I like a nice read every now
and then. On the tube, on the sofa, on the floor… All over the blimmin’ place,
if truth be told. Apart from in the bath, I just can’t do it. Wet trotters, you
know. So I thought I’d introduce a new booky feature once a month, with
CATEGORIES. Let me introduce to you:
I’VE JUST FINISHED…
Well this is fairly self
explanatory. Most likely to be fiction.
BACKLIST WHACKLIST
Dedicated to an author whom
I love. One of those where you just have to read everything they’ve ever
written. Because they’re whack (that’s a good thing).
OLD SCHOOL
Everyone knows children’s
books are the actual best stories around.
NON-FIC CANDLESTICK
Look, not much rhymes with
‘non-fiction’. And a candlestick provides light in the darkness, illumination
if you will, as shall everything I recommend here whether it be poetry, history
or something a bit academic.
THIS IS YOUR LIFE
I take massive enjoyment in
an autobiography. Usually celebrity, sometimes historical. Here I will share my
pick of the bunch. Oh god I love an autobiog.
Well, may as well crack on
with Book Nook number 1.
I’VE JUST FINISHED…
Behind a Mask – Louisa May Alcott
I found this short novel by
the author of Little Women in the library and was intrigued, as I didn’t
really know much about Alcott’s stories beyond the March family’s antics (which
I love). A rambly but appreciative introduction by Doris Lessing (which I read
after the story, thank goodness) laid out the differences between this type of
work and the Little Women series, and made a comparison between this
tale and the ‘pot-boilers’ that Jo March has to write to make ends meet. Behind
a Mask is a scandalous tale of manipulation and a thrilling account of the
wily actions of a governess called Jean Muir, who wreaks her womanly havoc on
an aristocratic family. It’s in a completely different vein to the wholesome
moralistic stories that made Alcott’s name (this was actually originally
published under the name A. M. Barnard and is one of her earlier works), but
her strong and characteristic elements of family dynamics and insights into
human nature are still there and form the story as a whole. It’s dark and
funny, and the ruthless Jean will almost take you in as you read on and marvel
at her cunning. I think I might have to see if I can find all the rest of
Alcott’s scandalous mini stories, and I can see her becoming a feature on my
Whacklist category… Other titles include The Abbot’s Ghost and A Long
Fatal Love Chase – who could resist those?
BACKLIST WHACKLIST
Margaret Atwood. Phwoar.
She’s a new one in my
reading world, as I only really gave her a chance after reading The
Penelopiad (I am a sucker for anything classics related in novel form), a
thoughtful tale of Penelope’s wait for Odysseus to come back from the Trojan
war. I just read The Handmaid’s Tale last year (I think everyone else I
know did it at A-level or similar) and loved it. She can’t half spin a yarn,
which is insightful, I know, but so true. She’s so versatile and writes so
intelligently and with such detail, she’s just everything you want from an
author. I’ve cracked on with The Blind Assassin (complicated), The
Robber Bride (fabulous insight into the destructiveness of a bitchy woman
and the blindness of men) and Alias Grace (re-telling of the true story
of a teen murderess, shivery). There are SO MANY more for me to read, I’m
actually thrilled. She counts as a Whacklist entrant because I fully intend to
read all of her works and because I can guarantee that I will love them all.
Yeah.
OLD SCHOOL
The Mog stories –
Judith Kerr
 |
| The actual Mog watching herself being drawn |
Mog is like, part of my
youth. She’s a sparky grey tabby cat who a whole family revolves around. She
gets up to brilliant antics like stopping robbers and being rewarded with
boiled eggs, losing her pink bunny and freaking out, and coming back from the
dead to teach the new kitten how not to fuck things up. She’s a feline legend.
She looked like our childhood cat MacMac so I loved her for that, and the
stories are so dry and low-key and brilliantly simple that you just can’t help
but love them. Judith Kerr based Mog on her real actual cat who apparently did
enjoy eggs for breakfast, which I just love. I also love that Kerr was brave
enough to kill off Mog in 2002, in an instalment that starts with the
fantastically no-nonsense line: ‘Mog was tired. She was dead tired. She wanted
to sleep forever.’ It’s a necessary issue, the death of a pet, especially for
little people (children not dwarves) and it’s a beautiful and sensitively
written story. As well as banterous – I think there’s a line where Mog says to
herself ‘This kitten is very stupid’ or something similar. Amazing.
Judith Kerr is also the
woman who wrote The Tiger Who Came To Tea, a real classic. We got a male
teacher to read this to us at a charity teddy bear’s picnic (in sixth form… it
was my idea) and you haven’t truly enjoyed the story until you’ve had it read
out to you interjected with cattily ironic remarks from your favourite teacher
(“He drank ALL the water from the TAP? There’s some basic plumbing issues there
I think…”).
NON-FIC CANDLESTICK
At Home – Bill Bryson
I can see all of these
categories becoming backlist recommendations, in this case because I’ve read
everything Bill Bryson has written and it’s all great. But bear with, I’m going
to tell you all about his latest book which is a history of the home and
everything in it. It’s a hefty one to work your way through, and you learn room
by room about how ordinary life came to be arranged the way it is and how all
the stuff we value (kitchen utensils, sofas, beds, gardens, and the actual
house) developed. It’s an almost ridiculously comprehensive account of how we
have lived, using examples from thousands of years ago right up until the
present day, and incorporates stories about childbirth, the creation of the
Crystal Palace, the Industrial Revolution, why vicars used to change the world,
and what makes a good brick. Bill Bryson is an actual master of the anecdote
and of making history interesting and accessible (you can tell he has succeeded
because I’m reading it, and I don’t usually do history books). If you want to
feel well informed and like you’ve just swallowed the entire back catalogue of
QI episodes, then get involved.
THIS IS YOUR LIFE
Before I unleash my full
obsession with autobiogs on you (we’re talking Paul O’Grady, John Barrowman…
basically all the famous gays), I’m going to start slowly with a slightly
quirky but beautiful book called Notes to my mother-in-law, by
Phyllida Law. I was originally drawn to this because Law is Emma Thompson’s
mum, and I am a massive Thompson fan. But when I started reading I was so
hooked. It’s a properly unique format, mainly written in the form of the notes
that Phyllida wrote to her mother-in-law Annie when she lived with them. Annie
was a bit deaf and so her daughter-in-law took to writing notes of the day’s
news and leaving them by her bed. The notes are a combination of day-to-day
arrangements and funny snippets of gossip and family chatter, as well as the
constant tribulations of Boot the cat. It gives a huge insight into how they
lived and to particularly Annie’s character, and the whole thing is permeated
with such affection and care it’s hard not to be touched by the story. There
are occasionally a few pages of explanatory writing but mainly the detail in
the notes is enough, and it’s just lovely. I suggest you read it immediately.
I think that’s enough words
for now.
Brixpig x
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