A Literary Life

Last night I finished watching the first season of the French crime drama Braquo.   Here in the UK the series aired on the FX Network, and they are currently airing the second season.     The series, for those who do not know it, tells the story of Eddy Caplan and his team, seasoned officers who are not afraid of bending the law, or even breaking it, if it serves their purpose.    As they fight to clear the name of a colleague who has killed himself following a brutal beating of a suspect, the net around Caplan and his team closes, and the stakes get higher.   The eight episode first season proved a master class in suspense.   Just when you think a plan is coming together, it goes wrong.   Just when you think they’re home and dry, there is a twist. The easiest, and most made comparison, for this show has been the US cop drama from a few years ago, The Shield, starring Michael Chiklis as Vic Mackey.   That show remains t...

Tomorrow is the day of long journeys. First a 50 minute train ride into London, then across the city to a bus station, where I begin an 8 hour coach ride to Newcastle, and then finally, if that wasn’t enough, another 50 minute bus ride out to my hotel. A hotel that is six miles outside the city centre – despite being advertised as only three miles. Named and shamed: the Travelodge at Silverlink. So almost ten hours sitting down: I’ll need a good book. Or five. Consequently I’ve uploaded Charles Dickens’s Little Dorrit to read, along with a collection of Keats’ poetry and a modern novel, Abraham Verghese’s Cutting for Stone. As I have an equal length journey back from Newcastle, I’ve Balzac’s epic cycle of novels and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick to keep me going. I think the ten hours will go quicker than they otherwise would. And if I get bored of reading, I’ve a couple of audio plays from Big Finish on my MP3 player to keep me going. I was supposed to read last...