Kim Askew

lit·er·ar·y/Adjective * Concerning the writing, study, or content of literature, esp. of the kind valued for quality of form.

Jan 2

“It was as if someone had opened the doors of space and time for him. There was nowhere he had to be.” Monsieur Hire’s false respite, in Georges Simenon’s The Engagement. Movie adaptation, here. (via smalldemonsblog)

Dec 27
TEMPEST, John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Molly Ringwald, 1982, (c) Columbia

TEMPEST, John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Molly Ringwald, 1982, (c) Columbia




Dec 12

Oct 9
Amy’s author photo

Amy’s author photo


Author photo: Amy Helmes and Kim Askew, with Kim’s dog Macbeth

Author photo: Amy Helmes and Kim Askew, with Kim’s dog Macbeth


Feb 7

To Dickens on His 200th Birthday

My boyfriend gave me Charles Dickens by Michael Slater this weekend. The first thing I did was check the index for Henry James. There was one entry and in following it up I found that a young James wrote a negative review (which, Slater notes, Dickens probably never read) in The Nation for Our Mutual Friend. I was also interested to read that there was a woman in Covent Garden who inspired Miss Havisham. The twelve year-old Dickens would’ve seen her attired in a wedding gown during the long walk to and from his work at a blacking factory, where he worked alongside someone named Bob Fagin.

Another Dickens biographer, Claire Tomalin, and writer Jennifer Egan (A Visit from the Goon Squad) spoke about Dickens on today’s Morning Edition. Egan mentions that her favorites are Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend, and David Copperfield. (At the moment mine are Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend, and Little Dorrit. In middle school, I was obsessed with A Tale of Two Cities.)


Jan 5

La Scène: Los Angeles 2012

From exquisite chamber music to classical theatre, there’s so much to do in L.A. this year. I can hardly wait…

Hamlet 2012 from the Independent Shakespeare Co.

Gopnik Lecture: Winter Scenes (The Getty)

mozartMozart/Da Ponte Trilogy

Los Angeles Philharmonic: Bach: St John Passion

Noises Within 2012 Season (Antony and Cleopatra, The Illusion, and Moliere’s The Bungler)

Los Angeles Master Chorale: Bach: St John Passion

Antaeus 2012 Season (The Seagull, Macbeth, You Can’t Take It With You)

Conference - Sociable Places: Locating Enlightenment and Romantic Culture (The Huntington)

An Evening with Philip Levine (ALOUD)