Birthdays
William
Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville (25 October 1759 – 12 January 1834) was a British
Whig statesman. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1806 to
1807 as head of the Ministry of All the Talents
Thomas
Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was
a British poet, historian and Whig politician. He wrote extensively as an
essayist and reviewer, and on British history. He also held political office as
Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841 and Paymaster-General between 1846 and
1848
Sir Martin John Gilbert, (born 25 October 1936) is a
British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford.
He is the author of over eighty books, including works on the Holocaust and Jewish
history. Gilbert is a leading historian of the modern world, and is known as
the official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill
(in the centre)
Jon
Anderson (born John
Roy Anderson on 25 October 1944) is an English singer-songwriter and
musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes.
He is also an accomplished solo artist and has collaborated with artists such
as the Greek musician Vangelis, among others
Nick Hancock (born 25 October 1962, Stoke-on-Trent,
Staffordshire) is an English actor and television presenter. Probably TV's most
well known Stoke City supporter, he hosted the sports quiz They Think It's
All Over for 10 years. He also formerly presented Room 101 (1994–1999)
on TV, as well as its earlier radio version (1992–1994). He has recently
been interviewed by 6 Town Radio about the 40th anniversary of Stoke's 1972
League cup win
Zadie Smith (born on 25 October 1975) is a British novelist, essayist and short
story writer. Smith has won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2006 and her novel White
Teeth was included in Time magazine's TIME 100 Best
English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005 list
Zadie Smith... as a member of Litlovers Club, I read one her book - White Teeth.
ReplyDeleteSo, it was the first book of such genre I've read.Many characters with their own lifes, the detail description of every person, shifting fro one time with its events to another, interesting facts, different religions and so on - all of these is "White Teeth".
From the first page you begin "to dive" into the problems of migrants in London. And from page to page, line to line, you become a watcher, you move through the years that in the end to know what will be in the last page) White teeth is as a symbol of religion, country, native town, relatives of the heroes of the book which they left. They couldn't become the part of the UK, or even give its rules because they differed from British, and not only because of color. As for their children, the next generation, they tried either to be the part of British culture, or to be aggressive to it, in order to struggle.
Well, YOU MUST READ IT!
Yeah) I am also a member of the LitLovers' club! =) And I think that this particular book is rather good!
ReplyDeleteIn general, I am quite satisfied with this book despite the fact that it is a bit difficult for understanding. The genre is unusual and I have read such a kind of literature for the first time. The idea of multicultural Britain is enough interesting, it includes spanning generations and a variety of immigrant cultures that populate London. It is the intergenerational story of finding identity in a hostile environment. What makes this book unique however, is that it is a sort of dissection of the ways in which we construct our identities, and the tools that we use to do so. White Teeth was a clear testament to Smith's skills as a writer, powerfully intertwining the stories of families from different ethnic communities. Smith's colorful descriptions make every character come alive in the story. I enjoyed this book, despite being mildly repulsed by the first couple of chapters.
Rather new information for me)
ReplyDeleteYou have mentioned here about "White Teeth", so I'd like to add some information about the writer as the author of this book:
ReplyDeleteZadie Smith is a media favorite not only because of her writing, but also because of her style and charisma. The compilation of quotes below illuminates Smith's effervescent nature.
"I express myself with my friends and my family...Novels are not about expressing yourself, they're about something beautiful, funny, clever and organic. Self-expression? Go and ring a bell in the yard if you want to express yourself" (Hattenstone).
"I was 21 when I wrote White Teeth, what difference does it make what I think?" (Hattenstone).
"I have an ambition to write a great book, but that's really a competition with myself. I've noticed a lot of young writers, people in all media, want to be famous but they don't really want to do anything. I can't think of anything less worth striving for than fame" (Hattenstone).
Some more information about Sir Martin John Gilbert and for what her was criticized.
ReplyDeleteMany laud Gilbert's books and atlases for their meticulous scholarship, and his clear and objective presentation of complex events. His book on World War I is described as a majestic, single-volume work incorporating all major fronts - domestic, diplomatic, military- for "a stunning achievement of research and storytelling." Vatican sources describe him as a "fair-minded, conscientious collector of facts." Michael Foot, reviewing a volume of Gilbert's Churchill biography in The New Statesman in 1971 praised his meticulous scholarship and wrote, "Whoever made the decision to make Martin Gilbert Churchill's biographer deserves a vote of thanks from the nation. Nothing less would suffice."
Gilbert's portrayal of Churchill's supportive attitudes to Jews (in his book Churchill and the Jews) has been criticized, for example by Piers Brendon. Also, Tom Segev writes that, although Gilbert's book The Story of Israel is written with "encyclopedic clarity," it suffers by the absence of figures from Arab sources.