Tag: Similar

Tony Hawks – A Piano in the Pyrenees | Review

Title: A Piano in the Pyrenees

Author: Tony Hawks

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count: 312

Rating: 4/5

This non-fiction book tells the story of what happened when a middle-aged British comedian called Tony Hawks decided to buy a house in France, almost on a whim. He also decided to take his piano over there so that he could finally learn to play the thing.

It was a fun little book, and overall I found it to be a pleasure to work my way through it. My only real complaint would be that the pacing was a little off, in that it felt as though the whole book covered a period of just a couple of months or so.

Other than that though, there were some great little insights into French culture here, as well as a few smatterings of French dialogue that were enjoyable for me as someone who’s slowly but surely trying to learn the language. There were also some great little examples of culture shock or of misunderstandings, particularly when Hawks was trying to navigate the complicated French legal landscape to purchase properties and to build swimming pools, despite being utterly useless at assembling basic flat packs.

I’ve read a couple of Hawks’ other books at this point, and tonality and sense of humour wise, it’s pretty similar to those. That means that if you enjoyed Round Ireland with a Fridge, for example, then you’re probably going to enjoy this one too. Sure, his sense of humour might not be quite right for everyone, but Hawks has always made me laugh and he did so here, too.

There were occasional borderline sexist comments in it here and there, but then I suppose that gave it a certain sense of realness. He was a single bloke surrounded by Frenchwomen, after all. But overall, yeah.

Learn more about A Piano in the Pyrenees.


William Shakespeare – Coriolanus | Review

Title: Coriolanus

Author: William Shakespeare

Type: Fiction/Non-Fiction

Page Count: 136

Rating: 4/5

I wasn’t sure how to categorise this as it’s based on a true story. In fact, it’s pretty similar in vein to Antony and Cleopatra, and the two of them go hand-in-hand as they were his last two tragedies. They also go hand-in-hand for me because I enjoyed them both. There’s something about actual historical historical fiction that I can’t get enough of.

So I was quite happy with this, especially because it’s one of those plays that doesn’t seem to get a huge amount of airtime. I’d love to see a production of it, especially with all of the clothing and the props. Sure, there are a couple of other Shakespeare plays that I’d prefer to see, but still!

Learn more about Coriolanus.