On the Dreaded Reading Blues.

Reading Blues: We all get them from time to time. What helps you overcome those reading slumps when nothing seems to grab your attention?

 - Ginger at GReads

I love reading. I love it a lot, ridiculously a lot. Wherever I am, a book is never far away. Normally, my motto is so many books, so little time!The only thing that stops me immediately losing myself in another world within the covers of a book is the question of which do I read first? 

And yet, even I get the occasional reading slump, when no matter how many books are piled up in front of me, in all kinds of genres and categories, I don't really want to read any of them. In these days, I could wander into a library, or a bookshop with £20 in book tokens, and come out empty-handed. In these times I actually feel a little panicky wandering the aisles, knowing that the right book is in there somewhere - but where? Why don't I want to read any of these books? Is my brain broken?

I find that the best way to cope with these times is to reread an old favourite. I've plenty of those: Anne of Green Gables, Neverwhere, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings to name just a few.

The other thing is - gasp! - to allow myself not to read. Instead I spend my evenings catching up on DVDs of the many TV series I never saw when they were first aired (like Firefly and The Big Bang Theory) or films, or do some kind of craftwork - I have a cross-stitch on the go at the moment, a thing you can't do with your eyes on a book! The reading blues don't tend to last very long, and when they're over, the books will still be there, waiting patiently.

It's Friday! Let's talk literary lovers.

It's a beautiful day here on the Isle of Wight, and I've spent the last two days in the garden with my nose in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, being lucky enough to have a four-day weekend this week. (Hurrah!)

Despite my crazy to-read list (which I swear has a life of its own and is possibly breeding without my help) I've been back in the bookshops again - quite aside from when I've been working! - and invested in four new YA books: Paranormalcy, Ballad, Amy and Roger's Epic Detour and What I Saw And How I Lied. I've made a start on Amy and Roger, but I'll give these books more attention when I've finished the Potter series.

At GReads, Ginger asked:

Mr and Mrs: Who are your favourite book couples?

Firstly, I have a confession to make: I'm not a big fan of the mushy stuff. (Shocking, I know!) For the most part, romance in books is a thing to be tolerated as long as it doesn't get in the way of the plot. So I don't tend to get excited about most couples. A lot of books are full of lovable, funny, lively or sweet characters who pair up and make each other happy. But for me, it takes more than that for me to think of them as "a couple" rather than "two characters who fall in love with each other." There has to be a special dynamic between the characters, people who complement each other. Their relationship is almost like a third character itself, where together they are stronger than each person apart. Which is not to say that either character is nothing without the other! If you've got two non-characters, then you get a non-relationship.

I think it's quite rare to find that kind of special relationship in modern teen fiction, probably because there is such a prevalence of love triangles. As I once tried to explain to a former Creepy Stalker trying to ask my advice on which of two girls he ought to ask out: if there's any question about it, if it's not obvious, then surely neither one is right to be with right now. That's my take on it, anyway.

So, who are those literary lovers whose relationship is so strong it softens even my hard heart? 

Exhibit A: Anne Shirley and Gilbert Bythe, from the Anne of Green Gables series. They meet when Anne is eleven years old, and Gilbert makes a very poor first impression when he makes fun of her red hair, causing her to smash her slate over his head. Anne doesn't speak to Gilbert for years after this insult. Yet he's always present in her mind, as an enemy and a rival in school, even though she might protest her indifference to him. They become friends eventually, however, and it's quite clear that Gilbert thinks Anne is something special. But to Anne, Gilbert is just a very dear friend - or so she thinks. But he will keep appearing in her thoughts and getting in the way when she's trying to daydream!

[Anne's "home o'dreams"] was, of course, tenanted by an ideal master, dark, proud and melancholy; but oddly enough, Gilbert Blythe persisted in hanging about too, helping her arrange pictures, lay out gardens, and accomplish sundry other tasks which a proud and melancholy hero evidently considered beneath his dignity.

Bless her, she's in love and she doesn't even realise it! The great thing about the Anne series is that it doesn't just end with the happily-ever-after of a typical "romance," but shows them through their engagement living apart, married life and onto their own children, their love staying strong through good and bad times, and even when they might not necessarily be feeling "in love."

Exhibit B is drawn from the Bard himself: Benedick and Beatrice, the original love/hate relationship from Much Ado About Nothing. Both swear that they will never marry, show disdain for the opposite sex and put all their energy into trying to score points off the other - but they are so perfectly suited. No one else can match them in wit, and I have the impression that their surface antagonism hides a real enjoyment from their banter and wordplay with each other. It doesn't take a lot, really, for them to be persuaded into love with each other. To quote C. S. Lewis: "They were so used to quarreling and making it up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently." Here's their first scene together, as portrayed by Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson.



Runners-up:


Arthur and Molly Weasley - Harry Potter series. Ron's parents have been married for over twenty years and brought up seven children, and it is quite clear that Molly wears the trousers in the family. An angry Mrs Weasley is not a sight anyone likes to see up close, and Mr Weasley appears to be a typical hen-pecked husband, but the couple have a real love for each other which shines through, even when Mrs Weasley is shouting at her husband again for meddling with the muggle technology that he is so fond of. 


Sam and Sybil Vimes - Discworld novels. When we first meet Sam Vimes, Captain of the City Watch, he is an angry, cynical drunk who is going nowhere. Lady Sybil Ramkin - is a jolly-hockey-sticks type of noblewoman who dresses in her scruffiest clothes and looks after sick dragons. She is a sensible, motherly woman who is able to stand up for herself and her loved ones, maybe a toned-down version of Molly Weasley. It's clear that Sam and Sybil need each other. Vimes is too forceful a character to allow himself to be wrapped around his wife's finger, but she can firmly but gently persuade him to do things he doesn't want to, when no one else can. It is Sybil, and Vimes' love for her that saves him from the darkness inside himself.

Finally - a late addition to my favourite couples list - Faramir and Eowyn - Lord of the Rings. We don't get to see much of them together; in fact they don't even meet until near the end of the book. Eowyn is always described as a cold, strong, beautiful woman; she's full of love for her country, Rohan, as much courage and skill on the battlefield as her brother, but always she is forbidden from proving her worth because she is a woman. She is in love with warrior king Aragorn - or in love with the idea of him - and full of despair for the future. Then she meets Faramir, who does not view her with condescension, but respect and admiration for a remarkable woman. He offers her hope, and when she allows herself to fall in love with him, she is able to let down her guard without worrying about looking weak. Both know what it is to carry all of the burdens of their family and none of the glory - Faramir, though a respected soldier and wise, clever man, was always overshadowed by his elder brother Boromir. This is a marriage of equals, and the scene in which they realise their love for each other has always made me go a little bit swoony inside.

Miscellaneous Friday Update

Hi everyone. I'm sorry for the sparseness of updates in the last few weeks. I've been spending a lot more time out of doors than usual while the weather's been good. I've even been in the sea - not to be recommended. The weather was hot, but the sea had not warmed up much, and it was painfully cold, with huge, surf-worthy waves. I've also got sunburnt shoulders - ouch!

When I wasn't on the beach or in the garden, I've been interviewed by the website Gatekeeper's Post about my reading and reviewing habits, and  have been contacted by a couple of people offering me free review copies of books. Now, I know a lot of bloggers receive free books for publicity, but until now I've only reviewed books I've bought or borrowed myself, so it's quite exciting for me.

Richard and Judy Book Club 2011 Winner:

I've been reviewing some of the Richard and Judy book club recommendations since Christmas. This book club has given a lot of publicity of many modern classics, such as My Sister's Keeper, The Lovely Bones and The Time Traveller's Wife. This year I thought the books I reviewed were a very average bunch, the only ones of note being Room by Emma Donoghue, which was also featured on the TV book club and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. Yesterday the winner was announced as You're Next by Gregg Hurwitz, one of the three I haven't read. My outspoken colleague described it as "the only decent Richard and Judy book I've read, but it's a bit gruesome. Very gruesome. You might not like it." Not having read it, I wouldn't be able to say, but nevertheless, well done to Mr Hurwitz.

The books for Richard and Judy's Summer Reads have already started coming into the shop. Again, I will aim to read and review about half - especially if they are BOGOF.

My 2011 Richard and Judy Book Reviews:

Room - Emma Donogue

The Postmistress - Sarah Blake

This Perfect World - Suzanne Bugler

Hothouse Flower - Lucinda Riley

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 2) trailer:

Fourteen years after the publication of the first Harry Potter book, and ten years after the first movie, there is not much time left until the story is complete. The last installment of the film trilogy is to reach the cinemas in just a couple of months, and the first trailer was released yesterday. It looks terribly exciting, and I can't wait to see it, but it will be sad when there are no more installments to come. The book was published just after I finished university, but was still living in my student house, and, far away from people who might spoil the story for me, I took my time to read and savour the last chance of reading a Harry Potter book for the first time. I must remember to take tissues with me; there is one moment in the book that is so heartbreaking, that was so unexpected, that I think I can't bear to watch it. A second or two of that scene is shown in the trailer. Be warned: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is ruthless and devastating, but a wonderful piece of storytelling, and I look forward to the film adaptation. The films have been getting better and better with each chapter. Deathly Hallows part 2 should be amazing.

Listen to that music at the beginning! The theme tune that was so magical and quirky and twinkly in the first film, slowed down to something ghostly and mournful. It's hard to realise this is the same series. I could talk about this trailer scene by scene, but I shan't.

Coming Soon:

This year, after watching my to-read pile grow and grow, divide into two piles and breed, I determined to give up buying books for Lent. As well as a few rereads of Pratchett, Gaiman and Montgomery, and a couple of books borrowed from the library, I calculate that I reduced my pile by ten books during that time. Yesterday - payday - after work, I went down to the rival bookshop, the first time I'd been in there since the World Book Night event, and bought some more books to add to the pile: Stories edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio, Skippy Dies by Paul Murray, The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill and Witch Light by Susan Fletcher. I've also borrowed The White Queen and The Red Queen from a colleague, and am slowly working my way through Sebastian Faulks' Charlotte Gray.

TGIF at GReads

Today Ginger asks: "Stand Alone vs. Series: what's your stance?"




Thinking as a writer, I prefer writing stand-alone stories. I start out with characters, a situation, write their story and solve their problem. Once I've brought them to their "happy-ever-after," (or not) I'd rather leave them there. I don't like "sequelitis," when the perfect resolution of the first story is undone to create enough plot for the second, as often happens in films and books. I say it's best to bring a story to its natural conclusion, and then stop. If you have enough story for a series, then by all means write it! I love the Harry Potter books, and Anne of Green Gables - although the later books aren't as good as the first, a combination of sequelitis and the author running out of plot and interest. But I do wonder if a lot of stories - especially fantasy and Young Adult - are being drawn out across three or four volumes for the sake of it. Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series is the prime example. I read up to book 5, and the story seemed no nearer a resolution than it was in the first book. Jordan died a few years ago, leaving his story to be finished by someone else, and I wonder if the end was in sight even then. I think there were originally going to be ten books in the series, then twelve, now we're on volume 13 and still not finished. I'd like to read more series of stand-alone books featuring the same characters, rather than the multi-volume sagas that are in fashion at the moment.