Matt Haig

Wow. A masterpiece. Genuinely. Something happens while watching this film and I don’t know how he did it. A stirring. An awakening. What I mean is it feels as close as a movie can get to conveying the ancient. Something timeless is being untapped. Samantha Morton as Circe - astounding. Her scenes are UNFORGETTABLE. Robert Patrison and Eliot Page - two other standouts. The sound is incredible, which fits a tale that was heard before it was ever written/read. The music, the mixing. Even one of the most controversial casting choices - rapper Travis Scott as a bard - makes sense. A rapper’s voice being the first words of dialogue nods to the fact that The Odyssey was meant to be HEARD and by ALL. Nolan has opened up Homer. The classist classicists aren’t happy. Boris Johnson says the poem is ‘much better’, shutting the gates like a Trojan who knows it is too late. Ancient Greek literature has mainly been the preserve of people who went to expensive schools. More so than, say, Shakespeare. And yet, the thing Boris is forgetting is The Odyssey was originally just stories being passed down. And now cultural gatekeepers tell people the ‘right’ way to experience it. What Nolan does in some ways is truly, originally Homeric or pre Homeric. Even down to the use of informal dialogue like ‘dad’ which is no more out of place than ‘father’ would have been. (Ancient Greeks didn’t speak English. Not even formal English.) It’s beautiful. Even, somehow, the Cyclops. Like something out of Goya. And yes, it is annoying to think of thoroughly modern celebrity words like ‘Matt Damon’ or ‘Tom Holland’ while watching an Ancient Greek tale that modern Greeks should have appeared in but they again are perfectly cast in ways that their former work actually adds meaning to their roles. I hate long films and this is nearly three hours and yet I wanted it to be LONGER. It builds and builds. And there have been moans that some poetry has been lost. Sure. But some has been added. Visual poetry. The sirens, the cave, the lotus flowers, the sea and the sky. Immense art. Deeply human. Made, as it always should have been, for everyone. Ithaca i

Es verdad

Since we announced that @thegoldenbookshop will be arriving to Brighton we have been SWAMPED. We have already had about two hundred applications and work enquiries even though we hadn’t asked for any. But we are very grateful. Just a little unprepared. And it is hard to keep track of everyone. So now we have set up an email specifically for anyone with work enquiries - hello@thegoldenbookshop.com That said, we are still in the early phases and won’t be able to respond to everyone and at this point don’t know yet everything we need. Our first step, after we have renovated the space will be getting a manager who knows their stuff and who we trust. Anyway, we are very grateful to how the people of Brighton and Seven Dials have responded. Everyone has been so kind. Okay we did have ONE anonymous hate message but that is a pretty good ratio these days on the internet. But the stats are that indie bookshops don’t eat each other they build each other. Books breed books. And in the age of Bezos and AI we need as many as possible. And this space would have ended up being bought by a supermarket. If a chef sets up a new restaurant are they told they should just support other restaurants instead? In America it is a tradition for authors to set up bookshops. One American tradition I really like. It’s going to be good. We are fizzing with ideas. We are inspired by our fave bookshops in the world from Edinburgh and the Cotswolds to Seoul and Paris and San Francisco and Santorini and Lisbon. And we aim to be good for readers, employees and the community and just add a new beautiful thing to the world. Have a lovely weekend.

I hate to be THAT DAD but Pearl has just this second set up an Instagram for her music. It is @pearl_is_a_singer (give her a follow if you want). This is her first ever post anywhere after 17 years on earth so she is nervous about it. She is music obsessed and has been working SO HARD. She has even taught herself bass and guitar. Learning music has helped her with her confidence. She has loved Bruno Mars from a very young age so decided to start with this. If you could go to @pearl_is_a_singer and check it out that would mean a lot. She is the only person in the world who genuinely finds my jokes funny so I have to do this. Thank you!!

The third and FINAL book in the Midnight World will be the sequel to The Midnight Library. Make sense? Nora and Mrs Elm think so.