Caroline's 2023 Reading (Chapter 3)

Freddie Mercury was fascinated by Japan, here are some of his Japanese possessions.



You might enjoy this short video which includes shots inside Freddie's home:

https://www.sothebys.com/en/videos/inside-sothebys-the-making-of-freddie-mercury...

https://www.sothebys.com/en/auction-catalogue/2023/freddie-mercury-a-world-of-hi...

Read in 2023


By Vanessa Bell

Fiction

The Papers of Tony Veitch (William McIlvanney) (02/0123) ***1/2
The Great Fire (Shirley Hazzard) (07/02/23) ****1/2
The Colony (Audrey Magee) (09/02/23) *****
Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen (Fay Weldon) (15/01/23) ***
The Idea of Perfection (Kate Greville) (01/02/23) ***1/2
The Painter's Friend (Howard Cunnell) (09/02/23) ****1/2
Angle of Repose (Wallace Stegner) (06/03/23) (*) ****1/2
A Visitation of Spirits (Randall Kenan) (12/03/23) ***
Violeta (Isabel Allende) (19/03/23) ****
Swimming in the Dark (Tomasz Jedowski) (24/03/23) ***1/2
A Passage to India (EM Forster (06/04/23) (*) ****
Lessons (Ian McEwan) (26/04/2023) ****1/2
Stones from the River (Ursula Hegi) (12/05/23) ****1/2
To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf) (22/05/23) (*) *****
The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle (Kirsty Walk) (28/05/23) (*) ****
To Battersea Park (Philip Hensher) (11/06/23) ***1/2
A Siege of Bitterns (Steve Burrows) (30/06/23) ***1/2
This is Happiness (Niall Williams) (09/07/23) ****1/2
Utz (Bruce Chatwin) (10/07/23) (*) ****
The House of Doors (Tan Twan Eng) (15/07/23) *****
An Unnecessary Woman (Rabih Alameddine) (21/07/23) ****
The Garden of Evening Mists (Tan Twan Eng) (31/07/23) *****
Tom Lake (Ann Patchett) (05/08/23) ****1/2
The President's Hat (Antoine Laurain) (08/08/23) ***1/2
The Lost Garden (Helen Humphrys) (12/08/23) ****1/2
The Well of Saint Nobody (Neil Jordan) (20/08/23) ****
The Gift of Rain (Tan Twan Eng) (06/09/23) ****1/2
The Glass Painter's Daughter (Rachel Hore) (18/09/23) ***1/2
Small Things Like These (Claire Keegan) (22/09/23) ****1/2

Non-Fiction

Christopher Lloyd: His Life at Great Dixter (Stephen Anderton) (21/01/23) ****1/2 & Great Dixter:Then and Now (Fergus Garrett) (22/01/23) ****
Middlemarch and the Imperfect Life (Pamela Erens) (02/02/23) ****1/2
How should one Read a Book? (Virginia Woolf/intro&afterword: Sheila Heti) (20/02/23) ****
The Red Leather Diary (Lily Koppel (27/03/23) ****1/2
Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Enquiry and Hope (Sarah Bakewell) (16/04/23) *****
Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop (Alba Donati) (12/05/23) ****
A Life of One's Own (Joanna Biggs) (16/05/23) ****1/2
Arrangements in Blue (Amy Key) (1 June 2023) ****
Bluets (Maggie Nelson) 11/06/23) ****1/2
Landlines (Raynor Winn) (15/06/23) ****1/2
The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke out of Auschwitz (Jonathan Freedland) (21/06/23) (reread) ****1/2
Howards End is on the Landing (Susan Hill) (*) (22/06/23) ****
Jacobs Room is Full of Books (Susan Hill) (25/06/23) (*) ***1/2
Anywhere out of the World: The Work of Bruce Chatwin (Jonathan Chatwin) (19/07/23) *****
Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships (Nina Totenberg) (26/07/23) ****
Writing in the Dark (Will Loxley) (18/08/23) ****1/2
Belonging: Natural Histories of Place, Identity and Home (Amanda Thomson) (24/08/23) ****
Freddie Mercury: A World of his Own (Sotherby's) (03/09/23) *****
Release the Bats: A pocket guide to writing your way out of it (DBC Pierre) (07/09/23) ****
All the Beauty in the World (Patrick Bringley) (09/09/23) ****
Politics on the Edge: A Memoir from Within (Rory Stewart) (23/09/23) ****1/2
The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham (Selina Hastings) (15/10/23) *****

Poetry

The Hurting Kind (Ada Limón) (06/02/23) ****
The Voice of Sheila Chandra (Kazim Ali) (09/02/23) ****
On the Bus with Rosa Parks (Rita Dove) (19/02/23) ****
Sporadic Troubleshooting (Clarence Major) (06/03/23) ***1/2
The Carrying (Ada Limón) (*) (20/03/23) *****
Quiet (Victoria Adukwei Bulley) (08/04/23) ****
Not the Whispering Wild (John Eppel) (28/05/23) ***
Osip Mandelstam: Selected Poems (Osip Mandelstam, trans Clarence Brown and WS Merwin) (26/06/23) (*) *****

Re-reads (*) (already counted above)

Angle of Repose (Wallace Stegner) - fiction
The Carrying (Ada Limón) - poetry
A Passage to India (EM Forster)
To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle (Kirsty Walk)
Howards End is on the Landing (Susan Hill)
Jacobs Room is Full of Books (Susan Hill) (25/06/23) (reread) ***1/2
Osip Mandelstam: Selected Poems (Osip Mandelstam, trans Clarence Brown and WS Merwin)
Utz (Bruce Chatwin)

Total read: 61

Fiction: 29
Non-Fiction: 23 (including pamphlet)
Poetry: 08
Rereads (*): 8

Female: 29
Male: 29
Non-binary/Trans:
Various: 01

UK: 26
Australia: 03
US: 13
UK/US/Transnational: 01
British-Gharnaian: 01
South America: 01
German/Polish: 01
US/German: 01
Italy: 01
Zimbabwe: 01
Russian: 01
Ireland: 03
Canada: 02
Malay: 03
Lebanon: 01
France: 01

BOOKS ACQUIRED

118
(16/14/15/11/9/14/11/10/08/10



BOOKS RELEASED
From mid-Feb includes 2 books out for everyone in

512 (25 weren't in my catalogue)

OK, I'm going to keep track of this on my thread this year. The aim is to exit more than I acquire. My goal is 400 out, and no more than double figures in. ETA: Surpassed this goal beginning of July. New goal 1000 out by year end.

Happy new thread, Caroline!

>3 Caroline_McElwee: You are doing very well releasing your books. Your new goal is impressive.

>1 Caroline_McElwee: I love the bright colours.

Happy new one!

Happy new thread, Caroline. Love the toppers!

>6 figsfromthistle: >7 jessibud2: Thanks Anita and Shelley.

Happy new thread!

Chiming in with my "Happy new thread" too!

Congratulations of reaching your goal of weeding 400 books, Caroline, Impressive. Happy new thread. I love your toppers.

Happy new one, dear Caroline.

>1 Caroline_McElwee: It is funny because I would not have associated Freddie Mercury with Japan.

>9 drneutron: >10 alcottacre: Thanks Jim and Stasia.

>11 BLBera: Thanks. It's very effortful Beth as I don't drive, and lots of charity shops not taking books, but slow and sure.

>12 PaulCranswick: I don't think it was a surprise for me Paul. He had over 40 kimono and lots of Japanese drawings. I can imagine him as a Kabuki or Noh player, I think he adopted some of that into his showmanship.

Happy Sunday, Caroline. Happy New Thread. I am starting The Gift of Rain today. Just a heads-up.

>14 msf59: I'm galloping along with it Mark. About a third through.

53. Freddie Mercurie: A World of his Own (Sotherby's) (03/09/23) *****



Full of information about the creators of the exhibits, and interesting snippets and anecdotes about their owner. Freddie designed Queen's logos. He trained in graphic design. The main logo incorporated all their astrological signs.

He worked closely with the chosen designers for the stage outfits, occasionally even sourcing and giving them the fabric he wanted used. He was good with a needle and sometimes sewed on his own embellishments.

Freddie was an erudite collector over a broad spectrum, although he rarely attended actions himself, sending his assistant Peter, or Mary, with his marked up catalogue (and no top bid!). He did however arrange to have private views, and said Sotherby's was one of his favourite places.

Despite his great love of Japan, he didn't like sushi or sashimi. I'm with him on that. Despite never having visited the country myself I have been fascinated by it since a kid.

On food, Freddie loved a good English breakfast.



I saw Queen live at Hyde Park in 1976.

Happy new thread! I'm loving all the Freddie Mercury posts!

>17 Sakerfalcon: Glad you are enjoying him Claire.

Happy new thread.
Liking the Freddie pics.

>17 Sakerfalcon: >19 Helenliz: Just started revisiting Queen's albums in order.

Another peak into Freddie's home.

https://www.sothebys.com/en/auction-catalogue/2023/freddie-mercury-a-world-of-hi...

Happy Wednesday, Caroline. I am enjoying the Queen and Freddie Mercury tributes. I was fortunate to have seen them in concert twice- circa '77-78 in Chicago and circa '83-'84 in Munich. Great shows.

I am at the halfway point in The Gift of Rain and enjoying it very much. Such an ambitious novel for a debut.

>22 msf59: Glad you got to see them live too Mark.

I'm nearing the end of the fine novel. Not sure if I'll finish tonight, but certainly tomorrow.

I've been watching the first Freddie auction, not sure of the total raised yet but the following artefacts went as follows:

Freddie's snake bangle (£380,000)
Bohemian Rhapsody manuscript (£1.1m)
Yamaha baby grand (£1.4m)
Red cloak and crown (£500,000)

+ commissions (25%+) and Tax

There are 5 other actions.

Another nugget, the manuscript of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' shows it was almost titled 'Mongolian Rhapsody'.

54. The Gift of Rain (Tan Twan Eng) (06/09/23) ****1/2



The primary narrator in this fine debut novel is Philip Hutton, English/Chinese son of a business man in Penang. He tells his story from his old age. Two other narrators appear across the novel set just before, during and after the Second World War. Tan’s sense of place starts with this debut and has carried on through his two later novels (I have managed to read his work backwards).

The heart of the novel is the relationship between Philip and his sensei (martial arts teacher) Endo-San, a Japanese man who has settled on the island belonging to Hutton’s family. Both find themselves outsiders, and as the Japanese invasion of Malaya (as it was then) ensues, the friendship is complicated by the choices they make.

Not for the faint hearted, this is a novel that will take most us to a place and part of history we have never read about and I certainly found fascinating.

It was a difficult to star rate, had I read it first I would have given it 5 stars, but having read the others first, I felt those very slightly worthier of 5*s.

Highly recommended

>25 Caroline_McElwee: I am currently reading The Garden of Evening Mists as I have already read that one. I am glad to see you enjoyed it so much. I have a copy of The House of Doors on its way to me and cannot wait to read it.

>26 alcottacre: Such fine novels Stasia. They will all be reread in time.

>27 Caroline_McElwee: Yeah, I think Eng is an author whose novels are meant not only to be savored, but to be reread and savored again.

55. Release the Bats: A pocket guide to writing your way out of it (DBC Pierre) (07/09/23) ****



A quirky but impactful volume on writing, definitely will be dipped into going forward. My favourite chapter was 'Punch' which took from martial arts the concept of not aiming at the target, but punching past it.

Thanks to AlisonY for putting this on my radar.

>29 Caroline_McElwee: That is a great title and cover! Maybe I will order this for work and then borrow it.

Happy Friday, Caroline. Good review of The Gift of Rain. I will finish it today and share your same feelings about this wonderful, ambitious novel. A stellar debut. Glad we were able to do a shared read of it.

>30 Sakerfalcon: Good plan Claire.

>31 msf59: Unputdownable Mark.

56. All the Beauty in the World (Patrick Bringley) (09/09/23) ****



Grieving the death of his brother in his 20s, Patrick Bringley slips the ropes of his life and applies to be a museum guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For ten years he stands guard in the rooms and imbibes the art and watches and talks to the visitors, and the fellow guards, many of whom become friends.

A beautiful memoir of the appreciation of extraordinary art and quiet meditation upon it, and its healing powers.

>33 Caroline_McElwee: You got me with that one, Caro. Onto the list it goes!

Glad to see that all three of Tan's books hit home. I think I like his debut best as a story but the writing in the second book was exquisite and the third is on the subject (partly) of one of my absolute favourite authors.

>34 lauralkeet:. Good to catch you with a bb Laura.

>35 PaulCranswick: Can you recommend another Malaysian novelist of a similar caliber Paul?

57. The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison) (11/09/23) ****



I finally got to Morrison's debut novel, and it sings of the kind of writing that was to follow. I could have quoted whole pages of extraordinary character description. The novel vibrates with deep authenticity. These are hard lives that have carved hard people, but there is no self pity.

>33 Caroline_McElwee: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation, Caroline.

>37 Caroline_McElwee: I am glad to see you enjoyed that one as much as I did. I love your comment, "These are hard lives that have carved hard people, but there is no self pity." So true - and the book is not written in an overly sentimental way either. Things just were the way they were.

I am looking forward to reading much more of Toni Morrison's work.

>33 Caroline_McElwee: Loved that book. Glad it was a hit for you Caroline.

>36 Caroline_McElwee: I would not put him as quite as good, Caroline, but Tash Aw is a very decent writer of literary fiction.

>38 alcottacre: You won't be disappointed in the Bringley Stasia.

>39 Oberon: Good to see you peeping round the door Erik. For a while my sister was a Museum Guard at Kensington Palace in the 1990s.

>40 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul, will give him a try.

>33 Caroline_McElwee: This sounds like a lovely book, Caroline. I am currently reading about art, so this will fit right in.

Morrison is great, and I'm glad you finally read one. They get better.

>42 BLBera: I've read most of them Beth, and some more than once (Beloved about 4 times). I think Sula and Jazz are the only novels of hers I haven't read. Not sure why I hadn't read her debut. I was also lucky to hear her speak in person twice.

Hi Caroline. I'm glad you enjoyed The Gift of Rain. I also loved it although I agree that The Garden of Evening Mists was even better. I haven't yet read the third in his oeuvre.

>44 EBT1002: Then you have a treat ahead of you Ellen. As I said above, I will certainly be rereading all of them.

58 The Glass Painter's Daughter (Rachel Hore) (18/09/23) ***1/2



Set in the 1990s and dropping back to the 1880s, Musican Fran Morrison returns to her childhood home when her father is taken ill. Home is over the shop Minster Glass, where he has made stain glass windows, and sold the makings to other creatives.

Their relationship has long been strained, due to the secrets he has held about her mother who died when she was two.

Fran takes the reins of the shop while he is in hospital, her life changes as she makes friends and learns the history of a broken stain glass window that she and her assistant Zac attempt to restore from the broken pieces discovered in the church as a result of the blitz.

One of the things I particularly enjoyed was it's Westminster setting which I know well.

I've been noticing lately that everyone is writing novels about someone's daughter. Maybe we'll see 'the carpenter's Daughter', or 'The plumber's daughter', or 'the proctologist's Daugter'. Who knows how far the meme will go??

>47 ffortsa: - I noticed that sort of theme ages ago. Either the *daughter* or the *wife* or the *garden* or the *lost* something. And then, there are those ubiquitous covers that show people (mostly women but not always) from the back, walking away. Are the publishers have one over on us or is this their way of just having fun? Is it truly a lack of creativity or is it boredom? The newest trend I am noticing on shelves now is the long, vertically narrow covers (I posted a pic of the one I bought, at post #44 on my thread) but I've begun to notice other books in this format as well. The print doesn't seem to be smaller but it's just rather odd.

>47 ffortsa: I could do two books then, Judy, one per daughter. First daughter could be "The Quantity Surveyor's Daughter" and by the second it can now be either "The Contract Manager's Daughter" or less successfully "The Small Business Owner's Daughter".

>47 ffortsa: >48 jessibud2: >49 PaulCranswick: Ha, funny the trends that occur Judy. I do notice them in covers especially. I haven't noticed the narrower books Shelley.

>49 PaulCranswick: They will be moving to the granddaughters soon enough Paul.

59. Small Things Like These (Claire Keegan) (22/09/23) ****1/2



Small but perfectly formed, and already popular with LTers.

Bill Furlong, husband and father of four daughters, on his rounds as a timber and coal merchant discovers a dark secret carried out and kept silent by the Catholic Church, leaving him with a moral quandary.

Although this novel is about the long hidden existence of the Madeline Laundries, it's great strength is in the crafting of Bill and his family over the run up to Christmas.

>51 Caroline_McElwee: Agree entirely with your assessment of that one, Caroline. It is wonderful but misses out on 5 stars simply because you are left wanting more!

Have a great weekend.

>52 PaulCranswick: Exactly Paul. I wonder if she will revisit the family.

>51 Caroline_McElwee: I thought that was an exquisite piece of writing. I thought the fact that it doesn't end at a resolution was part of the joy of it, you were left hoping, rather than knowing. Although she never describes Bill, I feel I'd recognise him.
Loved her next one, Foster as well. I even let the ice cream of my desert melt while I finished the last few pages.

>54 Helenliz: I agree she is an exquisite writer Helen. I too enjoyed Foster

60. Politics on the Edge: A Memoir from Within (Rory Stewart) (23/09/23) ****1/2



Although not a Conservative supporter I have always had a respect for Rory Stewart.

Here in his political memoir he confirms much of my suspicions about our Parliamentary system and its lack of democratic behaviour. Prime Ministers use the party whips to control how its Members vote, and as Stewart found to his cost, choosing to go against the whip will send you into the weeds for years (5 in his case) where you will be given no promotion to any kind of Cabinet position.

He did good work as Minister for prisons, in International Development and the Foreign office, as well as for his constituency.

Despite his honesty about the negative aspects of certain individuals, and the system, he has a generosity of spirit towards many of those he has worked with: MPs, Civil Servants and others.

As someone who worked at the House of Commons supporting Parliamentary Select Committees for 11 years, there are many very fine Constituency MPs who do solid work, but I have always suspected that many of those who manage to get promoted to the Cabinet achieve those positions to boost their own ends, which require personality traits that lead them to behave in ways that separate them from the ordinary citizen and their needs.

>51 Caroline_McElwee: Oh, I loved that little gem!

>57 EBT1002: I will certainly aim to read more of her work Ellen.

I recommend Foster.

>59 EBT1002: I read that one last year Ellen, another fine piece of work. They are the only two I have read so far.

Penultimate visit of the year to Chelsea Phys, and a beautiful day it was. The most birdsong of all our visits this year, but we only saw the wrens. The robins were making a din, but kept out of sight.



Right middle row is the trunk of a cork tree.

The renovation of the glasshouses is complete and they were open again.



I've been keeping cake consumption right down, but as it was nearly the end of my annual leave... a delicious carrot cake. One of my 5-a-day (actually most days I have 10!).

>51 Caroline_McElwee: I have a copy of that one on the way to me or I would be adding it to the BlackHole, but I received a couple of your recommendations today: The Well of Saint Nobody and All the Beauty in the World. I got them, but no telling when I will get to read them. . .

>61 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks for sharing the pictures!

As the local Free Little Library has been full of late I have been putting a box on the wall out front...



7 of 13 were adopted yesterday, so I topped up this morning and when I came home from Chelsea Phys, 8 of 11 had disappeared.

Rain predicted for the next few days, but will top up and put out again over the weekend.

>62 alcottacre: I hope you enjoy them Stasia, I think you will.

Thanks re the photos.

>63 Caroline_McElwee: I only wish I lived close enough to visit your Little Free Library!

>64 Caroline_McElwee: I have no doubt but that I will.

>61 Caroline_McElwee: - Gorgeous, top to bottom (and yum!)

>65 alcottacre: >66 jessibud2: Thanks Stasia and Shelley. Via various routes I have let 512 books go since mid-Feb.

Revisiting >1 Caroline_McElwee: The auctions raised a total of £39.9m to be split between family, and both Freddie's and Elton's Charity Foundations.

>63 Caroline_McElwee: Coming across boxes like this always makes me so happy! And it is good you've had so many takers on your offerings.

>69 ursula: Thanks Ursula.

That cake has my mouth watering...

>71 EBT1002: It was very good Ellen.

>56 Caroline_McElwee: Was excited to see this review Caroline. I have loved his other books and have this one on my wish list.

>73 Oberon: I read his first years back Erik, and have the middle two in the tbr mountain. He participates in a Podcast with Alistair Campbell, which I haven't got to yet:

https://uk-podcasts.co.uk/podcast/the-rest-is-politics

>56 Caroline_McElwee: I will look out for that one too, Caroline. Like you my political hue is hardly blue but I do think Stewart is the sort of principled free spirit that politics needs.

Like so many these days and even though I still pay my Labour Party Subs, no political party really speaks for me anymore. Too much talking and not enough listening.

Hi, Caroline. I hope this works. I enjoyed a CNN interview with Emily Wilson and thought you might, too:

https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/the-assignment/episodes/36292c0e-0713-4b56-9f...

I’m enjoying her The Iliad so far!

>76 jnwelch: Thanks for the link Joe, will get to this soon.

>76 jnwelch: I'm making note of that link, as well. I have her translation of The Odyssey on my retirement reading list.

HAppy weekend!

As always I enjoy the garden pictures you post.

That carrot cake looks delicious! Carrot is one of my favourites but very few cafes hit it out of the park for me.

I love little libraries. I haven't checked my local ones for a few weeks. I have some books to put in. Perhaps I will do this on the way to work today. Who knows, maybe I will find a book fo myself as well.

>79 figsfromthistle: Carrot cakes have to have lots of carrots and not much sugar for my taste Anita. I hate those confections that are just sweet and orange!

I hooe you find a book to adopt. I'll be putting a box out again on Monday (I don't work Mondays, so can monitor and top up).

61. The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham (Selina Hastings) (15/10/23) *****



I read a bit of Maugham in my teens and early twenties and this memoir had been on the shelf a while, nudged off after reading Tan Twan Eng's wonderful The House of Doors which has Maugham as a central character.

Maugham said of his writing that he had no imagination, he was just a storyteller, reshaping the stories of lives he knew or had heard about. And he did it very well. Writing was the most important thing in his life, it was where he didn't compromise. Three hours with the pen every morning. At the outset he was a playwright, then a short story writer, then a novelist. He also wrote essays and memoir. When he felt he ran out of steam in any of these he would simply stop doing them. He had stories backed up in his head, sometimes bubbling over years.

Because he was sometimes uninterested in disguising the source of his characters, he often got in hot water, although many people were flattered even to have some of their dirty linen aired in public.

He had an unhappy childhood, homosexual in an era it was not accepted, so happiness in itself was not something he expected to enjoy, although as long as he could write and travel, there was much happiness to be had, and becoming a successful creative he became a very wealthy man, and was very generous with that wealth.

Trapped into a marriage that lasted for many years, he was a father and grandfather. Although at the end of his life due to the interference of the man who for many years had been his secretary, the relations with his daughter had been strained, for quite a long period before that she and her family had been part of his life.

Maugham had a great capacity for friendship, and was a connoisseur of style and art. He died in his mid-80s in France, where he had a home. His ashes are buried in Cambridge, UK.


Portrait in the latter part of his life, by Graham Sutherland.

I have volume 1 of his collected short stories out of the library, and aim to read them through the winter. His most famous story 'Rain' is very fine.

>63 Caroline_McElwee: I love this idea, might give it a go myself! We get lots of dog walkers coming past the door.

I am tempted by the Maugham biography, after reading Tan Twan Eng's book. Lots in your review to think about.

And I forgot to say that I had missed the end of your thread with the visit to the FM exhibition. It looked wonderful. Thank you for posting the photos.

Went to hear filmaker Ken Loach talk this evening. Thought provoking as would be expected.



Unfortunately too far back to get a decent photo myself.

tv includes
Up the Junction
Cathy Come Home

Films
Poor Cow (1967)
Kes (1969) (as Kenneth Loach)
Family Life (1971)
Black Jack (1979) (as Kenneth Loach)
Looks and Smiles (1981) (as Kenneth Loach)
Fatherland (1986)
Hidden Agenda (1990)
Riff-Raff (1991)
Raining Stones (1993)
Ladybird, Ladybird (1994)
Land and Freedom (1995)
Carla's Song (1996)
My Name Is Joe (1998)
Bread and Roses (2000)
The Navigators (2001)
Sweet Sixteen (2002)
11'09"01 September 11 (segment "United Kingdom") (2002)
Ae Fond Kiss... (2004)
Tickets (2005), along with Ermanno Olmi and Abbas Kiarostami
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)
It's a Free World... (2007)
Looking for Eric (2009)
Route Irish (2010)
The Angels' Share (2012)
Jimmy's Hall (2014)
I, Daniel Blake (2016)
Sorry We Missed You (2019)
The Old Oak (2023)