Lately I Have....

...seen a preview movie and read a book for my book club so I decided to write about both in one post. The film was 'West is West' and is the sequel to 'East is East' (as if you highly intelligent and cultured folks needed that pointing out!) I loved East is East - the scene with the 'sculpture' and the matchmaker is hilarious - so I was hoping that this one would be as good.

Well, I can tell you it is funny - there are perhaps not quite as many laugh-out-loud moments as there are in East is East. The focus is on Sajid, the youngest child of George and Ella Khan and this time the action is set in Pakistan. It's beautifully filmed...within minutes of the main characters arriving at the airport I said to Big Man 'I want to go there'! It looks heavenly. Not all of the characters from the first film reappear; the sister and one of the brothers aren't even mentioned and Jimi Mistry as Tariq only makes a cameo appearance. Again it's family dynamics that are under the microscope and this time the family is the one George left behind 30 years ago when he went to Salford - the first Mrs Khan! However, it's a good fun, feelgood film that I would recommend highly.

I am a voracious reader and although my taste is usually for thrillers (Michael Connolly, John Connelly, Stuart MacBride, Peter Robinson) I am often stretched by our book group choices. They're not always to my taste - I couldn't even finish Mort by Terry Pratchett  - but sometimes we have something I wouldn't normally have contemplated reading - The House on the Strand by Daphne DuMaurier, for example - but end up really enjoying. This time it was War Horse by Michael Morpurgo and I have to confess that I read it in three hours on the afternoon before our meeting. It's fairly short, maybe 180 pages, and it's a children's book. I enjoyed it I suppose, it was a sweet story. The problem was that I couldn't get past it being a kids book and thought it was very simplistic and a bit...cliched maybe? I feel bad even saying it because I know a lot of people love it plus I hear the stage show is magnificent. And I know that I don't really fall into the target audience! It's the kind of book I would have read nightly to Red and Mr Charming when they were young and I think they would have liked it. But in this family even now, nothing beats a good Enid Blyton. Now that IS good storytelling!

 What have you been reading and watching?