Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

Tristan’s choices: Thursday 7th September 2023

Theme: *Iranian life*

READ: Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

On Thursday 7th September 2023 @ 7:45 pm, HBG gathered at The George Payne minus two key members who were otherwise engaged, to discuss Tristan’s choices.

It was a pleasant Summer evening and our alfresco chat was only slightly disrupted by the adjacent open mike night and we also had another unforgettable HBG moment when we got to meet, repeatedly meet, Roland’s larger than life neighbour: random cuddles, threats, praise, love, insults, and piss taking were all grist for her idiosyncratic mill.

In amongst that we got to discuss Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran. Most of us enjoyed it and most of us found there was too much literary discussion and that it was a tad repetitive. Nigel dubbed it the joint best book we’d read this year. Hamish, by contrast, found the whole thing profoundly depressing

Nick 7.5 / Tristan 6 / Nigel 9 / Keith 7 / Roland 7 / Robin 7 / Hamish 5.6

LISTEN: Dozakh: All Lovers Hell by Nadia Tehran

We were all a little underwhelmed by the music but sadly acknowledged that it is unlikely this young woman could have made this album in her own country.

WATCH: Hit the Road (dir. Panah Panahi, 2021)

We all really enjoyed the film, all except Roland who inexplicably found it really dull. 

Ultimately it’s a beautiful, funny, tragic study of escape from an intolerable regime.

HBG endorse it: 14 July 2023 -> 7 September 2023

Ted Lasso (Disney+)

Girl Woman Other by Bernardine Evaristo (Book)

Jury Duty (Prime)

Scrapper (2023) (Film)

No Rest For The Wicca episode of The Bunker - 20 August 2023 (Podcast)

Rye Lane (2023) (Film - Disney+)

The Book Thief (Film)

Dreaming While Black (iPlayer)

Oppenheimer (2023) dir by Christopher Nolan (Film)

Manifesto: On Never Giving Up by Bernardine Evaristo (Book)

Inside the Iranian Uprising (Documentary- BBC iPlayer)

Law of Tehran (2019) dir by Saeed Roustayi (Film - BBC iPlayer)

The Gift of a Radio (2022) by Justin Webb

 Nick’s choices: Thursday 13th June 2023

Theme: *Boyhood*

READ: The Gift of a Radio (2022) by Justin Webb

Turns out HBG contains many Justin Webb fans and some who had never heard of the man. His childhood memoir is fascinating, grim, compelling and redemptive and he has quite the tale. Few could match Justin Webb's family for weirdness complete with a smothering, snobbish mother and a mentally ill stepfather. Only child Justin was perpetually walking on eggshells whilst going to great pains to please. Things did not improve when he arrived at Sidcot, the private Quaker boarding school, which was even more grim than his home life

It’s incredible that Justin Webb managed to create a generally light and compelling childhood memoir out of all this uber-weirdness.

Thankfully Justin was thrown a lifeline and got himself together. He is a survivor and it's incredible how he went on to thrive in journalism and broadcasting.

As the scores below will attest, some enjoyed it more than others but even Hamish, who doesn’t like biographies, and has no interest in Justin Webb, found sufficient to consider it a worthwhile use of his precious time.

Nick 8 / Tristan 5 / Nigel 8 / Keith 7  / Roland 8 / Robin 6 / Hamish 5

LISTEN: 20 Golden Greats (1976) by The Beach Boys

Talk about divisive, who would guess that The Beach Boys could inspire such wide ranging emotional responses?

Some in HBG will grab you by the arm and earnestly explain that the greatest purveyor of pure pop, the stuff you want to mainline, was Brian Wilson. Furthermore that this collection of Beach Boys hits remains a genuinely thrilling collection of fabulous pop songs that fill the listener with joy and make their hearts soar. To them, The Beach Boys are one of the greatest pop groups there ever was with harmonies that will never get old.

Others in HBG, will look at you with disgust at the mention of The Beach Boys and tell you they are vacuous rubbish with no more merit than a bucket of musical candy floss.

Nick 9 / Tristan 1 / Nigel 10 / Keith 5 / Roland 7.5 / Robin 9 / Hamish 0

WATCH: Boyhood (2014) dir by Richard Linklater

Most of us adored this original, bravura, well acted, beautiful, family, almost cinéma vérité, Linklater masterclass. 

Nick 9 / Tristan 3-6 (based on 9 yr memory) / Nigel 9 / Keith 5 / Roland 10 / Robin 9 / Hamish 9

HBG endorse it: 16 June 2023 -> 13 July 2023

Pulp live (Music)

Sideways (BBC Sounds)

Tony Blair The Musical

Anthony Trollope (Novelist)

The Change sitcom (C4) (Television)

Nile Rodgers and Chic live (Music)

Rude Mechanical Theatre Company (Outdoor Touring Theatre Company)

Wham! (Netflix documentary)

Grace Jones live (Music)

Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances by Eddie Piller (Book)

David Byrne: The 60 Minutes Interview (YouTube)

The Ratline (2020) by Philippe Sands (Book)

Add To Playlist: Anna Phoebe and Neil Brand journey from Brighton to Beirut (BBC Sounds) (BBC Radio 4 Podcast)

Coming Through Slaughter (1976) by Michael Ondaatje

Roland’s choices

Devil’s Dyke Tavern on Thursday 15th June 2023 @ 7:00 pm

Theme: *Jazz*

A car crash was not a great start to our annual cycle up to Devil’s Dyke however, that aside, it was another lovely evening of great weather, companionship and a great ride there and back.

Roland is renewing a lapsed teenage acquaintanceship with Jazz. Poets Corner delights in his sax playing. With all this in mind,  it was time to dig a bit deeper in the world of Jazz. Nice

READ:  Coming Through Slaughter (1976) by Michael Ondaatje

Michael Ondaatje was an established poet when he wrote this short experimental debut novel about Buddy Bolden 

The real Buddy Bolden was an early 20th century New Orleans jazz cornet player. No recordings exist of Bolden's playing, and very little is known of his life beyond the fact that he had a breakdown during a Mardi Gras parade and died years later in a Louisiana asylum.

Roland described it as hard work.

Nigel felt that the Buddy who emerges is an unsympathetic figure about whom we gain no real insights. Other character's like Bolden's wife Nora Bass, policeman friend Webb, and prostitute photographer Bellocq remain similarly opaque.

Hamish called it disjointed but a real jazz novel that he intends to immediately read again 

Nick found it sporadically compelling

Robin labelled it Dickensian

Keith asked, what was the point? No sense of jazz to be found here, before announcing he was not taken with it

Tristan declared it was probably more fun to write than to read before quoting some nonsensical sections. He then asked, what was fact and what was fiction? What indeed?

Nick 8 / Tristan 5.5 / Nigel 3 / Keith 4.5  / Roland 6.5 / Robin 7.5 / Hamish 10

LISTEN: Black To The Future (2021) by Sons of Kemet

Sons of Kemet were an interesting accompaniment to the book, especially as they represent a more modern incarnation of jazz

WATCH: Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019) dir by Stanley Nelson Jr. (Netflix)

To varying degrees we were all impressed. Robin didn’t watch it though and Keith, whilst pleased to have seen it, was actually not impressed. Ever the contrarian

HBG endorse it: 19 May 2023 -> 15 June 2023

Victorian Seance - Brighton Fringe 2023

Lex Fridman Podcast #275 – Rick Rubin: Legendary Music Producer 

Gap Finder - Mark Neale from Mountain Warehouse (BBC Sounds)

Empire of Light (Disney+)

Herculaneum (Italy)

Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland (BBC iPlayer)

Marianna in Conspiracyland (BBC Sounds)

Reel Stories: Pet Shop Boys (BBC iPlayer)

The Eight Mountains (2022) dir by Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch

Michael Jackson on Fire Diorama by Bobby Fingers (YouTube)

Victoria Melody: Pigeon Fanciers (Brighton Festival) 

Patricia Highsmith - Strangers on a Train (1950)

Robin’s choices: Thursday 6th April 2023

Once again we were lacking key members. This time Hamish was in his sick bed and Keith was in Toronto however both had penned reviews. The remaining self styled famous five gathered at Robin’s Lewes penthouse to ponder Robins’s Murder themed selections

Theme: *Murder*

READ:  Patricia Highsmith - Strangers on a Train (1950) 

Patricia Highsmith's superb novel was praised fulsomely by us all . A perfect psychological thriller. The set up is clever and widely known, however it is the unsettling descriptions of the psychological impact of the book's events which are so powerful. Paranoia, guilt, manipulation, mental breakdown, and depression are all vividly described in a very murky stew. The reader lives the inner horror experienced by the two men at the centre of the novel.

Robin also loved the unsympathetic characters and evocation of the 1950s. Roland was entranced by the claustrophobia and realistically obsessive behaviour. Keith was less impressed despite enjoying it and stated it wouldn’t stay with him, and that he preferred the film’s rewritten plot. Tristan and others highlighted the underwritten female characters

So, in short, a hit albeit with some minor misgivings.

 

Nick 7 / Tristan 7 / Nigel 8 / Keith 6  / Roland 9 / Robin 8 / Hamish 7.5

LISTEN: Robin’s Murder playlist

Hamish blimmin loves a playlist and praised this one. We all found tunes we enjoyed but generally the consensus was that we found it harder to review a playlist than an album or song. The death of the playlist? Time will tell

WATCH: Memento (2000) dir by Christopher Nolan

Hamish wonders if he's seen Memento

Everyone felt Memento stood up very well in the 23 years since it came out. One of Nolan’s best films.

HBG endorse it: 7th April 2023 -> 18 May 2023

Mad Professor (Live)

Duolingo (App)

Return to Seoul dir by Davy Chou (Film)

Walking in the South Pennines 

Beef (Netflix)

Colin From Accounts (BBC)

I'm Not A Monster: The Shamima Begum Story (Podcast)