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Victoria K. Walker's avatar

Thanks for the great recommendations, Ann. And Happy Easter!

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Sarah Harkness's avatar

We have been laughing this weekend. My filmbuff son has come to stay, and on the suggestion of @juliadpickering (Jules of @thedialectic, why won't it find her!) we've been blitzing Coen Brothers movies...The Ladykillers with Tom Hanks and Intolerable Cruelty with George Clooney. Both so funny. Happy Easter, Ann. PS we cheered for Rory as well, although we're very fond of Justin

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Ann Kennedy Smith's avatar

Sounds like a lovely weekend, Sarah! I am not a golf fan in the slightest, but Rory has HUGE resonance for Northern Irish golfers like my Dad, brothers & sister in law. Especially as he has come so close before, then failed at the last minute. It's a win for people from Irish & UK communities (a point Rory has insisted on, like the hero he is).

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Victoria K. Walker's avatar

I love the Coen Bros, so that sounds wonderful. Happy Easter, Sarah.

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Harriet's avatar

Thanks for the heads-up about the Anna Beer talk, sounds right up my street! (Literally as well as figuratively)

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Ann Kennedy Smith's avatar

Yes! She’s such a good speaker.

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Sarah McCraw Crow's avatar

Happy spring, and belated happy Easter, Ann! Someday I’ll get to the Cambridge Literary Festival—it’s an interesting author lineup!

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Harriet Mason's avatar

Such brilliant recommendations, thank you. What's cheered me up this week was spending Easter Sunday simply sitting in the garden following the sun with my book. tea and sunglasses.

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Leslie Carlin's avatar

What fun! I've just booked a spot to see *Curious Cures* and will allow extra time at the library to play with the rotating books in the bollards, and to look for the other letters. Happy Easter! May you have plenty of chocolate and flowers.

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Kathy Williams's avatar

What a wonderful read—- ( and listen…)sparking and everything I love about books and Cambridge.

Better than any chocolate Easter egg!

Thank you….

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Kathy Williams's avatar

And my TBR pile is now shelved in wardrobes, clothes displaced. Priorities!

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Mary Roblyn's avatar

Ann, I feel as if my own TBR stacks should be cast in bronze. They’re getting tall, and taking over the house. Maybe they’re becoming structural. Thank you for the mention. Happy Easter to you!

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Sheri-Lee Langlois's avatar

Hope Easter weekend is bringing a Spring to your life, Ann.

As a matter of fact, I just finished a library book that made me cry a few times! It’s called The Booklover’s Library by Madeline Martin and it was a quick, easy, often page-turning story about a young widowed mother of a little girl who had to be evacuated repeatedly from Nottingham during WWII. Emma has to lie about being a widow to get her job at the Boots Library after her father dies in the fire that burns down their own little bookstore! So you see, quite the melodrama and an easy, good read.

In terms of higher literature, if you will, nothing beats Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery for me. No matter how often I’ve read it or seen the play in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, I cry every time at a specific event in the story, which I won’t divulge!

Thanks Ann.

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Katy Sammons's avatar

So many interesting events would get even this homebody out of the house regularly, if I lived in proximity to them. At least there's a new mystery set in Oxford to look forward to!

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laura thompson's avatar

How kind of you Ann to mention my piece - a lovely belated birthday present! Thank you so much and happy Easter x

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Wendy Varley's avatar

Happy Easter, Ann! Thanks so much for the kind mention of my piece, School trip memories. Glad you enjoyed it.

Any Cambridge novels that sprung to mind are already listed. You've been very thorough! (Straying off topic, I had my Cambridge tropes bingo card ready when I watched the recent TV drama Prime Target starring Leo Woodall. About a Maths PhD student and filmed partly in St John's College. It had promise, but was a bit daft!)

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Ann Kennedy Smith's avatar

Thanks Wendy! Yes I thought of mentioning tv & film but that would have taken all day… the latest one I’ve spotted being H is for Hawk. Agreed about Prime Target, Leo & co are very watchable & St John’s is picturesque but as a drama it’s pretty silly.

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Wendy Varley's avatar

Yes, a film and TV list would be very unwieldy! Glad we’re agreed on Prime Target. Suspect any Maths students would have found it hilarious. (And been on the lookout for spycams!)

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