10 movies/series as good as, if not better than the books.

1. Death in Venice – I read the short story, but oh, that wonderful movie!
2. Gone with the wind – again, unforgettable movie.
3. The Godfather – I read the book decades of years ago. I couldn’t read it now but the movie is still terrific.
4. The Forsyte Saga: I have this (in three volumes) three times over the years, but I have to admit that the very first series, with Eric Porter as Soames, was tremendous.
5. Brideshead Revisited – who could forget that wonderful series, so rich and deep and colourful, every character perfect.
6. A Room with a View. I have read all of E M Forster’s books, and I have seen the movies but this one in particular is an absolute joy and delight.
7. Misery. I find it almost impossible to read Stephen King – he’s too much for me – but Misery was a great movie – I’ve never trusted Cathy Bates since!
8. The Shining – again a great movie. Who could ever forget Jack Nicholson?
9. The Shawshank Redemption. I think I’ve seen it three times, I’ve only read the short story once.
10. Brokeback Mountain. When I first read this book, I thought it was the loving-est love story I had ever read and I made everyone I knew read it too. I worried about a movie coming out but it was great, the two guys were marvelous and it looked lovely too.

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Some of my Favourite Movies

1. Jean de Florette et Manon des Sources – Claude Berri
2. The Godfather 1 and 2 – Francis Ford Coppola
3. Fargo – The Coen Brothers
4. La Strada – Federico Fellini
5. Some Like it Hot – Billy Wilder
6. Babette’s Feast – Gabriel Axel
7. Death in Venice – Luchino Visconti
8. Volver – Pedro Almodóvar
9. Gone with the Wind – David O Selznick
10. La Belle et la Bete – Jean Cocteau
11. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino
12. There Will be Blood – Paul Thomas Anderson

I’m going to stop here. There are still quite a lot of 2019 movies I’ve to see; I’ll probably have to rewrite the list again . . . Anyone else like to post a list?

10 Favourite Travel Books

I have read an awful lot of travel books and it took me quite a while to choose ten; some authors are on my list more than once. I have been to several countries in Europe and to S Africa but this is as close as I’m going to get to the South Sea Islands or north Africa. I could have included books on travels in China, Australia or S America but these are really my favourites:

1. The Happy Isles of Oceania – a journey round the South Sea Islands by Paul Theroux
2. The Pillars of Hercules – a tour of the entire Mediterranean by Paul Theroux
3. Dark Star Safari – from Cairo to Capetown by Paul Theroux
4. Sea and Sardinia – an exploration of the island by D H Lawrence (which I liked better than his novels)
5. The Sign of the Cross – travels to places of pilgrimage in Europe by Colm Tóibín
6. Homage to Barcelona – recollections of his time there as a teacher (and a nod to Orwell) by Colm Tóibín
7. Homage to Catalonia – memories of the civil war by George Orwell
8. A Place Apart – cycling across the border from the republic into the north of Ireland by Dervla Murphy
9. South of the Limpopo – on the bicycle as always, touring S Africa by Dervla Murphy

If anyone can suggest more titles for me that would be good. I’m particularly interested in Japan and Korea at the moment.

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