Weekend Miscellany

Happy weekend, everyone.  It’s finally starting to look a bit sunnier and – dare I say it – a touch less freezing here, so I’ll be spending my Saturday… at work.  Oh well, it’ll be nice to say hello to Bodleian people, and then I’m off to spend Saturday evening at my friend’s house, watching The Voice.  Very classy, me.  You can treat yourself better, by reading a weekend miscellany.

1.) The blog post – check out Hayley’s response to my recent On Not Knowing Art post, entitled On Knowing Art.

2.) The book – came courtesy of lovely Folio books, and is a beautiful copy of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque – which I’ve been intending to read for ages.  Has anyone read it? (Follow that link to see the details of the Folio edition I was kindly sent.)

3.) The link – is silly. It just is silly. But I love it. Click here to ask one of nature’s great questions.

Hopefully I’m going to see some crocodiles this weekend… I’ll keep you posted, either on here or, more likely, on Twitter – where I’m @stuck_inabook, donchaknow.  I’m afraid I’m just as likely to talk about Neighbours or cats as I am books, but…

1.) The books – you know me, I love reprints – so it’s always exciting to unwrap an unsolicited publisher package and discover that it’s got reprints.  Even better, they’re by an author I like, and they’re books I don’t own – soon I’ll be trying The Boat and A Perfect Woman by L.P. Hartley (best known for the very good The Go-Between), courtesy of John Murray.  Click on the images for more info.

2.) The links – time for an update about OxfordWords blog posts, sneakily put in the ‘links’ section!  I’ve been calling in favours from the blogosphere, and a couple of posts appeared over the past weeks from names you’ll recognise… here are some of my favourite recent articles:

Harriet wrote about Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Rachel wrote about Vita Sackville-West
Andrew Motion wrote about poetry and memory
My lovely boss Malie wrote about My Fair Lady
I wrote about pronunciations of ‘scone‘.
Our ‘baby names generator‘ proved very popular!

3.) The blog post – do check out Karyn’s posts about her travels – especially if piles of Penguins get you all tingly.

Ok, I lied last week.  I said I’d sneak my OxfordWords highlights in after the book, link, and blog post – but this week I can’t resist devoting the post to two pieces over there which I think are really fantastic.  And one of them is partly by me, so I’m being a little bit egotistical…

1.) Baby Names Generator – go and find out what your baby should be called!  My colleague Rachel wrote great copy for it, but I mostly love it for the adorable pictures of babies…

2.) Dr. Seuss meet Dr. Murray – my colleague Malie and I wrote a poem about an imaginary meeting between a young Dr. Seuss and Dr. Murray, the famous Editor of the OED.  And a brilliant cartoonist called John Taylor drew Dr. Murray in his Scriptorium, in the style of Dr. Seuss.  It makes me so happy…

Have a great weekend, everyone!  I’ll be at the Bodleian tomorrow, but hoping to get some reading done in the evening.  I only finished three books in MarchFebruary, y’all…

Firstly – if you fancy a mosey around my bookshelves, Danielle has very kindly asked me to take part in her wonderful ongoing series of Lost in the Stacks: Home Edition.  It’s a mix of my bookcases in Oxford and Somerset, and some fun questions to answer.

Happy weekend!  My brother will be here, which will make my weekend fun.  There might even be cake.  You’ll just have to make do with a weekend miscellany…

1.) The blog post – is another great review of Guard Your Daughters, this time from Ali.  And she loved it!

2.) The book – I’m excited about A.L. Kennedy’s On Writing, which Jonathan Cape sent me recently – it’s going to be published on 7th March, so consider this early warning.  It’s chiefly a collection of articles about writing that Kennedy wrote for the Guardian, but there are also lots of other essays about writing, character, voice, being a writer etc.  Which one of us isn’t interested in this sort of thing, regardless of whether or not we intend to write ourselves?

3.) The link – I’m quite passionate about trying to get people (especially Americans) to watch the sitcom Happy Endings.  It’s on in the UK at some odd hour in the morning, but it’s on ABC in the US.  It looks like it might be cancelled after this third series.  But it’s so, so good.  Quickfire wit, the right amount of silliness… just brilliant.  This link gives 36 Reasons Happy Endings Is The Best Show on Television.  I’m not sure how accurate a depiction it is of the show, but… well, have a gander.  And watch the show!  It’s on a break (sigh) til Fri March 29, so watch it then, 8pm… and catch up on DVDs of earlier episodes!

4.) OxfordWords – whilst I’m working as the editor of Oxford Dictionaries’ OxfordWords blog, I’ll also post weekly highlights from it in my Weekend Miscellany.  I thought “hmm, will this get awkward, mixing my job with my personal blog”, but then I thought no, you’ll want to read some of the fantastic stuff that we publish there.  It’s all fantastic, obvs, but my personal highlight this week is the post about words which have newly entered Oxford Dictionaries Online – more here.  And I wrote a couple of pieces this week, too – What the Nobel Laureates did for us, and a (hopefully witty) article about horses in expressions and idioms.  Oh, and I got drawing in Paint again…

It’s been a tiring week, mostly because I came down with a virus last weekend (I’m very glad I scheduled four posts to appear before I was stricken!) so I’m looking forward to collapsing a bit.  AND seeing my dear friend Mel, who is visiting Oxford.  I hope you all have equally fun plans!  And if you don’t, solace yourself with a book, a link, and a blog post.

1.) The book – who’d have thought that one of the new books I’m most excited about would be a graphic novel?  I loved the colourful, gentle touch of Brecht Evens’ The Wrong Place, so different to the brash superhero-comic-style of many graphic novels (but not all, of course.)  So I asked Jonathan Cape if they’d be kind enough to send me his latest, and they very nicely did – it’s called The Making Of and it looks to have the same aesthetic.  I will, of course, tell you more when I’ve read it.

2.) The link – is to the first post I’ve written in my new job at OxfordWords!  Actually, the first one I wrote will be appearing on Tuesday – this post, on ‘5 Words You Didn’t Know Were Acronyms‘, was written yesterday as a quick substitute for something else – but it was great fun to write, and might surprise you.

3.) The blog post – I’m afraid I’ve been pretty rubbish at commenting on posts this week, from my sickbed, but I’ve been reading ’em.  Mary/Mrs. Miniver’s Daughter has some lovely mural images in her latest post.  She seems to be at an exhibition every other hour, and I must follow her example and try to get to the British Murals and Decorative Painting 1910-1970 exhibition before it closes on 9th March.

Happy weekend, folks!  As I warned, things have been a bit quieter than usual on SiaB this week.  I’ll tell you more about my job next week (thanks for all your lovely congrats) – for now, sit back and enjoy a book, a link, and a blog post.

1.) The blog post – You know how great it is when someone loves an author you love?  Even better is when initially they don’t, and then discover later that they do.  Harriet rather hated her first experience with Ivy Compton-Burnett (whom, as you might know, I adore).  Bravely, after some encouragement from me and some reading around the blogs, Harriet decided to give Dame Ivy another try.  And let there be rejoicing in the street, it worked!  Let Harriet explain it all, here.

2.) The book – just look what will be coming out in April…

3.) The link – I’m afraid I can’t remember where I first saw this (it was on Facebook, let’s face [ahem] it) but thanks if you brought it to my attention!  It’s 30 of the Most Beautiful Abandoned Places – some really stunning, quite eerie, photos.

I’m starting a new job on Monday (maternity cover) at Oxford University Press.  It’s all happened very quickly – I applied for it two weeks ago – and I’m both excited and nervous.  I might well tell you more about it in the future, once I’ve worked out how much distance I ought to keep between my job and this blog, but for now I just want to explain why posts will be a bit sporadic for the next week or two, as I get used to a new environment.  But I’ve quite enjoyed posting every other day, for a bit, rather than everyday – because more people seem to interact with each post that way.

But don’t worry, I’m definitely not going anywhere!  Stuck-in-a-Book is still very important to me.

Some quick weekend links…

1.) The book – is Jenn Ashworth’s The Friday Gospels, which I’m 50 pages into.  I loved her A Kind of Intimacy, and have somehow still not read her second novel (bad Simon), but have gone straight onto the third, which Sceptre kindly sent me when I sent them a begging email.  It’s about Mormons, and is from various different perspectives, all of which are wonderfully realised so far.  More soon…

2.) The link – Radio 4 do a programme all about Nancy Mitford!

3.) The blog post – I’m trying to resist writing about The Lizzie Bennet Diaries again (IT’S JUST GOT SO EXCITING), but I’ve found my way around that by linking, instead, to Iris’s blog post about it, and about Pride and Prejudice‘s anniversary – have a gander here.

Happy weekend y’all!  Hope everyone is very well.  I spent my Friday evening watching a great 1945 film I Live in Grosvenor Square with Rex Harrison and Anna Neagle – and, the reason I watched it, Dame Irene Vanbrugh!  It was the inaugural film in Andrea & Simon’s Film Club (basically a fancy name for my friend Andrea and I taking it in turns to choose films) – I’ll keep you posted if we watch anything really great.  And maybe I’ll do a proper post on I Live in Grosvenor Square one day.

1.) The book – could have your name in it!  A youtuber I was watching mention U*Novels (‘you star novels’) which allows you to have specially printed editions of classic novels where you choose the names of the cast.  This could make a really fun gift.  Want to put your husband in as Mr. Darcy?  Fancy taking a trip to Wonderland and having your friends appear as the caterpillar or Chesire Cat?  It sounds silly and fun to me.

2.) The blog post – Melwyk over at The Indextrious Reader has started up a really interesting Postal Reading Challenge – reading books with postal themes (e.g. collections of letters – those of you who got excited about Maxwell/Welty or Maxwell/Warner collections could jump on board!)  Head over here to find out more.

3.) The link – I just wanted to remind you to WATCH THE LIZZIE BENNET DIARIES if you’re not already.  (A re-telling of Pride and Prejudice through vlogs – I first wrote about here.) It’s got so good recently – and Lydia Bennet’s channel is also brilliant.  Mary Kate Wiles (along with the writers) has really fleshed out Lydia to be a very sympathetic, thorough character, rather than the silly, flighty girl that Lizzie sees (and thus that we see in the novel.)   Lydia’s channel is here, and Lizzie’s is here.   There are quite a lot of videos to watch, but I’ll make it easy for you to start – here is ep.1 of Lizzie’s channel.

Welcome to the first Weekend Miscellany of 2013!  I hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year, whoever you were with.  As of Thursday, I’m back in Oxford, having refuelled on cat, countryside, and family.

1.) The blog post – lovely Thomas at My Porch has had a clear-out, and (as well as admiring his lovely shelves) you can put your name in the draw for his duplicate Dorothy Whipple books.  US residents only, though, since he wanted to keep the Whipples in a country where they’re difficult to find.  It’s open til 31st January.

2.) The link – I’ve yet to listen to it, but Mary has passed on the info about a Radio 4 programme on the incredible Margaret Rutherford.  Click here for it.  If I had a time machine, I’d probably (mis)use it just to go and see her on the stage as Miss Hargreaves.  What bliss that would be…

3.) The book – I really loved The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice (it was in my top books of 2008), so I was very excited to receive a review copy of her new book, The Misinterpretation of Tara Jupp – with a lovely note from Eva too.  My reading will be taken up by Vanity Fair for the foreseeable future, but Eva Rice’s is one of many 21st century books I’ve been holding off until A Century of Books was finished.  If it’s half as good as The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, then I’ll adore it!

And not forgetting… the readalong of Cheerful Weather for the Wedding is coming up soon!  A lovely lot of people seemed keen – see here for details – I suggest we post reviews sometime in the week beginning Monday 28th January, and I’ll post links and have a discussion here.  Fun fun!

It’s all rather damp and miserable chez Stuck-in-a-Book at the moment.  Damp house, damp streets, even a book gone mouldy because I foolishly left it on the window sill (sorry, The Haunted Woman by David Lindsay, mea culpa.)  But by next weekend I’ll be back home – with family, cat, log fire, and such.  So, my final damp weekend miscellany of 2012, and possibly my final weekend miscellany of 2012, damp or otherwise.

1.) The book – stuck for something to give a bibliophile under the Christmas tree?  I was recently sent 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die by Octopus Publishing.  I’m sure a lot of us love these sorts of lists, and this book is far more than just lists, of course.  Lots of info by well-informed people (including my supervisor, I noticed!) as well as lovely pictures etc.  Since I’ve only read 80 or 90 of ’em, I’ve got plenty to go before I die.  More info here.  It’s a really nicely produced book, and I think it would make for great discussion on Boxing Day.

2.) The link – will go over (or perhaps under) the heads of most, but I think some of you in your 20s will appreciate this… I was obsessed with R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books when I was about 10.  I’m sure OV and OVW can attest to my need to read them ALL, and they generously identified (and encouraged) the love of reading rather than my deplorable lack of taste.  For those not in the know, Goosebumps are ‘horror’ books for young children, with cliffhangers every few pages, utterly unconvincing characters, and always a huge, often nonsensical, twist at the end.  I loved ’em.  Well, some brave soul has re-read them all as an adult, and written hilarious reviews at Blogger Beware.  I’ve spent hours there.  Enjoy!

3.) The blog post – while quite a few bloggers do the TBR Challenge in the early months of the year, where they only read unread books from their shelves, Ali is spearheading A Month of Re-reading in January.  More info here, but the gist is pretty obvious – a month of re-reading books!  Lots of us who have 1001 books we want to read before we die (or before book group next Wednesday, as it may be) may feel like we never have time to re-read, so it’s nice to set aside time to do it.  It wouldn’t really work with my Reading Presently project, so I shan’t be joining in this year, but it’s something I’ll definitely keep in mind for the future.

By the way, out of interest, are there many of you using the subscribe-by-email option?