Helen Tope
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scholar1977.bsky.social
Helen Tope
@scholar1977.bsky.social
79 followers 130 following 48 posts
(She / Her) Writer and reviewer. Critical Popcorn, The Reviews Hub, ScreenQueens, Plymouth Arts Cinema, PRSD, Devon and Cornwall Film, Bookmunch






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scholar1977.bsky.social
"Victoria Wood is instantly recalled in her self-penned jokes. Her blend of monologue and song saw Wood gleefully exploring sex, body image and class; immortalising Woman’s Weekly in the process."

Read my review of #BecomingVictoriaWood #comedy #VictoriaWood

www.thereviewshub.com/becoming-vic...
Becoming Victoria Wood - U&Gold - The Reviews Hub
Director: Catherine Abbott The challenge, in making a film about Victoria Wood, is telling us something we don’t already know. A national treasure and comedy legend, Wood is instantly recalled in her ...
www.thereviewshub.com
February 12, 2026 at 11:24 AM
scholar1977.bsky.social
My review of celebrity autobiography "It's Not Where You Start" by #ScottKyle #books #Outlander
www.thereviewshub.com/book-review-...
Book Review:  It’s Not Where You Start - Scott Kyle - The Reviews Hub
The showbiz autobiography genre is now so ubiquitous that we know what to expect: a heavily edited version of events, often ghost-written. If you want to really know that celebrity, the truth won’t be...
www.thereviewshub.com
January 22, 2026 at 9:15 PM
scholar1977.bsky.social
My first film review of 2026! I loved watching #Hamnet and if #JessieBuckley doesn't win the Oscar I will eat my hat. I also took issue with critics calling this film "emotionally manipulative"

plymouthartscinema.org/film-review-...
Film Review: Hamnet - "Buckley’s interpretation of Agnes’ grief, and anger, is instinctive and beautifully nuanced." | Plymouth Arts Cinema | Independent Cinema for Everyone | located at Arts Universi...
It’s fair to say that cinema has found a great deal to mine from Shakespeare. Whether it’s the man himself, hurrying along to the playhouse, trying to stave off writer’s block, in John Madden’s Shakes...
plymouthartscinema.org
January 19, 2026 at 3:01 PM
scholar1977.bsky.social
"As a successful writer, Sue Monk Kidd firmly advocates “creative loitering”, sitting with ideas, resisting a society that pushes us to be endlessly productive...her counter-culture argument for idleness is refreshing."

#SueMonkKidd #WritingCreativityAndSoul

bookmunch.wordpress.com/2025/11/24/f...
“Full of great advice” – Writing Creativity and Soul by Sue Monk Kidd
“In a society that pushes us to be productive at every waking moment, to get a certain word count done each day or we’re not a proper writer, Kidd’s counter-culture argument for idleness is r…
bookmunch.wordpress.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Helen Tope
bookjotter.bsky.social
bookjotter.com/2025/11/22/winding-up-the-week-448/ #AmReading #Books #BookReview #HYH26 #IrisMurdoch2026 @cathybrown746.bsky.social @bookmunch.bsky.social @tonysreadinglist.bsky.social @whisperinggums.bsky.social @scholar1977.bsky.social
Winding Up the Week #448
This week I look at books read and reviewed, discover some of the best writing about literature on the blogosphere, announce both the Hundred Years Hence Reading Challenge and A Year With Iris Murd…
bookjotter.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:58 AM
scholar1977.bsky.social
"For fans of #Frankenstein hoping for a blow-by-blow account of how Mary Shelley wrote the novel, #PoorCreatures leaves the creative process to the margins..it's a shame, as when Mairi Kidd hits her feminist groove, it’s thrilling."

#MairiKidd #bookreview

bookmunch.wordpress.com/2025/11/20/f...
“Full of feminist rage” – Poor Creatures by Mairi Kidd
“Poor Creatures wears its feminism proudly, and Kidd brings home the realities of being a woman in the 19th century: in a later scene, Isabel suffers a violent miscarriage and her staff merel…
bookmunch.wordpress.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:11 PM
scholar1977.bsky.social
"The story-telling techniques of #Caravaggio are a departure for #ExhibitionOnScreen but doesn’t exist has to be imagined. The documentary succeeds on all fronts: creativity blended with insight that progresses our understanding of the artist."

My 5* review

www.thereviewshub.com/exhibition-o...
Exhibition on Screen: Caravaggio - The Reviews Hub
Writers and Directors: David Bickerstaff and Phil Grabsky Reviled (or revered) as the Bad Boy of Italian Art, Caravaggio’s reputation seems unassailable. The bravura artist that applied chiaroscuro to...
www.thereviewshub.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Reposted by Helen Tope
scholar1977.bsky.social
#IShopThereforeIAm is bathed, gloriously, in nostalgia. Mary Portas is critical of fashion as a business, but emphatically in love with its creativity. While it's a view from the inside, her memoir never feels exclusionary."

#MaryPortas @canongate.co.uk

bookmunch.wordpress.com/2025/10/29/b...
“Bathed, gloriously, in nostalgia” – I Shop, Therefore I Am by Mary Portas
“I Shop, Therefore I Am is a rarity: a fashion book with real substance behind the style. It is Mary Portas’ voice, no-nonsense and up-front, that keeps the reader engaged. There is a lot of …
bookmunch.wordpress.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:06 PM
scholar1977.bsky.social
#IShopThereforeIAm is bathed, gloriously, in nostalgia. Mary Portas is critical of fashion as a business, but emphatically in love with its creativity. While it's a view from the inside, her memoir never feels exclusionary."

#MaryPortas @canongate.co.uk

bookmunch.wordpress.com/2025/10/29/b...
“Bathed, gloriously, in nostalgia” – I Shop, Therefore I Am by Mary Portas
“I Shop, Therefore I Am is a rarity: a fashion book with real substance behind the style. It is Mary Portas’ voice, no-nonsense and up-front, that keeps the reader engaged. There is a lot of …
bookmunch.wordpress.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by Helen Tope
backlisted.bsky.social
Hallowe'en special up now. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, with guests Andrew Male and Laura Varnam in conversation with Una McCormack and Andy Miller. 🌬️🎃🧟 @andrewmale.bsky.social @drlauravarnam.bsky.social @unamccormack.bsky.social @iammilliam.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/0Zde...
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
open.spotify.com
October 28, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Reposted by Helen Tope
scholar1977.bsky.social
"The challenge in reading Mishima is to see past his gory, sensationalist death. David Vernon examines the writer to reveal a more complicated artist than his far-right political views would suggest."

bookmunch.wordpress.com/2025/10/22/i...

Review #ExquisiteNothingness #DavidVernon #Mishima
“It covers everything” – Exquisite Nothingness: The Novels of Yukio Mishima by David Vernon
Helen Tope reviews Exquisite Nothingness: The Novels of Yukio Mishima by David Vernon
bookmunch.wordpress.com
October 22, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Reposted by Helen Tope
scholar1977.bsky.social
"In fictionalising a serious crime, Benbecula is more than an artistic experiment. Burnet’s refusal to editorialise, and draw moral boundaries, makes this novella deeply profound and ambitious"

My review of #Benbecula #books #novels #GraemeMacraeBurnet

bookmunch.wordpress.com/2025/10/26/h...
“His best yet” – Benbecula by Graeme Macrae Burnet
“In the way that Burnet unsteadies the reader, it will bring to mind Margaret Atwood’s 1996 novel Alias Grace, which in its treatment of a real-life crime, and perceived / real madness, has a…
bookmunch.wordpress.com
October 26, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Reposted by Helen Tope
scholar1977.bsky.social
"A progression emerges in Eileen Chang’s fiction: the increasing vocalisation of ideas on men, women, culture, identity. #TimeTunnel proves that her political fervour is never too far from the surface."

@nyrb-imprints.bsky.social #TimeTunnel #EileenChang

bookmunch.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/h...
“Her fiction is a warning” – Time Tunnel by Eileen Chang (trans. Karen S. Kingsbury / Jie Zhang)
“It is only recently that Eileen Chang has undergone a critical re-evaluation; much needed as it underlines the realist tones of her writing. What Time Tunnel proves is that her political fer…
bookmunch.wordpress.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:06 AM
scholar1977.bsky.social
"A progression emerges in Eileen Chang’s fiction: the increasing vocalisation of ideas on men, women, culture, identity. #TimeTunnel proves that her political fervour is never too far from the surface."

@nyrb-imprints.bsky.social #TimeTunnel #EileenChang

bookmunch.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/h...
“Her fiction is a warning” – Time Tunnel by Eileen Chang (trans. Karen S. Kingsbury / Jie Zhang)
“It is only recently that Eileen Chang has undergone a critical re-evaluation; much needed as it underlines the realist tones of her writing. What Time Tunnel proves is that her political fer…
bookmunch.wordpress.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:06 AM
scholar1977.bsky.social
"In fictionalising a serious crime, Benbecula is more than an artistic experiment. Burnet’s refusal to editorialise, and draw moral boundaries, makes this novella deeply profound and ambitious"

My review of #Benbecula #books #novels #GraemeMacraeBurnet

bookmunch.wordpress.com/2025/10/26/h...
“His best yet” – Benbecula by Graeme Macrae Burnet
“In the way that Burnet unsteadies the reader, it will bring to mind Margaret Atwood’s 1996 novel Alias Grace, which in its treatment of a real-life crime, and perceived / real madness, has a…
bookmunch.wordpress.com
October 26, 2025 at 9:56 AM
scholar1977.bsky.social
"The challenge in reading Mishima is to see past his gory, sensationalist death. David Vernon examines the writer to reveal a more complicated artist than his far-right political views would suggest."

bookmunch.wordpress.com/2025/10/22/i...

Review #ExquisiteNothingness #DavidVernon #Mishima
“It covers everything” – Exquisite Nothingness: The Novels of Yukio Mishima by David Vernon
Helen Tope reviews Exquisite Nothingness: The Novels of Yukio Mishima by David Vernon
bookmunch.wordpress.com
October 22, 2025 at 9:53 AM
scholar1977.bsky.social
www.thereviewshub.com/mr-blake-at-...

"The film is not without its issues...but Malkovich, in comedy mode, is genuinely charming"

My review of #MrBlakeAtYourService #JohnMalkovich #filmreview
Mr. Blake At Your Service! - The Reviews Hub
Writers: Christel Henon and Gilles Legardinier Director: Gilles Legardinier If there’s an actor who likes to keep us on our toes, it’s John Malkovich. We’re used to seeing him immersed in aspects of t...
www.thereviewshub.com
October 3, 2025 at 12:39 PM
scholar1977.bsky.social
"In trying to impress and pander to the Instagram crowd, Sheehan Quirke has created a book that is structurally incoherent and stylistically uneven...there are interesting morsels to be discovered, but the reader simply needs more"
#TheCulturalTutor #books
bookmunch.wordpress.com/2025/09/28/a...
“A uniquely frustrating experience” – The Cultural Tutor by Sheehan Quirke
“When it comes to books published on the back of Instagram success, it’s quite reasonable to have low expectations. The publishing path to lucrative cash grabs is strewn with biographies ‘wri…
bookmunch.wordpress.com
September 28, 2025 at 9:19 AM
scholar1977.bsky.social
www.thereviewshub.com/ackroyd-harv...

Read my review of #TheArtOfActivism #documentary #climatecrisis #AckroydHarvey
Ackroyd & Harvey: The Art of Activism - The Reviews Hub
Director: Fiona Cunningham-Reid Sharply merging the personal with the political, Fiona Cunningham-Reid’s documentary, Ackroyd & Harvey: The Art of Activism, doesn’t just look at what it’s like to be a...
www.thereviewshub.com
September 19, 2025 at 11:49 AM
scholar1977.bsky.social
Thirty years on, #SenseandSensibility can still be watched and understood by a complete newcomer to Jane Austen. But Thompson doesn’t simplify: she clarifies; making us look past the costumes and into the heart of the drama."

#EmmaThompson #JaneAusten

plymouthartscinema.org/romantic-pra...
“Romantic, Pragmatic, Feminist”: Emma Thompson’s Sense and Sensibility | Plymouth Arts Cinema | Independent Cinema for Everyone | located at Arts University Plymouth.
Although it doesn’t get the same attention as Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion or even Emma, Sense and Sensibility can lay claim to being Jane Austen’s literary debut. Published in 1811, it did well. Its original critics described the novel’s plot as “probable, highly pleasing and interesting”. While she didn’t get the literary hoopla of a...
plymouthartscinema.org
September 9, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Helen Tope
scholar1977.bsky.social
Want to get back into the reading habit? Here's my guide to the best classics, new and old. And they're all under 200 pages. #shortyseptember #reading #bookrecommendations

www.theprsd.co.uk/2025/09/05/s...
Start (and keep) reading | Short Book September - the PRSD
Get those pages turning and dive into Shorty September with a month of reading books under 200 pages. Say hello to Short Book September
www.theprsd.co.uk
September 5, 2025 at 2:40 PM
scholar1977.bsky.social
"Joanna Pocock’s #Greyhound is a searing portrayal of gaping inequalities. Her calculation of what we are losing – to corporate greed, to economic elitism – is vast"

#JoannaPocock #Greyhound #memoir #travel #economics @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social

bookmunch.wordpress.com/2025/09/07/a...
“A searing portrayal of inequality” – Greyhound by Joanna Pocock
“Pocock’s journey may have started as an intensely personal exploration of grief and loss, but what unfolds in Greyhound is a searing portrayal of gaping inequalities. However, Pocock’s sense…
bookmunch.wordpress.com
September 9, 2025 at 1:40 PM
scholar1977.bsky.social
Want to get back into the reading habit? Here's my guide to the best classics, new and old. And they're all under 200 pages. #shortyseptember #reading #bookrecommendations

www.theprsd.co.uk/2025/09/05/s...
Start (and keep) reading | Short Book September - the PRSD
Get those pages turning and dive into Shorty September with a month of reading books under 200 pages. Say hello to Short Book September
www.theprsd.co.uk
September 5, 2025 at 2:40 PM
scholar1977.bsky.social
"While the metaphor of drystone walling – you must take apart a wall before you can build it back stronger – could weigh heavily, De Garis uses it sparingly and effectively."

My review of #DrystoneALifeRebuilt by @kristiedegaris.bsky.social #nonfiction #book

bookmunch.wordpress.com/2025/09/01/a...
“A quick fix is never the answer” – Drystone: A Life Rebuilt by Kristie De Garis
“While De Garis’ memoir has its share of bleakness, Drystone is filled with moments of humour. Her writing style makes for a readable, and emotionally balanced, experience. De Garis’ portrait…
bookmunch.wordpress.com
September 4, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Helen Tope
kristiedegaris.bsky.social
Really in-depth review of my book 'Drystone' from Bookmunch. Grateful that they picked up not just on the story, but on the craft - the restraint, the humour, and the wider social critique I hoped would come through.

You can read it here:

bookmunch.wordpress.com/2025/09/01/a...

#Books #Scotland
“A quick fix is never the answer” – Drystone: A Life Rebuilt by Kristie De Garis
“While De Garis’ memoir has its share of bleakness, Drystone is filled with moments of humour. Her writing style makes for a readable, and emotionally balanced, experience. De Garis’ portrait…
bookmunch.wordpress.com
September 1, 2025 at 12:17 PM