At home with the Georgians DVD - fascinating look at the Georgians' invention of domesticity as we know it. The rise of the middle class in Georgian England started the English fascination with houses and interior decoration; they invented wallpaper, changed laws to reflect their obsession with home security, and men were obsessed with marriage as a status symbol! Very enjoyable, using letters and diaries of the period.
Renaissance people: lives that shaped the modern age. Short readable biographies of well- and less-known Renaissance characters. So many things that we take for granted now (double-entry bookkeeping, secular books, Protestantism) all owe their beginnings to the Renaissance. The obscure persons are the most interesting.
The skull and the nightingale by Michael Irwin. Had great hopes of this, but a bit disappointed at the end. The writer is very knowledgable about 18th c England in the time of Hogarth, but the story just seems to go on and on, more as a vehicle for showcasing the writers knowledge than providing a gripping novel. Reviews led me to believe this would be more Gothic and shocking, but a bit of a damp squib really.
Paris: the luminous years DVD. Paris 1905-1930, teeming with new ideas and breaking new artistic boundaries. Hard to believe that some of these paintings are now over 100 years old. Still viewing this.
The Ladies' Paradise by Emile Zola. Came to this via youTube- posted series made by the BBC, called The Paradise, that I happened to chance on, based on a novel by Zola. The BBC have shifted the action to a department store in an unnamed English city, but the original novel takes place in Paris, modelled on the setting-up of one of the great department stores of the mid- to late 19th C, the Bon Marche, and the social and economic upheaval caused by this new phenomenon in shopping. Denise, an impoverished country girl, comes to Paris and finds employment at The Ladies' Paradise, a department store run by the charming but ruthless entrepreneur, Mouret.
Lots of temptation for me here. I love diaries and letters - and the windows into different worlds. And I have often found that the less well known people are fascinating.
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