Books, books, books – How many books are available on Amazon? Well there’s my three for starters tee-hee-hee. Chris and Douglas went over to the Unwin’s a couple of days ago and Douglas borrowed three books for me – THE BRUTAL ART by Jesse Kellerman, THE LUMINOUS LIFE OF LILLY APHRODITE by Beatrice Colin (sounds interesting!) and THE SIEGE BY Helen Dunmore. Jenny’s as good as a public library. On top of that, the Baxters came for drinks Sunday evening and Ursula brought me PAST IMPERFECT BY Julian Fellowes, another 500 pages, and I am only half way through John Ghrisham’s KING OF TORT so there is plenty of reading to hand. Oh, I also started on Gore Vidal’s CREATION but that is truly massive and a pick it up now and again book I think. I didn’t know what “Tort” was until starting in on Grisham’s book and he, being a lawyer, I have to presume knows exactly what he is talking about and it is an incredible insight into the workings of tort lawyers in America. What a bizarre world! It’s a whole other planet. And Katie Price aka Jordan has brought out another book of chic-lit (ghost written?) pornography (so I am informed – I haven’t read it but like disgusted of East Cheam or Tunbridge Wells or wherever am putting in my pennyworth) which evidently will fly off the bookshop shelves, make her even richer and titillate a million or more tiny minds.
At the same time I read that British novelist Stanley Middleton dies at 89 having in his lifetime written 44 books. FORTY-FOUR BOOKS! That is a hell of a lot of writing, not one have I read and in fact, until I saw this obit in The Athens News, I had never even heard of Stanley Middleton. I should think, someone correct me if I’m wrong, that Mister Middleton’s combined output never made the money that just one of Katie Price’s books has made. It certainly is a bizarre world.
Apart from all the books mentioned I have been requested to read the English translations of the Greek scripts for the proposed television series of Victoria Hislop’s THE ISLAND and comment on them (!) so will do that before I even finish learning all about American lawyers suing large corporations for billions.
As this seems to be all about reading one last piece of news. Many years ago, I hate to think how many, I wrote a musical, book and lyrics, called BLACK MARIA and it has been languishing in the script cupboard ever since, but the other day I took it out and reread it and it just has to be the ‘feel good’ musical of all time. Okay, so it is an old-fashioned book show but old-fashioned book shows are being constantly revived these days and not everyone is a rock fan. And, okay, it is a simplistic plot (one of the eight) boy gets girls, boy loses girl, boys gets girl, but it is an unusual setting and does have, as all good musicals should,a sub-plot. Reading it again I couldn’t believe, pardon me while I blow my own trumpet, that I was so young when I wrote it. Anyway, to cut a long story short as they say I was so taken with it I have spent the last three or four days typing it into this machine with a little polishing as I went along. Now, the question is, what do I do with it? Getting a new musical produced as I know, I’ve written six, takes an act of God in convocation with all His archangels.
We mailed my play ROSEMARY to Vanessa Redgrave’s agent last week but I’m not too sure it wasn’t yet more waste of postage. They won’t have got the script yet, I think, because there has been a postal strike but anyway, Ms Redgrave is in Italy filming and Eileen Atkins is trying to persuade her to go into a play with her. It’s all happening as they say.
Anyone want to premiere a smash hit musical?