think that its conclusions come far too soon. That the process cannot be fully appreciated when taking place, as the film does, primarily in the present tense. What else can a documentarian like Fraser bring to the table after his personal journey is spent? My hope is that, with this personal journey passed, he will be able to move on and turn his passion and ideas into issue-based activist films – ones that truly shed light on social ills and teach us how to improve the lives of people like that young Garry Fraser.