Friday, 9 October 2009
Read This!!
Whatever books you read, whatever genre you prefer, read Terry Pratchett's Nation and prepare to do some serious thinking. It's a wonderful book, and there are some big ideas being discussed. It's meant to be a children's book, everyone should read it.
And the winner is....
T.S Eliot!! Of the Nation's Favourite Poet poll.
I have a couple of his books, and to be fair, his poetry is interesting, read The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and he did write Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, that Andrew Lloyd Webber made into the long -running musical Cats.
Go here to see the complete top 10: http://www.bbc.co.uk/poetryseason/vote_results.shtml
Annoyingly no women in the top 10 and there are plenty of talented female poets out there, like current Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, and one of my favourites, Wendy Cope.
Who's your favourite poet??
I have a couple of his books, and to be fair, his poetry is interesting, read The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and he did write Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, that Andrew Lloyd Webber made into the long -running musical Cats.
Go here to see the complete top 10: http://www.bbc.co.uk/poetryseason/vote_results.shtml
Annoyingly no women in the top 10 and there are plenty of talented female poets out there, like current Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, and one of my favourites, Wendy Cope.
Who's your favourite poet??
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Couple things...
1) Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is 30 years old!! Read an article about it here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/oct/03/hitchhikers-guide-galaxy-douglas-adams
2) Hilary Mantel won the Booker prize for Wolf Hall, it's on my must read list along with fellow shortlister Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger.
3) An official sequel to Winnie-the-Pooh is on it's way, not sure how I feel about this, the original was one of my favourites as a child. Hopefully it'll be almost as good as A.A Milne's original.
4) Tomorrow is National Poetry Day, and the BBC will be revealing who the Nation's Favourite Poet is, according to their poll. http://www.bbc.co.uk/poetryseason
Any book news I seem to have missed? Post a comment and let me know!!
2) Hilary Mantel won the Booker prize for Wolf Hall, it's on my must read list along with fellow shortlister Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger.
3) An official sequel to Winnie-the-Pooh is on it's way, not sure how I feel about this, the original was one of my favourites as a child. Hopefully it'll be almost as good as A.A Milne's original.
4) Tomorrow is National Poetry Day, and the BBC will be revealing who the Nation's Favourite Poet is, according to their poll. http://www.bbc.co.uk/poetryseason
Any book news I seem to have missed? Post a comment and let me know!!
The Oldest Stories...
This week's recommended (see right) are all traditional tales from great classic cultures, The Mabinogian is Welsh mythology, I suggest the OUP edition, it's the one I have. The Prose Edda is Norse, translated, the Penguin is a good edition, there's also the poetic version available as well. Finally I chose Seamus Heaney's version of the epic poem Beowulf. It's a beautiful, lyrical retelling of one of the oldest stories we have. There are plenty of other collections of myths and legends from around the world, something I collect and am fascinated by, especially creation myths and stories of gods, from Hindu to Ancient Greek. Many of these tales and myths recur in literature down the ages, as do folk and fairy tales. Something in these oft-retold histories speaks to us and means that they continue to survive and are handed down through the ages.
Here's a bonus recommendation of a few books that reinvent and retell the old stories;
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter
L'Morte de Arthur - Sir Thomas Malory
The World's Wife - Carol Ann Duffy
Happy reading!!
Here's a bonus recommendation of a few books that reinvent and retell the old stories;
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter
L'Morte de Arthur - Sir Thomas Malory
The World's Wife - Carol Ann Duffy
Happy reading!!
Sunday, 4 October 2009
New Book!
Just read Terry Pratchett's new book Unseen Academicals, and it was brilliant!! Funny and clever and just a little silly. Wonderful stuff. I feel the need to re-read all the Discworld novels...
Friday, 2 October 2009
Shopping!
I'd like to recommend the Guardian books blog(http://www.guardian.co.uk/books), here's an article that I read today that made me desperately want to travel around the country visiting these shops and emptying them of stock! http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2009/oct/02/secondhand-bookshops
Where there be books, there be bookworms! Happy reading :)
Where there be books, there be bookworms! Happy reading :)
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Pesky Censorship
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/sep/30/american-library-association-banned-books
Makes you wonder whether any of these people have actually read the books they want banned or just other people's prejudices. You never know what you might learn if you actually open a book and take a read. Ignorance breeds ignorance. If you don't want to read the book, then don't. But don't stop other people making their own minds up about an author or a piece of fiction.
"There, where one burns books, one in the end burns men" - Heinrich Heine.
They'd rather we all just read this:
(to read the disclaimer sticker, click the image, if it's not clear enough, google it!)
Makes you wonder whether any of these people have actually read the books they want banned or just other people's prejudices. You never know what you might learn if you actually open a book and take a read. Ignorance breeds ignorance. If you don't want to read the book, then don't. But don't stop other people making their own minds up about an author or a piece of fiction.
"There, where one burns books, one in the end burns men" - Heinrich Heine.
They'd rather we all just read this:
(to read the disclaimer sticker, click the image, if it's not clear enough, google it!)
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