Adieu, adieu, I'm leaving you,It's sad to say goodbye.I'll still be stuck in books (of course)I'm off to Hay-on-W...
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Deadline Poet - Calvin Trillin
When I wrote recently about his disengagement with poetry, and asked for your help (much appreciated!) I didn't expect my next dalliance with poetry to be something quite like Calvin Trillin's Deadline Poet. I have Thomas to thank for introducing me to Trillin, and Nancy to thank for mentioning Deadline Poet on this post back here. And now it has filled one of the tricky 1990s spots on A Century of Books.Given my disinclination to read poetry, it was perhaps a surprising choice for me. Even more surprising is that it's about Trillin's...
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Blindness by Henry Green
Normal weekend posts are suspended, since I failed to write my review of Blindness (1926) during weekdays of Henry Green Reading Week (run by Stu) - indeed, I didn't finish reading the book until last night. But let's hope the weekend counts, and get on with the show! And it's going to be quite a long show, as I ended up having a lot to say about Mr. Green...I decided to start with Blindness because it was Green's first novel, and I've never read an author chronologically before. Blindness was great, and so I'll be reading the...
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Bent Objects - Terry Border
I don't think I've ever mentioned a funny little book I once bought for my housemate, and which I flicked through the other day with renewed amusement - it's Bent Objects by Terry Border. Border has his own blog here, and is rather ingenious - he takes everyday objects, often food, and uses wire etc. to make them seem animate. He doesn't actually animate them, but does give them life - through seemingly simple construction and brilliant placement. I love him. What reminded me of the book was the ereader/book debate, and...
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The World I Live In - Helen Keller
I was trying to remember who told me about The World I Live In (1908) by Helen Keller, when I realised that none of you did. This joins Yellow by Janni Visman and Alva & Irva by Edward Carey (both wonderful novels) in being a book I happened upon at work in the Bodleian, and decided to buy for myself. And, like them, it turned out to be a good reading experience - although rather different.I had heard of Helen Keller, of course, although I must confess to having thought her British rather than American. For those who don't...
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Donkeys!
I started writing a book review (1908 ticked off the list, if that's any clue) when I realised I was far too tired. So, instead, here's a picture of a donkey! I dragged my friend Dave to a local donkey sanctuary last Saturday - it's the third time I've been. After cats, donkeys are my favourite animals, and I could (and do) spend hours stroking them and informing them that they are handsome. Maybe it's no surprise that Eeyore is my favourite character in Winnie-the-Pooh?But I shan't just show you that gorgeous donkey. I shall pre-empt...
Monday, January 23, 2012
Oh, hello again, Miss Hargreaves!
I've been reading Mr. Allenby Loses The Way by Frank Baker, author of my much-loved Miss Hargreaves, and I've even been able to call it work - hopefully it'll be useful for the chapter I'm writing at the moment. It's about a man who is given five wishes by a fairy... but nowhere near as twee as that sounds. Anyway, this isn't a review of the novel (not least because I've only read the first 50 pages) but something else entirely. I was merrily reading along, when I came across this seemingly incidental piece of dialogue:"All snatches...
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Maestro by Peter Goldsworthy
I wasn't intending to join in Australian Literature Month, because I didn't have any unread Australian novels, nor did any of the suggested titles fill me with longing. I'm trying to be sensible with money this academic year, since I'm no longer funded, and (believe it or not) I'm even being more circumspect when it comes to book purchases! (Keep that in your mind when you read the following...)I bought Maestro (1989) by Peter Goldsworthy because I liked the colour of the spine. Ok, that's not quite true - it was the minty-turquoisey...
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Song for a Sunday
Happy Sunday, everyone!Let's go old school today, with a bit of Kate Bush and her wonderful song 'Running Up That Hil...
A quick plea...
Does anyone have access to US magazine Time online archives? There's an article I want to read - the July 28th 1930 review of The Love Child, to be precise - but I can only see the first two lines without paying a big subscription. Chuh. So if anyone had access to it and wanted to send me the review in full, you'd have my eternal appreciation...(Sorry there was no Weekend Miscellany... long day yesterday. Get ready for Australian Literature Month AND Henry Green Reading Week colliding next week. I've read one for the former, and started one for the latter....
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Adrian Mole
It's the 30th anniversary of Adrian Mole today - can you believe it? - and the good people of Penguin offered me their new editions of all the books. Knowing that my brother Colin is an Adrian fan, I thought I'd suggest him as a more suited recipient. They sent off a set, and he wrote me a fab review. Whenever I feature other people's posts I want to say COMMENT, COMMENT, MAKE THEM FEEL WELCOME! The new comment system may scupper this, but if it does, go and say hello on Facebook(!) Over to you, Col.It is 30 years since...
Oh frabjous day!
Over my blogging years (nearly five!) I have spent hours trying to add features that Blogger didn't offer. It took me an age to add a third column (now available as standard); I spent a long time adding a search box (now available as standard), but the area I've spent the most fruitless hours is in trying to add inline comments. And it never worked properly.Until now! Blogger have FINALLY done something about it, after years and years of blogspot-users begging them to do so. I spotted on Lyn's blog that she could reply to comments, and she kindly pointed out where I could...
Monday, January 16, 2012
Firefox... Schmirefox, more like.
I don't know about you, but my Firefox is being awful. It crashes every five minutes, which would be really bad in a car, and is also pretty bad (though not as bad) in a whatever-you-call-internetty-things. Umm... wow. Sometimes I pretend to be more Luddite than I am, in the curious belief that it makes me seem endearing, but right now I can't remember what you call IE, Firefox, etc. Hmm. This must be how computer geeks feel when they can't remember if it's 'Jane Austen' or 'Jane Austin'. That's the sort of question...
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Time Importuned - Sylvia Townsend Warner; or, Why Do Poetry and I Not Get Along, Wherein our Reader Struggles With Verse
Well, I can tick off 1928 on A Century of Books, because on Saturday I read Time Importuned by Sylvia Townsend Warner. This volume of poetry was published two years after Lolly Willowes, an excellent novel about which I'll soon be writing a chapter of my thesis - but which I only wrote about very briefly on SiaB. I intended to write another post last year, when I reread it. I worry that, if I tried, I would end up writing ten thousand words... well, perhaps I'll give it a go one day, since the review I wrote doesn't do it justice.Anyway,...
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Song for a Sunday
Happy Sunday, everyone. The cake was nice, thanks, although we had run out of icing sugar - so I couldn't have it at work. Instead, I had it whilst watching Miranda on DVD. Chocolate cake with orange butter cream filling mmmmmmm....Anyway, almost as nice as cake is this song from Rebecca Ferguson, 'Nothing's Real But Love'. If you live in the UK you might have heard of Lovely Rebecca (as she's known in my head) from the X Factor - a lot of people judge singers from these sorts of shows without hearing them. So... have a listen! She has a lovely, soulful...
Friday, January 13, 2012
Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany
I started a new part-time job this week (still as a librarian, but this time in a Special Collections reading room, so the materials are suddenly much more fragile and valuable!) and I'm pretty tired. Back to work today (Saturday) but with the not-very-valuable books instead... and mostly reshelving. Such is the ignominy of being a library dogsbody! Still, I made a chocolate cake this evening, so at least I'll have something delicious in my lunch, though I says it as shouldn't.I seem to have wandered away from the book/blog post/link format...
Thursday, January 12, 2012
"Books are like people..."
Last quotation from Stop What You're Doing And Read This!, promise. Well, there definitely won't be more than one after this, anyway. Probably. Back to Mark Haddon's wonderful essay, definitely the jewel in this crown, and more book thoughts which both strike a chord and make me think more deeply about my reading. I seem to have run out of bookish paintings very quickly, so instead here is a musical painting by one of my favourite artists: it's Raoul Dufy's Tribute to Mozart."What I didn't yet understand was the importance of taste...
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
The Poisonwood Bible: other views
I meant to include links to other bloggers' views yesterday, but I was too tired by the time I finished exploring my own! So today's post is a little addendum to yesterday's...The world, it seems, is filled with bloggers who have written about The Poisonwood Bible. I've just picked some of the bloggers I already know and love. If you have an insatiable appetite for reviews, I recommend you check out Fyrefly's wonderful blog search engine. It's invaluable!"The writing was exquisitely well balanced, the story was absorbing and the Congo...
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
Well, I finished The Poisonwood Bible (1998) with a couple of hours to spare before book group... and, having worked out what I think about it, I am ready to write my review. It's quite difficult to formulate my thoughts on this novel, because these thoughts do not all lean in the same direction. Reviews feel like they should be unified, and that's rather tricky when I have both positive and negative responses to a book. So... bear with me. I'll bear with you bearing with me. Hopefully by the end of the page we'll understand...
Sunday, January 8, 2012
"Memory is talismanic."
I'm on the home straight with The Poisonwood Bible, so expect a report on that later in the week. For today, as the publishing date of Stop What You're Doing And Read This! draws ever nearer, I shall tantalise you with another excerpt - this time from Jeanette Winterson. Today's painting is Carl Larsson's 'Woman Reading'. [EDIT: Pat, thanks for reminding me that the book is Radio 4's Book of the Week this week!]"A medium other than the book could not achieve the effect of this book [The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd] nearly so well. ...
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Song for a Sunday
And now the first Sunday Song of 2012! But before we get to that, something I forgot to post in my Weekend Miscellany. Katie posted the following on the SiaB Facebook page, and I drew a blank, but perhaps you can help?In my early twenties I read a book that referred to a family as "The Gannets" because this family loved to eat, go on picnics with copious ampunts of elaborately prepared food and enjoyed every moment, including the last lick of their fingertips. The family were all rotund. I think the book was written by a British writer and I read the book in 1980ish. It would...
Friday, January 6, 2012
Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany
It's the first Weekend Miscellany of 2012, and I hope you've got a pen and paper to hand, because there's all sorts going on...1.) Firstly - I do love a surprise book through the post! Christmas was surprisingly low on bookish gifts (my parents and brother tried, bless 'em, but ended up giving me the same book... oops!) so it was a total and unexpected delight to get What There Is To Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell. It came from lovely Heather, who knew that I adored the letters of Maxwell and Sylvia...
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