tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78695161714347347842024-03-14T13:12:13.294+00:00Rose's ReadingRosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-59257762502175021802012-04-08T18:08:00.000+01:002012-04-08T18:08:00.476+01:00World Book Night - getting ever closer<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found out a few weeks ago that I've been selected as a World Book Night giver - I'm going to get a box of copies of The Remains of the Day, which I'm planning to hand out at the school where I'm a governor. I'm really looking forward to it - though as it becomes more real, there's a bit of me that's starting to get apprehensive about how people will respond to me pressing a book on them... </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the run-up, I've signed up to the World Book Night facebook page - and I'm not normally a fan of organisations/companies doing marketing via facebook. But for a tiny organisation, I think they're doing a great job - and I'm really enjoying their posts and links to other good stuff. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of the best things I've seen there include </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a silent film about </span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9134248/Outfoxing-the-digital-revolution.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">how Slightly Foxed hardbacks are made</a> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and a set of </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/01/april-fool-japes-literary-greats" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">April fool's inventions by famous novelists</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. They've also got all sorts of other things, from lists of coolest books, to books you'd want to pass on to the next generation, and high culture stuff about how Shakespeare's lines might have been pronounced when first staged to a couple of posts about beardy authors...</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I'm thinking about whether/how to mark World Book Night at work. We've got a fairly bookish group - and so we could probably get a few people together to read from their favourite books, but I'm wondering whether we should do something like Secret Santa, or games like trying to identify people from their favourite book, most recent book, etc etc.</span><br />
<br />Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-23788569266121053892012-02-19T21:32:00.003+00:002012-02-19T21:32:52.026+00:00Words are the daughters of earth, and [...] things are the sons of heaven<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another quote from my Dictionary of Quotations - from Samuel Johnson's preface to his mid-C18 dictionary. It's an interesting inversion of what I think many people would assume.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Johnson thinks of words as concrete and earth-bound - which is how I think of 'things'. He says that things are 'the sons of heaven' - but surely that is more the realm of words with their lack of substance but incredible power?</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the gallery at <a href="http://daughtersofearth.wordpress.com/">daughtersofearth.wordpress.com</a> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, it prompted me to think and write about some of the language-related books I've read since the start of the year. After <a href="http://rosesyear.blogspot.com/2011/04/aprils-reading-round-up.html">last year's encounter with Through the Language Glass by Guy Deutscher</a>, the first pick for my book group this year was <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/10894046/book/81482077">The Language Wars: A History of Proper English</a> by Henry Hitchings for the first book group pick of the year. With a subtitle like that, and knowing that 'Proper English' has a whole world of connotations, I was expecting a fairly argumentative read. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Frankly, I was a bit disappointed. There was plenty of interesting substance - but it felt dry and academic. I was gagging for a Bill Bryson-esque rewrite or even some Lynn Truss argumentativeness, and when we met in January it was obvious that most of the group had spent Christmas reading 'proper books' and so only started this late - and quite a few people gave up after the first few chapters. I did persevere on, and also read </span><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/5254945/book/82011839" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Secret Life of Words: How English became English</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - which is much better, and </span><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/11941564/book/81638096" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Etymologicon</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, which is eminently readable but feels like it was written to be bought and given as a Christmas present. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">None of these are a patch on the </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">fantastic and amazing</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Melvyn Bragg and his </span><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/57314/book/65332315" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Adventure of English</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - which I only own as an audiobook, but is all the better for having an actor read out the old words! I've got a bad habit of skipping lists in books, and the actor's reading not only made me follow through, but also gave me a chance to hear the echoes into modern English. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And if you've not yet listened to the</span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0192yhn" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> In Our Time programmes on the written word</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - get yourself here, and fill your podcasting boots!</span><br />
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<br /></div>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-43869846859800223132012-02-19T21:04:00.003+00:002012-02-19T21:04:41.268+00:00World Book Night - here we come!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday April 23rd is World Book Night - and I've been picked as one of 20,000 givers across the country. I'm going to be handing out copies of <a href="http://www.worldbooknight.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=229&Itemid=305">The Remains of the Day</a>, which is one of my favourite ever books. </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I still remember reading it during my A-levels - it was the first time I'd really been so aware of a fallible narrator and the magical power of an author to create a credible character, present the world through their eyes but let us see other perspectives too. I'd read a lot of other books which used irony and a semi-detached tone to similar effect, but this remains one of the best and most affecting examples I've ever read.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the World Book Night people say: <i>the greatest reading journeys start when you put a book in to someone's hand and say 'this one's amazing, you have to read it' </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 23px;">Anyone else lucky enough to get picked? And is anyone planning any events?</span></span></div>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-22943529163706163092012-02-05T21:40:00.001+00:002012-02-05T21:40:15.597+00:00Stop what you're doing. Keep calm. Read a book.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Preaching to the choir? Celebrating a shared passion? Marshalling the defence of what makes us human?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why publish a book called <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/12018670">'Stop what you're doing and read this'</a>? Why contribute to it? Why demand that people make time to read essays about the value and importance of reading fiction?!? The book has become ubiquitous in my circle over the last month or so. It's on several desks at work, it's been reviewed in the papers, become a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0194l3b">radio 4 book at bedtime</a> and it's also getting a fair bit of <a href="http://stuck-in-a-book.blogspot.com/2012/01/memory-is-talismanic.html">blog coverage</a>. </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/12018670/82056585" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><img alt="Stop What You're Doing And Read This!…" class="workCoverImage" id="mainCover" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0099565943.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgb(186, 171, 154) 0px 12px 15px; -webkit-transform: scale(1.1); -webkit-transition-delay: initial; -webkit-transition-duration: 0.1s; -webkit-transition-property: all; -webkit-transition-timing-function: ease-out; border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 4px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 4px; border-right-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 4px; border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 4px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); outline-style: solid; outline-width: 1px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I enjoyed the essays - and there are passages that strike a chord with my experiences and hopes as a reader. I'll re-read Blake Morrison's 'Twelve thoughts', and loved the idea of books as real daemons in Carmen Callil's section. I was struck by Tim Parks' 'Mindful Reading' and the difference between the experiences of looking at a picture, listening to a piece of music and reading a book. </span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no artefact as such: unlike painting or sculpture, there is no image to contemplate, there is no object you can walk around and admire. No one is going to say you must not touch. No alarm will go off if you get too close.</span> </i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You don't have to travel to enjoy a piece of writing.</span> </i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And there is no performance, either. Strictly speaking. Unlike concerts of plays, you don't have to queue for tickets or worry whether you're near the front.</span> </i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can't take a photo.</span> </i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then a book has no fixed duration. Unlike music, you don't have to respect its timing, accepting, along with others, an experience of the same length.</span> </i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can't dance to it. You can't sing along.</span> </i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead, there are signs on paper. Or on a screen.</span> </i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can change the size, or shape, or colour of the signs, we can alter their distribution on paper, on the screen. [...] </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can read these signs at whatever speed suits us, stopping and starting again wherever we want, for however long we want [...]</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But to be honest, I'm not really sure why the book exists. It's way too dry and earnest to persuade non-readers to read, and it's not a patch on other 'bookish' books which offer insights into books or suggest and inspire future choices*. And although there are undertones here which are getting at public policy (the importance of libraries and/or how children learn to read properly), I don't imagine that the book will lead to a swelling and expression of public opinion to change decisions. So while I really admire the Evening Standard's <a href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/get-london-reading/">Get London Reading</a> campaign, the point of this book mystifies me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* for example it's not a patch on <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/7283/book/65333488">Ex Libris </a>(I LOVE the insight into the relationship milestone represented by merging two book collections!), it's not a memoir of reading, it's not a list of recommendations. </span></div>
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</div>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-71179518232721005242012-01-26T22:25:00.000+00:002012-01-26T22:25:16.553+00:00Divorced, Beheaded, Survived<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It can't have been much fun to be Queen in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. For that matter I doubt it was much fun being a woman (or being anything) in those days - at least, not by comparison to the ease, comfort and variety of our lives today.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been reading a whole range of books about Queens in the middle ages and early modern period, including Alison Weir's book on <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/book/81747940">Eleanor of Aquitaine</a> (fascinating content, I found it a bit dry) and <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/11355601/book/79059634">Lucy Worsley's history of the Georgian Court</a>. And I've got into Philippa Gregory's books - in particular <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/book/81435152">The Other Boleyn Girl</a>, and her books about the Wars of the Roses (<a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/book/80470021">The Red Queen</a> and <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/book/80349005">The White Queen</a>). All credit due to Yvann at </span><a href="http://readingwithtea.com/2011/11/05/the-white-queen-philippa-gregory-810/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ReadingWithTea</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> for the blog posts that prompted me to head to the 'G' section in the local library.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know that we're </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">meant</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to look down on historical fiction as being somehow 'less' than other fiction, but I don't think received wisdom can possibly be right. Firstly - because good historical fiction is a good read, and fundamentally, that's what I'm after in a book. Who would say that <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/9209435/book/65077155">Wolf Hall</a> was a less good book because it concerns historical characters? What about Shakespeare's history plays? A good read is a good read is a good read - and a great book must be a good read, as well as doing something more.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Secondly, because history is about what happened and why. And good historical fiction contributes to understanding the why - if we trust the author to have done a respectable amount of research, it's a lot easier to understand (and to empathise) with social mores and manners if they're illustrated within a plot rather than described with academic caveats. And fictionalised conversations are a far more 'real' way to explain how and why individuals might have made the decisions they did - and to give and gain a tangible understanding of the motivations and constraints that shaped people's decisions and actions.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be honest, though I feel I ought probably to blush as I type, I even think that the fantasy 'Song of Ice and Fire' adds something to my sense of how feudal loyalties, authority and politics worked and felt. Obviously you need a bit of nous to realise that there are often different interpretations of what happened and/or why, and to remember conversations and plot are not the same as actual history. I think you need a bit less nous to grasp that no-one was hatching dragon eggs in the Middle Ages.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've also just finished <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/book/82050943">The Song of Achilles</a> by Madeline Millen - retelling the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad">Iliad</a> but focussed on Achilles' relationship with Patroclus, and a great read (made me think of giving the 'real' book a go at some stage). Coming up some time soon, I'm going to continue this historical thread of reading with </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/She-Wolves-Women-England-Before-Elizabeth/dp/0571237061/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327256435&sr=1-1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She-Wolves</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, and </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Winter-King-Henry-Tudor-England/dp/1439191565" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Winter King</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Any other suggestions? Who else writes good historical fiction?</span>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-11760607888892334522012-01-24T20:00:00.000+00:002012-01-24T23:33:45.851+00:00It's funny how your memory of a book shifts<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking back at my year's reading (a bit late, I know), I've realised that the books that win an instant 5* rating as I finish them are not the same as the books that I'd now judge to be highlights.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />My best reads of 2011 - the ones that I loved, that I've talked about and recommended, and that I think I'll read again were</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When God Spoke English - I blogged about this <a href="http://rosesyear.blogspot.com/2011/05/satur-hay.html">while at Hay</a>; </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Hare with Amber Eyes;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Short History of Nearly Everything;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saplings; </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://rosesyear.blogspot.com/2011/11/she-was-woman-in-crowd-surrounded-but.html">The Report</a>; </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://rosesyear.blogspot.com/2011/02/fictional-flotuses_19.html">The American Wife</a>;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://rosesyear.blogspot.com/2011/02/sisters-not-doing-it-for-themselves.html">They Were Sisters</a>;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://rosesyear.blogspot.com/2011/04/aprils-reading-round-up.html">Annabel</a>;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Single Man (the film's amazing, the book is shockingly better).</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were plenty of other books that I read and really enjoyed - but in the time since I closed the cover, the instant magic has faded and I've realised that they've not stayed with me as deeply as I'd expected.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Last year I read a huge number of books, way more than normal - in part it reflects my new and longer commute, but also that until September I was in a slightly less frenetic job and made a conscious effort to take a break to read while eating lunch. And I suspect a settled relationship sees a bit more reading in bed than the olden days... ;-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Martin Tupper (1810-89) wrote this in an essay 'On Reading' in 1838 - I've got it from my fantastic new Christmas present of the </span><a href="http://www.foliosociety.com/book/OD2/oxford-dictionary-of-quotations" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oxford Dictionary of Quotations</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. I am LOVING this book, its so browsable and read-aloud-able.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I actually think he's wrong in that</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a) real people and good friends are WAY better than books (except <u>maybe</u> in the middle of the night when it is a bit anti-social to phone someone if you just want some company or to pass the time)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">b) good friends change over time and growing up together is part of what makes for a good friend and a good friendship</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c) books change over time - some of the classics I read as a teenager are completely different now.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This Christmas I've re-remembered how many great (real) friends I've got, and I'm thankful for them. I'll be trying to spend more time with them next year - and more time with the shelf-bound 'friends' too.</span><br />
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<br />Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-62072029434222435682011-11-19T12:07:00.000+00:002011-11-19T12:28:46.976+00:00She was a woman in a crowd, surrounded but alone<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Report by Jessica Francis Kane is a superb, heartbreaking, human read. It's a fiction-based-on-fact retelling of the 1943 disaster at the Bethnal Green tube station/bomb shelter. 173 people died on the stairs into the shelter, crushed to death in the crowd on a night when no bombs were dropped on London.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="212" id="il_fi" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5019/5485551541_892c43ec4c.jpg" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="320" /><img height="208" id="il_fi" src="http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showpic2.php?placeid=664&width=250&dir=famdates" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="320" /></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although we know from the blurb (or general historical knowledge) about what happened that night, the structure of the book allows the story of the alert, the rush, the crush and the aftermath to develop in parallel with our growing understanding about how it happened and the cumulative stories of individuals and their individual actions which contributed for good or ill. The author presents each of them as rounded individuals, and the magistrate appointed to investigate and write the report takes a similar approach. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We hear from the warden who put a brighter light bulb onto the stairs, the various council bureaucrats who hadn't approved funding for a handrail, the police man who chose to stop a group of small boys for playing with torches rather than hurrying to his post at the shelter entrance, the clerk transfixed by the green soles of a girl's shoes, a harassed mother hurrying to the shelter with her daughters. The result was a human report, put together with ceremony and sympathy, and written to explain, understand and heal. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="246" id="il_fi" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV3KC8A-R82-4KqmI06yd8p5LxLJ3p7Xgnfud-dNpE0APVXZc3tcXpQpmPsCehprTQwBa47h2YJq4FRplhhfZF5M4WtbAKWY0b9DB4Z9AILs-zbDB9Lww36otzj2kvbyK-qOUDDL8PBP0/s320/london-at-war%5B1%5D.jpg" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="320" /> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's a whole separate strand about telling the truth. The magistrate did not apportion blame - and chose to omit a crucial detail about how the crush started because he was worried about tensions in the community. The Government also refused to provide information about whether new guns had been fired that night (which might have sounded like bombs landing and exacerbated the crush), and sought to suppress the report, because it was worried about morale in the community. In the individual case of the magistrate and told through a sympathetic point of view the decision to suppress information seems sensitive, decent and constructive - but a similarly motivated approach by the Government seems patriarchal, patronising and obstructive. Interesting.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I read this book because two reviews - by Rachel at </span><a href="http://bookssnob.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/the-report-by-jessica-francis-kane/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">booksnob</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and Darlene at </span><a href="http://rosesoveracottagedoor.blogspot.com/2011/08/report-by-jessica-francis-kane.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">roses over a cottage door</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - both posts are well worth a read, as is this </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2003/feb/15/weekend.jessicalack" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">article</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. I loved this book, and am about to start to press it on everyone I know.</span>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-88896302776993911132011-11-16T00:49:00.001+00:002011-11-19T11:51:36.367+00:00Autumn sunshine<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Autumn is my favourite month. I love the back-to-school excitement of a new year, new pens, a clean new book. I love the colours of the leaves and the sense of the season spreading through the city's streets and pavements. Most of all though, I love the days when the air is cold, the sky is a darker blue than summer and the heat of the sun on your back is coming from a lower angle. Autumn sunlight is a different colour from summer sun, and it catches things looking different.</span><br>
<br><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br>"There is a harmony<br> In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,<br> Which through the summer is not heard or seen,<br> As if it could not be, as if it had not been!" <br><br>- Percy Bysshe Shelley</span><a href="http://rosesyear.blogspot.com/2011/11/autumn-sunshine.html#more">Read more »</a>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-79143144575873614202011-11-16T00:00:00.001+00:002011-11-16T00:48:56.967+00:00Ten books I've bought but not yet read<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here goes</span><br>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/8981470/book/80018420">The Leopard</a> - not my usual thing, but recommended by a book group friend who said it's stayed with her for weeks since she read it. </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/3020/book/80018441">The Odd Women</a> - bought because of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/mar/24/featuresreviews.guardianreview26">an intriguing review</a>, and because <a href="http://rosesoveracottagedoor.blogspot.com/2011/11/anyone-for-gissing.html">Darlene</a> is about to start reading it.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/10607447/book/80018456">Perfect Lives</a> - my book group choice for December.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/105163/book/73199915">To the North</a> - I've been looking for it for <u>ages</u> because I loved <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/122959/book/65332967">The Last September </a>so much, and have read most of her other stuff. This review prompted me to look again, and I'm really looking forward to it. </span></li></ol><a href="http://rosesyear.blogspot.com/2011/11/ten-books-ive-bought-but-not-yet-read.html#more">Read more »</a>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-15374505713015187412011-11-11T23:35:00.001+00:002011-11-11T23:44:34.003+00:00Two for tea<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week's weekword is 'tea' - and it sparked two thoughts for me</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Firstly - the lovely Orla Kiely designed fair trade tea dress from peopletree (not cheap, but move fast when there's a sale on and there's some lovely stuff...)</span></div>
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<a class="jqzoom5" height="420" href="http://www.peopletree.co.uk/image.axd?src=%2fproductimages%2f%2fwomen%2fdresses%2forla-kiely-tea-dress-70e26132b03e.jpg&width=500&height=700" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolderBody_ContentPlaceHolderBody_Template52_mainimgzoom" style="background-color: white; color: #000099; font-size: 12px; outline-style: none;" title="" width="300"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Orla Kiely Tea Dress" class="template2Img" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolderBody_ContentPlaceHolderBody_Template52_mainImg" mainimg="Orla-Kiely-Tea-Dress-70e26132b03e.jpg" name="modelimage" src="http://www.peopletree.co.uk/image.axd?src=%2fproductimages%2f%2fwomen%2fdresses%2forla-kiely-tea-dress-70e26132b03e.jpg&width=300&height=420" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-width: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px;" title="" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And secondly - what a regionalism 'tea' is. To me, it's my evening meal at home - also known as dinner if I'm being a bit formal and eating out, or supper if it's really late (or a second tea!!). Being brought up a Mancunian means that I eat my dinner at lunchtime (!), and a mid-afternoon cuppa and snack is a cup of tea, not 'tea'. What a source of discussion in my tipsy undergrad days...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Weekword this week came from the <a href="http://thegiftshed.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/weekword-tea/">Gift Shed</a> - follow the link to see some gorgeous photos and get a list of other participants.</span></div>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-22173961674285323022011-11-10T22:53:00.001+00:002011-11-10T22:55:32.546+00:00Revved up...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0178fhq">Rev</a> is back on telly - I cannot say enough about how great this programme is. Warm, funny, affectionate, hopefully not too realistic. Ralph Fiennes as the Bishop of London, Olivia Colman as the long-suffering and brilliantly funny Alex. Watch it, tape it, iplayer it, whatever. </span><div>
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<br /></div>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-3488259469867937032011-11-07T23:32:00.000+00:002011-11-07T23:32:51.214+00:00We deal in lead, friend<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each year, my book group chooses a book from the Booker shortlist - we pick before the winner is announced, and with an eye to an interesting read rather than trying to pre-empt the judges.</span><br />
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<a class="rg_hl" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=steve+mcqueen+magnificent+seven&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1192&bih=683&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnso&tbnid=Q9DHYYOHtsmw_M:&imgrefurl=http://exiledonline.com/cowboys-and-aliens-just-look-at-the-gorgeous-animals/steve-mcqueen-m7/&docid=5Phy7bCDuNGfRM&imgurl=http://exiledonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/steve-mcqueen-m7.jpg&w=2420&h=2700&ei=HWm4TqqmOMHp8QO5x6jlBA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=740&vpy=134&dur=3347&hovh=237&hovw=213&tx=227&ty=169&sig=107324257741097393326&page=1&tbnh=146&tbnw=131&start=0&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0" id="rg_hl" style="background-color: white; color: #1122cc; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; height: 237px; line-height: 19px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium; position: relative; text-decoration: none; width: 213px;"><img alt="" class="rg_hi" data-height="237" data-width="213" height="237" id="rg_hi" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRpsWV7rKByzWTczqWUNsXiqypvvM4rMQYEqLxYdPMNqDtVgG3xTA" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; height: 237px; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; width: 213px;" width="213" /> </a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year, we went for <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/10895978/book/78887671">The Sister's Brothers</a>. It was refreshingly different from our normal reads in its focus on a relationship between men, a masculine point of view and a male author, and most of the group found it readable and enjoyable. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those people who'd been brought up watching westerns 'on a Saturday afternoon, while your mum did the ironing and you were pairing socks' enjoyed it much more than others (and maybe it says something about the target audience that most of the quotes on the back cover are from authors of other westerns). We had a good debate about whether the book had 'literary merit' in its innovative characters and black comedy. Although I quite enjoyed Eli's narrative, with its emphatically partial view of the world, I'm not convinced it should have made the Booker shortlist. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've already read and </span><u style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">loved</u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/10342376/book/72044825" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jamrach's Menagerie</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, and quite enjoyed </span><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/10628330/book/71443000" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Snowdrops</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (though again, great story not sure it had the lasting impact that I'd expect from a Booker candidate). I normally try to read the whole shortlist - any suggestions for what next?</span></div>
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<i style="font-size: x-small; text-align: right;">Quote is Steve McQueen in the Magnificent Seven (1960)</i></div>
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</div>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-69513835632145091582011-10-30T10:07:00.000+00:002011-10-30T10:07:22.933+00:00Our necessities never equal our wants<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">said Benjamin Franklin, apparently. It speaks to me at the moment, as does Oscar Romero's admonition to us to "aspire not to have more, but to be more".</span><br />
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<img height="150" id="il_fi" src="http://sciafyouth.org/just-coz/01/aspired_pic.jpg" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="266" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />I think lots of people might argue this is a feature of modern, capitalist, aspirational society and part of how we got our economy into such a state. I don't necessarily disagree - and I don't want to lose the moral challenge to an assumption that consuming more will make me/things 'better'. I used to have the postcard above on my bedroom door as a teenager, it's now framed and shortly to go on the wall of my grown-up house.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I do also think that wanting more than we have (and more than we think we can get) has been a powerful force for change, and often for making things better, easier, fairer.</span><br />
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<br />Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-15006668806855037352011-10-30T10:00:00.001+00:002011-10-30T10:00:11.257+00:00I read constantly...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"... in cars, walking the dog, lying in bed with my legs resting up against the wall, yoga-style. At any given time, I am in the middle of several books at once, my place marked by whatever scrap of paper happens to be close by, whether it's my latest credit card bill or one of my daughter's crayon drawings. My bookshelves are three books deep, and piles of books spread and teeter on every open surface of my home. If reading has always been a journey of imagination, a means of escape, it has also been, perhaps at least as importantly, a way of absorbing the intricate complexities of life and experience."</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, minus the dog, yoga and daughter, this speaks deeply to me. I find it hard to face cleaning my teeth without something to read as I do it. I'm only about 40 pages into <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/10607428/book/73304660">Reading Women</a> by Stephanie Staal, but so far I'm really enjoying getting to know the author. Thanks to </span><a href="http://litlove.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/reading-women/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Litlove</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> for putting me onto it...</span>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-81921084548419255862011-10-25T22:53:00.003+01:002011-10-30T10:12:25.473+00:00Commuters ahoy!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When did you last miss your stop because of reading, and what was the book? It is <u>years</u> since I've missed a stop, but this morning I did that terrible thing of realising we'd arrived, leaping from my seat, stumbling through everyone else to arrive at the doors just as they closed. No chance of pretending anything other than the truth, and I'd lost my rare-as-something-very-rare seat! Had to smile, chuckle, do body language to symbolise 'what a fool I am' and then poke my nose back into the kindle which was the root cause of it all. Gah. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the book? I'm reading the </span><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/2927/book/79359837" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Crimson Petal and the White</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, was expecting a bit of light historical fiction, and in fact its the most porn-esque book I think I've ever read but with a blindingly brilliant narrative voice. I just love the way the narrator addresses the reader directly, switches to narrate a character's thoughts, surmises what the reader should be thinking and then switches back to ticking us off, telling us to pay attention, telling us it's about to get good...</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other reads over the weekend - Chris Mullin '</span><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/book/79059622#" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A very British coup</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' had me chortling at the descriptions of how the civil service works (especially Private Offices, Permanent Secretaries and No.10) but the plot seemed thin and dated, compared to Yes Minister and/or Thick of It. And I whipped my way through </span><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/book/79284202" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love Virtually</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> by Daniel Glattauer, an epistolary novel via email, which really made the most of the anonymity of email, and the way that we construct personalities from the tone and language of the emails we receive from people...</span>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-23708873484316417642011-10-21T23:11:00.001+01:002011-10-21T23:11:34.948+01:00Always remember you're unique - just like everyone else<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's nothing like commuting by tube to help you get through books at a bit of pace. Even when it's crammed, a shortish person can always find space to open a paperback and make yourself enough mental space to escape from the madness.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've whipped my way through <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/book/79137679">The Wisdom of Crowds</a> (a slightly dated book about how and when markets work, and how market-type approaches could be applied to other decisions) and <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/book/79163284">Them</a> (Jon Ronson doing his Louis-Theroux-esque thing with a range of extremists - and bringing out their common fight against a 'New World Order'). </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good, interesting, easy reads - engaged my brain a bit and gave me a few anecdotes to tell at work, but they aren't keepers. I picked them out of someone else's 'for the charity shop' pile - and they aren't long for my shelves.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/7226/79163284" style="cursor: pointer; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="Them: Adventures with Extremists by Jon…" class="workCoverImage" id="mainCover" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0330375466.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgb(186, 171, 154) 0px 12px 15px; -webkit-transform: scale(1.1); -webkit-transition-delay: initial; -webkit-transition-duration: 0.1s; -webkit-transition-property: all; -webkit-transition-timing-function: ease-out; border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 4px; border-left-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 4px; border-right-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 4px; border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 4px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); outline-style: solid; outline-width: 1px;" /></a> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/17697/79137679" style="cursor: pointer; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are…" class="workCoverImage" id="mainCover" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0349116059.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgb(186, 171, 154) 0px 12px 15px; -webkit-transform: scale(1.1); -webkit-transition-delay: initial; -webkit-transition-duration: 0.1s; -webkit-transition-property: all; -webkit-transition-timing-function: ease-out; border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 4px; border-left-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 4px; border-right-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 4px; border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 4px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); outline-style: solid; outline-width: 1px;" /></a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I've just made a start on Chris Mullin's A Very British Coup - more anon.</span></div>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-51009764812731325892011-10-16T17:41:00.001+01:002011-10-16T17:41:22.445+01:00A bit of a dud<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I finished <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/book/79056712">A dud avocado</a> today. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><a href="http://www.viragobooks.net/wp-content/uploads/The-Dud-Avocado-4.jpg" style="color: #c51205; text-decoration: none;" title="The Dud Avocado.indd"><img alt="The Dud Avocado.indd" class="attachment-medium" height="300" src="http://www.viragobooks.net/wp-content/uploads/The-Dud-Avocado-4-189x300.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; border-width: initial;" title="The Dud Avocado.indd" width="189" /></a></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's really not great - there's not much of a plot, the lead character (Sally Jay Gorce) is pretty sketchy, and (a few images aside) the writing didn't stand out to me. The book's introduction suggests that Sally Jay's attitude to adult/Parisian life can be compared to Holden Caulfield's distrust of everything phoney - but for me the comparison doesn't stand up given the wasteland of difference in quality. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A physically attractive book - but I wish I'd saved my dosh on this one... am I missing something?</span>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-49164713771416548862011-10-15T13:42:00.000+01:002011-10-15T13:42:03.455+01:00The Tortoise and the Hare<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/46562/73199907" style="cursor: pointer; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth…" class="workCoverImage" id="mainCover" src="http://pics.librarything.com/picsizes/ac/18/ac189c287568a40597a37695a67434d414f4541.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgb(186, 171, 154) 0px 12px 15px; -webkit-transform: scale(1.1); -webkit-transition-delay: initial; -webkit-transition-duration: 0.1s; -webkit-transition-property: all; -webkit-transition-timing-function: ease-out; border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 4px; border-left-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 4px; border-right-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 4px; border-top-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 4px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); outline-style: solid; outline-width: 1px;" /></a>H </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">I posted <a href="http://rosesyear.blogspot.com/2011/07/getting-back-into-game.html">back in July</a> about this year's set of gorgeous Virago Modern Classics - lovely hardbacks, bound in lovely printed fabrics. I read Molly Keane's '<a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/19438/book/78294395">Good Behaviour</a>' during September, and have just finished Elizabeth Jenkins' '<a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/46562/73199907#">The Tortoise and the Hare</a>'.<br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">The Tortoise and the Hare is a brilliant book. It's sharp and incisive about relationships and about the different expectations that men and women have of themselves and each other. And its full of plot, details, character, time and location - I'm sure it's a book I'll come back to again soon. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><br />The various characters each illustrate different approaches to their relationships - Imogen is a wealthy, attractive but aging woman who has based her confidence, pride and self-image on being attractive to men, her husband Evelyn is a successful and attractive barrister, older than his wife and with a complex set of expectations about her role. Blanche is the neighbour whose developing relationship with Evelyn disturbs and destroys the marriage - although to be fair, I find myself wondering about how good a partnership it could ever have been given Evelyn's patronising, disrespectful and often distant behaviour which limited Imogen's scope to think and act in her own right.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><br />The book's architecture creates echos - Gavin (son of Imogen and Evelyn) follows his father's lead as the next generation treat some women with disdain while forming strong bonds with their peers; Imogen's relationship with a doctor friend (Paul Nugent) is based on their natural sympathies and excludes Paul's wife, paralleling the impact of Blanche's friendship with Evelyn; Zenobia is an extreme example of a beautiful and self-centred woman who expects to be adored for her looks.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><br />Hilary Mantel's introduction explains her appreciation of the "close attention to the negotiations between men and women, and women and women" and recognises that although our way of life has changed enormously since the 1950s, many women will see aspects of themselves in both Blanche and Imogen. Carmen Callil's postscript argues the case for seeing Imogen as the tortoise - who will end up happy. For me, on my first reading, I saw Blanche as the tortoise with her slow but inevitably growing influence and relationship with Evelyn - but I'm hopeful that future readings might let me feel more optimistic for Imogen's future life.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><br />I'd heartily recommend it as a good read. </span>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-44326183559748782332011-09-12T18:13:00.003+01:002011-09-12T18:15:05.880+01:0050 books - and then some<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is my fourth year of a fifty-book challenge - and for reasons that are mysterious to me, I'm well ahead of the pace. Normally I've managed 50-55 books, including last year an emergency pride-saving push over Christmas. </span><br>
<a href="http://rosesyear.blogspot.com/2011/09/50-books-and-then-some.html#more">Read more »</a>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-29401902018005087622011-07-20T21:33:00.000+01:002011-07-20T21:33:10.539+01:00No-one expects the French inquisitionOn holiday in the Tarn last week, 29C kept me sitting in the shade from the moment I came in from the morning's baguette-foraging until about 4pm. While the others played by the pool, I kept my pale skin safe and my geeky brain entertained with some local history.<br />
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This area of the south-west of France was full of the Cathar heresy during C13 and into C14, people who rejected the Catholic church and opted instead to be 'good Christians'. I really enjoyed <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/9807/book/75570690">The Perfect Heresy</a>, which sets the early C13 sieges and massacres in the context of wider history - the state of the Catholic church and competing popes setting up across Europe; rival powers with claims on the land (including the English King, the local Count of Foix and the tiny kingdom of France) and changes in society and technology. It's a compelling and vivid read, showing us how human the individuals were. And the descriptions of medieval sieges and burnings were truly horrendous.<br />
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And then I read <a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/17518/book/75750564">Montaillou</a>, which is a classic. Emmanuel La Roy Ladurie drew on the detailed records of the C14 Inquisition's interviews and interrogations of the population of this tiny village. It's a magnificent work of scholarship, with astounding levels of detail about the most minor aspects of life. My gripe is that it's a dated book - it reads like an academic study, taking different aspects of life thematically and marshalling the evidence for each section. I think a more modern history would have invested more focus in the stories of the families - it could still have kept different chapters to focus on different aspects of rural medieval life but would have been more plot and character-driven and so a more engaging read.<br />
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Both books came from Daunts - I love the way they arrange history and fiction by country, with the travel books. I'm not into the Dan Brown-type stuff on Cathars etc, and didn't manage to find any 'quality' fiction to read while there, so I'd welcome any other suggestions of books to read - whether about the area or more fiction set in medieval Europe.Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-69953000966388966952011-07-20T20:52:00.000+01:002011-07-20T20:52:02.040+01:00Reading in the right placeThere's very little beats a holiday read set in the same place that you're actually reading it. I enjoyed some Cathar history last week near <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ciframe%20width=%22425%22%20height=%22350%22%20frameborder=%220%22%20scrolling=%22no%22%20marginheight=%220%22%20marginwidth=%220%22%20src=%22http://maps.google.fr/?ie=UTF8&amp;ll=43.677184,1.871624&amp;spn=0.067663,0.139217&amp;t=h&amp;z=13&amp;output=embed%22%3E%3C/iframe%3E%3Cbr%20/%3E%3Csmall%3E%3Ca%20href=%22http://maps.google.fr/?ie=UTF8&amp;ll=43.677184,1.871624&amp;spn=0.067663,0.139217&amp;t=h&amp;z=13&amp;source=embed%22%20style=%22color:#0000FF;text-align:left">Agrandir le plan</a></small>">Lavaur</a> - and then came back to see that the Guardian's got writers to suggest <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jul/15/best-summer-reads-2011-travel">books for ten holiday breaks</a>.<div><br />
</div><div>I definitely fancy Egypt, Spain and Italy - for holidays and from the one-line summaries of suggested books...</div><div><br />
</div>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-69732556778490708152011-07-07T19:12:00.000+01:002011-07-07T19:12:57.214+01:00Getting back into the gameI've not posted anything in ages, though I have been skulking round plenty of other blogs and adding the odd comment (or planning to, which I'll try to catch up on this weekend). No real reason, other than sunshine and real world fun.<div><br />
</div><div>Anyway, I'm starting back again with a couple of fancy adverts I saw and thought others might fancy too.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Firstly, Virago Modern Classics have some <a href="http://www.viragobooks.net/virago-modern-classics-designer-collection/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ViragoBooks+%28Virago+Press+News+%26+Blog%29">new books out in gorgeous fabric-wrapped hardcover</a>. I've not heard of most of them before, but I bought quite a few of the last lot based on attractiveness and a quick browse - and discovered some books and authors that I really really enjoyed. So I'm definitely going to look out for these and read a few pages.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><a href="http://www.viragobooks.net/virago-modern-classics-designer-collection/vmc-2001-hbs/" rel="attachment wp-att-3614" style="color: #c51205; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3614" height="225" src="http://www.viragobooks.net/wp-content/uploads/VMC-2001-hbs-300x225.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; border-width: initial; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 30px; text-align: center;" title="VMC 2001 hbs" width="300" /></a></span></div><div>Secondly, special deals on Persephone (see below) - buy three books and choose a free volume of short stories between now and the end of the month. Woo. Methinks my mum's birthday present's pretty much wrapped up now.</div><div><br />
</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 690px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>Summer Reading Offer</i><br />
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<i>Dear Persephone Reader,</i><br />
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<i>‘This funny, intelligent, deceptively low-key collection is long overdue’ wrote the Guardian last Saturday about the new audiobook version of our short story collection Good Evening, Mrs Craven read by Lucy Scott.</i><br />
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<i>So we thought we would give a boost to some of our other short story collections that do not get so much attention.</i><br />
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<i>If you buy three Persephone books as normal we will send you, completely free of charge, a copy of one of the following collections: <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=gvxj67bab&et=1106444703517&s=22387&e=001g44JxOeXzOMgTvQIRiwN-NM1vIh1_9sG9ifSveILPTxQLP8tGeKs72GhAEVFNbXn1o1rhAWrZVdBtIn4x1DGAR1snQE1KuyZ0SdSyVBTsuzyJGP58Gh_SR6qkuhltjN4sxnSTt53mlN2BQbkjglQdtZeSzMD5uDSjTYLPwXjoiTanizdhWvhAw==" style="color: #114170;" target="_blank">Tell It to a Stranger (No. 15)</a>, <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=gvxj67bab&et=1106444703517&s=22387&e=001g44JxOeXzOPH4ahJ1b1T8Vqr9X3ts6172EI_Ct_7zhDcCavxFHoA_6x6tpEDr4wAlPRGD-on5gF-COGTi4KW2wUKjiKnDt-6In1JfWvgNpoKnMtca8LNcuL5nXy0SDjj0aapaVWyOOJCeiNtKGEDzALAc_VDuuyIwx-mIUiIyk3zM3RO0s70WQ==" style="color: #114170;" target="_blank">The Montana Stories (No. 25)</a>, <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=gvxj67bab&et=1106444703517&s=22387&e=001g44JxOeXzONCkJKuJunDxyYksK4Ed7HenEUWQYwvNABQ-lzsjzdS4giPDnkoKzaAy0cEArEaJLzt_Tml8NlrmDDjUX6ZbG3pc7fDeP9p1onstA6Pk6sZ5D1sfx9kIhVIdafrwFxWjuqOFZ8y9hcMbGQjOcn5kMH4b93sTPDyLM3aL3_9KUXVbw==" style="color: #114170;" target="_blank">Minnie’s Room (No. 34)</a>, <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=gvxj67bab&et=1106444703517&s=22387&e=001g44JxOeXzOON6G6pUw8RaG2gW_UclA8I6Cnf8Hi_wNE_UF4qXtfRA6JbMhmWyb41EO8HFo1p6PukKtm4GuQTs07OyrUT8jtGpkoM5_zZQKKvVbMuldfFXTdoCKPhxl2AvPOkHr0jztPoZSxz2BDTItynxL1kag2pRICvXp-_8fiDRC1ttpKyUA==" style="color: #114170;" target="_blank">Tea with Mr Rochester (No. 44)</a>, <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=gvxj67bab&et=1106444703517&s=22387&e=001g44JxOeXzONMgpA5RzRFQNTHnO5ML-wmeBJ55IuiTrxLIokPIUah1JffNTq93cVJ5Q0w2CQUAcodborevoA8mwkn9jfgEundAeoP4VJLTb8aTxDEIVkC1KXkSbI_GXRPvPTKXSf1t0xnUhuXf3WJDErzoBb1ZhqwQOLwTdER1V4NaaKre5_TgA==" style="color: #114170;" target="_blank">The Casino (No. 48)</a>, <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=gvxj67bab&et=1106444703517&s=22387&e=001g44JxOeXzOOaDqtoMklWw00za5FNwFP43P54IgbAWWHXPrLaMfQc4NQ-v9NcEB151kMkzBTQ2I0_6wmwQRsmzGYM_BUqKCv88EIdEqoDIPGe6vF3hbr8-1NxhJO8-zEzfagQeC_bEGxRD2QYAhdKSHUueGZud2WgcWprN7Pwx8UYk28BBbzvig==" style="color: #114170;" target="_blank">The Woman Novelist and Other Stories (No. 64)</a> or <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=gvxj67bab&et=1106444703517&s=22387&e=001g44JxOeXzONDvRWtFvhqWbOeeemYwrbx1a-_XH2HmjfB3o1A28xb9rP5UwR3-kaqgPjQRZNgFSxIOdTO8AHzGqTlx8xQZBnGRLPNKoz3RzU0ryRucg00GKNyWj8fH2sj_5iFG7Ds3TwQLflmmyKFCe7xVXmmd4psNYgPPqQE_PUG7cSaHB9ELg==" style="color: #114170;" target="_blank">The Closed Door and Other Stories (No. 74)</a>.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
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</tbody></table></span></div>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-67241580621107504022011-06-14T21:39:00.001+01:002011-06-21T08:18:25.287+01:00Ten bookmarks (or bookmark substitutes)How do you mark your place in a book? I'm a sucker for bookmarks and buy 'proper' ones all the time - but when it comes down to it, and I have to stop reading in order to sleep, eat or actually start work, they're never to hand.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6sQhnfAPHWvvs6ejEeBAvI5kZF01TbiJKn15WfY7aJMohvtSgnSt4yjdKEsOL9vnZDlZnslmnCSUROlEPPsXLFXiYVsVAY9L0p8xF68WodEyL3qQLMHtR7psXnFH6DZKRGM1wCEGrzYA/s1600/photo+%252818%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6sQhnfAPHWvvs6ejEeBAvI5kZF01TbiJKn15WfY7aJMohvtSgnSt4yjdKEsOL9vnZDlZnslmnCSUROlEPPsXLFXiYVsVAY9L0p8xF68WodEyL3qQLMHtR7psXnFH6DZKRGM1wCEGrzYA/s200/photo+%252818%2529.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="150" /></a><br />
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So I use all sorts of flat(ish) things:<br />
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And because I then normally leave my within-reach bookmark to live within the book, it almost becomes part of the book, tied into my memory of when I read it and what else was going on at the time.<br />
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How do you mark your place? Do you dog-ear?Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869516171434734784.post-65212435911493663182011-06-12T10:43:00.001+01:002011-06-12T10:43:46.824+01:00Someone At A Distance<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I bought Someone At A Distance as the third of my latest Persephone '3 for a bit cheaper' deal. I was <a href="http://rosesyear.blogspot.com/2011/04/ten-books-on-my-to-read-list-which.html">already committed </a>to Round About A Pound and Few Eggs, and I'd really enjoyed <a href="http://rosesyear.blogspot.com/2011/02/sisters-not-doing-it-for-themselves.html">They Were Sisters</a>. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I started the book a couple of weeks ago and finished it on my first day in Hay - and it didn't disappoint. A quick plot summary from Amazon: "Apparently a 'fairly ordinary tale about the destruction of a happy marriage,' Nina Bawden wrote in her Preface, yet 'it makes compulsive reading' in its description of an 'ordinary' family, husband commuting up to town, wife at home ('Ellen was that unfashionable creature, a happy housewife'). Disaster strikes when a young French woman visits (the scenes back in France are most beautifully described, with touches of Balzac or Maupassant) and calculatingly seduces the husband. He abandons everything for her; then there is no going back."</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I loved the characterisation of the North family, and the way that Dorothy Whipple captures their happiness and relationships while also showing us their tics and flaws. And I found Louise loathsome but captivating - from the first moment we see her we know she's not a nice piece of work. Her seduction of Avery - and the end of his marriage to Ellen - is slow and specific, with key moments described in detail through one or both character's views. Although we know through the omniscient narration that Louise is playing a careful game and shifting her aims as she works out her options, as a reader I felt that there was no escape as each incident seemed to lead inexorably to the next. And maybe that is how Avery explained it to himself at first, because none of the individual actions/situations on their own were inexcusable - and many were inappropriate only because of the cumulative impact.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The book left me thinking about three quite different things.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Early on, the narrator compares Louise to Madame Bovary in her social ambitions and as I went on reading the book I found that echoes and parallels kept coming to mind. I've not been able to find any reviews on line which explore this properly with quotes and more sharp comparisons - but it sounds like an essay question just waiting to be set!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) The book ends 'right' with Ellen back on her feet with a new home, kids happy and secure, and Avery and Louise miserable in each others' company. I found myself wondering about Ellen's final reaction - her sense of pleasure and pride that Avery misses her and is so evidently upset. I wondered about whether they would ever find a way to be together again, and whether I would think that a good or bad thing...</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) Nina Bawden's preface to the Persephone edition suggests that although the book was written and set after the Second World War, the overall tone has a sense of nostalgia which might better place the book in the prewar period. I've been wondering about whether that's true - or whether it's just that the big changes of post-war England had much less impact on wealthy country-dwellers. And I was very struck by how much has changed since the 50s in terms of women's lives - we don't have maids any more and we do expect to work - and often to have a career, with all the associated increases in independence </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>and</u></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> in hard work because we're still expected to keep house and home together.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are some great reviews around, including on the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thepersephoneforum.co.uk/2010/08/01/persephone-book-no-3-someone-at-a-distance-by-dorothy-whipple/">Persephone Forum</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and from the Persephone Reading Weekend (</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://tuulenhaiven.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/someone-at-a-distance/">Tuulenhaiven</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bookgirl.net/?p=3111">BookGirl</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">). I also thought that Carol Wallace's </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://carolwallace.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/dorothy-whipple-someone-at-a-distance/">review</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> picked on something important about how we feel about unpleasant characters when an author/narrator lets us see inside their worlds too. </span>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03003099626849421938noreply@blogger.com1