I’ve just finished reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘The Remains of the Day’ (winner of the 1989 Booker Prize). It’s a really nice Faber and Faber edition, featuring on the cover the splash ‘Now a major motion picture’ and a rather pensive-looking Sir Anthony Hopkins in sharp butler-attire alongside Emma Thompson, half in shadow.

I know it’s one of those films that I probably should have seen, and as it seems to be right up my street, it’s really quite surprising that I haven’t. And I’m not one of those people who resolutely refuse to watch the film until they’ve read the book: at least 10 years passed between me watching the Colin Firth BBC version of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ before I actually got around to reading Jane Austen’s classic, and I appreciated Jeremy Irons’ portrayal of Charles Ryder before I encountered him ‘for real’ in Evelyn Waugh’s text. But this time, the book has come first. …

Read the full article HERE.