update December 2010

# of books read in December: 4

Cumulative total: 54

1. The Blessing (Nancy Mitford)

2. The Plato Papers (Peter Ackroyd)

3. The Hours (Michael Cunningham)

4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows)

5. Love in a Cold Climate (Nancy Mitford)

6. En passant (Raymond Queneau)

7. The Story of God (Robert Winston)

8. Ye Gods! Travels in Greece (Jill Dudley)

9. The Man in the High Castle (Philip K Dick)

10. La Chine Classique (Ivan P Kamenarovic)

11. White Teeth (Zadie Smith)

12. The House in Norham Gardens (Penelope Lively)

13. Special Topics in Calamity Physics (Marisha Pessl)

14. Sarah's Key (Tatiana de Rosnay)

15. Rebuilding Coventry (Sue Townsend)

16. On Chesil Beach (Ian McEwan)

17. The Undomestic Goddess (Sophie Kinsella)

18. French Kissing (Catherine Sanderson)

19. Icons of England (various authors; edited by Bill Bryson)

20. Shirley (Charlotte Brontë)

21. Women's Hour Short Stories

22. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)

23. Juliet, Naked (Nick Hornby)

24. Reviving Ophelia (Mary Pipher)

25. Nightingale Wood (Stella Gibbons)

26. The Orange Girl (Jostein Gaarder)
27. Me Talk Pretty One Day (David Sedaris)
28. Gemma and Sisters (Noel Streatfeild)
29. See Under: Love (David Grossman)
30. Swann's Way (Marcel Proust)

31. Le roi des fougères (Jean Anglade)

32. The Decameron (Giovanni Boccaccio)

33. The Glass Room (Simon Mawer)

34. Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides)

35. Missykad, or Britannic Raj Through The Turnstiles (Malcolm Henry James)

36. Where We Going, Daddy?: Life With Two Sons Unlike Any Other (Jean-Louis Fournier)

37. First Grey, Then White, Then Blue (Margriet de Moor)

38. The Dead School (Patrick McCabe)

39. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)

40. My Favourite Wife (Tony Parsons)

41. How to be Alone (Jonathan Franzen)

42. Eclipse (John Banville) - review forthcoming

43. Dancing Shoes (Noel Streatfeild)

44. Petite Anglaise (Catherine Sanderson)

45. Within A Budding Grove (Marcel Proust)

46. Puligny-Montrachet (Simon Loftus)

47. Circus Shoes (Noel Streatfeild) 

48. A Growing Summer (Noel Streatfeild)

49. The Icarus Girl (Helen Oyeyemi)

50. Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down (Stuart Payne)

51. A London Christmas (Marina Cantacuzino)

52. One Day (David Nicholls)

53. There's Probably No God: The Atheist's Guide To Christmas (edited by Ariane Sherine) 

54. And Another Thing (Eoin Colfer) 

A London Christmas (Marina Cantacuzino)

--The blurb--

""A London Christmas" is an anthology of seasonal memories compiled from journals, novels, poems, local traditions and historical events, illustrated with over forty photographs and engravings. Diatribes against seasonal excesses mingle with celebrations of a more benevolent kind - best illustrated by Charles Dickens in "A Christmas Carol". In this book you will find everything associated with Christmas in London through the ages from the fifteenth century when festivities were overseen by a Lord of Misrule, to when the Puritans attempted to abolish Christmas, through to Norway's annual gift of a Christmas tree and the bravery of Londoners spending Christmas under the threat of the Blitz. A wealth of fictional characters help to celebrate the joy of the season from Mr Pooter in "The Diary of a Nobody" to the tale of a shopping spree in London in "Diary of a Provincial Lady"."

--The review--

When Christmas comes I love to savour it for as long as possible. While there are plenty of seasonal compilations out there to choose from, this certainly strikes me as being an ideal accompaniment which can be enjoyed throughout December. 

The word 'enjoyed' is certainly key here: this is a collection to be savoured rather than devoured. This is certainly not a criticism, as it means that A London Christmas can serve as a companion for weeks on end. The selections are well-chosen and transport the reader successfully to Christmases gone by, although the extracts are on the whole rather highbrow and extremely traditional, so definitely more for those who prefer their literature to be more in a classical vein. 

In spite of the beautiful illustrations, this anthology appears to be relatively little-known. It therefore perhaps gives off an impression of being a little too serious, and something that you have to work at to read rather than something you can read for relaxation, and while one might struggle to read it all the way through at once without losing focus, the extracts are short enough for one to be able to pick the collection up and put it down at leisure. It can therefore be enjoyed in any way that you see fit as the festive season plays out, with new secrets and details tucked within its pages for you to discover and rediscover with every Christmas that follows.

There's Probably No God: The Atheist's Guide To Christmas (edited by Ariane Sherine)

--The blurb--

"Forty-two atheist celebrities, comedians, scientists and writers give their funny and serious tips for enjoying the Christmas season.

When the Atheist Bus Campaign was first launched, over £150,000 was raised in four days - enough to place the advert 'There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life' on 800 UK buses in January 2009. Now dozens of atheist writers, comedians and scientists are joining together to raise money for a very different cause. The Atheist's Guide to Christmas is a funny, thoughtful handbook all about enjoying Christmas, from 42 of the world's most entertaining atheists. It features everything from an atheist Christmas miracle to a guide to the best Christmas pop hits, and contributors include Richard Dawkins, Charlie Brooker, Derren Brown, Ben Goldacre, Jenny Colgan, David Baddiel, Simon Singh, AC Grayling, Brian Cox and Richard Herring. The full book advance and all royalties will go to the UK HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust."

--The review--

As traditional as I am when it comes to the festive season, it's always good to have a breath of fresh air when it comes to my beloved Crimbo (which I fear, on my MP3 player at least, is still stuck in the 1980s). This collection of famous names, I thought, which includes many names that I admire, such as AC Grayling and Simon Singh, would certainly provide a plethora of new points of view which would be both thought-provoking and entertaining.

As is perhaps difficult to avoid when you have forty-two people all trying to work together to write one book, this is only partly the case. While some of the entries are hilariously funny and articulate, others are unamusing (while trying to be the opposite) or just plain hackneyed. Some, one suspects, would be nothing without Ariane Sherine's editing skills. Again, like most anthologies, it is a collection to be savoured rather than raced through, and not something that one should feel compelled to read chronologically - in fact, dipping into it at random is possibly the best way to enjoy it throughout Christmas.

An interesting topic approached by some of the contributors involves how to explain Christmas to children when as parents you do not believe in the original Christmas story, and some of the resulting explanations are quite ingenious, funny, and touching enough to be used in real life. The collection is also helpful to the cause of further amplifying how one can identify culturally and even emotionally with a religion while not actually believing in its allegedly Christian roots. While the book is fun, it also touches on the serious, making it, in fact, not only a manual for an atheist Christmas but also offering a few pointers on how to manoeuvre one's way through an atheist life. Not that it is a rehashed Bible in any sense; we are presented with a platter of different viewpoints and allowed to dine from it at our leisure, whether over the course of a month or several years.

Many different forms of interpretation are also presented here, such as paganism and humanism, alongside more 'basic' varieties of atheism. As we all grow older we figure out where we fit into this and how our beliefs change, making multiple readings of this compendium not only possible but appealing as well - not only as a spiritual quest but also as part of a quest on a journey of finding the joy in life (at Christmas in particular, as well as all year round).

Petite Anglaise (Catherine Sanderson)

--The blurb--

"Living in Paris with her partner, the workaholic Mr Frog, and their adorable toddler, Tadpole, Catherine decides to alleviate the boredom of her metro-boulot-dodo routine by starting a blog under the name of Petite Anglaise. Writing with disarming honesty about Paris life, about the confines of her hollow relationship with Mr Frog and about the wonder and pain that comes with being a mother, she finds a new purpose to her day. As Petite Anglaise, Catherine regains her confidence and makes virtual friends, including one charismatic and single Englishman who lives in Brittany, James. And after meeting James one evening in a bar, Catherine feels she has regained her ability to fall in love, too."

--The review--

As with Catherine Sanderson's fictionalised effort, French Kissing, I was expecting feelings of satisfaction and derision in equal measure following my reading of Petite Anglaise. Happily, this was more on the side of entertainment this time. Sanderson continues to demonstrate her canny ability to seize on tiny details that really do accurately portray daily Parisian life, and the way she writes veers between schmaltziness and sheer beauty in equal measure, making this a very comforting and accessible read.

There were plenty of ways in which I felt totally unable to empathise with Catherine. It certainly confirmed for me the feeling of absolute disgust which permeates me even contemplating the logistics and deceit of an affair, and from me the cherry tomato incident elicited no sympathy (just why would you even consider giving your child something which, when left completely whole, could so easily cause them to choke, and then be so surprised and annoyed when they throw them all up all over you?). However, there were many more ways in which I could empathise: she eloquently expresses the feeling of only living alongside French people, rather than living as part of them and being part of their landscape. Her writing reassured me that this can take many years to establish, and that not having a social life or (m)any friends at this stage of my life in France is not abnormal. Although I could not feel familiarity with her success as a blogger (given my quite frequent feeling when blogging that I am just shooting these words into a cyberspace equivalent of a black hole), I did not feel jealous either. Sanderson's familiar style invites you to take a seat beside her and enjoy the ride.

Consequently, Petite Anglaise proves a very quick read, which is never for a moment dull or sluggish: Sanderson keeps readers engaged and on their toes with ease. However, Petite Anglaise and French Kissing are both in a very similar vein in terms of their subject matter, and so while the advice to budding writers to write what they know is sound, I would issue a word of caution: Sanderson may wish to diversify her repertoire if she wishes to keep her readers on the hook. While the expat-lit market is popular, it is not insatiable.

Other works by Catherine Sanderson

French Kissing (2009)

Dancing Shoes (Noel Streatfeild)

--The blurb--

"When their mother dies, leaving them orphaned, Rachel and Hilary are sent to live with their aunt, who runs a troupe of dancing girls –‘Mrs Wintle’s Little Wonders’. Hilary, a talented dancer, settles there immediately and loves the chance to dance every day. Rachel finds it more difficult to fit in. She’s also got another worry on her mind. Her mother’s dying wish was for Hilary to attend the Royal Ballet School. But Hilary seems to have other ideas!"

--The review--

It is clear that following the success of her classic and arguably best-loved story, Ballet Shoes, Noel Streatfeild (or her agent or publisher) decided that it would be a good idea to stretch the format for the American market in particular as far as was humanly possible. To an extent this was successful, with White Boots (also published as Skating Shoes) in particular enjoying similar popularity with the author's fans. However, is there such thing as taking a concept too far? Alongside these two novels, Streatfeild's back catalogue also includes - to name but a few - Tennis Shoes, Theatre Shoes (/Curtain Up), and Party Shoes (a.k.a. Party Frock; all yet to be read by me) as well as Circus Shoes (read; review forthcoming), and the subject of this review, Dancing Shoes. So is Streatfeild's breaking point reached here?

Arguably the answer is no: Streatfeild's stories often feature a "fairy godmother" style character who steps in to save the children from whatever happens to be threatening their futures, and in Dancing Shoes this is not the case. In fact, we are presented with the complete opposite; we have supportive adult characters, yes, but none with enough power to save the situation. Instead, we have the highly disagreeable aunt and her equally disagreeable and spoilt daughter Dulcie, and the trusted family doctor who rightly or wrongly believes that Hilary and Rachel's aunt is doing the best for them, rather than listening to Rachel's concerns. Rachel's misery is therefore rather a focus, and while it can make the story a bit of a plod to read, it does ultimately serve a purpose, as Rachel has to realise that people do not always want what we want for them - for better, or for worse. This is an important lesson to learn, and not one, to my best recollection, that appears elsewhere in Streatfeild's stories, where quite to the contrary children are propelled along by pushy parents.

Another important moral appearing in the story is the idea that whatever we are suffering is only for now; we are likely to have the power to change our situation later on, even if this power is out of reach at the time, and this is something that Rachel learns as well. This is not to say that we do not feel any sympathy for Rachel throughout the story - the aunt is so odious that we cannot help feeling for the little girl who struggles to fit into her new life on the death of her mother.

The story does suffer from some forgettable aspects: in the style of Enid Blyton, the children in Streatfeild's novels all tend to be of similar personalities and from similar backgrounds, and consequently only a month or so after reading the story I cannot say that I remember terribly well how it ends. This, perhaps is due to the cause outlined above: Streatfeild may have been under pressure to continue in the 'Shoes' vein to such an extent that many of the stories ended up merging together in an unoriginal vagueness. So while the stories are nice comfort reads that can be returned to over and over, on first reading they may not always stick. Dancing Shoes sadly falls into this category.

Other works by Noel Streatfeild

Ballet Shoes (1936)

Tennis Shoes (1937)

Circus Shoes [The Circus Is Coming] (1938)*

Theatre Shoes [Curtain Up] (1944)

Party Shoes [Party Frock] (1946)

Movie Shoes [The Painted Garden] (1949)**

Skating Shoes [White Boots] (1951)

Family Shoes [The Bell Family] (1954)

Travelling Shoes [Apple Bough] (1962)

*All of the titles mentioned here, with the exception of Ballet Shoes and Tennis Shoes, which only ever had one title, are listed under their published titles for the US market; their UK title is listed in brackets afterwards.

** Interested readers are advised that the American publication of this novel - Movie Shoes - is a significantly abridged version of Streatfeild's original work.

update November 2010

# of books read in November:4
Cumulative total: 50

1. The Blessing (Nancy Mitford)
2. The Plato Papers (Peter Ackroyd)
3. The Hours (Michael Cunningham)
4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows)
5. Love in a Cold Climate (Nancy Mitford)
6. En passant (Raymond Queneau)
7. The Story of God (Robert Winston)
8. Ye Gods! Travels in Greece (Jill Dudley)
9. The Man in the High Castle (Philip K Dick)
10. La Chine Classique (Ivan P Kamenarovic)
11. White Teeth (Zadie Smith)
12. The House in Norham Gardens (Penelope Lively)
13. Special Topics in Calamity Physics (Marisha Pessl)
14. Sarah's Key (Tatiana de Rosnay)
15. Rebuilding Coventry (Sue Townsend)
16. On Chesil Beach (Ian McEwan)
17. The Undomestic Goddess (Sophie Kinsella)
18. French Kissing (Catherine Sanderson)
19. Icons of England (various authors; edited by Bill Bryson)
20. Shirley (Charlotte Brontë)
21. Women's Hour Short Stories
22. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
23. Juliet, Naked (Nick Hornby)
24. Reviving Ophelia (Mary Pipher)
25. Nightingale Wood (Stella Gibbons)
26. The Orange Girl (Jostein Gaarder)
27. Me Talk Pretty One Day (David Sedaris)
28. Gemma and Sisters (Noel Streatfeild)
29. See Under: Love (David Grossman)
30. Swann's Way (Marcel Proust)
31. Le roi des fougères (Jean Anglade)
32. The Decameron (Giovanni Boccaccio)
33. The Glass Room (Simon Mawer)
34. Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides)
35. Missykad, or Britannic Raj Through The Turnstiles (Malcolm Henry James)
36. Where We Going, Daddy?: Life With Two Sons Unlike Any Other (Jean-Louis Fournier)
37. First Grey, Then White, Then Blue (Margriet de Moor)
38. The Dead School (Patrick McCabe)
39. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
40. My Favourite Wife (Tony Parsons)
41. How to be Alone (Jonathan Franzen)
42. Eclipse (John Banville) - review forthcoming
43. Dancing Shoes (Noel Streatfeild)
44. Petite Anglaise (Catherine Sanderson)
45. Within A Budding Grove (Marcel Proust)
46. Puligny-Montrachet (Simon Loftus)
47. Circus Shoes (Noel Streatfeild) 
48. A Growing Summer (Noel Streatfeild)
49. The Icarus Girl (Helen Oyeyemi)
50. Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down (Stuart Payne)

Bookish Bits & Bobs: NaNoWriMo

During the weekend before the end of this year's National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, a highly discouraging article was published in The Times on the subject. The article's main message to all of the WriMos (or National Novel Writing Month participants) out there was this: don't bother - I'm an author and it's not that great, and besides, the world already has too many novels and novelists. The article seemed to come from Julia Stephenson's general feelings of bitterness and lack of fulfilment and success, with her grudgingly acknowledging that her novels now only sell for 1p on Amazon and that she even admits to posting glowingly positive reviews on the site under a host of aliases.

As a first time WriMo (or 'nanoteur' - the French word for a NaNoWriMo participant, which I much prefer), I was momentarily discouraged, but then remembered that a) Julia Stephenson is only against projects like NaNoWriMo, or just anyone aspiring to be a novelist in general, because she clearly cannot bear the idea that anyone might be more successful and happier than she has been in achieving their dream; and that b) nanoteurs receive plenty of support in the form of pep talks from established successful authors such as Dave Eggers and Lemony Snicket. If they can find it in themselves to endorse such a project, then why can't she?

NaNoWriMo (or indeed just writing as a whole) is not easy, and while a good dose of realism along the way is helpful, there's a fine line between being realistic and just rubbishing the ambitions of others. As a participant this year, I have had to approach my writing with more intensity than I ever have before, and it has involved putting several other aspects of my life on hold, including chiefly reading and blogging, which would explain why I appeared to have gone completely AWOL for the past few weeks. It also goes against a writer's basic instincts to prize quantity over quality and to push on through regardless with the sole aim of creating a credible first draft of 50,000 words (if you have achieved this, in NaNo terms you have 'won'). There were other associated pitfalls with being a NaNo participant: I was also discouraged by those participants who claimed after only halfway through the month, or less, to have 'won', and it makes me wonder if these people have families, or lives, or jobs, and if I was the only one taking this even semi-seriously in the sense of having something afterwards that I could actually keep and work with, rather than just being left with several megabytes of useless wordvomit about talking monkeys and purple dishwashers and whatever else these people happened to be writing about. I also failed to take advantage of NaNo as a social event, with me having only attended one write-in and opting for the comfort of my own home (rather than overpriced Parisian cafés) the rest of the time.

But in spite of that catalogue of negatives, NaNoWriMo has proved overall to be a positive experience for me. There is something incredibly empowering and liberating about creating so much from nothing in so short a space of time, and while there is certainly plenty of editing to do, it shows you as a person what you can achieve if you really set your mind to it. And, as I mentioned before, it has the potential as well to be a great group activity, which I plan to take much fuller advantage of during next year's NaNoWriMo. In addition, should I have the fortune/misfortune to still be in teaching, I can also see a great opportunity to implement NaNoWriMo, possibly in conjunction with Movember, as an excellent group/bonding activity for students in a school that frankly doesn't have a great deal of school spirit.

And even if, as the embittered author mentioned in the first paragraph states so starkly, the hundreds of thousands of NaNo participants never have their books published or make it as successful writers, it is important to remember that we all only have our own little tiny lives, and if we can make an impact on the world around us, it's nice, but ultimately, if we can make those own tiny lives just a little bit happier and more fulfilled, then that's nice as well. That, to me, does not seem to be something that Julia Stephenson has achieved for her own life.

So in short, I have enjoyed being a nanoteur for the month, but in a lot of respects that's all I've been - and now that November is over, I'm very grateful to have the rest of my life back.

for further information, see www.nanowrimo.org