we had it so good - novel by linda grant

[sebmelmoth2003]

from page 42 in the uk paperback edition.

scene at isle of wight pop festival.

"did you meet dylan?" [female friend is asked].

"yes, as a matter of fact, i did".

"and?" said ivan.

"well he was okay, but i spent more time with leonard cohen"...
--------------------------------
page 102 - some years later, married stephen picks up a female hitchhiker in the usa.

stephen asks :

..."what else can you sing?"

"are you okay with leonard cohen?"

of course, i grew up on him".

"he's super-cool for an old guy". and opening her mouth she begins to sing in a lovely voice of marianne, to whom she is saying goodbye.

"that's my daughter's name..." says stephen.

http://www.lindagrant.co.uk/books/we-had-it-so-good

[lizzytysh]

followed your link and read the blurb and review comments on it, as well, sebmelmoth... it really looks good. it appears you have and have read it, is that right?

[sebmelmoth2003]

yes

one of the characters in the novel is named baines - presumably a subtle tribute to one of leonard's greatest clerical fans!!

search.php?keywords=baines

[lizzytysh]

how did you find about his leonard connection?

[sebmelmoth2003]

i heard him on the radio.

[lizzytysh]

ahhh... can you paraphrase what he said?
on what network was he speaking and with whom?

[sebmelmoth2003]

see my previous baines posts.

[LisaLCFan]

I love it when a Leonard Cohen reference pops up unexpectedly in a novel (or anywhere!). It always makes my day! Another book in which I encountered this is The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson (good book, too).

[lizzytysh]

you're going to require that I trawl all your posts to find them? when did you begin talking about baines? did you talk about him often? in what sections/context did you mention him? [a quick recap would be better, really, and probably useful to others, as well ]

[sebmelmoth2003]

thanks - LisaLCFan : i may try to borrow the gargoyle at my local library if it's in stock.

[sebmelmoth2003]

...Tom Sutcliffe and his guests writers Linda Grant and Miranda Sawyer and academic John Mullan review the week's cultural highlights...

Sat 3 Mar 2012 - 19:15 - BBC Radio 4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cvcr4

[lizzytysh]

YaaaY! Thank you, sebmelmoth !!!

[lizzytysh]

now if i could just get it to work ((

[Evie B]

now if i could just get it to work ((

Try this link Lizzy, scroll down the page to find Saturday Review and see if it will download to your computer. Checking, it seems the programme availability is running about 3 weeks behind so you may have to wait a while for the 3rd March edition, but worth a try to see if it will work from the US.

The reason you can't access it is that every poor soul in the UK who has a tv has to fork out about £145 for a licence for the BBC, so that is why you cannot generally use the iPlayer free from abroad - only fair I suppose. Maybe this is a way round it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/podcasts/

Evie B

[lizzytysh]

Thanks, Evie... here's hoping, but it sounds like you're right. At minimum, I'll have to wait, if I'll be able to get it at all.
It would be understandably aggravating to the U.K. people who PAY if we were able to watch it online without paying. And that's a steep fee.