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Score! (novel)
''Score!'' is a 1999 novel by British author Jilly Cooper, that is part of the Rutshire Chronicles series. It is both a bonkbuster and a Crime fiction, murder mystery, set during the filming of the Giuseppe Verdi, Verdi opera ''Don Carlos.'' It focuses on the murder of conductor Roberto Rannaldini during filming, and the subsequent spate of violence. The novel was Cooper's first attempt at crime fiction and as part of her research she visited film sets and spoke to police. It received mixed reviews, especially in terms of its expansive plot that mixed genres, as well as its attitudes to rape and sexual violence, with Tanya Gold describing how they are treated as footnotes to the plot. Plot The plot revolves around the life and death of Roberto Rannaldini, a famous conductor with a reputation for being evil and manipulative. One of his ambitions is to conduct a film of the Verdi opera ''Don Carlos'', which is filmed at his mansion, Valhalla. The director of the film is his godso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jilly Cooper
Dame Jilly Cooper, (born Jill Sallitt; 21 February 1937) is an English author. She began her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. Cooper is most famous for writing the '' Rutshire Chronicles''. Early life Jill Sallitt was born in Hornchurch, Essex, England on 21 February 1937, to Mary Elaine (née Whincup) and Brigadier W. B. Sallitt, OBE. She grew up in Ilkley and Surrey, and was educated at the Moorfield School in Ilkley and Godolphin School in Salisbury. Journalism and non-fiction After unsuccessfully trying to begin a career in the British national press, Cooper became a junior reporter for ''The Middlesex Independent'', based in Brentford. She worked for the paper from 1957 to 1959. Subsequently, she worked as an account executive, copywriter, publisher's reader and receptionist. Her break came with a chance meeting at a dinner party. The editor of '' The Sunday T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olivia Laing
Olivia Laing (born 14 April 1977) is a British writer, novelist and cultural critic. They are the author of five works of non-fiction, ''To the River'', ''The Trip to Echo Spring,'' '' The Lonely City'', ''Everybody'', ''The Garden Against Time'', as well as an essay collection, ''Funny Weather'', and a novel, '' Crudo.'' In 2018, they were awarded the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize for non-fiction and in 2019, the 100th James Tait Black Memorial Prize for ''Crudo''. In 2019 they became an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Early life and education Olivia Laing grew up in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire.''Biography'' British Council, Literature. Retrieved 27-06-18. They enrolled at Sussex University ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bonkbuster Romance Novels
''Bonkbuster'' (a play on " blockbuster" and the verb " to bonk") is a term coined in 1989 by British writer Sue Limb to describe a subgenre of commercial romance novels in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as their subsequent miniseries adaptations. In 2016 Jilly Cooper suggested that the term ought to be updated to "shagbusters" as "bonk" felt out-of-date. Genre history Although the term has been used generally to describe " bodice-rippers" such as '' Forever Amber'' (1944) by Kathleen Winsor, as well as ''Valley of the Dolls'' (1966) and the novels of Jacqueline Susann and Harold Robbins, it is specifically associated with the novels of Judith Krantz, Jackie Collins, Shirley Conran and Jilly Cooper, known for their glamorous, financially independent female protagonists and salacious storylines. Many of these novels were adapted in the 1980s into glossy, big-budget miniseries, reminiscent of primetime soaps of the time, such as ''Dallas'', ''Knots Landing'' and ''Dynasty''. Examples ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder Mysteries
"Murder Mysteries" is a fantasy short story by Neil Gaiman first published in the 1992 anthology ''Midnight Graffiti'' and later collected in his short story collection, collections ''Angels and Visitations'' and ''Smoke and Mirrors (story collection), Smoke and Mirrors''. Plot The narrator, a young Englishman, visits Los Angeles for the first time, and has an upsetting encounter with an ex-girlfriend, Tink, and her child, that ends ambiguously. Rattled from the meeting, he sits on a park bench next to a man claiming to be the angel Raguel (angel), Raguel, once the very first detective, who was called upon to solve a mystery in the heaven, Silver City— another angel has been murdered and he has to find the killer, who ultimately turns out to have been the God, Creator himself, through influencing another angel. The murdered angel was the designer of love, and his co-worker fell in love with him, only to be scorned when the pair moved on to designing death. This sequence of even ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novels By Jilly Cooper
A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning 'new'. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, Medieval Chivalric romance, and the tradition of the Italian Renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, in the historical romances of Walter Scott and the Gothic novel. Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, and John Cowper Powys, preferred the term ''romance''. Such romances should not be confused with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1999 British Novels
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA. * January 25 – The 6.2 Colombia earthquake hits western Colombia, killing at least 1,900 people. February * February 7 – Abdullah II inherits the throne of Jordan, following the death of his father King Hussein. * February 11 – Pluto moves along its eccentric orbit further from the Sun than Neptune. It had been nearer than Neptune since 1979, and will become again in 2231. * February 12 – U.S. President Bill Clinton is acquitted in impeachment proceedings in the United States Senate. * February 16 ** In Uzbekistan, an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov takes place at government headquarters. ** Across Europe, Kurdish protestors take over embassies and hold hostages a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Statesman
''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members of the socialist Fabian Society, such as George Bernard Shaw, who was a founding director. The longest-serving editor was Kingsley Martin (1930–1960), and the most recent editor was Jason Cowley (journalist), Jason Cowley, who assumed the post in 2008 and left in 2024. Today, the magazine is a print–digital hybrid. According to its present self-description, it has a modern Liberalism in the United Kingdom, liberal and Independent progressive, progressive political position. Jason Cowley (journalist), Jason Cowley, the magazine's editor, has described the ''New Statesman'' as a publication "of the left, for the left" but also as "a political and literary magaz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Potpourri
Potpourri ( ) is a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant materials used to provide a gentle natural scent, commonly in residential settings. It is often placed in a decorative bowl. Etymology The word "potpourri" comes into English from the French word . The French term has two connotations. It is the French name for a Spanish stew with a wide variety of ingredients called , a specialty of the city of Burgos. The word in French has the same meaning as it does in English (and as does in Spanish), while the word , like Spanish , means "rotten". "Potpourri" is sometimes used as an alternative for " medley". History Potpourri has been used in rooms since ancient times, in a variety of ways, including just scattering it on the floor. In early 17th-century France, fresh herbs and flowers were gathered—beginning in spring and continuing throughout the summer. The herbs were left for a day or two to become limp, then layered with coarse sea salt. The aging mixture was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolverhampton Express And Star
The ''Express & Star'' is a regional evening newspaper in Britain. Founded in 1889, it is based in Wolverhampton, England, and covers the West Midlands county and Staffordshire. Currently edited by Martin Wright, the ''Express & Star'' publishes six editions a week between Monday and Saturday. In 2007 the newspaper had a daily circulation of 174,989 by June 2014 it was 73,473, then 55,373 in 2016, 38,690 in 2019 and by 2021 was 19,683. In 2022 figures from JICREG (Joint industry Currency for Regional Media Research) show that 17,973 papers are printed each day and there are 51,403 readers. Online expressandstar.com has 1.64 million monthly unique users with 8.9 million monthly page views. The Express & Star features a mixture of regional and national news and has a strong following for its sports coverage of association football, particularly local teams Wolverhampton Wanderers, Walsall, and West Bromwich Albion. The ''Express & Star'' is one of the few independent newspaper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gesamtkunstwerk
A ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' (, 'total work of art', 'ideal work of art', 'universal artwork', 'synthesis of the arts', 'comprehensive artwork', or 'all-embracing art form') is a work of art that makes use of all or many art forms or strives to do so. The term is a German loanword accepted in English as a term in aesthetics. Background The term was developed by the German writer and philosopher K. F. E. Trahndorff in his 1827 essay ''Ästhetik oder Lehre von Weltanschauung und Kunst'' (or 'Aesthetics, or Doctrine of Worldview and Art'). The German opera composer Richard Wagner used the term in two 1849 essays, and the word has become particularly associated with his aesthetic ideals. It is unclear whether Wagner knew of Trahndorff's essay. In France in the 1850s, Viollet-le-Duc was a proponent of integrating major arts (architecture) and minor arts (decorative arts), ''un art total''. This led to a fierce combat with the Beaux Arts academy in Paris who refused Viollet le Duc's edu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Review Of Books
The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published bimonthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of Books'' was founded in 1979, when publication of ''The Times Literary Supplement'' was suspended during the year-long Lockout (industry), lock-out at ''The Times''. Its founding editors were Karl Miller, then professor of English at University College London; Mary-Kay Wilmers, formerly an editor at ''The Times Literary Supplement''; and Susannah Clapp, a former editor at Jonathan Cape. For its first six months, it appeared as an insert in ''The New York Review of Books''. It became an independent publication in May 1980. Its political stance has been described by Alan Bennett, a prominent contributor, as "consistently radical". Unlike ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (TLS), the majority of the articles the ''LRB'' publishes (usually fifteen p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian Patterson (poet)
Ian Kenneth Patterson (born 31 August 1948) is a British poet, translator and academic. He is a Life Fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge, having retired in 2018 from his post as Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Director of Studies in English and Fellow Librarian. Education and career Ian Patterson was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a BA degree in English in 1969. He returned to academia in the 1990s to write a PhD, and in 1995 was awarded a Junior Research Fellowship at King's College, Cambridge. In 1999 he moved to Queens', where he was to teach English as a fellow of the college for the next 20 years. Work In 2017 Ian Patterson won the Forward Prize for best single poem for "The Plenty of Nothing", an elegy to his wife, Jenny Diski. Patterson has written a non-fiction book about the bombing of Guernica and the Spanish Civil War. He is also a translator: works include the final volume of ''In Search of Lost Time'' by Marcel Proust and w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
