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Tag Archives: Geoff Dyer

Late stylishness

Thursday, July 7, 2022

The Last Days of Roger Federer: And Other Endings By Geoff Dyer (Audiobook read by Richard Burnip, 11h 29m, Canongate Books, £21.87) . It’s late June, Wimbledon’s upon us, and Geoff Dyer is talking about his tennis injuries. Geoff Dyer is always talking about his tennis injuries. It’s one of his endearing features. But when […]

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged 9/11, Achilles, age, Al Pacino, Alfred Tennyson, Americans, Andy Murray, Anthony Powell, audiobooks, Beethoven, Bjorn Borg, Bob Dylan, Burning Man, Canongate, Chuck Yeager, Coetzee, Custer, David Cameron, David Thomson, De Chirico, death, DH Lawrence, drugs, epigraphs, football, footnotes, George Best, George Saunders, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Gillian Slovo, Gillian Welch, health and safety, Henry James, humour, James Last, jazz, Jean Rhys, JMW Turner, John Berger, John Coltrane, Jorah Mormont, London, loo roll, Martin Scorsese, Mike Tyson, Mohicans, Nietzsche, non-fiction, Paris, Pete Sampras, Peter Ackroyd, Philip Larkin, Raymond Williams, Rebecca West, references, Richard Burnip, Roger Federer, shampoo, Tarkovsky, TC Boyle, tennis, The Doors, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, the Olympics, trains, William Basinski, Wimbledon, work, WWII, YouTube | Comments (0)

(Re)building a library

Friday, May 21, 2021

Confessions of a bibliomaniac in the South Atlantic. — For The Critic

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Alan Hollinghurst, Amazon, Angela Carter, Antarctica, Anthony Burgess, Anthony Farrar-Hockley, Antoine de St Exupéry, Bernard MacLaverty, Bernard Malamud, books, bookshopping, Brendan Whittington-Jones, Charing Cross Rd, charity shops, Charlotte McConaghy, Christopher Hitchens, Covid-19, Damon Runyan, Daniel Defoe, Dave Bentley, Don DeLillo, Flann O'Brien, FOPP, Freya Stark, Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, George Melly, Goethe, Google Maps, Gore Vidal, Graham Greene, Graham Swift, Harold Nicolson, Henry Kissinger, Ian Fleming, Jack Grimwood, James Clammer, James Hilton, James Joyce, James Kelman, James Meek, Jared Diamond, Jerome K Jerome, JG Ballard, JG Farrell, Jim Crace, John Julius Norwich, John le Carré, John Steinbeck, Joseph O'Connor, Jules Verne, Kurt Vonnegut, Laurence Sterne, libraries, Maria Stepanova, Michael Blencowe, Milan Kundera, Mordecai Richler, museums, Oxfam, Patricia Highsmith, Penelope Lively, Peter Høeg, Philip Roth, Rabelais, Richard Flanagan, Rupert Everett, Salman Rushdie, Schopenhauer, Seth Burkett, Shalom Auslander, Sri Lanka, The Critic, the Falklands, the Lonely Planet, Thomas Hardy, Thomas Keneally, Thomas Mann, TS Eliot, Umberto Eco, Uruguay, William Faulkner, William Golding, William Thackeray | Comments (0)

Out and aboutpost

Thursday, May 23, 2019

Outpost: a journey to the wild ends of the earth by Dan Richards Canongate £16.99 (hardback) . Imagination fired by a picture of his father outside an Arctic shed, artist and writer Dan Richards sets off in search of places that ‘allow mankind a foothold in otherwise inhospitable terrain’. Icelandic ‘houses of joy’ (not what […]

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged architecture, art, Björk, boats, Canongate, Dan Richards, fire-fighting, Geographical, humour, Iceland, Jack Kerouac, lighthouses, Mars, non-fiction, Norway, Ranulph Fiennes, Robert Macfarlane, Roger Deakin, science, Svalbard, Switzerland, the Arctic, travel, Turner Prize, walking, Wendell Berry, Werner Herzog | Comments (0)

Did The English Patient send me to Afghanistan?

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Two nights from now, by way of (ahem) a birthday present, I will be attending a live-orchestra screening of The English Patient at the Albert Hall. I had invited an old friend, a raven-haired young lady (named in Debrett’s) of impossibly romantic tendency, who first exposed me to the film in, I’d say, about 1998 […]

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Academy Awards, Afghanistan, Ahmed Hassanein, air travel, American University in Cairo, anatomy, Anthony Minghella, Arabic, army, Banana Republic, bedouin, Benny Goodman, Booker Prize, books, bookshops, Brighton, Bruce Chatwin, Byron, Canada, Charing Cross Road, Christopher Hitchens, clothing, Debrett's, deserts, Dorset, Egypt, Egyptology, exploration, film, French Foreign Legion, Gabriel Yared, Geographical, Geographical Journal, Herodotus, Hungarian, Hungary, JM Coetzee, John Ball, John Hare, Joseph Conrad, Justin Marozzi, Kensington Gore, Kristen Scott Thomas, László Almásy, London, Long Range Desert Group, Lorenz Hart, love, Michael Ondaatje, mountains, music, novels, Orientalism, Oscar Wilde, Oxford, Picador, plums, Ralph Bagnold, Ralph Fiennes, Ranulph Fiennes, Richard Bermann, Robert Twigger, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Geographical Society, Saul Kelly, Sinai, SOE, song, South Africa, the Himalayas, the Nile, The Oldie, the Sahara, the Western Desert, war, WG Sebald, William Golding, wind, women, WW2, YouTube, Zerzura | Comments (0)

theASHtray, vol.9

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Read, watch and listen: climate-change, Maldivian politics, Jon Shenk, Mohammed Nasheed, Radiohead, Start the Week, Anne McElvoy, Geoff Dyer, Paul Farley, Andrei Tarkovsky, Tristram Shandy, Werner Herzog, Liz Mermin, large hadron colliders, Scott Waugh, Mouse McCoy, Act of Valor, Navy Seals, John McCain, Facebook, blockbusters, Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, pianos, Clementi, Mozart, Telemann, and […]

Filed in column, Journalism | Also tagged Americans, Andrei Tarkovsky, Anne McElvoy, Aung San Suu Kyi, blockbusters, Burma, Clementi, climate-change, Facebook, film, Foreign Affairs, John McCain, Jon Shenk, large hadron collider, Liz Mermin, Mohammed Nasheed, Mouse McCoy, Mozart, Navy Seals, Paul Farley, piano, politics, radio, Radiohead, Scott Waugh, Start the Week, Telemann, The Independent, the Maldives, theartsdesk, Tristram Shandy, Werner Herzog | Comments (0)

Zona (my other Valentine)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

A Q&A about a book about a film about a journey… ft. Geoff Dyer. — For Guernica

Filed in interview, Journalism | Also tagged choc-ices, film, Guernica, literature, Russians, Tarkovsky | Comments (0)

On tennis, Twitter and telly

Monday, February 13, 2012

Out-takes plus trailer for my forthcoming Geoff Dyer Q&A. — For Guernica

Filed in interview, Journalism | Also tagged literature, tennis, TV, Twitter | Comments (0)

Interview(ed)

Thursday, June 9, 2011

(for the British School in Colombo yearbook 2010/11) 1. So, what’s with the beard? After I graduated from the War Studies Faculty at KCL I rather fancied myself as a war correspondent, so I grew the beard. Then I just rather fancied myself. 2. We somehow get the impression that you are always very sarcastic […]

Filed in Fictions, interview | Also tagged Alexander (‘the Great’), Amazonian tribesmen, Arthur Rimbaud, beards, Beethoven, books, Bruce Chatwin, Chooties, Christopher Hitchens, cynicism, Dr Gregory House, Dr Hannibal Lecter, GF Handel, Helen DeWitt, Jacques Kallis, Jeffrey Barnard, Jim Morrison, JM Coetzee, John Nash, John Wilmot 2nd Earl of Rochester, literature, Lydia Davis, Margaret Atwood, Maurice Bowra, PE instructors, Peter O’Toole, Philip Seymour Hoffman, piano, Radiohead, Roald Dahl, Russell Crowe, school, sex, singing, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Sri Lanka, TE Lawrence, teaching, Thom Yorke, Toby Ziegler, university, War Studies, Wendy Cope, WG Sebald, Yasmina Reza | Comments (0)

Beer, Roving, and getting to write your own headlines

Monday, March 1, 2010

Letter from the Galle Literary Festival 2011. — For theartsdesk

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Ashok Ferrey, Blaft, Chinaman: the legend of Pradeep Mathew, Claire Tomalin, David Blacker, Diran Adebayo, Galle Literary Festival, Geoffrey Bawa, Gillian Slovo, Ian Rankin, Kaveri Lalchand, literature, Louise Doughty, Malinda Seneviratne, McSweeney's, Michael Frayn, Michael Meyler, Mohammed Hanif, Monica Narula, Neluka Silva, Philip Roth, Pradeep Jeganathan, Rana Dasgupta, Ru Freeman, Sarnath Banerjee, Shehan Karunatilaka, Shyam Selvadurai, Smriti Daniel, theartsdesk, Ulrik Plesner, Wendy Cope | Comments (0)

(Beer and) Roving on the literary circuit

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Despatches from the Galle Literary Festival (SL Sunday Times).

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Ashok Ferrey, Blaft, Claire Tomalin, David Blacker, Diran Adebayo, Galle Literary Festival, Geoffrey Bawa, hangovers, Ian Rankin, Jehan Mendis, Kaveri Lalchand, Louise Doughty, Malinda Seneviratne, McSweeney's, Michael Frayn, Michael Meyler, Mohammed Hanif, Monica Narula, Neluka Silva, Philip Roth, Pradeep Jeganathan, Rana Dasgupta, Ru Freeman, Sarnath Banerjee, Shehan Karunatilaka, Shyam Selvadurai, Smriti Daniel, Spectator, Sunday Times (SL), Tokyo Cancelled, Ulrik Plesner, Wendy Cope, WG Sebald | Comments (0)