34 Comments

Loved Marianne, was sad about that one. Almost another tragic victim of the malign Stones, but survived, heroically. Have shared that lovely film, loved the photograph of her playing tennis. Pronking now… isn’t that the vertical takeoff thing that deer, gazelles, lambs etc do?

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I love your vocabulary! I’m reading Darling right now and I keep needing to google definitions and it’s marvellous.

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Cheers for this. That short film of Faithfull is very beguiling: that wonderful sense of style combined with steeliness (exactly as you say below), of a kind of touching practicality, and above all the knowledge of all that she lived through is really heightened by her death. She was a cultural presence and I think, somehow, her death has set a ripple.

I loved how she was reading a lot of books at once, how her concept of home, of the space she made for herself to live in (in her loneliness) seemed so true to herself.

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Nick Cave DID was a masterpiece. ‘Hope is optimism with a broken heart’. ❤️

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Marianne 💕 and Happy on Purpose 🙌

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It's such a good name, isn't it? Quite envious of it.

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Yes!

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That film of Marianne- how lovely! I used to listen to Broken English all the time, her voice - and I must look out the more recent stuff.

I also read the Polly Vernon piece, how incredibly sad that (some) ‘feminists’ feel they have to be so horribly unkind. And without reading the book! I hope in the last 10 years we’ve become kinder, but I fear that there are still far too many Mean girls and Bullies out there….

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I know, beyond shocking. I do think it's wiser not to look, though in her case it clearly became unavoidable. Horrendous.

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Thank you for the gorgeous photo of the young Marianne, she looks so excited about the life ahead. She was such a beguiling mix of vulnerable and tough. I saw her perform a few times - open and friendly but also imperious with an aura unpredictable danger. Fair enough.

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Yes, I think she was quite steely. As well she might be.

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I listened to the Ballad of Lucy Jordan twice through yesterday when I heard the news. She had real magnificence.

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Yes, that is the right word.

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The Bookshop org link is the US version . I Have now found the UK one . Thank you Thank you Thank you India as I’ve absolutely hated buying from Amazon re the endorsement of Donny Convict .

Tx

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I'm trying to de-Bezos my life too - easier said than done.

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Thanks for that solution - makes me wonder how many people are not getting emails from me too.

Hope teeth are settling nicely.

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They are, thank you.

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The Ballad of Lucy Jordan couldn't have been less like the music I was listening to at the time but it pulled me up short the first time I heard it and has the same effect all this time later. Nick Cave on DID was a good reason to be alive last weekend wasn't it.

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It really was.

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Pronking is a great word - also just the way my Bichon runs - inevitably Coco!

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Mine pronk in tall grass in the summer - it's my fav thing to watch.

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Re The Ballad of Lucy Jordan/Broken English inspired me to ask for an interview (for Evening standard) with her. I was overwhelmed by her grandeur and realised that none of my questions wd cut the mustard. So we talked about French clothes - which did.

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That's so interesting. She was a friend of a friend and I found her terrifying even to be introduced to.

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Anyone else getting the message that the bookshop app is not available in your region (UK)? I hope you can, I’m desperate to find an alternative to Amazon Kindle. Great photos of Marianne.

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Oh that's annoying, sorry!

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Not at all, if searches and downloads increase maybe it will catch on?

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I’ve just found it Bookshop org UK but they only have 1000 ebooks

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Ack, that is also annoying.

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Thanks Theresa. Maybe it will improve as people use it?

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Fingers crossed

Tx

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Prink is such a great word! Did you know that when Elsie de Wolfe (who I wrote a bit about this week) decorated the Colony Club in NYC in 1905, she put in a load of little rooms with washstands and dressing tables which she called 'prinkeries', so one could go in and prink before heading off to a genteel luncheon or game of bridge. If I had a grander sort of house I would definitely dub the downstairs cloakroom the 'Prinkery'.

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Also talk about serendipity - your post is great and completely relevant to what I'm currently writing, so thank you for that too..

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Oh I'm so pleased! She was really such a fascinating character and her book is hilarious.

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How marvellous - thank you for sharing this excellent fact.

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