A Handful of Dust

Reading round-up: May

2014-06-09T17:00:00.000+01:00

This month was a really busy month. At the start of the month I was in London for two weeks working at a publishing company and the following week I was in Leuven, Belgium. I didn't have much time for reading but I finally finished The Three Musketeers! It's very long, but the last third of the book was really gripping. I also read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the first volume in Maya Angelou's autobiographies in the last week in May, shortly before she passed away.

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

I was inspired to read this when I watched the BBC TV series starring Luke Pasqualino of Skins fame as D'Artagnan and Peter Capaldi, the new Doctor Who, as the Cardinal. The Three Musketeers is set in Paris, and the main characters are three of the king's musketeers, Atos, Portos and Aramis, and D'Artagnan, a younger Gascon who is keen to join them. The book follows D'Artagnan and the musketeers on their adventures as they face opposition from the Cardinal, who abhors their street fighting and the king's poor leadership. The Musketeers is a ripping boy's adventure; D'Artagnan leaves the provinces for the big city to seek his fortune and find adventure, friendship and love. The men constantly tease each other, very much like 'banter' today, and yet surprisingly perhaps, more innocent in content (there are a limited number of sexual / profane jokes). One of the central characters is the archetypal femme fatale, Milady, who is a fantastic character; an incredibly smart and skilled woman, and is so central to the plot/action she has several chapters dedicated to only her at the close of the book. I was struck with how funny and accessible the book is and how much it would make a great school play. The story is based in history, featuring King Louis XIII, Anne of Austria, the Duke of Buckingham and his assassin, Felton (not of dog-walking fame ;) ). It was interesting, when I was visiting the National Portrait Gallery in London, to see paintings of the characters, and have the historicity of some events confirmed. I would recommend this book to those interested in historical fiction, but for those who are only interested in a ripping story, I would suggest an abridged version.

Something for the Weekend by Terry Wogan

I picked this up at work and read it while travelling this month. It's a collection of Terry Wogan's weekend columns for The Sunday Telegraph over the past ten years (2004 - 2014). It was a different kind of book for me, but was good to dip in and out of when on trains, as each column averages only two pages. Whenever I opened the book the subject matter of the column it fell upon seemed to match my activity at that time, for example, when on the Eurostar, I read the column on the difficulties of checked baggage when travelling, and on Eurovision weekend, I read the article on a past year's contest, as Wogan used to commentate Eurovision for many years. Something for the Weekend fairly accurately sums up British feeling on certain social changes / events over the past ten years, but with a slightly right wing / old school mindset (the columns were published in the Telegraph). I would recommend it to prior fans of Wogans and the hardback edition would make a good Christmas gift, as a book that anyone can pick up and have a quick read.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

This was my favourite book of the month by a long way. It also happened to be the month in which Maya Angelou passed away. She has accomplished so much in her life, and her autobiographies, of which this is the first one, are an illuminating and interesting read. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, upon its release in 1969, was an defining text in increasing the visibility of African American female his(her)tory. Maya uses her education, both academic and pastoral, combined with a child's natural curiosity, to bring to the reader a revealing, insightful and intelligent description and analysis of life, and how circumstance and history shape it. In Caged Bird, Maya describes her childhood growing up in Arkansaw and later San Francisco, detailing her life up to the age of 17 and the birth of her first son. The content can at times be disturbing, particularly her rape as an eight year old, which is told from a child's perspective. The book's themes include racism, identity, language, and rape, and the language is poetic and sentence structure beautifully constructed. You can read my full review of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings here.

That's it for this month. To browse more of my monthly reading round-ups, click here.

Reading round-up: April

2014-05-29T12:39:00.000+01:00

April was an average month in terms of reading. I read a lot of extracts and free first chapters of books- Kindle is great for this- but the following four are the only books I finished. Here's April's belated reading round-up.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

Jamaica Inn is a Gothic tale set on the ragged coasts of Cornwall and is a fun, quick read akin to a modern day thriller. The narrator is Mary Yellen, who is sent to live with her aunt and uncle at the notorious, barren and inhospitable Jamaica Inn. Mary finds her Aunt Patience a battered woman living under the violent thumb of her husband Joss Merlyn. Jamaica never hosts travellers, and Mary is suspicious as to how the Merlyns survive with no custom, but she soon discovers the reason why - Jamaica Inn is the centre of a smuggling ring. Mary struggles with her morality and who to trust. She confides in two men, the first being the local vicar and the second Joss's brother, Jem, who she is attracted to despite herself. The novel comes to a violent conclusion, beginning with a drunken confession of Joss's: the smugglers are, in fact, wreckers. I was interested to read this novel as the BBC released a mini TV series of this over the Easter weekend. I really enjoyed both watching the series and reading the novel, and would definitely recommend both. I would really recommend Jamaica Inn to most readers, particularly fans of thrillers and the gothic. I'd also recommend the novel to teens, both boys and girls, as the language is understandable and there is a lot to be taken away from the novel. I think it sets up some interesting discussions on morality, the roles of men and women, bravery and redemption. You can read my full review of Jamaica Inn here.

Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

Written by the COO of Facebook, Lean In was bound to be dissected on social media, and I was initially put off reading it due to the criticisms of the book written around the time of its release last year. Lean In is a business and self help book that focuses on the lack of women in leadership roles, the causes of this, and what we as women can do about it. One criticism of the book is that it does not discuss the history of the patriarchal structures that effects women in work. The book just stops short of stating, but implies, the idea that women have internalized sexist ideas of women in work, and focuses on motivating them to succeed and lead in the workplace. An additional criticism is that Sandberg ignores intersectionality; she does not give recognition to the fact that there is huge variety of women in work, or the plight of the many women being leaned on in order for other women to succeed at work (e.g. often non-white, underpaid nannies). Despite these problems I enjoyed the book; it was well researched and it was interesting reading Sandberg's personal experiences at Facebook and Google. I do think Lean In raises some pertinent points; such as how both men and women can both fail to recognise our own gender based prejudices despite recognising it in other people, and how as women we often mentally leave our workplace before we physically leave our jobs. If you're interested in feminism, equality at work, or a women looking to succeed in business, I would really recommend this book. It won't solve all your problems but it might make you think.

When Nights Were Cold by Susanne Collins

When Nights Were Cold was recommended by Blair on her excellent blog, and I picked it up for 99p in the Kindle sale. It's short and is nicely edited to form a well-paced story. At the turn of the century in Victorian London, Grace Farrington is living with an overbearing father and meek mother, both of whom insist their daughters must stay at home until they marry, despite Grace's passion for mountaineering. Mountains, particularly the Mattahorn, are at the heart of this novel as much as Grace is. Grace (or Farrington as she becomes known) obsesses over the latest expeditions of the time and forms a mountaineering club at her female college with four other girls. The club plan mountaineering expeditions, and slowly, cracks begin to form in the girls' friendships, culminating in a fatal trip to the Alps. We are told some details of the tragedy at the beginning of the story, but the more we read on, the more we realise it might not have happened as Farrington encouraged us to believe. I'd really recommend this book to everyone as it was a smart, interesting, quick read.

A Winter Book by Tove Jansson

A Winter Book is a collection of short stories for adults written by Finnish writer Tove Jansson, known as the creator of the Moomins. It’s a beautifully produced book, with textured paper and a soft dust jacket and accompanying photographs of Jansson in her native Finland. The collection of stories are on the theme of winter, and are deceptively simple, the first set of stories being told from a child’s perspective, and the latter from an adults. The stories focus on incidents in Jansson’s life, most seemingly innocuous, but when examined a little closer, reveal universal concerns about nature, life, art, hope and ageing. My favourite story in the collection is ‘Parties’. It is a telling perspective into a child’s understanding of adult parties (“I know a lot that I don’t talk about”), complete with music, hangovers and fry-ups. A Winter Book is a mixed bag of stories, and not always coherent in narrative and theme, but is a nice addition for fans of Jansson’s work. It would make a lovely gift for those who are a fan of short stories, stories of the sea, or stories told from a child’s perspective. You can read my full review of A Winter Book here.

That's it for this month. To browse more of my monthly reading round-ups, click here.

Book Review: Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

2014-05-05T17:00:00.000+01:00

"No human being could live in this wasted country, thought Mary, and remain like other people; the very children would be born twisted, like the blackened shrubs of broom, bent by the force of a wind that never ceased, blow as it would from east and west, from north and south. Their minds would be twisted, too, their thoughts evil, dwelling as they must amidst marshland and granite, harsh heather and crumbling stone. They would be born of strange stock who slept with this earth as a pillow, beneath this black sky." - Daphne du Maurier, Jamaica Inn

Jamaica Inn is one of the earlier novels written by Dame Daphne du Maurier, best known for her brilliant work Rebecca. Jamaica Inn is similar to Rebecca in its gothic sensibilities and is very evocative in terms of a sense of place. Where it differs is in size and tone; Jamaica Inn is shorter, and is more of a fun, quick read akin to a modern day thriller. It is a Gothic tale set on the ragged coasts and in the wild moors of Cornwall. The narrator is the orphan Mary Yellen, who is sent to live with her aunt and uncle at the notorious, barren and inhospitable Jamaica Inn (a real inn, now a hotel). Mary finds her Aunt Patience a battered woman living under the drunken, wild, and violent thumb of her husband Joss Merlyn. Jamaica Inn is situated in the midst of the bleak Cornish landscape, in the middle of nowhere, and never hosts any travellers at the inn. Mary is suspicious as to how the Merlyns survive with no custom, but she soon discovers the reason why. Jamaica's true business comes at night, when men, under cover of darkness, ride wagons up to the inn loaded with goods. It soon becomes apparent that Jamaica Inn is the centre of a smuggling ring, which Mary finds completely reprehensible. She immediately struggles with her morality, torn between wanting her uncle to face the law and wanting to protect her aunt.

Jamaica Inn torments Mary from the moment she arrives, and tests her morals and loyalty in its every twist and turn. As Mary becomes more involved in life at Jamaica, she confides in two men, the first being the local vicar and the second Joss's brother, Jem, a horse thief, who she is attracted to despite herself. Mary struggles with who to trust, as the smugglers operate with secrecy and a lie is on everyone's lips. The novel comes to a terrible conclusion, beginning with a drunken confession of Joss's: the smugglers are, in fact, wreckers. They lure ships to shore with false lights, watch the ships break against the rocks and collect the bounty. The terror comes when the survivors swim to shore, and Joss and his men hold the sailors under and beat them to death; men, women and children all.

I was interested to read this novel as the BBC released a mini TV series of this over the Easter weekend. There was some complaints from viewers about the audio levels and actors mumbling, but I watched it on-demand, and it was understandable, with some characters (Joss Merlyn in particular) harder to hear than others. I really enjoyed the series and would definitely recommend watching it if you are a fan of the book, with subtitles if it helps! The last episode with the wrecking is particularly impactful to watch, a wide-angle lens showing the breaking of the ship and the waves carrying the sailors to shore. Some aspects of the novel have been changed but nothing major, and mostly to give a visual representation of something conveyed in a different way in the novel. Another stand out scene is when Joss makes his confession to Mary. The emotional impact came across very effectively, and the directing was well done (e.g. the impact of having Mary sitting level with Joss, rather than on the floor).

Mary is a true strong female character- not comparable to the fake Strong Female Characters (™) we see in the media today. She is believable, honest, moral, sexual, romantic, curious, and flawed. She shows us that you can be both moral and sexual, and strong and stubborn in some ways but weak in others. She shows a firm and admirable moral compass, and bravery in standing up to her uncle when, as we see, many men are afraid to do so. However she also shows herself to be a young person who has much to learn- she is confused and afraid of her attraction to Joss's brother Jem Merlyn, given his appearance to be at odds with her personal values, and struggles with how to express her feelings when she is around him. By the end of the novel she learns through her experience at Jamaica Inn to accept rather than run from her desires.

The novel has some faults; its villains are quite stereotypical, there is little guesswork involved in who the villains might be, and the motive of the vicar has been described as unclear or unconvincing by other readers. The novel also displays some problematic attitudes towards the role of women and there is racism in its description of the the albino vicar. Despite this, I would really recommend Jamaica Inn to most readers, particularly fans of thrillers and the gothic. I'd also recommend the novel to teens, both boys and girls, as the language is understandable and there is a lot to be taken away from the novel. I think it sets up some interesting discussions on morality, the roles of men and women, bravery and redemption.

Rating: 3/5. Buy the book: Paperback / Kindle. Follow me: Goodreads / Twitter / Bloglovin

Book Review: A Winter Book by Tove Jansson

2014-04-28T16:48:00.000+01:00

“Last summer something unforgivable happened. I became afraid of the sea. Large waves were no longer connected with adventure, only anxiety and responsibility for the boat, and indeed all boats that ply the sea in bad weather. It wasn’t fair; even in my worst dreams the sea had always been an unfailing deliverance: the danger was after you, but you hopped in and sailed away and were safe and never returned. That fear felt like a betrayal- my own.” – Tove Jansson, ‘Taking Leave’

The stories focus on incidents in Jansson’s life, most seemingly innocuous, but when examined a little closer, reveal universal concerns about nature, life, art, hope and aging. The stories are deceptively simple and focus on description, and hold back on any attempt to analyse their contents. The stories require the reader to search between the lines and think about what is not being said in order to gain a full analysis of the stories’ fullest depths.

The title of the collection is ‘A Winter Book’, and therefore many stories feature Finland in the colder months. It can be hard for a landlocked non-island dweller to relate to the Scandinavian island lifestyle portrayed in the collection. The sea as a feared and unpredictable danger is not portrayed as such in A Winter Book. In Jansson’s Finland the sea is as steadfast as land in that it is not just part of life, but it is life, and children playing on rafts and in boats is as usual as children walking to the park unaccompanied.

My favourite story in the collection was ‘Parties’. Despite its questionable gender roles, it is a telling perspective into a child’s understanding of adult parties (“I know a lot that I don’t talk about”), complete with music, hangovers and fry-ups, much in the tradition of Henry James’ ‘What Maisie Knew’. My least favourite story, though popular with many readers, was the longer story ‘The Squirrel’, featuring an older woman living alone on an island, who encounters a lone squirrel, a invasion that goes on to disturb her daily routine until the time of its departure. The woman becomes obsessed with the squirrel and by observing her thought process the reader can feel as if they are experiencing degeneration into madness brought on by loneliness and perhaps old age.

A Winter Book is a mixed bag of stories, and not always coherent in narrative and theme, but is a nice addition for fans of Jansson’s work. It would make a lovely gift for those who are a fan of short stories, stories of the sea, or stories told from a child’s perspective.

Rating: 3/5. Buy the book: Paperback. Follow me: Goodreads / Twitter / Bloglovin

The Book Lover's Survey

2014-04-15T11:50:00.000+01:00

Marilyn Monroe reading

I've posted a lot of book reviews on this blog, but not a lot about reading. I thought I'd start with the book lover's survey as seen on Emily's blog.

How did you develop a love for reading?

If there were anyone I were to thank for my love of reading it would probably be my mother (hi mum!). She taught me to read at three years old and it was pretty much what I spent my childhood doing. I was an advanced reader for my age and on occasion it led to me being excluded from activities with the other children in my class, and I have quite a few stories from my pre-teens on this topic. My favourite books around this time were often series. I'm a very character driven reader and once a character captures me I really enjoy being in their world and experiencing their life. Series that I remember loving as a pre-teen were Ursula le Guin's Earthsea quartet, Robin Jarvis' Deptford Mice trilogy, Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, The Hobbit / The Lord of the Rings, and of course Harry Potter.

Where do you usually read?

In bed, using the light on my kindle cover. I have this one, and while it's not cheap, it's excellent. It protects the kindle really well and is nice to hold. I also read on the bus/tram when travelling, which I enjoy as it's calming and makes me look forward to the journey.

Do you prefer to read one book at a time or several at once?

I prefer to read one book at a time, but I always have more than one on the go.

What is your favourite genre?

Literary fiction.

Is there a genre you will not read?

As a hard and fast rule, no, as I find that pretty restricting. There are of course some genres I enjoy more than others. Genres I don't particularly enjoy are chick lit, romance, thrillers / crime, horror, and biographies. Having said that there have been books in those genres that I own and really enjoyed.

Do you have a favourite book?

Lord of the Rings.

What is your least favourite book?

I think this is an interesting question. I very rarely don't finish a book, and the books I have given up on I did for differing reasons. They have usually been too cliché, badly written or disturbing. Books that I didn't enjoy at the time but would still recommend are What Maisie Knew by Henry James and Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee.

What is the longest book you have ever read?

Lord of the Rings read as a whole book is pretty long, which is how I first read it as a pre-teen. I initially thought The Wings of the Dove by Henry James was the longest, but apparently Steve Job's biography by Walter Isaacson beats this. Unless you can count the Bible?

What was the last book you bought?

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (review here) and Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James, both in the Kindle sale.

Do you prefer library books or buying books?

I much prefer buying books. Owning my favourite books is really important to me, and worth doing as I'm a re-reader. Having said that I will always defend the importance of libraries and book lending in the community.

What are you currently reading?

An assortment. Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe and The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. To see more of what I'm reading you can add me as a friend on Goodreads here.

If you'd like to do the survey, feel free to write your answers or leave a link to your blog post in the comments, as I'd love to give them a read.

Books: my to-read list for #readwomen2014

2014-04-04T17:00:00.000+01:00

I always have a large pile of books on my to-read list, and this month is no exception. I'm currently making a conscious effort to read books written by women as part of #readwomen2014, so here's the ladies on my to-read list at the moment. The Blind Assassin will probably be the first of these I finish, as I have a newly acquired physical copy which I have marked for reading after I finish The Three Musketeers (Luke Pasqualino told me to!). I've also read several of Atwood's novels before and thought they were excellent (particularly Cat's Eye).

Shockingly, for a former literature student and classics lover, I haven't read Little Women or Jane Eyre. This fact remained a secret until now, as it's often amusing what conversations you can bluff your way through when people assume you have knowledge of [insert classic book here. As long as it's not James Joyce's Ulysees. No-one's read that.]. I have seen the 2006 BBC mini series adaption of Jane Eyre, but that doesn't make up for my lack of having read it. Little Women is the classic I'm most looking forward to reading, though. Joey's experience of reading it in Friends always makes me laugh.

The next book on my list is Evelina, or the history of a young lady's entrance into the world. I hadn't heard of this novel until recently, and decided I had to give it a read. I've already read the preface and really enjoyed it. Fanny Burney is extremely funny and clever in a very British way, much like Jane Austen. I also decided I had to read it as I share the same name as the character of the title - Eve.

If you've read any of these I'd love to know what you thought of them, and which you would recommend. You can also see the books I've already read as part of #readwomen2014 here.

Book Review: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

2014-03-28T17:30:00.000+00:00

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius

The Goldfinch is the long-awaited third novel from American writer Donna Tartt, published in October last year. Tartt's first novel, The Secret History, is one of my favourite novels, making the top five in my list of favourite books of all time, so I was really looking forward to reading her latest offering.

The plot of The Goldfinch centres around the life of Theo, a young boy of divorced parents growing up in New York. In a visit to a museum to view the painting of the title, Theo and his mother are the victims of a terrorist bombing. Theo survives, and secretly takes the painting with him when he leaves the museum. Throughout the novel we follow Theo as he grows up and we see how his post-traumatic stress disorder, his obsession with the painting, and the relationships he has affect his life and the choices he makes. Two of Theo's primary relationships after the museum bombing are with antique dealer and restorer Hobie, who trains Theo to become a partner in the business, and Pippa, also a victim of the bombing, with whom Theo predictably becomes obsessed with. We also follow Theo for a brief but influential time living with his father in Las Vegas, where he meets a Russian boy Boris, who becomes a central character in the lives of Theo and of The Goldfinch painting.

The Goldfinch has many similarities both to its predecessor The Secret History and to general American literary canon like The Catcher in the Rye in that the main character is a typical disaffected American middle-class white male youth. To Tartt's credit, she writes Theo well and does a good job of getting inside his mindset and writes the reticence of men well. Theo is a post-modern 'hero' at a loss in society, alienated, and searching for the meaning of life in the wake of the museum bombing and the loss of his mother. An argument could be made for Theo as a tragic hero, as we do feel a certain sympathy for him, certainly at the start of the novel due to the bombing. As the novel continues, though, we see Theo continue to make bad decision after bad decision, from his continual abuse of drugs to his art dealings on the black market, and we start to loose sympathy for him.

It's important to note the lack of women and the stereotypes they fall under when they do appear in Tartt's novels. The main characters of the novel are Theo, his best friend Boris, and Theo's boss/partner in antiques, Hobie. The women in the novel- namely Theo's love interests Pippa and Kitsey, are secondary characters, but as far as personality go they remain elusive. The men in the novel have distinct and different personalities, such as the quiet Hobie, nerdy Andy and reckless Boris. In contrast, the personalities of the women only exist in relation to how they impact the men in the novel. The women who do not serve as love interests are subject to the madonna / whore dichotomy; firstly in the character of Theo's mother, who is killed, martyr-like, retaining her madonna status in an appearance in Theo's dreams, and secondly in the wicked stepmother/whore figure in Theo's father's girlfriend in Vegas, Xandra, a bar worker with a drug addiction.

Tartt, like her British counterpart Ian McEwan, is a very literary writer- you could say a writer's writer- and peppers her novels with references to literary history. In The Secret History the references are predominantly Ancient Greek, whereas in The Goldfinch the references are based around the painting above- The Goldfinch by the Flemish artist Carel Fabritius, and the art of antique dealing, conservation and restoration- in short, our fascination and attachment to objects based on their perceived value. I love Tartt's writing style but one feature of her writing really stood out for me. Tartt has a tendency to end a sentence that isn't a question with a question mark. This really stood out as she uses very few other colloquialisms or dialect, with the exception of some questionable and narratively unrealistic Russian English. It could be argued that the use of the question mark illustrates the speech patterns of the character, however I found it failed to add anything to the narrative and was jarring to read. That minor fault aside, I found my main problem with the novel was that it has been badly edited. This is the fault of the publishers, rather than Tartt herself, but since Tartt's novels are few and far between (it's been eleven years since her last novel) I feel she is being treated with kid gloves somewhat. The last chapter was rambling, unfocussed and vague and added very little to the novel (and this is coming from a philosophy graduate). It should have been cut completely, and the novel should have ended with Hobies' speech to Theo on our individual attachment to art at the end of Section 5.2.

Overall I would really recommend the novel if you're a fan of literary fiction, the American Catcher in the Rye novel tradition, coming of age novels, or long novels in general. I love long novels and and literary writing, and that's usually enough for me to forgive sins of plot or character, both of which could be criticised here.

Rating: 4/5. Buy the book: Paperback / Kindle. Follow me: Goodreads / Twitter / Bloglovin

#readwomen2014 Donna Tartt, P.D. James, Edith Nesbit and Jane Austen

2014-03-24T22:06:00.000+00:00

I first heard about #readwomen2014 on Twitter at the start of the year. It's a campaign started by Joanna Walsh (you can read her original blog post here), which aims to increase the awareness of fiction written by women.

Equal representation of women in literature has always been a problem, from the pseudonym of George Eliot, to Joanne becoming "J.K." Rowling, to the still persistent lack of female authors being critically reviewed in the mainstream press. This is doubly frustrating when you take into consideration the current thriving community of female authors sharing their knowledge and experience online. Contemporary fiction also has a huge community of female readers; the majority of Booktubers (book-reviewing YouTubers) and their viewers are women. All this adds up to an exciting and diverse community of female writers and readers, which is one of the reasons #readwomen2014 really resonated with me. As Joanne said in The Guardian, "Everyone wants equality but few are willing to take responsibility or do the hard work." readwomen2014 holds you accountable- who will you read? What will you do? Which books by women will you recommend? I challenge you to take a look at your bookshelf (physical or virtual) and view the amount of authors that are male vs. those that are female. It's against the odds that the majority on your shelf will be by women, but now can be the time you change that for the better.

I won't pretend that all the books I've read this year have been by women. One of the major challenges for me so far this year has been the fact that my favourite genre is classics. Last year, despite my disinclination, I made a conscious effort to read more contemporary fiction. I discovered some gems and some duds, but I always return to the classics- and, of course, in the light of what has already been said- the majority of classics have historically been written by (dead, white) men. Keeping track of what I'm reading on Goodreads (you can follow me here) has held me accountable to the read women project though, and so far this year I've read:

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (review here)
Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James
Northhanger Abbey by Jane Austen (review here)
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit
and I'm halfway through Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg.

I'm going to end this post with a (non comprehensive) list of female authors that I wholeheartedly recommend. Please feel free to recommend me female authors in return in the comments, or you can tweet me @evemariadust. I'm always looking for recommendations so I'd love to hear what you're reading for #readwomen2014.

Margaret Atwood, Donna Tartt, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Jane Austen, Anne Rice, J.K. Rowling, Virginia Woolf, Edith Nesbit, Doris Lessing, Louisa May Alcott, Margaret Mitchell, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, Anna Sewell, Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte, Charlotte Bronte, Maya Angelou, Sarah Walters, P.D. James, Hilary Mantel, Audrey Niffenegger, Zadie Smith, Phillipa Gregory, Suzanne Collins, Gillian Flynn, Ursula le Guin.

Book Review: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

2014-01-31T21:33:00.000+00:00

I'm a longtime fan of Jane Austen but Northanger Abbey remained the only novel of hers unread. I was encouraged to read it by a Christmas viewing of the 2007 ITV film starring Felicity Jones and Carey Mulligan. Northanger Abbey tells the tale of Catherine Morland, a naive teenage girl with a love for Gothic novels. Catherine is new to society and is excited about the prospect of making new acquaintances when she visits Bath with some family friends. There she makes friends with two sets of siblings: Isabella and John Thorpe, and Henry, Eleanor and Frederick Tilney. Catherine's two new sets of friends place conflicting demands on her time and opinions, and along with the reader, she has to learn to evaluate the character and motives of any new acquaintances. Over the course of the novel Catherine develops from a girl who always assumes the best of other's motives, into a more discerning character.

Northanger Abbey was a fascinating look into the perception and role of the novel in the lives of men and women in the 19th century. Catherine is a lover of Gothic novels, and at the end of the book learns that life is not as linear and carefully planned as a novel, which are written to excite and entertain, and in this way Northanger Abbey is a parody of Gothic fiction. Catherine and Isabella are both fans of the Gothic novels, and Catherine assumes that Henry, Eleanor's brother and Catherine's love interest, as man, is not:-

C: "But you never read novels, I dare say?" / H: "Why not?" / C: "Because they are not clever enough for you- gentleman read better books." / H: "The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."

Northanger Abbey is full of little asides like these where Austen can be seen to talk directly to the reader in defending the novel form, or remarking upon its structure. A further example is at the very end of the novel, where Austen makes the remark that unlike the characters in the novel, as a reader, we can tell the lovers are to be married soon, by the short amount of pages that are left. This is perhaps something that is changing with the advent of eBooks and their ability to, on our command, show or hide from us the length of the text.

One of the things that impressed me the most about this novel was how well it showed the attitudes of women in the 19th century and how clear it was that Jane Austen was a highly perceptive, intelligent and funny woman. Her writing uses humour to cut right through the patriarchal attitudes of the time, and her books show how an intelligent woman could live in a society with so few options open to her- through social satire, observation, comedy and education. Northanger Abbey has numerous quotes that show that Austen was aware of how ridiculous the expectations and restrictions upon women were at that time, (in short, what a feminist she was) but to choose a few as examples:-

On marriage:
"In marriage, the man is supposed to provide for the support of the woman, the woman to make the home agreeable for the man; he is to purvey, and she is to smile. But in dancing, their duties and exactly changed; the agreeableness, the compliance are expected from him, whilst she furnishes the fan and the lavender water." / "You will allow, that in both, man has the advantage of choice, woman only has the power of refusal."

On friendship:
"If the heroine of one novel be not patronised by the heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard? I cannot approve of it. Let us leave it to the reviewers to abuse such effusions of fancy at their leisure, and over every new novel to talk in threadbare strains of the trash with which the press now groans. Let us not desert one another; we are an injured body." / "The men think us incapable of real friendship, you know, and I am determined to show them the difference."

I really enjoyed Northanger Abbey, and find it improves upon further study into its themes and historical period. I would really recommend it for Austen fans, and it is quite accessible in terms of plot and length, being her shortest novel. You can download Northanger Abbey on Kindle for free, and the book is available to buy for only £1.99.

Rating: 3/5. Buy the book: Paperback / Kindle / DVD. Follow me: Goodreads / Twitter / Bloglovin

Book Review: Filth by Irvine Welsh

2013-12-23T12:24:00.002+00:00

"That's the right idea though that Toal's got. Get as many voices in your head as you can and hide in the crowd." - Filth by Irvine Welsh

Filth was a novel I've been wanting to read for a while, and when I discovered James McAvoy was set to star in the film released this autumn I knew I had to read it before then. I'm a huge fan of the film version of Trainspotting and love Irvine Welsh for bringing its themes and distinctive style of storytelling into the mainstream, but it was Filth the novel that really made me a fan of his works.

Welsh, famous for the drug-riddled film that launched Ewan McGregor's career, writes not unsympathetically about the underbelly of Scotland, particularly Edinburgh, and the filth that lies beneath its deceptively civilised veneer. Filth is about a corrupt policeman, Bruce Robertson, who is sexist, racist, homophobic, sectarian, and addicted to sex, porn and drugs. The book starts with the murder of a black journalist and loosely chronicles Bruce and his police colleagues as they search for the killers. The book, written in the first person, details Bruce's descent into the filth he surrounds himself with in order to escape from and deny reality, and his inability to deal with his underlying mental health problems.

A second narrator appears about 1/3 of the way into the book, in the form of a tapeworm living in Bruce's intestines, and it's through the tapeworm we learn Bruce's backstory. This is an example of Welsh's experimental storytelling, both in terms of a narrative/plot device and in terms of the physicality of the text- the tapeworm's voice literally overlaps Bruce's narrative on the page, obscuring our ability to read Bruce's thoughts until the tapeworm is sated. The tapeworm begins to talk by simply urging Bruce to eat, and then slowly reveals Bruce's traumatic and violent beginnings in life.

Filth definitely benefits from a second reading as it takes time to make sense of Bruce's backstory and why he deals with situations the way he does. It also takes time for the reader to appreciate how and why Bruce's understanding of events differs from those around him. There's a scene where Bruce and Lennox make a house call to a drug user and they persuade him to pass them information by threatening him with a story about a man incarcerated for multiple violent rapes nicknamed 'the beast'- a serial rapist. It is only much, much later, from the mouth of the tapeworm, that we learn (spoiler alert!) that this is in fact Bruce's birth father, who raped his mother as a teenager. It is slowly revealed that Bruce suffers from severe mental illness, and has done for many years, and how this has affected his relationships with his wife and colleagues. The novel shows an interesting take on mental illness, and brings the nature/nurture debate to light. Did Bruce become mentally ill and behave reprehensibly‎ due to his father and his genes, or was it his upbringing and treatment as a criminal before he had done anything wrong, that caused him to behave in this way? Or a combination of both?

Filth was also a breath of fresh air in its representation of Scottish attitudes towards women, particularly when contrasted with the fact that representations of women in the media tend to be of a madonna/whore dichotomy. In Filth there are plenty of 'hoors' (the book is written in Scots dialect) and Bruce's abuse of a barely legal schoolgirl is particularly reviling, but what's refreshing is the sexual agency of all the women in the novel. For women in the novel, sex is a normal and varying part of their lives, not just in its emotional implications but in the physicality of it too. Two women in the novel who might appear to be victims at first, take back their agency after creating satisfactory sexual experiences for themselves.

I'd definitely recommend Filth to those who are fans of psychological thrillers and murder mysteries. If you enjoyed Girl, Interrupted or American Psycho, or, of course, Trainspotting, you will like Filth. If you like more modern murder mysteries like Gone Girl you might also be a fan of Filth. I enjoyed reading it just as much a second time, and it increased the depth of my understanding of the novel. Filth also gave me a lot to think about, from Scottish literature, to representations of the police force, women, sex and mental illness. I think it would be a good book for a book club discussion as there is a lot to unpack in a fairly short novel.

Rating: 5/5. Buy the book: Paperback / Kindle / DVD. Follow me: Goodreads / Twitter / Bloglovin

Book Review: Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

2013-12-11T22:08:00.000+00:00

“Everyone seems to have been talking about the younger generation tonight.
The most boring subject I know.”
“Well, after all, what does all this stand for if there’s going to be no-one to carry it on?”
“All what?”
Mr. Outrage looked around the supper-room, deserted except for two footmen who lent against the walls looking as waxen as the clump of flowers sent up that morning from hot-houses in the country.
“What does all what stand for?”
“All this business of government.”
“As far as I’m concerned it stands for a damned lot of hard work and precious little in return.
If those young people can find a way to get on without it, good luck to them.”

- Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

Vile Bodies is a novella that details the life of the Bright Young Things of the 1920s and 30s- young, without responsibilities, unmarried and for the most part moneyed, the BYT's partied their way through the post-WWI years, drawing criticism and scandal with them wherever they went. Where Fitzgerald chronicled the American lifestyle in The Great Gatsby and The Beautiful and the Damned, Waugh shows us life in England, complete with Parliament, Lords, and scandals around the Prime Minister and his daughters. Waugh's novel loosely follows a small group of Bright Young People and details the various difficulties they get themselves into, mostly through their own negligence. The characters are childish, irresponsible, and very much an example of Fitzgerald's "careless people" (The Great Gastby, pg. 166). They act without thinking about the consequences of their own actions and what the future may hold. They do what they want, giving into their impulses, and expect other people to clear up the mess they make.

For a book centred around the Bright Young Things and their supposedly debauched parties and scandalous lives, the absence of action from the text is notable. The main character, Adam Fenwick-Symes, sleeps through two parties, and the Bright Young Things are constantly avoiding taking action on anything, despite appearing to others (society, the press, and the reader) to be at the centre of it. Examples of this avoidance include Adam sleeping through parties, Nina and Adam being absent from Agatha Runcible's funeral, and the Bright Young Things drinking at the bar during both the start of the motor car race and during Agatha's crash. Like an exclusive party for Hollywood VIPs, when the party is given its close-up, it appears rather lacking.

Also notable for its absence in the text is the almost complete lack of sex and sexuality, particularly of interest in a novel entitled: 'Vile Bodies'. Adam and Nina are engaged and become lovers, but neither seem particularly enthralled of it, particularly Nina, and neither seem excited by each other's bodies or have any sense of sexuality. As well as being disinterested in many things, (one example of common BTY slang being the word 'bogus') Adam and Nina seem disinterested in both their own bodies and other peoples, to such an extent that when Adam lays his head in Nina's lap at a party, a gesture that could have tillatious undertones is interpreted as childlike, when he promptly falls asleep and misses the party. The supposed orgies that the BYT's parties were scandalised for are also absent.

So for a novel lacking in character development and mainly devoid of plot, what is the attraction? One answer lies in its style. Waugh saw writing "not as an investigation of character but as an exercise in the use of language, and with this I am obsessed. I have no technical psychological interest. It is drama, speech and events that interest me." (Introduction to Vile Bodies, Penguin Modern Classics edition).

Waugh keeps description to a minimum, and focuses on short superficial extracts of dialogue between a small cast of characters, very much like the reality TV show Made in Chelsea. If Vile Bodies were a reality show, it's no small stretch of the imagination to say MIC would be it, although the detachment of TV as a medium could run the risk of making Waugh's irony less pronounced. In terms of authorial style, none of the characters are particularly well developed, which can make it challenging for the reader to empathise with them. Like the content of gossip columnist Mr Chatterbox's column (in the novel the late Lord Balcairn, and after his suicide, Adam), Vile Bodies is brief but colourful. Waugh forgoes character development and plot, and makes use of dialogue as a means of satirising English society of the 1920s/30s. Many events in the novel are based on real events, such as the death of the leader of the house of lords, the lives of the Mitford sisters, and the Cavendish Hotel as a meeting point for many Bright Young Things.

I'd recommend this book to Evelyn Waugh fans, Fitzgerald fans, and anyone interested in the history of post-WW1 society in England. I'd also recommend this book to anyone interested in the role of dialogue in the novel, particularly when contrasted with plot and character development and what the implications of this can be for the reader.

Rating: 3/5. Buy the book: Paperback / Kindle / DVD. Follow me: Goodreads / Twitter / Bloglovin

Book Review: Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy by Helen Fielding

2013-11-14T20:11:00.000+00:00

9.21 p.m. Is it morally wrong to get a blow dry when I may have undetectable nit eggs at the start of their seven-day cycle?
9.25 p.m. Yes. It is morally wrong. Maybe Mabel and Billy should not go to play dates either?
9.30 p.m. Also feel should tell Roxster truth about nits, as lies are bad in a relationship. But maybe, in this case, lies better than lice?
9.35 p.m. Nits seem to be throwing up unfeasible number of modern moral dilemmas.
- Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy

When I heard Helen Fielding had released a new Bridget Jones novel, I knew I had to get my hands on it, regardless of the critical reviews, and I was very happy to receive this book as a birthday present in October. The hardcover edition is particularly pleasing, as it's been a while since I experienced the new-book, hardcover Harry Potter smell.

Bridget is now 50, with two young children, and, crucially, is a widow. Mark Darcy has been dead for four years, and Bridget, although still mourning him, is attempting to get back on the horse...via Twitter. Some have criticised the novel for not being true to Bridget's voice, but I find it highly unlikely that Fielding would have been able to please everyone, whatever direction she chose.

Fielding could have written Bridget and Darcy raising two kids together in a happy marriage, battling with school places, sex in marriage, and perhaps even 'mommy blogging' (a modern day Bridget would undoubtedly have been a part of this blogging community). Fielding chose not to go down this route, and used a bit more of her own experiences in raising two young children as a single mum and being back on the dating scene in her 50s.

There are some genuinely hilarious moments, and I had to stifle laughter several times on the train. My favourite moments includes Bridget's Freudian slip when referring to her screenplay 'The Leaves in his Hair' as 'the nits in his hair' while texting her toy-boy under the table in important meeting re: her children possibly having nits. There are also some sad parts, not least Bridget's memories of Mark Darcy, but the most sentimental part I felt was at the end. Bridget's father has passed away, and her mother, as full of life as ever, is living in a retirement home with her best friend, also a widow. Bridget and her mother have a similar relationship to the previous two books, but only at the end of the book do we see Bridget and her mother reconcile and tell each other how they really feel.

It is interesting to think about what the reception would have been to this book had it been Fielding's first Bridget novel. Readers are inclined to give 50 year old Bridget a pass with regard to her thoughts and behaviour, as we already know Bridget from her adventures in her 30s and have prior affection for her. However, 50 year old Bridget, taken as an independent entity, can come off as incredibly privileged, immature and spoilt. She lives in a good part of London, has zero financial worries and hardly any responsibilities, she has enough money that she doesn't need to work, has a nanny and a cleaner, a group of supportive close friends, and children at a fee paying school. For many (most) of us in terms of finances, she's living the dream- yet remains, as ever, "mad about the boy".

Overall, despite the book and Bridget's faults, my enjoyment of the book came down to the nostalgic pleasure of spending time with an old friend, and one who makes you laugh, at that. I think this book would make a good gift for those who were fans of Bridget's previous diaries.

Rating: 3/5. Buy the book: Paperback / Kindle. Follow me: Goodreads / Twitter / Bloglovin

Reading round-up: October

2013-11-05T14:59:00.002+00:00

October is usually a pretty good month for me in books as it's my birthday mid-month. I had some great reads in the last few weeks, including a book that I think will be in my top 10 this year (Filth) and a surprisingly good chick-lit book (Rachel's Holiday).

Filth by Irvine Welsh

Hands-down my favourite read of the month. I actually read it twice this month, and saw the film starring James McAvoy (which was excellent- if you're a fan of Trainspotting and/or James McAvoy, it's a must see!) Welsh, famous for Trainspotting and the drug-riddled film that launched Ewan McGregor's career, writes not unsympathetically about the underbelly of Scotland, particularly Edinburgh, and the filth that lies beneath its deceptively civilised veneer. Filth is about a corrupt policeman, Bruce Robertson, who is sexist, racist, homophobic, sectarian, and addicted to sex, porn and drugs. The book, written in first person, details his descent into the filth he surrounds himself with to escape from and deny reality, and his inability to deal with his underlying mental health problems. A second narrator appears about 1/3 of the way into the book, in the form of a tapeworm living in his intestines, and it's through the tapeworm we learn Bruce's backstory. Filth definitely benefits from a second reading as we learn to make sense of Bruce's backstory and why he deals with situations the way he does, and how and why his understanding of events differs from those around him.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding

I received this book as a birthday present, and the hardcover edition is particularly pleasing. It's been a while since I experienced the new-book, hardcover Harry Potter smell. Bridget is now 50, with two young children, and, crucially, a widow. Mark Darcy has been dead for four years, and Bridget, although still mourning him, is attempting to get back on the horse...via Twitter. Some have criticised the novel for not being true to Bridget's voice, but I find it highly unlikely that Fielding would have been able to please everyone, whatever direction she chose. There are some genuinely hilarious moments, and I had to stifle laughter several times on the train. My favourite moments includes Bridget's Freudian slip when referrring to her screenplay 'The Leaves in his Hair' as 'the nits in his hair' while texting her toy-boy under the table in important meeting re: her children possibly having nits. I really enjoyed spending time with Bridget and her assorted cast of characters again, and I think any fans of her previous books will too. Look for my full review of this coming soon!

The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness

I've long heard good things about Patrick Ness, particularly with regard to his writing style being literary, which I love. I was also attracted to this novel as it is a retelling of a Japanese folktale. In the myth, a man comes across a crane, and shortly after this event, a beautiful woman enters his life who he falls in love with. She makes a number of creations (traditionally, clothing, in Ness' novel, artwork) which make money for the couple. Eventually he discovers how she makes them- by plucking feathers from her body. When he discovers this, she disappears. Ness' retelling was interesting but lacked both novelistic structure, personality, and character development. I didn't really feel for any of the characters and the writing style wasn't as literary as I had hoped. I was disappointed with this and don't feel encouraged to read more of Patrick Ness.

Is It Just Me? by Miranda Hart

This was another birthday gift, as I'm a big fan of her TV series. This book is a collection of stories about her life, dealing with various topics such as music, hobbies, diets and dating, and is told with typical Miranda humour. Throughout the book she dips in and out of conversations with her 18 year old self, which takes a little getting used to, but is a fun way of delving into her life. I really enjoyed reading this and discovering more of Miranda's antics, however my favourite chapter was on the topic of beauty. For any fans of How to be a Woman by Catlin Moran, you must read this chapter! What Miranda said really resonated with me a lot more than anything in Moran's book. To give you a snippet, here's a quote:
"What [my friend] said was: 'Miranda, you've got to start taking yourself seriously as a woman.' She said this in response to the frayed, overstuffed handbag - and by handbag I obviously mean rucksack - that I've taken to carrying around with me. Is it just me who hasn't bought into the need for a £700 Mulberry handbag?"

Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes

This is actually one of the books I was most excited to review. Marian Keyes is deservedly famous in the world of Irish fiction and chick-lit, but I'd never read anything of hers nor anything about her as a writer. I read this on my iPhone/iPad as I had got it as a free download from iTunes at some stage. It was an easy book to get into as Keyes' style is very chatty, easy to read and fast-paced. Rachel's Holiday, despite the dreadful title and cover art, is more serious than its title implies (although perhaps that's the point?). Rachel is a young, successful Irish woman in New York with a perfect boyfriend and perfect roommate. Oh, and she's a drug addict. The holiday in question is Rachel's stay in an Irish drug treatment centre, and the novel is an interesting exercise in the unreliable narrator. Rachel's Holiday is the best chick-lit I've read bar Bridget Jones, and I can see why Keyes gets the praise she does.

Much Ado About Nothing (2012) Dir: Joss Whedon

2013-10-16T14:04:00.001+01:00

I've been a fan of Joss Whedon for a long time- it must be nigh on fifteen years now- and as a hard-core Buffy and Angel fan I've always liked to keep up with his latest projects; Firefly, the Avengers, and Agents of SHIELD, to name but a few. However, being an ex-literature student, Shakespeare has always been one of my great loves, so to hear that Joss was taking on one of Shakespeares' comedies, Much Ado About Nothing, was pretty exciting.

Filmed secretly whilst on a break from The Avengers, Much Ado About Nothing was done in Joss' typical incestual style, with many familiar faces from the Buffyverse and The Avengers. Amy Acker (or Fred, as she will always be to me) stars as the fiesty, and in my opinion, the feminist, Beatrice. Alexis Denisof (Wesley) is the comedic Benedick, and we also see Tom Lenk (Andrew) and Nathan Fillion (Caleb/ Malcolm) pop up as a bumbling police officer duo. These ex-Buffy actors are always a joy to watch, and filled my little shipper heart with joy to see some FredXWesley action (I'll stop with the Buffy references now).

The actors fairly new to me were Fran Kranz (it's been a long time since Dollhouse) as Claudio, and Jillian Morgese as Hero, the young lovers of the piece. Kranz was particularly believable as an alternatively lovestruck and broken hearted young man, and would make an excellent Romeo. His heartbroken speech in front of wedding attendees was very powerful, and let through a glimpse of his darker side.

Much Ado About Nothing was shot in black and white, and as a viewer it can take a little getting used to, seeing a contemporary, HD film in black and white. I thought it worked well and actually made it more stage-like; it created a focus on dialogue and movement, both of which are central to great character portrayal. The film was shot in Whedon's own home- in his words; "the film was literally a home movie"-, and the little girl's pink bedroom that the male characters stay in belonged to his daughters.

I had many favourite scenes, but my number one was the union (reunion in this adaption) of Benedick and Beatrice where they confess their love for each other. Their 'banter' throughout the play is very free, easy and funny, and this scene is the perfect mix of humour, romance and plot. Amy Acker's acting is brilliant, she really sells the mixed emotions of love, frustration, anger and helplessness. A lot of Beatrice's lines are very easy to relate to as a modern woman. We all know that sometimes Shakespeare can be difficult to understand, but Acker's delivery and body language is excellent, and makes Beatrice very relatable and easy to understand as a character. She also delivers one of my favourite lines, below:

"O that I were a man for his sake! or that I had any friend would be a man for my sake! But manhood is melted into courtesies, valour into compliment, and men are only turned into tongue, and trim ones too: he is now as valiant as Hercules that only tells a lie and swears it. I cannot be a man with wishing, therefore I will die a woman with grieving." - Beatrice, Act 4 Scene 1

My only criticism would be in aspects of the comedic factor. Alexis Denisof hams up the lovestruck Benedick to a large extent, and to anyone who's seen him as Wesley on Buffy/Angel, Alexis is funnier when he's subtle and not trying so hard. Wesley was funny because he was a realistic caricature, Benedick isn't as believeable and can seem insincere. In one of the weaker scenes, Benedick spies on Don Pedro and his men gossiping about Beatrice's love for Benedick. I think this scene could have been done a lot better, both with the style of filming and the acting. For example, it would have been nice to have seen a close up on Benedick's face of a shocked reaction to the news that Beatrice still loves him (a la Susan from Desperate Housewives). I understand that physical comedy was the focus, and that in Whedon's version Benedick and Beatrice already have a history so Benedick wouldn't necessarily have been shocked to learn this information, but I still would have liked to have seen more varied facial emotions and less physical comedy in this scene.

If you're a Joss Whedon, Amy Acker, or Shakespeare fan I would really recommend this film. It has the characteristic Whedon humour, Acker's acting is excellent, and, of course, the dialogue itself is great. It's not too long either, coming in at just under 110 minutes.

Much Ado About Nothing is available to buy from Amazon here and you can watch the trailer in this post- however I would recommend the longer, alternative trailer which you can view on Amazon here.

Book Review: The Island by Victoria Hislop (Spinalonga)

2013-10-04T23:19:00.001+01:00

I first became interested in Victoria Hislop's debut novel, The Island, when I visited the island of the title, Spinalonga of Crete, in June this year. Visiting Spinalonga was one of the most fascinating aspects of my trip. It is a small but beautiful island with a sad and unique history. The boat across to the island is about 10 minutes from the town of Elounda, to the east of Crete. We spent several hours exploring the island, the remainders of the houses there, and the small museum. The island, the landscape and the architecture are a photographer's dream- it's full of beautiful wild flowers, the ruins of a fortress, and abandoned houses.

Spinalonga, or the island of tears, was a Venetian fortress until it became a leper colony from 1903 - 1957. People who contracted leprosy in Crete during that time were sent to live on Spinalonga as a quarantine measure. Spinalonga residents received help from the government in terms of food and healthcare, with doctors regularly visiting the island. As the island became more populated the inhabitants created a community and married, went to school, owned shops and traded with mainland Crete.

In The Island, Victoria Hislop tells the story of Alexis Fielding and her search for her family history after a generation of secrecy. Alexis visits Crete and, along with the reader, learns the story of her mother and grandmother's past that has been kept so hidden from her. She uncovers many family secrets along the way, including murder, infidelity, the effects of the second world war and, inevitably, leprosy. The plot itself is a strength, and on that basis, along with its cultural impact on the Cretan people, The Island was made into the Greek TV series To Nisi. It's hard to find online, but I managed to find the first episode with English subtitles, and it was excellent. Much better than the book!

The Island is a good book to take on a trip to Crete if you are interested in the history of Spinalonga. You can trace Alexis' steps into Spinalonga yourself, and although the book was written in 2005, many of the descriptions of the island are still accurate, for example, when entering Spinalonga, on your right, the church is still there. When the leper colony closed in the 1950s and the last inhabitants left the island, Spinalonga remained as it was, the homes of the inhabitants left intact. Today the island is a tourist attraction for many visitors to Crete.

As a former travel writer, Hislop's talent lies more in the style of storytelling. Many of the descriptions are simple and fall flat, where a more emotive or original turn of phrase should have been used to help create atmosphere. As someone who enjoys editing, I wanted to take a red pen to an awful lot of the text. The dialogue is particularly bad, although fortunately it is used sparingly. When characters speak, instead of gaining a personality, they loose one. Their dialogue doesn't seem natural, they speak what the reader already knows, and their speech adds nothing to the reader's understanding. Aside from dialogue, the attempts at metaphor are cliche and over-used. Often it reads like a schoolchild's creative writing exercise. I would only recommend this book to those whose desire to learn more about Spinalonga is strong enough to conquer the effects of reading bad writing.

If you'd like to know more about The Island, I'd recommend listening to Victoria Hislop on BBC Radio 4's Book Club, which you can listen to here. I enjoyed hearing her talk about the different characters in the novel and why she wrote a novel and not a travel writing feature.

I'll finish this post with some photos taken on Spinalonga, in June of this year. It really was a beautiful place to visit. In the following photos you can see the remains of the houses the inhabitants lived in, the landscape and the clear blue sea.

Book Review: The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling

2013-09-21T16:38:00.001+01:00

The Casual Vacancy is the first novel published by J.K. Rowling under her own name, since publishing Harry Potter. It is always hard for a popular author to publish something out of the niche they are known for, and Rowling certainly wasn't immune to these challenges. A lot of readers were at least initially resistant to the subject matter of the novel, and hardcore Potter fans (myself included) always want more Harry.

The Casual Vacancy is a novel about the small English town of Pagford, and the drama, politics, infidelities, drug use and secrets within the town that go on undetected by its population. The novel opens with the death of parish councillor Barry Fairbrother, and the vacancy of the title refers to his now empty seat on the council. Barry's death has far reaching consequences that no one could have predicted, and soon the whole town, from the elderly to the teens of the council estates, are embroiled in Pagford's small-town politics.

Reading The Casual Vacancy was not a pleasant experience- the subject matter is miserable, gritty, incredibly contemporary, and realistic. It almost reminds me of the British kitchen sink realism of the late 1950s/early 60s. The hope that some more liberal members of the parish council have that things could change in Pagford is slowly eroded away and by the end of the book, a double child death hammers this point home.

Rowling said the following about the novel in a really interesting interview with Goodreads, which you can read in full here:

"Two major themes of the novel are hypocrisy and responsibility. To judge somebody else, to declare them substandard, to conclude that their misfortunes are due to inherent character flaws, can be a way of boosting our own self-esteem because it must follow that our comparative success or happiness is not mere luck or chance, but the reward for superior morals or talent."

In the interview she also discusses each of the main characters and whether they have a character who is their opposite, and who that might be. Rowling's thoughts on the novel, and the discussion going on in the comments on the interview are interesting, and I can see the novel being a popular and thought-provoking book club novel. I'm sure there are many of us in small-town Britain who know characters like those in the novel, and such comparisons aren't particularly flattering.

Despite the subject matter, reading the beginning of the book was like coming home- as a firm member of the Harry Potter generation, Rowling's writing style is incredibly familiar and nostalgic to me. Rowling is an excellent storyteller, and The Casual Vacancy was very comprehensive and full of detail, none of it being irrelevant. One criticism of the novel I have heard is that it is too long. In the case of Harry Potter this wasn't always an issue, as so many of us loved more Harry, but in a novel that is as self-contained as this I think limiting the length would have been wise and might have increased readership. Overall, I am glad I read this and in doing so, gained more experience of where Rowling might be headed after Harry. Have you read The Casual Vacancy? Did you like it, and does it convince you to read more of Rowling's novels in the future?

Rating: 3/5. Buy the book: Paperback / Kindle. Follow me: Goodreads / Twitter / Bloglovin

Reading Round-up: August

2013-09-02T16:50:00.000+01:00

This month I got through a lot of novels, despite August being pretty busy work/social wise. Reading is just one of those things that fits naturally into my routine most of the time. A lot of people say to me 'I wish I had time to read', which is a phrase that can grate on me. It can give off a superior air and can seem like you're saying this: 'I'm too busy/important to spend my time reading. You, who do, obviously have nothing better to do with your time.' That couldn't be further from the truth with a lot of people who love reading. Take almost anyone who works in publishing or academia, for example. Most of the time it's just a matter of your priorities. Prioritising reading, in my opinion, is always worth it.

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

The Casual Vacancy was the first novel published by J.K. Rowling under her own name, since publishing Harry Potter. The Casual Vacancy is a novel about the small English town of Pagford, and the drama, politics, infidelities, drug use and secrets that often go on undetected. The novel opens with the death of parish councillor Barry Fairbrother, and the vacancy of the title refers to his now empty seat on the council. Barry's death has far reaching consequences that no one could have predicted, and soon the whole town, from the elderly to the teens of the council estates, are embroiled in Pagford's small-town politics. Reading The Casual Vacancy was not a pleasant experience- the subject matter is miserable, gritty, incredibly contemporary, and realistic. It almost reminds me of the British kitchen sink realism of the late 1950s/early 60s. Despite the subject matter, reading the beginning of the book was like coming home- as a firm member of the Harry Potter generation, Rowling's writing style is incredibly familiar and nostalgic to me. Overall, I am glad I read this and in doing so, gained more experience of where Rowling might be headed after Harry. You can view my full review of the novel here.

The Island by Victoria Hislop

I was interested in this novel for its descriptions of Spinalonga, the Greek island of the novel's title. I visited Spinalonga and it's neighbouring island, Crete, in June, and I was interested to read more about the former leper colony's history. This novel would be a good beach read if you were holidaying in Crete and wanted to feel more connected to the island. It was Hislop's debut novel and she has since written more popular fiction in a similar vein. I felt fairly let down by this book. The writing is some of the worst fiction I've ever read. It is plain, creative writing 101, terrible. The dialogue is particularly bad, although fortunately it is used sparingly. When characters speak, instead of gaining a personality, they loose one. Their dialogue doesn't seem natural, they speak the obvious, and their speech adds nothing to the reader's understanding. Aside from dialogue, the attempts at metaphor are simple and fall extremely flat. Often it reads like a child's creative writing exercise. I would only recommend this book to those whose desire to learn more about Spinalonga is strong enough to conquer the effects of reading bad writing.

Virago is 40: A Celebration

This is a collection of writings on the topic of the number forty, from a number of female authors all published by Virago. This was a nice collection to dip in and out of- the pieces are fairly short, and include personal experiences, creative writing and poetry. There are a fair amount of pieces on what being aged forty entails, the symbolism of 'forty winks', and, of course, the 'f' word (feminism), as many of Virago's writers are second-generation feminists reflecting back on Virago's founding principles and its achievements so far. 'Virago is 40' was a good way for me to get a taste of the writing style of some of Virago's authors, and I look forward to reading more of some of these authors in the future.

The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan

I've read a lot of Ian McEwan, but this was one I'd never picked up before. It's pretty old-style McEwan; very dark, and very disturbing. His writing is beautiful, and every time I read him it's such a pleasure reading someone who has such great command of the English language. McEwan's writing is very atmospheric, and you can feel the tension building without knowing why you feel this way, until right at the end of the novel when he reveals the full extent of the horror. The novel is about an unmarried couple holidaying in what we assume to be Venice, who are befriended by a native couple. It is easy to draw parallels between The Comfort of Strangers and Death in Venice by Thomas Mann, both in its style of writing and heavily in its themes, namely: the mystifying pull of dark erotica in a foreign European country. It is obvious that McEwan drew inspiration from Thomas Mann, but all writers do, and The Comfort of Strangers is no less for it.

The Devil's Double by Latif Yahia

This is a book I've been interested in reading ever since I saw trailer for the film, starring Dominic Cooper, whose look for the film is excellent and convincing. The story is about an Iraqi soldier, Latif, who is forced into becoming the body double, or 'fiday', of Uday Saddam Hussain, Saddam Hussain's eldest son. Sadly the film didn't live up to expectations, and it's one that I would actually recommend seeing before reading the book. The book was gripping, often fast paced, and hard to put down. It was also incredibly graphic in parts, when describing Uday's more sadistic acts, including the rape of a bride on her honeymoon and the murder of her groom, the capture, rape and torture of a 14 year old girl, and the murder of his father, Saddam Hussain's trusted friend, Kammel Hannah, at a party. Although I learnt a lot about the Saddam regime at the time of the Gulf war, it is hard to say exactly how much of the novel is true. Some events, like the murder of Kammel Hannah are verifiable, but how much of Latif's story is true is up for debate, as even he is sketchy with the details when pressed by journalists.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

It is hard to read Perks for the first time without any preconceptions, especially if you have a Tumblr account. The hipster crowd have commandeered many phrases from the novel, such as "I feel infinite" and "We accept the love we think we deserve." As a self-identifying non-hipster my opinion is that these phrases are one of the weakest parts of the novel. Perks doesn't need them, and they are philosophy-lite, which, as a philosophy major, tends to get my back up. However, I loved this novel. Charlie was an identifiable and interesting main character who you understand more as the story progresses. The novel, although set in high school, hints at more serious issues throughout the novel. Teenagers would respond to this novel well, but anyone not in high school would also enjoy it, and that's the beauty of this novel. It reminds me a little of What Maisie Knew by Henry James. Both novels show the perspective of a child seeing things that adults do, but not understanding the implications of them until later. I would like to go back and read this again, knowing what I know now, and see if it improves upon further reading.

Reading Round-up: July

2013-08-21T15:10:00.001+01:00

Last month I got through a fairly eclectic mix of books. I kicked off the month with mostly light reading, in response to finishing Gillian Flynn's 'Gone Girl' the month before.

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

This is the novel that preceded the popular film starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep. The film was good; it was funny and charming, as well as a visual stimulant for fashion fans. I picked up this book, despite it not being a genre I normally read, hoping it would be as good as the film. Unfortunately, it fell extremely flat and I found it really quite poorly written. The main character, Andy, is much less likeable than in the novel, both in her behaviour and in the language Weisberger uses to describe her. The novel deals with some darker issues than the film (Andy's best friend becomes an alcoholic), which might have peaked my interest a little more, but again, I found Weisberger's writing style lacking here. This novel didn't do anything to improve my perception of 'chick lit' and I won't be picking up the sequel, which is out soon.

Look Mom...I'm a Teenage Drug Lord by Lance Green

I downloaded this when it was free for a day on the Kindle store as a bit of light reading. I am not a fan of either the title or the cover, which are both very commercialised. With the popularity of Weeds and Breaking Bad I can see that this might peak people's interest. It is a true story written by a former teenage drug dealer from a wealthy family. I found it a fairly gripping read, and finished it in one sitting. Green's forays into drug dealing are a little like Jesse in Breaking Bad, if he had continuous amounts of capital behind him. At various points in the novel, when the game could have been up, Green is continuously lucky- he has regular near misses with the police, enough to render him- as with many teenagers- invincible. There is a fair amount of humour, and one very Breaking Bad scene where the police are about to break down his door at a house party and Green talks his way out of it. One criticism of the novel, though, is that the main character (Green) is fairly unrelatable and unlikable as a character. He often becomes an angry drunk and starts heavy physical fights, without showing any remorse or even showing a moderate attempt to think about past events at all. However, an interesting point in the book comes when Green introduces events in his past. He does so by hinting at what's to come with heavily ironic undertones, pointing at his wealth and education. Ultimately, he leaves it up to the reader to make their own analysis of his actions.

Adele - To Make You Feel Her Love by Neil Simpson

This genre, again, isn't one I would normally read. I downloaded this on a whim as it was free on the Kindle store. I read this in one sitting on the iPad, which is unusual for me. I don't normally read this way as it strains my eyes (I wear contacts) but the one thing I do love about reading on an iPad is how easy it is to enlarge the text. Back to the book, though. I thought the beginning chapters were quite sensationalist, and were obviously written to keep you reading. That clearly worked in my case, but I found that as I read on the writing got better. Most of the content is able to speak for itself- Adele's life is interesting and eventful without any need to frame it in a sensational way. I learnt some pretty interesting things about Adele's record-breaking achievements, such as sales records and awards she has won. If you're a hard-core Adele fan I would recommend this book. It is a fairly quick read and an interesting insight into her life.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

This was the biggest book I read in July, and what took up most of my time. I am currently trying to catch up with my reading of American classics, and this was one that I had never ventured into. Catch 22 tells the story of Yossarian, an American bombardier in Italy in the second world war, who wants to go home. His repeated requests for this are ignored by the generals, and this quest is the driving force of the novel. The novel is hard to get into at first, as it appears to start messily in the middle of the action. However, as you read on, it becomes apparent that this novel was carefully crafter by Heller. Each chapter is told from a different character's perspective, so as readers, our understanding of events develops the further on you read, and we read punchlines from jokes that we only had the first half of in a previous chapter. Due to this, the novel is a very slow burn- I was 25% of the way through the novel before I felt connected to and grounded in the world of Yossarian and his comrades. The major themes of the novel are the absurdities of authority, administration, war, language, and being sane vs being 'crazy'. I hope to do a more in-depth review of this novel soon. I would recommend this novel to those who are fans of absurdist literature and want a rewarding challenge.

Book Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

2013-08-02T18:15:00.002+01:00

Gone Girl is a contemporary thriller written by popular novelist Gillian Flynn. It has been praised almost everywhere by the critics and the public, from the Observer and Times, to the Daily Mail and Twitter. It's easy to see the popular appeal; it's fast paced, gripping, and readable without being condescending.

The two main characters are Amy, who goes missing at the beginning of the novel, and who's disappearance drives the plot, and her husband, Nick. Amy and Nick take turns to narrate, both in the present with the police investigation, and with past recollections of their marriage. Nick is immediately a suspect in Amy's disappearance due to his detached behaviour, extra-marital affair, and the fact that Amy goes missing on the day of their wedding anniversary. Nick, however, suspects Amy of framing him, and begins his own investigation, starting with Amy's usual anniversary treasure hunt.

Gone Girl has been praised for being relatable and contemporary, as it deals with unemployment, loss of trust funds, and the decay of small town middle America. It has also been praised for being literary. I find the latter praise to be stretching the truth; Gone Girl is firmly a thriller, and in no way literary fiction, and is significantly more similar in style to The Da Vinci Code than to any Ian McEwan novel (although perhaps more similar in subject matter to early period 'Ian Macabre'). The literary references in it were almost forced and slightly careless. For example, the description of the interior of Desi's home, which has been decorated by Desi in order to please Amy, was incredibly similar to the description of the interior of Gatsby's mansion, decorated in order to please Daisy. "Your fairy tale. I want you to see what life can be like." (Desi, p.380) / "How long as he wanted to bring me here?" (Amy, p.380).

Both Desi and Gatsby want to possess the object of their affection ('object' being the operative word here) and want to erase the woman's past relationship: "Wouldn't it be so lovely to just forget about Nick, those awful five years, and move on? You have that chance, you know, to completely start over with the right man. How many people can say that?" (Desi, p.404)

Later on in the novel we learn that over the past year, Amy has carefully constructed a diary, creating a persona in order to frame Nick. The reader is subject to the point of view of both 'real Amy', and 'diary Amy'; real Amy's construction. Real Amy says that she created diary Amy to gain sympathy from the public. She wanted people to like diary Amy, and to feel sorry for her, an innocent victim. Real Amy is far from innocent.

Gone Girl's saving grace comes in page 250, where we hear real Amy's voice for the first time. It is a paragraph that so perfectly encapsulates the struggles of young women and girls forced both to be and to always appear, all things to all men; the 'Cool Girl'. The cool girl is: friendly, funny, popular, geeky but not too brainy, up for anything, available, curvy, and always, always, pretty and thin. It could be argued that diary Amy buys into this image and attempts to fit this ideal, ultimately, ending up miserable, (and significantly, dead), whereas real Amy calls it out for what it is- a lie.

Real Amy's voice comes fresh and clear at this point, and this is a clever narrative device, as the reader- if you agree with Amy- is seduced into taking her side over both Nick and and diary Amy, and into believing her version of events. Amy then goes on to increasingly erratic and psychotic behaviour, and the reader's opinions are challenged further.

I bought this novel for £3 from Tesco, and definitely do not regret buying it at that price. I am now going to pass it onto friends. It is the type of novel that is a good holiday read, and that you probably wouldn't waste luggage space bringing it back home once you finish it.

Rating: 3/5. Buy the book: Paperback / Kindle. Follow me: Goodreads / Twitter / Bloglovin

Books: my to-read list

2013-07-06T11:24:00.002+01:00

In already hitting my Goodreads target of books to read this year (24) I realised that I vastly underestimated my love of reading. I've currently got 4 on the go; The Two Towers- for the umpteenth time, The Grapes of Wrath, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Robinson Crusoe, but I'm always looking for more. This is a list of just some of the books I'd love to read this year.

Looking for Alaska by John Green

I thought I'd better get caught up on my John Green this year, as I'm a huge fan of his & Hank's Crash Course (I actually learnt some Chemistry!). I downloaded the first chapters of this, Paper Towns and The Fault in our Stars (an amazing title), and I liked the start of Looking for Alaska the best. I'm a bit wary of reading John Green for two reasons; 1- the hype, and 2- I'm generally not a fan of YA, as I often find the writing style incredibly dumbed down, when there's absolutely no need for it.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

I'm a huge fan of the film- particularly Hugh Jackman- wow!- but I'm also a lover of Paris (it's where I got engaged) and a lover of history. After the film came out I wanted to read All The Things about the French revolution, and I think it's really interesting to see the pivotal role of the middle classes in the success/failure of the revolution. I'm also looking forward to the writing style- I know, I must be mad- but I read that Hugo saw one of his main characters as God, and in that way he justified his long tangents.

Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

Again, a great book title. Quite a few years ago I watched the Stephen Fry directed film Bright Young Things, based on Vile Bodies, and loved it. I love fiction set in a past that I haven't quite got to grips with yet, and at that time the late 20s/early 30s was one of them (until Gatsby, of course). Where Gatsby shows us the USA, Waugh shows us England, and there are similar stories of fabulous parties, wealth, irresponsibility and finally tragedy.

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

I really enjoyed this film. It's now on so often on Film 4 I am starting to become weary of it, but it's such a feel good, chick flick. I've heard that the book deviates a little from the film, particularly the end, so I'd like to read more of that. I'd also like to see what Andy's character is like in the book.

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Having read and reviewed Gone with the Wind, I thought I'd better catch up on this famous tale of the harsh life of slavery. It is an urban legend that Lincoln said to Stowe, "So this is the little lady that started this great war" (the American civil war) and the effect of Stowe's novel on the abolitionist movement is not to be underestimated.

I've also been on a book-to-movie kick since January, with The Great Gatsby, Life of Pi and Gone with the Wind under my belt, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Robinson Crusoe on the go. I'd love to hear your book-to-movie recommendations- no matter how old the film is. In fact, the older the better.

Book Review: Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell

2013-06-24T18:56:00.000+01:00

Gone with the Wind is a fast-paced tale of the effect the American civil war had on the south, and the loss caused and fortunes made by its destruction and reconstruction. After introducing us to genteel southern society Mitchell takes us at breakneck pace through the horrors of the war - for both men and women - and the fears and uncertainties of reconstruction.

The protagonist of Gone with the Wind is the perhaps damnably foolish, but strong-willed and resilient, Scarlett O'Hara. Scarlett is the life force of the novel and is resolutely American, determinably Southern, and spiritedly Irish in her manner. Along with Scarlett, from safe, childish beginnings on a large plantation in respectable society, we are hurtled through the civil war and the destruction and unstable reconstruction of the south. Scarlett quickly looses everything she has - money, society, family, friends, status and security, and at each turn finds more obstacles in her way in her quest to rebuild her life and home.

The abolition of slavery plays a large part in Gone with the Wind. Margaret Mitchell describes the emancipation of slaves and its immediate consequences, such as the formation of the Ku Klux Klan, from the naturally biased point of view of a southerner, with clear prose and some historical analysis. It is left to the willfull Scarlett, rather than the narrator, to react to events, but as Scarlett's world has always been local and immediate, her focus post-war immediately becomes her family's safety. Unfortunately her newly acquired fear of hunger and poverty, combined with her strong will, inadvertently causes the deaths of her husband and others due to his involvement with the Ku Klux Klan.

As well as an engaging historical novel of the civil war, Gone with the Wind is also an epic love story. Rhett Butler, a wealthy opportunist, enters Scarlett's life pre-war as a witness to an undoubtedly teenage stomping fit where Scarlett doesn't get to marry the boy she wants. Rhett immediately falls for Scarlett's spirited ways and Rhett and Scarlett go on to have a tempestuous relationship and finally a heartbreaking marriage. Rhett, knowing Scarlett's coquettish ways, doesn't admit his love for her for several years ("You're so brutal to those who love you." - Rhett Butler, Chapter 62). The reader feels Rhett's frustration at Scarlett's persistent inability to both read and understand people and to recognise her own feelings until it is too late - too late for Ashley and Melanie Wilkes, Suellen O'Hara and Frank Kennedy, and finally, after the tragic death of Bonnie Butler, too late for Scarlett and Rhett. The novel ends on Rhett's famous rebuttal: "My dear, I don't give a damn" - but we are given a final thread of hope with Scarlett's aphorism: "Tomorrow is another day."

Gone with the Wind is intensely readable, gripping, historical and romantic. It is a character-driven novel whilst retaining an equally as significant plot. I would recommend it to everyone- and that's not a phrase lightly used by me! Have you read Gone with the Wind? Did you like it as much as I did? I'm off to see the film now, and excited to see how it compares with the book.

Rating: 5/5. Buy the book: Paperback / Kindle / DVD. Follow me: Goodreads / Twitter / Bloglovin

Why feminists can still wear makeup, from Banksy

2013-05-15T17:10:00.000+01:00

"I can give no adequate description of the Horror Camp in which my men and myself were to spend the next month of our lives. It was just a barren wilderness, as bare as a chicken run. Corpses lay everywhere, some in huge piles, sometimes they lay singly or in pairs where they had fallen. It took a little time to get used to seeing men women and childen collapse as you walked by them and to restrain oneself from going to their assistance. One had to get used early to the idea that the individual just did not count. One knew that five hundred a day were dying and that five hundred a day were going on dying for weeks before anything we could do would have the slightest effect. It was, however, not easy to watch a child choking to death from diptheria when you knew a tracheotomy and nursing would save it, one saw women drowning in their own vomit because they were too weak to turn over, and men eating worms as they clutched a half loaf of bread purely because they had to eat worms to live and now could scarcely tell the difference. Piles of corpses, naked and obscene, with a woman too weak to stand proping herself against them as she cooked the food we had given her over an open fire; men and women crouching down just anywhere in the open relieving themselves of the dysentary which was scouring their bowels, a woman standing stark naked washing herself with some issue soap in water from a tank in which the remains of a child floated. It was shortly after the British Red Cross arrived, though it may have no connection, that a very large quantity of lipstick arrived. This was not at all what we men wanted, we were screaming for hundreds and thousands of other things and I don't know who asked for lipstick. I wish so much that I could discover who did it, it was the action of genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for these internees than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet red lips, you saw them wandering about with nothing but a blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the post mortem table and clutched in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tatooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity."

An extract from the diary of Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin DSO who was among the first British soldiers to liberate the death camp of Bergen-Belsen in 1945.

Found on Banksy's website, 2007.

Olympics London 2012

2012-08-14T16:49:00.001+01:00

The new "Orbit Tower" in the Olympic park in Stratford, London

I have to make a confession: I didn't think I would be that interested in the London Olympics 2012. Figure skating is my sport, and being a winter sport, it's not included in these games. However...ever since I watched the (quirky but fabulous) opening ceremony I've surprised myself by being very into the games! I've been watching bits and pieces, from swimming to gymnastics to athletics. How proud was everyone watching on "super saturday" seeing Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and the other Brits going for gold! It really makes you proud of the athletes and just goes to show what we can do if we put the funding in. Seeing Australia down the medal table since they cut their funding for the athletes also really brings home the reality that athletes need funding and support from their country.

My boyfriend went off to the swimming to watch Becky Adlington and Michael Phelps in the finals. He had a great day and came back with a bag full of goodies from the Olympic park and some amazing photos. I really enjoyed editing these photos and seeing the different views of the Olympic park in the day and at night.

After the Olympics, of course, it's the the Paralympics, and we've got tickets to the Wheelchair Basketball, which should be excellent. We go to watch the basketball here in Sheffield fairly regularly, and I'd really recommend it as tickets can be quite cheap (around £5), the players are good and it's a fun night out.

I'm really looking forward to going down to the Olympic park and soaking up the atmosphere myself. My boyfriend said the atmosphere in London is fantastic. People can pay a fee to enter the olympic park and watch on the big screens, and if you have tickets to an event, before or after your event, it's a good place to relax and view other sports.

Enjoy the photos below for now but don't forget to keep an eye out for my Paralympic post in September when I'll be posting more photos and a bit about what I wore to the olympics.

Things to do in Paris: the Sacre-Coeur

2012-07-26T14:11:00.001+01:00

Last week I was really excited to take a trip to Paris for a few days. One of the first things we visited when we arrived was the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart). The Sacre-Coeur is a Roman Catholic basilica, built in 1875-1914, and consecrated after the end of WWI in 1919. It's situated at the top of Montmarte- a hill 130 meters high. There is a funicular lift, but it's much more fun to climb up the many steps and be rewarded with the magnificent view at the top. Once you reach the top and are standing in front of the basilica, if you turn round and look down the steps you are greeted with a panoramic view of Paris. On a clear day you can just about see the Eiffel Tower from the Sacre-Coeur.

The basilica is decorated with the statues of French national saints Joan of Arc (right, holding the sword pointed upwards) and King Saint Louis IX (left). The door to the basilica is beautiful, as you can see below. Many tourists were having their picture taken by it.

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You aren't allowed to take pictures inside the basilica, which is a shame as it is one of the most stunning religious buildings I have ever seen. The mural on the ceiling is incredible. It depicts God, Jesus with his arms outstretched, Mary, Gabriel and many saints in vibrant colour and detail. Around the back and the sides of the Sacre-Coeur there are all the other features you might expect from a Catholic church such as the stations of the cross, stained glass windows, a confessional, and many candles and places for silent worship.

If you're in Paris I would absolutely recommend a visit here. It's open daily 6am-11pm, so it's a good one for a after-dinner stroll. It's free to enter, but tickets for the crypt and dome are €5.

I had an amazing few days in Paris and managed to do an awful lot in a short space of time (including seeing the fireworks for Bastille day!). I'm really looking forward to posting the rest of the photos here soon.

Wimbledon 2012

2012-07-06T17:05:00.001+01:00

I'm really excited to share with you my photos from my day at Wimbledon last week. Wimbledon is a really special event, very quintessentially British and it was my first time there this year.

Coat: Zara, Dress: H&M, Bag: Camden market.
On the famous Henman Hill (or Murray Mount?) with Pimms. As you can see the weather wasn't amazing, there were patches of rain and there was the usual drama over whether or not to close the roof. If you haven't been to Wimbledon before, on centre court at lot of the audience is actually covered by the permanent roof but the players are not, so if it rains closing the roof is pretty important.

One of the matches we watched that afternoon. Serena Williams (now through to the final) here playing against Petra Kvitova in the ladies quarter finals on center court. This was a fairly short game, with very fast serves and few rallys. Serena won, of course.

When we were exploring the grounds we came across number 1 seed Novak Djokovic practicing. Other matches we saw that afternoon were Angelique Kerber vs Sabine Lesiki (Kerber won) and David Ferrer vs. Juan Martin del Potro (Ferrer won).

I loved taking pictures of the grounds. The flowers were really beautiful, as you can see below and in the first two pictures. You can see more photos and view my full album from the day on my flickr here.

Have you been to Wimbledon or are you following it on TV? I'm currently typing this in front of the TV watching Andy Murray in the semi-finals...come on, Murray!