4 down, 6 to go

Just over a month ago I posted a list of 10 books on my 'to read' list. I've now read four of them:

And I've also read Irma Voth, reread American Wife (we did have a great book group discussion - lots to say about it, and a big discussion about compromise in relationships) and I've almost finished Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.

Quite a varied month's reading - with prize winners and big classics as well as a book blurbed as 'the perfect holiday read'. Round about a Pound a Week is the oldest of the books (first published 1913), and the next oldest in this stack is American Wife (2008). I wonder how many of the books that are currently sold as literary fiction will still be read in 100 years time?

Catharsis is a brilliant concept for bookish teenagers

I remember being taught about catharsis. I was in Year 9, and we had just finished reading Macbeth (literally - all the way through to sixth form my teachers chose to have us read books aloud in class). Looking back, I think catharsis was an offering to those of us who'd been getting bored, reading ahead during class or at home, and generally getting itchy about the waste of time. It  was one of the first technical literary terms I learnt, and for about six months I used it all the time, about telly, books, films and even rows with my brothers.

At the time, I thought about catharsis in terms of getting things in the open and enjoying big angsty emotions and the chance to work them through. I liked, and expected to feel better because I actively enjoyed the emotions and the validation of them being displayed and provoked through literature. 

I'm more grownup these days, and less into big displays of emotion - so for me catharsis is now less about refreshing and topping up my emotional stocks, but more about cleansing, sorting and emptying out. I expect to feel more tired and looser in my body, and to feel better because I've emptied out some stress, frustration or whatever. It's not something I go actively looking for most of the time - but there are some books, and some music that I know will do it for me. 

Sally posted on 'catharsis' because it resonates with her at the moment. I'm hoping she's feeling emptier soon.

Hay - 2 weeks to go

So with two weeks to go

- there's now an 'official' Hay blogger - Horatio Clare. I'm loving the energy of his early blog posts - a bit longer posts than a lot of blogs I read, but full of beans and a not-usual viewpoint so I'll be keeping an eye on what he's got to say. I'm also going to try to post myself during the festival, but it'll be power-point and wi-fi dependent so no promises.

- I've somehow managed to end up with tickets for two things on Saturday night. Sandi Toksvig and Sue Perkins being hilarious, or the Champions League final and the hope of double glory for Man U. I want us to do one, The Man favours the other - we both want to do the same thing (whichever that might be). Let negotiations commence.

One Book, Two Book, Three Book, Four... and Five!

I've picked this up via Cristina, Verity and Darlene - who in turn took it from Simon (who's illustrated his post with lovely photos). I'd love to know what other people's five books are - pop a link in the comments if you've done this one...



The book I'm currently reading


- Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. It's taken me more than a week, and I put most of that down to the fact it's a physically big and hardback book, so it's a bigger deal to cart in and out of work and it's harder to find a comfy position to read it in bed. I'm enjoying it a fair bit - the complicated characters, the echoes and themes that resonate. But with 70 pages to go, I've not yet clocked why it's the next/latest Great American Novel. 

The last book I finished


- Annabel, and I posted a brief review here.

The next book I want to read


- The Finkler Question - I've read the rest of the Booker shortlist, and think I'm good and ready for the winner now. I hope it's good, because I enjoyed Long Song and Room but found the others a bit meh, really. 


- I'm also going to be rereading American Wife in the next week or so - having pressed it on my book group girls, I want to make sure I'm really well prepped with some good questions and thoughts to prompt the chat. 

So what initially attracted you to these cheap seats to see two mega-famous actors on stage?

Slightly late post about the Children's Hour which Kate and I saw on Monday night at the Comedy Theatre.

What attracted me? Well - I think the title says it all. It's not a play I'd heard of and the asking price for tickets was around £60. But two things sealed the deal:
a) the chance to see the astoundingly attractive Keira Knightley (best role ever - probably Bend it Like Beckham) and Elizabeth Moss (most famous as Mad Men's Peggy, but will always think of her as Zoe Bartlet) and
b) Kate's discovery of cheaper seats with restricted view. Turns out the restricted view was barely anything - especially given my tolerance for £5 seats at the ROH. 

So we settled in for the show. And it's true the play is a bit clunky in places. It's also true the American accents went alarmingly wrong at times, deforming into posh Brit or bizarrely mangled vowels. But  I really enjoyed it.

The play is set in the thirties, built around two female friends and has an almost entirely female cast-list "When a troubled teenager starts to spin a web of deceit, all around her are soon caught up in it.  Karen Wright (Keira Knightley) and Martha Dobie (Elisabeth Moss) have worked for years to establish their all-girls boarding school, and now, with the school flourishing and Karen on the verge of marriage, their lives and loves finally appear secure. However, when malicious student Mary runs away from the school and seeks to avoid being sent back, she draws on hearsay, gossip, and her own imagination, to concoct a story that threatens the school, the marriage, and their entire futures. "

The plot was captivating - and Mary was spell-binding in her manipulation and bullying of the girls in her class. It made me think of 'We need to talk about Kevin' in the way that some adults saw straight through her lies and others were caught up - and Bryony Hannah was amazingly convincing as a young teenager, uncomfy in her skin but very confident in her own powers and with just an edge of vulnerability that left me twitching with anger at her and a slight worry that maybe there was something going on offstage that excused or explained her.

I also liked that it was a play full of women, and that the drama was driven by lies and their impact on a small community and on relationships - rather than by women bitching about each other and competing for men (or with men). 

There are several good reviews from when the play opened, including in the Independent, and the Stage. There's also some fairly trenchant critiques of the play itself as well as the performances. I'm really glad to have seen it - and them - for what I think was a fair price. 

April's reading round-up

I've not reviewed any of my reading this month - and I'm not motivated to write properly considered posts for any of the books. But here's a quick round-up:

8) Round about a Pound a Week - I first added it to my TBR list during Persephone Reading Weekend, then moved it up the list to make sure I've read it before Hay so that I can discuss with the lovely Sally. I'm about 150 pages in, finding the writing a bit dry but the content and argument shocking and provocative. Makes me think of Orwell's Road to Wigan Pier, and also of Polly Toynbee's Hard Work which I read when I first moved to London. 

7) Annabel - I thought this was superb. Again, it wasn't the first Orange longlister to leap out of the list and entice me, but after picking up and putting down a copy on several different bookshop trips (in part captivated by the astounding cover photo and a serendipitous link to something I'd read on Jezebel about androgynous models), I decided to give it a go. The story is of a child born in 1970s Labrador, his childhood and adolescence as a boy and young man (Wayne) living on the edge of the wilderness, and his move to the big city and attempt to live as his true self - both Wayne and Annabel.

This is really a book about human relationships - Treadway and Jacinta (Wayne's parents) have an unusually good relationship that turns over time; Thomasina (Jacinta's friend/neighbour) projects her longing for her dead husband and daughter; Wayne's relationship with Wally - and the awful echo that both of their dreams are damaged/delayed by shards of glass wielded by judgemental bullies. I was struck at the end of the book by the depth of characters and the focus on understanding who, how and why they are as they are - and the range of characterisation which accepts multiple identities and/or ambiguity.

Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while.

Well, I thought this was a funny quote by Kin Hubbard - and a good start for a weather-related post.

It's been a gorgeous 10 days or so of sun and warmth, the tomato plant on my windowsill is measurably taller each evening and the last few days have been proper summer - I'm wearing my summer dresses and factor 30 sunscreen. Temperature in the high 20s and it is absolutely perfect for weekend breakfast outside, then lying on the grass in the shade of the washing and looking up at a deep blue sky. This is my idea of a perfect August day, and it's only April.


And then to make it even better, driving home this afternoon an amazing thunderstorm broke out. From the clouds on either side and in front of us, shocking blue/white forks flicked down, some really jagged, some almost vertical. They were so brief I barely saw them - the sight and after glow on my eyeballs felt like when you touch a hot pan and your hand jumps away before you've registered the heat. When it finally came, the thunder rolled, growled and banged on. And on. And on. One flash seemed to trigger 4 or 5 seconds of noise, and I could really imagine the air banging back against itself, then chunks of air banging back together, then rearranging themselves and then bigger lumps of air rumbling as they finally settled into place. 

Then the rain arrived, fat warm drops with that pungent smell of dust and hot concrete. Everything is cooling down and clearing up for another day's sunshine tomorrow. What joy it is to live in London this year!