How do all you bloggers make time to do this regularly? I went to a couple of events last week and was keen to share news of them, but what with the County Show, cricket, and a first-of-the-season-and-possibly-last-too barbecue - well, here we are a week later.
Perhaps what added an extra flavour to these events was the fact that they happened on the same day. First off was Lost in a Box, by students from Exeter University, as part of their final degree assessment. I had circulated news of the free event to reading groups, and decided to swell the number by attending myself. Having held many -and varied- literary events in the Music Room at Exeter Central, I was intrigued to see what a difference it made to have new eyes setting up. The curtains were drawn against the afternoon sun, the audience was seated on and in front of the stage, and the main body of the room was the performance area. What followed was impressive and moving (I hope the lecturer next to me who made notes throughout felt the same) as the story unfolded. Essentially an elegy on coming to terms with loss - but hard to justify in a blog ostensibly about the Orange Prize .... except that each "chapter" in the drama was signalled by turning a page in a giant book which was a Penguin book with an orange cover. Talk about Chris's Top Tenuous.....
The second event was a talk by Deborah Moggach as part of Exeter University's Creative Writing Programme. I knew her to be an interesting and vivacious speaker from her appearance at the last Devon Readers' Day at the Watermark, Ivybridge. On this occasion she spoke about her experience of writing screenplays, particularly for the film of Pride and Prejudice and the recent BBC television series on The Diary of Anne Frank - what she called "turning the 'noun' of a novel into the 'verb' of a film". It was fascinating to hear her take on it - how she reads and absorbs the novel, then puts it away and doesn't refer to it. She insisted that what was needed was for a screenplay writer to be "bold, but loving".While an author works alone, with some input from an editor, the sreenwriter is involved in a collaborative experience. Having worked on the screenplay, the writer hands it over to producer/director/actors. The tale doesn't end there, because the acting team works on it and then hands on to editors, who set about creating their vision. One of the main difficulties in changing a book into a film lies in dealing with the internal dialogue which gives a reader so many clues (without surrendering to voice-overs). Deborah maintained that this was where the actors came in, and that in this part of the filming process the internal dialogue, cut from the book by the screenwriter, reappears again in the actors' faces. Fascinating stuff- and greatly enjoyed by those members of reading groups who attended. No Orange connection there, not even a tenuous one, but thought-provoking. Interesting, too, to see how much thought and judgement went into deciding what to put in, what to leave out, where to put the emphasis. Made me realise that, while I'll generally give authors the benefit of the doubt and not condemn a book out of hand - just feel that maybe it's not for me - I can be as opinionated and instantly judgemental about a film as the next person.
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
Still wandering....
Oh dear, I seem to have meandered further still from my brief. The one I really can't justify Orange-wise is Liza Mundy's Michelle Obama. Having read Dreams From my Father earlier in the year I couldn't resist the Barnes and Noble display of Michelle-inspired books. Well, I could resist Michelle Obama, Mom-in-chief and Michelle Obama, First Lady of Fashion and Style but I did want to know a little more about her, and chose Mundy's book. She had interviewed Michelle extensively in the past, though not for the purposes of this book - clearly the First Lady's team was more cautious about letting her loose these days. It wasn't a great read, but it was informative, especially about her childhood and background. From this side of the Atlantic some of America's social problems can seem insoluble - millions without healthcare, murder rates of incomprehensible size - and yet a bright girl from the South Side of Chicago ("bright" hardly seems to cover it) becomes First Lady. I have thought of an Orange link too - as a student, Michelle Obama attended a meeting which was addressed by the last surviving Scottsboro Boy......
The other deviation can be justified in Orange terms, I think. I was so taken by The Flying Troutmans and sorry not to have come across Miriam Toews before. I added A Complicated Kindness to my pile and raised B and N's profits a little more. And since the avowed aim of OPF is to bring fine writing by women to all readers, it matters not a jot that this book goes back to 2005. What a treat! Nomi, a 16 year old rebel growing up in a strict Canadian Mennonite community sees through all the adult hypocrisy around her. This coming-of-age story is told in Nomi's own voice, dead-pan, over-casual at times, and brutally honest. The humour may be of a rather black sort, but there's joy too. Toews herself was brought up in just such a community - now there's an author I'd love to hear!
The other deviation can be justified in Orange terms, I think. I was so taken by The Flying Troutmans and sorry not to have come across Miriam Toews before. I added A Complicated Kindness to my pile and raised B and N's profits a little more. And since the avowed aim of OPF is to bring fine writing by women to all readers, it matters not a jot that this book goes back to 2005. What a treat! Nomi, a 16 year old rebel growing up in a strict Canadian Mennonite community sees through all the adult hypocrisy around her. This coming-of-age story is told in Nomi's own voice, dead-pan, over-casual at times, and brutally honest. The humour may be of a rather black sort, but there's joy too. Toews herself was brought up in just such a community - now there's an author I'd love to hear!
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
A small diversion.......
And such a long time away from the keyboard. Only excuse was a trip to Chicago, and an extremely s l o w internet connection in the b&b which would have made blogging an agonising business.A diversion, too, from my self-imposed Orange task, but one which I'm sure I can justify.
I was so moved by Home that I toddled off to the Barnes and Noble on the corner and bought another copy of Housekeeping, which I read years ago but was intrigued to try again. It was just as impressive second time around - such a remarkable book at the time for a first novel - but published too soon to be included in any OPF list. I still longed to reach out to the two sisters and steady them but of course it moved to its inevitable conclusion. Perhaps I read it a little differently with the 2 Gilead novels behind me, but it did seem a little less assured than her recent books. Still subtle and moving, however.
While walking past the same shop a day or two later, a "Chicago City Read" promotion caught my eye. Devon's "Lost World Read" is over now - a project we shared with authorities in the South West, Shropshire and Hampshire (a disparate group, who came together because of links to the Lost World author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, or to the man whose work helped inspire the book, and whose anniversary it was - Charles Darwin.) Always keen to support someone else's reading campaign, and pleased that Chicago libraries were partners in the exercise, I decided to join in. Not for them the piles of free copies given away in our promotion - I had to part with the $ equivalent of £7.99 for - rather a thin - book. Still, the bookmark and readers' guide came free.
The book was The House on Mango Street, and the other thing that had snagged my attention was the author - Sandra Cisneros. In one of those follow-the-links that keen readers love, I remembered reading Cisneros' Caramelo when it was long-listed for the Orange Prize in 2003. I worked in Exeter Central at the time. Budgets were tight and stock in short supply - but when we decided to shadow the Orange Prize we were rewarded with multiple, shiny new copies of the listed titles. The books were flying off the shelves - except for Caramelo.It was huge - much bigger than the rest - and the cover featured a lurid painting of a senorita in elaborate frock, mantilla and all. Leaving after work I had to take pity on the 4 hardback copies siting reproachfully and take one home with me. The story centred around a large, noisy Mexican family, now settled in an American city (I didn't remember which one..) who made an annual event-filled trip to visit family in Mexico City. I enjoyed it - but it didn't make the short-list. Now here she was again, this time with a little book, but one which is apparently required reading in many American schools, and celebrating its 25th birthday. It's a series of vignettes - some of them very short indeed - dealing with the story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago.To read more about it, or just see a picture of The Definitive Cowboy Boots, her website is www.sandracisneros.com
I was so moved by Home that I toddled off to the Barnes and Noble on the corner and bought another copy of Housekeeping, which I read years ago but was intrigued to try again. It was just as impressive second time around - such a remarkable book at the time for a first novel - but published too soon to be included in any OPF list. I still longed to reach out to the two sisters and steady them but of course it moved to its inevitable conclusion. Perhaps I read it a little differently with the 2 Gilead novels behind me, but it did seem a little less assured than her recent books. Still subtle and moving, however.
While walking past the same shop a day or two later, a "Chicago City Read" promotion caught my eye. Devon's "Lost World Read" is over now - a project we shared with authorities in the South West, Shropshire and Hampshire (a disparate group, who came together because of links to the Lost World author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, or to the man whose work helped inspire the book, and whose anniversary it was - Charles Darwin.) Always keen to support someone else's reading campaign, and pleased that Chicago libraries were partners in the exercise, I decided to join in. Not for them the piles of free copies given away in our promotion - I had to part with the $ equivalent of £7.99 for - rather a thin - book. Still, the bookmark and readers' guide came free.
The book was The House on Mango Street, and the other thing that had snagged my attention was the author - Sandra Cisneros. In one of those follow-the-links that keen readers love, I remembered reading Cisneros' Caramelo when it was long-listed for the Orange Prize in 2003. I worked in Exeter Central at the time. Budgets were tight and stock in short supply - but when we decided to shadow the Orange Prize we were rewarded with multiple, shiny new copies of the listed titles. The books were flying off the shelves - except for Caramelo.It was huge - much bigger than the rest - and the cover featured a lurid painting of a senorita in elaborate frock, mantilla and all. Leaving after work I had to take pity on the 4 hardback copies siting reproachfully and take one home with me. The story centred around a large, noisy Mexican family, now settled in an American city (I didn't remember which one..) who made an annual event-filled trip to visit family in Mexico City. I enjoyed it - but it didn't make the short-list. Now here she was again, this time with a little book, but one which is apparently required reading in many American schools, and celebrating its 25th birthday. It's a series of vignettes - some of them very short indeed - dealing with the story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago.To read more about it, or just see a picture of The Definitive Cowboy Boots, her website is www.sandracisneros.com
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Ellen Feldman - Scottsboro
Well, not one whose cover screamed "read Me!!", and I confess I rather shied away from picking it up. I was aware of the story for many years, and saw a particularly harrowing programme on television a good few years ago. The case of the Scottsboro Boys is a true story of the arrest of 9 black youths (some really only boys) for the rape of 2 young white women on a train in Alabama in 1931- a crime of which they not only weren't guilty, but which never in fact happened. Their subsequent narrow escape from lynching leads on to a heart-breaking trail of mis-trial and injustice and the overwhelming feeling I had from the documentary was of the waste of so many years and lives, and the loathsome figures who wielded such power over others' lives. So - could I bear to go through it all again, knowing how it ends?
I'm glad I did. The story is told chiefly by Alice Whittier, a very modern young woman and a journalist.She reports on the outcry, both in other parts of the USA and abroad which kept the boys' story in the news and mitigated in some degree the vicious response from Alabama's law enforcers and residents. The other voice is that of Ruby Bates - worlds away from Alice in experiences and opportunities. Ruby as one of the "victims" is a chief witnes for the prosecution, until she dares to change her story and confess that the rape never happened.Other stories and personalities flesh out the story and the result is a powerful page-turner, well worth its place on the shortlist.
I'm glad I did. The story is told chiefly by Alice Whittier, a very modern young woman and a journalist.She reports on the outcry, both in other parts of the USA and abroad which kept the boys' story in the news and mitigated in some degree the vicious response from Alabama's law enforcers and residents. The other voice is that of Ruby Bates - worlds away from Alice in experiences and opportunities. Ruby as one of the "victims" is a chief witnes for the prosecution, until she dares to change her story and confess that the rape never happened.Other stories and personalities flesh out the story and the result is a powerful page-turner, well worth its place on the shortlist.
Monday, 27 April 2009
Burnt Shadows - a winner?
Several things recommended this book to me - a lovely cover, for one, in a line-up not noted for its jackets! In addition a couple of friends whose views I respect had spoken warmly of it, so - greater compliment has no librarian - I bought myself a copy (so as not to deprive Devon Library users of it, and half expecting I would want to re-read it).
The book begins in 2002 with a nameless prisoner, about to be taken to Guantanamo Bay. "How did it come to this?" he wonders. And that's the question Kamila Shamsie leads us through and around and towards. If I outline the main narrative events of the book -- Nagasaki 1945; Delhi 1947; New York 2001/2 -- it may sound obvious, perhaps rather clumsy....but the reality is very different. The sense of place is strong, and the beauty of the landscapes in which these terrible happenings occur is beautifully realised (including that of Afghanistan, which weaves in and out of the thread). It's a huge sweep of a book, but Shamsie never loses control of it - and within it the delicate details are beautifully drawn (and in my case at least, remembered).
I'm a gobbler of books that I like, but in this case I found myself, having thundered through the first 250 pages, slowing my pace - not because it was losing its grip, but because I could see that others, more ruthless than the characters I had come to "know" were driving us all towards a conclusion I wouldn't welcome. Highly recommended! A winner? Charlie Lee Potter, writing in the Independent just as Shadows was longlisted, certainly thought so.
The book begins in 2002 with a nameless prisoner, about to be taken to Guantanamo Bay. "How did it come to this?" he wonders. And that's the question Kamila Shamsie leads us through and around and towards. If I outline the main narrative events of the book -- Nagasaki 1945; Delhi 1947; New York 2001/2 -- it may sound obvious, perhaps rather clumsy....but the reality is very different. The sense of place is strong, and the beauty of the landscapes in which these terrible happenings occur is beautifully realised (including that of Afghanistan, which weaves in and out of the thread). It's a huge sweep of a book, but Shamsie never loses control of it - and within it the delicate details are beautifully drawn (and in my case at least, remembered).
I'm a gobbler of books that I like, but in this case I found myself, having thundered through the first 250 pages, slowing my pace - not because it was losing its grip, but because I could see that others, more ruthless than the characters I had come to "know" were driving us all towards a conclusion I wouldn't welcome. Highly recommended! A winner? Charlie Lee Potter, writing in the Independent just as Shadows was longlisted, certainly thought so.
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Miriam Toews: The Flying Troutmans
I hadn't previously discovered Miriam Toews, but I'll certainly look out for her now - thanks, OPF!
The Troutman family is in trouble - Hattie is called back from Paris, where her own love affair is floundering, by a late-night call from her eleven year old neice, Thebes. Hattie's sister Min is sinking into another debilitating period of mental illness, and Thebes is worried about about her brother Logan, who's in trouble in school again. Hattie returns to Canada to care for them, but when Min is hospitalised and seems to want nothing to do with any members of her family, Hattie panics at the unasked-for responsibility of a fifteen year old boy who scarcely ever communicates and an eleven year old girl who never stops. She packs up and takes the children on a road-trip in search of their estranged father - a trip which takes them through the USA and into Mexico. Did I mention it was hilarious? Against the serious tableaux of the effects of long-term mental illness on a family, Toews brings the bohemian characters to life, dirt and all, and a joy they are. It may not be an Orange winner - but I recommend it!
The Troutman family is in trouble - Hattie is called back from Paris, where her own love affair is floundering, by a late-night call from her eleven year old neice, Thebes. Hattie's sister Min is sinking into another debilitating period of mental illness, and Thebes is worried about about her brother Logan, who's in trouble in school again. Hattie returns to Canada to care for them, but when Min is hospitalised and seems to want nothing to do with any members of her family, Hattie panics at the unasked-for responsibility of a fifteen year old boy who scarcely ever communicates and an eleven year old girl who never stops. She packs up and takes the children on a road-trip in search of their estranged father - a trip which takes them through the USA and into Mexico. Did I mention it was hilarious? Against the serious tableaux of the effects of long-term mental illness on a family, Toews brings the bohemian characters to life, dirt and all, and a joy they are. It may not be an Orange winner - but I recommend it!
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED!
If you'd like to see what they are, have a look at the OPF website - www.orangeprize.co.uk
This is the downside of shadowing a literary prize - the moment at which the shortlist overtakes your reading and you're looking at the next book in the to-read pile and thinking - but isn't that one a bit of a loser? Yet if I look back on previous Orange prizes I can find ones that didn't make it from the longlist, but which still gave me pleasure - The Lovely Bones in 2003; Niagara Falls all over again and The Secret Life of Bees in 2002; and what about 1999, when Mantel's The Giant O'Brien didn't get onto the shortlist, and Kingsolver's masterly and still-loved Poisonwood Bible didn't win?
So - I'll still add my comments on the books I've enjoyed but which haven't got to the last 6 ... and try to get my hands on the remaining 3 which I haven't yet read!
This is the downside of shadowing a literary prize - the moment at which the shortlist overtakes your reading and you're looking at the next book in the to-read pile and thinking - but isn't that one a bit of a loser? Yet if I look back on previous Orange prizes I can find ones that didn't make it from the longlist, but which still gave me pleasure - The Lovely Bones in 2003; Niagara Falls all over again and The Secret Life of Bees in 2002; and what about 1999, when Mantel's The Giant O'Brien didn't get onto the shortlist, and Kingsolver's masterly and still-loved Poisonwood Bible didn't win?
So - I'll still add my comments on the books I've enjoyed but which haven't got to the last 6 ... and try to get my hands on the remaining 3 which I haven't yet read!
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