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Bright Side

Bright Side

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On the Brightside is the 2nd book in the Hendrik Groen Series. I have read the first one and I enjoyed it immensely, so I was looking forward to reading this one. I grew up watching Flying Circus, and loved it, even though I was really too young to understand or decipher the accents (“Spam” notwithstanding). I’ve passed my love of Monty Python onto my kids, even visiting Doune castle to buy coconuts and recreate Holy Grail (with my daughter playing Terry Gilliam, I as Graham Chapman), like thousands of other daft tourists. Eric grew up hating Christmas as his father survived WWII but On Christmas eve 1945 was killed outside Darlington. Trivia - "His (David Frost’s) unexpected call to John Cleese in New York asking him to be on The Frost Report secured John’s future in television, away from his mother’s ambitions to make him manager of a Weston-super-Mare Marks & Spencer. Grocery’s loss was comedy’s gain. Frostie gave all of us great jobs as writers on his new BBC TV show, for which we remained highly ungrateful. This is just what I needed after a year in a global pandemic and I’m sure many people have been feeling the same these past 12 months! From many weeks of isolation and stressors in the world it has been nice to escape reality to read about other people’s lives. However this is not a depressing read and Cathrin brings humour all the way. After reading this book I actually felt quite lifted and grateful for the life I live! It’s not very often I read a book and find myself laughing out load, but this certainly did it for me. Funny highlights for me were Cathrin’s two ageing parents in their 90’s and her description of the quirky electrics in her house. I think what makes it so great is that Cathrin’s writing is very believable.

Bright Side - Kim Holden - Google Books

Unfortunately, I wasn't paying enough attention to the title of this book, the fact that it's a "Sortabiography" - cause the book had very little to do with the goings on of Monty Python. Rather it was largely a story of Eric's life (well duh, a biography). Mind you, you can't really take the Monty Python out of the life story of Eric Idle. But I guess I was expecting a little more about the Eric I already knew (that is, Eric the Python writer and actor) and less about his friendship with George Harrison and Robin Williams. The Old But Not Dead club is still going strong, even after the closing events of the first book. In fact, a new member Leonie, fits right in. She even makes Evert blush. The residents of the home are still a bit of odd bunch. There is still also a slightly merry war between the director of the home and certain residents. There is also a performance artist who moves into the home. The home itself might be facing some type of restructuring. And like the first book, there is the potential of a death in Groen’s ad hoc family. We also get to find out what the other loveable characters are up to, and whether life has changed for the residents of the care home. I don’t read many celebrity memoirs, but it only takes a few to recognize patterns. Please see if my observations match your own experiences. I’ll use Eric Idle’s recent book to drive the points home.As you can tell from the title, the main achievement of his was the song, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life that he wrote for Monty Pythons’ Life of Brian. It has become a part of life around the world. It is the number one piece played at funerals in the UK, for example. Sports fans sing it loud when their team is losing. What would Spamalot have been without it? It’s the Greensleeves of the 21st century. It's only natural that a book about octogenarians will have its share of sad and moving moments, but the main message it conveys is that however limited life expectancy is, the Old But Not Dead Club will do its utmost to enjoy it! On The Bright Side is the second instalment of The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, written by Dutch Care Facility resident, Hendrik Groen, alias Dutch librarian, Peter de Smet. Hendrik is now eighty-five and, after a year’s hiatus due to grief over the passing of his good friend, Eefje Brand, he has once again decided to note down the year’s events, starting in January 2015. All the time-worn stories the other Pythons tell are here, uncontradicted. How they pitched their TV series without a script, treatment, plan or even a name. And were instantly given the go-ahead for 13 episodes. At least they had to battle the establishment: “We didn’t know what we were doing, and insisted on doing it.” Hendrik Groen, pseudonym of Peter de Smet, is a Dutch writer. He is the author of the book Pogingen iets van het leven te maken: Het geheime dagboek van Hendrik Groen, 83¼ jaar ( The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old) published in 2014. That book was awarded in 2016 with the Audience Award for the Dutch Book. The sequel Zolang er leven is: het tweede geheime dagboek van Hendrik Groen, 85 jaar ( On the Bright Side: The New Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen) appeared in 2016.

Bright Side by Kim Holden - Vilma Iris | Lifestyle Review: Bright Side by Kim Holden - Vilma Iris | Lifestyle

Idle had little trouble painting a dire picture of his early life. His father beat the odds as a tail gunner in the Royal Air Force only to die in an accident hitchhiking home for Christmas in ‘45. Eric was two. Then his student years were spent in boarding school – evidently a glum affair even for a clever and popular lad.This is the 2nd book in the Hendrik Groen series following the octogenarian as he records his escapades throughout the year. After reading and enjoying the 1st book in the series I was always going to read this one. These books are certainly different from the normal books I read and they bring on lots of different emotions while reading, mainly joy but also a touch of sadness. This book is so well written and although its subject is perhaps difficult to imaging being so entertaining and witty, the author brings it to life with charm. Hendrik and his friends are still keen to have as much fun as they can manage given their advanced years and infirmity, and I found their camaraderie and exploits endearing. “Stop spending so much time studying life’s instruction manual. Just do it!! Yes, you may fall down a few times, but so long as you get up again, you’ll be ahead of where you were.” Hendrik writes with humour, insight and charm about often painful subjects - quite an achievement - and hints that his next project is to be a novel, I can’t wait for its publication. Although this is the second book in the series, I don't think it's imperative that you need to read the first book to read the second. Hendrik starts his diary with a catch up of the characters from the first book, which brings old readers up to date and brings new readers into the loop.

Bright Side — Inspiration. Creativity. Wonder. Bright Side — Inspiration. Creativity. Wonder.

Now I will state here that yes there are sections of this book which do feel like that when it just becomes one long list of who who turned up out the blue and what exotic place they all got whisked off to. These are people and places I will never meet or see. This collection of memoirs is about as positive as anything can be. Idle got break after break, got swept along to bigger and better things and was continually invited to new ventures, where he succeeded to great acclaim his first time out, be it sketch writing, film, opera, records or Broadway. Oh. And everyone adores him.I was so impressed with this book’s ability to make me feel. It simultaneously owned me and destroyed me. There was a sense of honesty in every aspect of the book… from the character’s thoughts to the dialogue, from their quirky personalities to the heavy realities they all have had to face. “I can’t let the bad consume me or it would eat me whole. The bad stays in the bad corner of my mind, I don’t let it through the door to mingle with good, because the bad is a goddamn party pooper.” Best of all, as her book went to print, she added an epilogue- to update where everyone was from the point of her book - a charming inclusion. Combine wit and Oxbridge sensibilities with mod England's penchant for sketch comedy, then mix in a bit of serendipity and out pops Monty Python. It was entertaining to hear about the formative years, though the details may have gone too far at times for my taste. Even so, this was a meaty part of the book for good reason. The original show and the many offshoots that followed ( Life of Brian, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Meaning of Life, Spamalot, and countless others) really did amount to a lot.



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  • EAN: 764486781913
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