Happy Jubilee Weekend, everyone! Well, the actual Jubilee was back in February, so happy 59th anniversary of the Coronation, everyone. I hope you’ve got street parties etc. planned, and are ready to toast HRH Elizabeth II – Republicans not welcome for one weekend only ;) (I jest – my beloved, but foolish, brother is a staunch republican.) (I mean republican in the anti-monarchy sense, not the US party sense…) Ahem. Right, I should be making this Jubilee-themed in some way, but I’m not – instead, it’s the usual book, blog post, and link.
1.) The blog post – is, as so often, cheating on my part. It’s a whole blog – a photo blog, at that. Deborah inadvertently introduced me to Humans of New York when I saw her comment on Facebook, and I was immediately hooked. A young photographer, Brandon, goes all over New York taking portraits of interesting-looking people he sees on the street. These tend towards a few categories – people with brightly dyed hair; cute children; dignified older people – but that’s fine, it’s not intended as an exhaustive gallery. His little snippets of their conversations enhance the pictures, and it’s a really wonderful project. I would love it if it were anywhere in the world, but if you’re besotted with the Empire State, then you’ll love it even more. Facebook group is here; website is here. I couldn’t find anything about whether or not people were allowed to reproduce photographs, with the intention of advertising his project, but… well, I’ll remove them if I’m told to!
2.) The link – is the Independent’s series on neglected authors, featuring Rachel Ferguson of The Brontes Went To Woolworths and Alas, Poor Lady fame – and Passionate Kensington, which I gave to Rachel a while ago and now want to read myself!
3.) The book – Polity Books recently sent me Letters to Hitler, edited by Henrik Eberle. The letters are from the public – whether fooled by his charisma or antagonistic to his regime. It looks like it might be a very challenging, disturbing read – but also a book which offers a social history like no other. I’m going to have to brace myself to read it, but I don’t think we fight evil by ignoring it.
Enjoy the Jubilee Weekend, Simon–I certainly intend to do so, and I've hung up my bunting! I suppose it's because my husband and I are slightly older than the Jubilee itself and can just about remember the Coronotion that we feel so enthusiastic (that, and not being Republicans!)
Thanks for the link to the Rachel Ferguson article; we recently read 'Alas Poor Lady' at the Persephone Book Group. Excellent novel.
P.S Typo alert—"Coronation". Shame there's no 'edit' button!
Coronotion sounds like a good idea!
I'm off to Geneva tomorrow morning …
Awesome…
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Really cool. Thanks for the post. Nice.
Thanks, for the link – I have 2 or 3 of Rachel Ferguson's books (about Kensington) and like them. She was friends with E.F. Benson – found mention of that somewhere (a couple of times) maybe in one of the books – she commented on his being spare with his wine at lunch or dinner, can't remember which. This makes me want to find the books now & re-read them.
I absolutely love the first image – I have a photograph very similar of a little me wrapped up warm in a red sleigh. Thankyou for reawakening my memory!