Weekend Miscellany

Claire (aka Paperback Reader) reminded me that I haven’t done Stuck-in-a-Book’s Weekend Miscellany since… well, for a long time anyway. That wasn’t a deliberate decision, as I enjoyed doing a little round-up (and I hope that you enjoyed reading it) but somehow I only remembered about it in the middle of the week. But better late than never, and since we still have a little bit of the weekend left, here it is, in all its multi-coloured infinite variety! (Oh, and I’ve bought my first book of the year… but it was online, so I’ll give you an update when it arrives. If it ever does, given the current state of Oxford’s postal service – I’ve not received a parcel in ten days. Hmm…)

1.) The blog post – is without doubt the first round of Woolf in Winter, this fortnight reading Mrs. Dalloway and hosted by ‘What we have here is a failure to communicate‘ aka Sarah. Click on that link to take you to her thoughts, and a list of other people who’ve read the book. This scheme has been set up for both first-time Woolf readers and those (like me) who secretly think that Ginny is one of their best friends. I’d especially like to point you in the direction of Claire at Kiss a Cloud and her wonderful thoughts about reading Woolf for the first time. She’s bowled over by the novel in the same way that I was when I first read it, and it’s like reading my own thoughts from 2003 – only rather better worded. Though I haven’t re-read Mrs. Dalloway this time (I have read it four or five times) I might get on board for the next session, To The Lighthouse. Click on the picture for more details…

2.) The link – you might have already seen this on Elaine’s blog, Random Jottings, but I’m sure she won’t mind me copying it across here, in case you missed it. It’s about Waterstone’s, the UK bookshop chain, returning to its roots… click here for more. The cynical side of me realises any move they make is going to be motivated by commercialism rather than altruism, and it’s a terrible pity that so many genuinely local bookshops have gone to the wall, but still – the move can only be a good thing, right?

3.) The book – is a review copy from Oxford University Press that I’m definitely going to read before too long, but I might read it quite gradually, and I wanted to tell you about it sooner so you wouldn’t have to wait. It’s called Nine Wartime Lives: Mass-Observation and the Making of the Modern Self, by James Hinton, and uses the Mass-Observation diaries of nine ordinary people, during the Second World War, to look at the effects of the war to the individual as well as wider social issues. These people include Nella Last – I’m currently reading Nella Last’s War, about two years after everyone else did, and am stunned by how fascinating and how brilliantly written it is. That’s a strong early contender for 2010 favourites, and Nine Wartime Lives looks as though it might be equally interesting. (Warning: a bit pricey, might have to track it down in the library). More analytical than Nella Last’s War, but hopefully not textbook-style. From the outside, and from flicking through it and reading the odd excerpt, I’m hopeful.

Yes, the Weekend Miscellany has been visiting a Great-Aunt for the past few weeks, and obviously it is now not the weekend – nor, in fact, is today’s post going to take the usual form of a book, a blog post, and a link. And that’s because I’ve read so many brilliant blog posts over the past week or so, that I just wanted to share them with you. Some you’ll probably have already seen, but some might be new – and there’s just too much wonderful stuff on the blogosphere for me to ignore it for a moment longer. Without further ado…

1.) Throughout January and February, Claire from Kiss A Cloud, and some of her friends, will be leading a Woolf in Winter readathon. This is for everyone, but primarily those who have been intimidated by old Virginia in the past, and need a helping hand to get started. Full details are here, but I’ll just mention that the books in question are Mrs. Dalloway, To The Lighthouse, Orlando, and The Waves. The Big Four, and the right order to read them in. I still have soft spots for Jacob’s Room and Between the Acts, in fact Jacob’s Room might be my favourite Woolf novel (it is today, at any rate) but you’ll be set in good stead if you read those four.

2.) Lovely Elaine at Random Jottings has been a Richmal Crompton fan for nearly as long as I have – I found Persephone through Richmal Crompton, and Elaine and I have shared our RC collections with each other over the years. We both champion her whenever we can ( I wrote about her back here) and Elaine the other day wrote another post in praise of this neglected author. Here it is. Her work is sometimes a bit variable, but there are many gems amongst her wide output. I’m currently reading The Innermost Room, and plan to re-read Matty and the Dearingroydes soon.

3.) Harriet Devine has an ongoing series on her blog, paintings of women reading. The other day she posted my favourite in the series so far, by a painter I didn’t know – Tavik Frantisek Simon. (Great surname!) I hope she doesn’t mind me reproducing it here… but do go and have a scout through her blog for previous paintings. This one reminds me of the Vanessa Bell painting on the Virago Modern Classics edition of Rebecca West’s Harriet Hume. I can only find tiny pictures of it, and can’t remember the title, but you can see it at Verity’s Virago Venture.

4.) I love a bit of book serendipity, don’t you? Simon Savidge picked up Lady Into Fox by David Garnett because the cover and title intrigued him – he read it, loved it, and then found out that it was in my 50 Books You Must Read! His review is so much better (and longer) than the one I wrote, and his beautiful Hesperus edition is a little bit nicer than my old one, found in a secondhand bookshop. The lady who told me about it was the same lady who introduced me to Miss Hargreaves – I have much for which to be grateful.

5.) And finally… Litlove at Tales From The Reading Room has compiled a list Reasons For Buying Books, which I happen to find rather convincing…

That’s a small selection of my favourite recent blog reading – always such a lot to delight in around the blogs, and perhaps you’ll be inspired to link to your five favourite recent blog posts… let me know if you do.

It’s that time of the week again – it’s so nice to have a little place on my blog to mention things which wouldn’t fit in elsewhere, or books which are going to be read gradually, so that you don’t have to wait months to hear about them. I’m getting rather fond of my weekly miscellany, and I hope you are too.

You find me in a house of sickness. I’m not ill (yet) but my housemates are suffering from colds in various stages of heaviness… but today I made a coconut cake to cheer everyone up. I indulge in coconut cakes quite a lot now, since Our Vicar and Colin are both firmly anti-coconut, and thus it would be unfair to make them at home. Mmm… coconut cake… This isn’t it, but it is a nice picture I stole from Google Image Search…

Sorry, distracted there. I *should* be telling you about the link, book, and blog post which have hoved onto my horizon this month…

1) The book(s) – I’ve been meaning to read George Orwell’s essays for a while, or at least dip into them, and when I spotted that Harvill Secker had just published two collections in rather fetching paperbacks (cover illustration a very good job by John Spencer) I wrote an email wondering whether they’d like to send copies to Oxford… which they did, hurrah! They are companion volumes – Narrative Essays and Critical Essays. The former has things like ‘Bookshop Memories’, ‘Some Thoughts on the Common Toad’, and ‘A Nice Cup of Tea’ – though also ‘Looking Back on the Spanish War’ which, if his excellent Homage to Catalonia is anything to go on, probably isn’t very cosy. Critical Essays, as might be expected, investigates individual authors – T.S. Eliot, Rudyard Kipling – and literary topics, like ‘Good Bad Books’, which sounds fascinating. I’m looking forward to dipping into these, and might well report back later – but I think they’re a safe bet for books worth having on the shelves, and there is no author who makes great writing seem more effortless than Orwell does.

2) The link – a while ago I reviewed Michael Greenberg’s Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writer’s Life (which I thought captivating and very well-written, despite being out of my reading comfort zone). Do check out his website, michaelgreenberg.org, which is intended to be an interactive site meant to recreate the spirit and experience of the book visually. And do get hold of the book if you can, it‘s quite a find.

Another link? Oh, why not – Picador emailed to say that they’ll be giving away a box set of the excellent Paris Review Interviews vols.1-4 – follow them on Twitter to find out more. (Incidentally, do many of you use Twitter? It baffles me. I do have an account, but have yet to use it properly…)

3) The blog post – well, there’s been so much buzz about Susan Hill’s Howards End is on the Landing, why not pop along to Bloomsbury Bell’s blog and see what she has to say about the book which inspired the title, EM Forster’s Howards End? I haven’t read this novel yet, though I bought it a couple of months ago, and Bloomsbury Bell’s thoughtful review has intrigued me afresh. You can read it here.

That’s all for this weekend, I’ll see you on the other side…

1.) The link: Well, there it is above. This weekend I’m feeling quite silly, and those much-promised book reviews will have to take a back seat for… a video of a kitten discovering a mirror. When people feel low they might eat chocolate, watch a favourite film, have Prozac… I go to YouTube and search for ‘kitten’ and ‘mirror’. Not that I’m feeling down at the moment – I just thought it would be a good ‘link’ to choose for the link, book, and blog post… Ok, I wanted any excuse. This is something you don’t get in The Telegraph.

That’s the link, then… now for the others.

2.) The blog post: Hayley at Desperate Reader has written a rather lovely post today, which covers all the wonderful bases of blogging – good news to share, a good book, a good recipe. And she links back to my blog too, so what more could you *possibly* ask for? Go along and enjoy all three… and enjoy the beautiful pictures she has along the side column, too.

3.) The book: I try to write about something interesting which is in the backlog… so step forward Lord Lucan: My Story ‘edited’ by William Coles. You might remember Coles from the Othello-meets-Notes-on-a-Scandal and rather good novel The Well-Tempered Clavier, which I wrote about here. And, what do you know, he’s happened to stumble across the secret memoir of Lord Lucan, the peer who disappeared in 1974… (In case you don’t know who the real Lord Lucan is, have a shufty here. Don’t you love Wikipedia.) Coles is very amusing and this could prove a quirky, interesting, and unique read… I’ll let you know what I think one day, but for now there’s a heads-up in case you’re interested!

A bit later than usual this week, mea culpa, but I hope you’ve all settled into a nice weekend. I had fun this week, going up to London for a celebratory meet-up of an online reading group I’m in: five years together. Actually a bit longer than that, but five years since we changed our name. A lovely tea at the Orangery at Kensington, and some, ahem, moderate book-buying… I’ll treat you to a list later in the week. Whilst I London I also met up with Simon S (Savidge Reads) and Claire (Paperback Reader) for a quick coffee – which was good fun. We chatted and gossiped about blogs, I mentioned Miss Hargreaves two or six times, and a good time was had by all.

Without any further ado… the link, the book, and the blog post. A bit like the good, the bad, and the ugly – except instead it’s the good, the good, and the good.

1.) The link – You might remember that I’m a fan of the gals behind 3191. Two ladies have been inspired by 3191 to start their own daily comparative photograph site – but one showing the charity work of SOS Children. The charity works on a huge scale, securing homes for millions of children and helping thousands of families stay together – but when we hear ‘millions’ it all seems too vast to understand. Using photography, they can show the detail and the individuals affected.

Every day two new photographs will appear side by side, as well as a few paragraphs on what the photograph represents, and what the charity is doing. It’s a great idea, do have a look – the website is www.twotalk.org.

2.) The blog post – Kirsty at Other Stories writes about secondhand bookshops, following the Guardian’s list of the ten best in the UK. Might inspire me to write something similar soon… I was pleased and surprised to see my local bookshop in Somerset, Gresham Books of Crewkerne, make the list. And, with Kirsty, I mourn the absence of any great independent secondhand bookshop in Oxford, since Waterfield’s closed. We just have charity bookshops, and the hugely overpriced secondhand department of Blackwell’s.

3.) The book – I told, or warned, readers about a new Winnie the Pooh book, back in January. Well, it’s coming out on Monday. The Telegraph printed the first story, about Christopher Robin coming back from school, and you can read it by clicking here. I have surprised myself by liking both David Benedictus, the author, and his story. He’s obviously done a lot of research (he even tried to use the word convolvulus in another story, which might be a reference to the novel-within-a-novel ‘Bindweed’, in AA Milne’s Two People) and the story has a good tone. It makes more in-references than Milne ever did, and it’s obviously not from Milne’s pen, but I don’t think an imitation could be much better. Of course, it’s still up for debate whether a sequel is wanted, but given that one’s being written… I think it might be ok. Doubtless forgotten in a decade, but fun for the moment. Though I’m still worrying about the illustrations by Mark Burgess… the one accompanying the story is ok, but has nothing of EH Shepard’s wonderful spirit. Well, we’ll see.

I’m back from my travels, pleased to see that my posts all appeared when they were supposed to, and delighted to find so many willing Ivy Compton-Burnett readers! Hayley asks whether she’s likely to enjoy Manservant and Maidservant after having given up A Heritage and Its History – the answer, probably, is no. In for a penny, in for a pound, with Miss C-B – her novels are all very similar and it’s unlikely that you’ll hate one and love another. Verity asked whether we could choose a Virago ICB, but having looked on Amazon the four that Virago Modern Classics reprinted are in quite short supply, and quite pricey too, so it will probably be best to stick with Manservant and Maidservant since it’s in print in the US. Is that ok? I recommend you go and get copies now, if you fancy joining in, and we’ll aim to read it during October/November? Let me know what you think about the plan…
(by the way, it was also published in the US as Bullivant and the Lambs)

More about my trip to Grasmere and Edinburgh, very soon, and apologies if I haven’t responded to an email yet – I have 300 waiting in my inbox.

1) The book, for this weekend’s miscellany, was waiting for me when I got back from Edinburgh. I must confess that I hadn’t heard of J.B. Priestley’s Delight (1949) – also reprinted, and hopefully on its way to me – in which he wrote dozens of little essays (two pages or so each) about things which caused him delight. It sounds an, indeed, delightful book – probably more difficult to write than a Grumpy Old Man collection, but much nicer to read. Well, an anthology has been created in aid of Dyslexia Action and the London Library, called Modern Delight. All sorts of folk have been invited to share things which cause them delight, and it looks like a surprising and happy book. Who knew that Jeremy Paxman liked frogspawn, or Joan Bakewell motorway service stations? John Carey on ‘beekeeping’ and Lynne Truss on ‘perfectly captioned cartoons’; Nick Hornby extolling Bexhill-on-Sea; Erica Wagner proclaiming the delights of peeling chickpeas – how appropriate to choose such a miscellany for my miscellany! Might appeal more to UK readers than non-UK, for the famed people might not be famed beyond these shores. But how nice to see proper, credible names – and many writers – rather than reading that Katie Price likes horses or Wayne Rooney has a fondness for potatoes. Can’t wait.

2) The blog post – I haven’t been able to read blogs this week, so shall link to something not very bookish, but very yummy: the recipe for the cake Karen aka Cornflower made for my visit to her this week. And it was delicious!

3) The link – Simon B at the Bodleian sent me a link to an article on the BBC’s website: What does your bookcase say about you? I can’t agree with the included sentence ‘books aren’t essential’ (is this woman MAD?) but there’s some fun stuff in there too. I’m very fond of my Argos bookcase, which slopes from five units at the right to two at the left, but the rest of my bookcases were mostly nabbed from my parents…

Happy weekend everyone! I’ll be busying myself over the weekend trying to write lots of posts which will appear at intervals over the next week, as I’m off to the Lake District and Edinburgh. Will try to remember to take my camera… and, of course, give you a list of the books I buy along the way. I *might* buy none, of course, but I’ve already pencilled three secondhand bookshops into my itinerary, and there are sure to be more… Someone said to me the other day that, what with the review books I’m sent, I must never have to buy books anymore… cue hollow laugh from me.

As always, a link, a book, a blog post.

1) The link – Abebooks’ Weird Book Room. You’ve probably all seen those books of strange title collections – well, Abebooks have devoted a section of their website to it, and you can submit ideas too. I spotted the link on Liz’s blog. I’m especially drawn to Nuclear War: What’s in it for you? and People Who Don’t Know They’re Dead. And who wouldn’t want to read Cheese Problems Solved? Towel Origami – just think of those wasted mornings in the bathroom where my towel has been sat, simply folded in half?

2) The blog – not long ago I started reading Claire’s blog Kiss A Cloud, which is both beautiful and bookish. More or less any link would whet your appetite, but the most recent post seems a good place to start. It’s following a meme from Book Bloggers Appreciation Week – talking about which books you’ve read because of other bloggers. Claire mentions Woolf, Persephone, and I Capture the Castle amongst her finds, so how could I not be smitten? I so admire bloggers with great camera skills – mine seem to be all taken at night, of books leaning against walls.

3) The book – I’ll be writing about this soon, as I’m *really* having trouble resisting it whilst I read the books I should be reading. It’s Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill (a brave choice of title, since I imagine there will be errant apostrophes in ‘Howards End’ whenever the book is mentioned). Subtitled a year of reading from home, the book is a series of essays a la Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris, which documents Hill’s decision to read only books from her shelves, for a year. She explores books she’d forgotten she owned, or had never read, or simply wanted to read again. I’ve only read four pages so far, but it has some lovely excerpts: ‘A book which is left on a shelf is a dead thing but it is also a chrysalis, an inanimate object packed with the potential to burst into new life.’ Hill’s writing can be a little forthright for my tastes, but I’m sure that won’t spoil a book so deliciously, well, bookish. It’s out on the 15th October, and doesn’t it have a beautiful cover?

Happy weekend, all. Next week I will, honest, promise, definitely be putting up my review of Miss Hargreaves, and a giveaway to go along with it – so watch this space. I’m trying to re-read it first… not much time at the moment.

1) The link – is a rather fun, bookish competition from The Big Green Bookshop. I saw about this at Chasing Bawa‘s blog – basically tell this bookshop (in email, post, ‘phone or person) your five favourite books (in no order). You have until November 22nd to do so – after that somebody clever with a spreadsheet will compile a Top 50. And one lucky person, randomly selected, will win 20 books of their choice from that 50. What’s not to like? Click here for all their info, or here for their blog, or just email enquiries@biggreenbookshop.com.
My top five? Well the first three are always there, in some order or other, but after that I improvise based on my feelings for that day.

1. Miss Hargreaves – Frank Baker
2. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
3. Diary of a Provincial Lady – EM Delafield
4. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
5. Family Roundabout – Richmal Crompton

And whilst I’m at it, I found this name-the-book-from-the-photo competition in their archives… it’s hilarious, and groan-inducing. Go and have a try, you’ll love it. I got none of ’em.

2) The book is in fact books. At the Kisses on a Postcard launch the other day, Alexandra Pringle was saying how jealous she felt of those who hadn’t read Barbara Trapido before, because of all the bookish pleasures ahead of them… at which point I raised my hand and confessed my sins of omission. And so the lovely people of Bloomsbury have sent me their new editions of her novels… any Barbara Trapido fans out there, and if so, where should I start? So far I’m hearing ‘start at the beginning’ with Brother of the More Famous Jack, a fantastic title.

3) And for the blog post this week, I really enjoyed Rachel’s (aka Book Snob) tales of recent buying. The first line will make you realise what an affinity Rachel is: I went out on my lunch break today to Brompton Road, ostensibly to buy a dress for a wedding I am going to on Saturday, but somehow I returned back to my office with no dress and a bag full of books.Now it’s true that I’ve never set out to buy a dress, but most of my errands turn into impromptu book buying trips. You can read more about it here, and find out what she bought. (Rachel, if you’d like me to post you the sketch as a souvenir of sorts, just email me your address!)

It’s a bit late this weekend, mostly because I spent so much time thinking about the review of The Other Elizabeth Taylor (thanks for kind comments on it!) that I didn’t want to get it swept away in the Friday lull. My stats counter tells me that things drop off on Friday, and quite significantly at the weekend, which suggests that quite a lot of you are reading blogs at work. Tsk! As if *I* would dream of doing such a thing. The very thought.

Ahem. So – a link, a blog post, a book.

1.) Verity’s recent review of Barbara Comyns’ wonderful Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead reminded me that it has one of my very favourite opening lines: ‘The ducks swam through the drawing-room window.’ If you don’t immediately want to read on, then check to see if you have a pulse. It didn’t make this week’s link, though – the 100 Best Opening Lines of Novels. This was decided by the editors of American Book Review, and thus has rather a leaning towards American titles. Don’t you find that these lists often choose opening lines from the best novels, rather than the best opening lines? A subtle but significant difference. I’m sure some of the best opening lines come from novels which are otherwise pretty poor. Anyway, pop over there to see who comes top (though any list which includes James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake at no.7 isn’t going to be in total agreement with me: ‘riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.’)

Fun for a browse – let me know what you think, and which you’d place at number one.

2.) The book. It’s Miss Hargreaves again, I’m afraid, since none others sprung to mind… I like to choose ones which I’ve had emails about, or received through the post, but might not review for a little while – and most of the ones I’ve had this week I’m *desperate* to read as quickly as possible. So instead I’m going to show you the part of Bloomsbury’s reprint of Miss Hargreaves which excites me the post:

3.) For my blog post of the week, I’m linking to Lisa at A Bloomsbury Life. I know I keep going back to the same blogs for this, and I will try to expand, but darn it – if Lisa must make her blog so appealing and wonderful, what am I supposed to do? Specifically, I’m linking to her post on Beverley Nichols, which quotes a hilarious section of his book Laughter on the Stairs, all about decorating his house and hearing that Woman’s Own want to look at it. How to get the house looking presentable when he has so little furniture… Rarely have I read a blog post which made me so desperate to read the author – Beverley Nichols is one of those writers I’ve seen a heckuva lot in secondhand bookshops, but never read. The Thatched Roof is the only one I have on my shelves. So, yes, wonderful excerpt – but the post is made even lovelier by Lisa’s characteristic style and great choice of accompanying photographs. Which doesn’t include the one I’ve picked for this post – so you’ll just have to go and read her post for more!

It’s that time again – c’est le weekend! And so, of course, I have a book, a blog post, and a link for your delectation. Come in, sit down, have a cup of tea and a slice of cake. I even made a cake yesterday – coconut and orange sponge (like the chocolate and orange, but with a sizeable amount of coconut instead of cocoa powder.) I haven’t tried any yet, but I’m looking forward to having some tonight… mmm. Anybody got any baking photos to share? I’d love to post a link to them.

1) Let’s start off with the book. Beautiful Books published Angela Young’s Speaking of Love, which I loved, and then they did me the kindness of putting my name on the back of the paperback – so I consider them little less than heroes. And respect their judgement, of course – so I’m looking forward to starting Lanterns on their Horns by Radhika Jha. A very striking cover, I think you’ll agree. Read more about it here. Apparently it involves the artificial insemination of cows to end poverty in an Indian village, and is compared (admittedly by the publishers) to Charles Dickens (great) and Naguib Mahfouz (who? I’m sure he/she is famous, but my knowledge of non-British writers is shamefully low. Unless Mahfouz is British, of course, in which case I don’t even have that excuse.) There’s a review on (the aptly named) Farm Lane Books here.

2.) The link – my e-friend Sherry, from the dovegreybooks reading group, sent me a link to an article from the Telegraph which is likely to strike a chord with Stuck-in-a-Book readers. Click here to read it. It’s called ‘There’s no smell on the shelves of cyberspace’ by Simon Heffer, and is about the pleasure of browsing real life bookshelves, as opposed to clicking a link and getting the book delivered. The internet has done wonderful things for book-lovers – and dire things for their bank accounts – but there will always be room for the surprises and serendipities of bookshops. Call it the thrill of the chase for those who prefer a more leisurely pace. To whet you appetite, and show that Simon Heffer is One Of Us, here’s a quotation: “I realised at an early age that hours passed in shops full of old books constituted one of the greatest joys of civilised existence.”Yes, Mr. Heffer, we can but agree.

3) And the blog post – it’s Paperback Reader again. Over the past fortnight or so she has been sporadically putting up photos of colour-themed bookshelves. Some are kept like that all the time, some were done for the photo-op. Here’s the link, which cleverly shows you all three relevant posts (white, orange, and silver) because she knows what she’s doing with tagging. (Something I manifestly failed with the only time I tried to do it.) Harriet did the same thing with her shelves a while ago – but I don’t know if she’s kept them like that. Harriet? I’ve toyed, occasionally, with putting all my books in colour order… but while I love to look at other people’s photographs, I know I’d never be able to find anything. Plus all my bookcases are double-stacked (and now books are in piles on the floor) so it might not have the same effect. The picture above isn’t from Paperback Reader, but one which did the rounds on the blogosphere a couple of years ago.