18th December

Happy birthday Steven Spielberg; you have kept me entertained for many hours!

And a quote from another famous director, Woody Allen:  ‘I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality through not dying.’

Today’s damp book was once famously requested in a bookshop as ‘Captain Gorilla’s Mandarin’. I don’t think that one’s been written yet, soif you can’t get it, try Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis de Bernieres. A terrific story, set on the island of Cephalonia around the 2nd World War, this is one of those books that has the right ending, rather than the ending you want it to have. The first time I read it, I had to stay up until 2am because I couldn’t bear to go to bed not knowing what would happen. As a lover of all things Greek, I am particularly fond of it. On no account watch the film…

PS If you’ve read it, you’ll know why I chose today’s picture.

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