Oliver Arditi

Blog archive

  • A world of experience

    A world of experience

    I’m not too sure why it’s taken me so long to get around to reading Hilary Mantel’s novels about the life of Thomas Cromwell—I probably found the whole award-winning thing a bit off-putting, as I have a variety of reservations about prizes and awards. I do know, however, a lot of people who read and Read more

  • Smart roots

    Smart roots

    I’ve been following the work of James Beaudreau since he sent me a trio of beautifully packaged CD albums for review around ten years ago. Those records contained experimental acoustic guitar music, driven by an interest in the presence and specificity of musical utterances—often signifying as much in terms of the space in which they Read more

  • History of tradition

    History of tradition

    I think I’ve burnt myself out on research now. There’s a lot more I could read to expand my thinking on the areas that will feature in the stories I plan to write, but I’ve been working on the background for so long, and I am so close to being able to write some actual Read more

  • Specifically dense

    Specifically dense

    Michael Woodman is a lover of words. On his most recent album in particular, his lyrics display an affinity for extremely specific and little used terms such as petrichor, the scent raised by rain falling after a long spell of warm, dry conditions, and psithurism, the sound of rustling leaves. Psithurism is, in fact, the Read more

  • An orrery of thought

    An orrery of thought

    Having finished reading Neal Stephenson’s epic historical trilogy The Baroque Cycle it’s quite hard, on reflection, to recall everything that’s in it. It has to be one of the densest, most detailed, and most complex works of fiction I’ve ever read. It is also really a single novel, although each of its parts is extremely Read more

  • Judging hope

    Judging hope

    Martin Compston is best known for appearing in the entertainingly silly police fantasy Line of Duty, but his first acting role was in the grimly serious Ken Loach movie Sweet Sixteen in 2002. He was at the beginning of a career as a professional footballer, and auditioned for the lead part with no prior acting Read more