The Bones of a Good Story: Richard III

Feb6

I was ridiculously excited to hear about the discovery of the mortal remains of Richard of York this week. Those of you who have been with me for a while will recall that one of my Landing Eight titles featured an examination of the alleged crimes of the Yorkist king. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is one of my all time favourite books and was included on the blog as a re-read. As far as I know it is still in print, but if not, then this seems to be an ideal moment for a reprint of a title that is a great introduction to Richard III’s life and career.

I have found a couple of news snippets to illustrate the story of the research and discovery of the remains, including a fascinating piece about the facial reconstruction carried out:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21328380

As Phillipa Langley of the Richard III Society says, “It doesn’t look like the face of a tyrant. I’m sorry but it doesn’t. “He’s very handsome. It’s like you could just talk to him, have a conversation with him right now.”

The video below was taken from YouTube and produced by the University of Leicester:

After 500 years Richard III will once more formally be laid to rest. But what of his shady reputation? Perhaps it is time for another appraisal of his life and times; maybe he will yet be posthumously acquitted of his crimes. We will wait and see…

In the meantime, tomorrow I welcome a visitor to The Landing, as debut author Sarah Moore Fitzgerald talks about the inspiration behind her time travelling YA novel Back to Blackbrick (published by Orion on the 7th February).

So enjoy catching with the news on Richard III and look out for another edition of #LandingAuthor here tomorrow…

One Year on the Landing: A Literary Milestone

Feb2

A rather smart binding…

I am pleased to say that today is the First Anniversary of The Landing Book Shelves Reading Challenge. There was a time when I thought that I would fall by the wayside, but I am pleased that I managed to stick with it this far. I have enjoyed having a go at blogging and I have taught myself a few WordPress skills in the process. Having the blog has also ‘landed’ me with a marvellous excuse for reading more books! Of course when I have finally finished my Landing Eight bit of the Reading Challenge then I will simply have to begin all over again with another random pile culled from the shelves.

By way of an anniversary (or perhaps it should be birthday?) gesture I have chosen to post up a rather jolly picture from The Diary of a Nobody, depicting Mr and Mrs Poooter taking a few frivolous turns around the room. The occasion for celebration was their invitation to a party at the Mansion House. The illustrations, drawn by Weedon Grossmith are so good that it would be difficult to pick a favourite, but this one fits my purpose today just nicely.

The drawing captures the exuberance of the moment as the couple whirl around the room in anticipation of the social event of the year. Not surprisingly, the maid picks that moment to enter the room. Sarah witnesses her otherwise respectable employers dancing in the parlour:

I cannot tell what induced me to do it, but I seized her round the waist, and we were silly enough to be executing a wild kind of polka when Sarah entered, grinning, and said: “There is a man, mum, at the door who wants to know if you want any good coals”. Most annoyed at this.

A merry dance…

It is not clear whether Mr Pooter is annoyed at the interruption of his impromptu dance session or at being caught doing something silly by the maid. The episode describing the actual Mansion House dinner and ball is very entertaining as Mr Pooter is rather shocked to find that some of the tradespeople he deals with have also been invited. I do urge anyone who has not yet encountered the Pooters and their friends to get hold of a copy forthwith and make their acquaintance.

Meanwhile I will be busy with Mary Robinette Kowal’s February letter writing challenge Month of Letters (hashtag #lettermo) and embarking upon a web design course. I also hope to have a bash at reading another book from the Landing Eight challenge.

Until soon (I hope!)…

Latest on the Landing : Mr Pooter

Jan28

Progress…

You may have noticed that things have been rather quiet of late on the Landing. Rest assured that I have not been entirely idle, merely adjusting to the demands of the New Year (it usually takes me until well into January to become accustomed to the year). After reading my way through a mini crime wave in library books, I have finally started reading the latest on the Landing Eight list. That’s probably as far as my New Year resolutions for my Reading Challenge will take me in the short term.

I have opted to read The Diary of Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith (Guild Publishing 1981) as my next book since I felt that this potentially dreary time of the year deserved a little light comedy. The edition that I have on the shelves dates back to the early 1980s when I was in the throes of a book club binge. By ‘book club’ I mean the kind where you promise to buy a book every month (possibly forever) after being lured in by a too good to be true special offer. Eventually I weaned myself off this habit after spending rather a lot of money. I did however end up with the guts of a decent classics collections so it was not all bad news by any means.

All in all then, I feel it is high time that I tackled this comedy classic (originally published in 1894) which has been languishing on our shelves for so long. Charles Pooter is a lower middle class clerk who lives with his beloved wife Carrie (Caroline) in a respectable London suburb. Mr Pooter’s diary describes his day-to day life over a period of fifteen months, telling of his battles with recalcitrant tradespeople and forays into ‘Society’ as well as quiet evenings at home with his friends.

I will return to Mr and Mrs Charles Pooter anon. Meanwhile, I will leave you with the diarist’s own words to give you a little taster, while I go off and finish the book:

First edition

Why should I not publish my diary?

I have often seen reminiscences of people

I have never even heard of, and I fail

to see-because I do not happen to be

a ‘Somebody’ – why my diary should

not be interesting. My only regret is

that I did not commence it when I was

a youth.

(The illustration of the first edition of The Diary of a Nobody was taken from Wikipedia)

Letter Writing Challenge

Jan15

Month of Letters (#LetterMo)

I know it might seem rather conceited to be re-blogging myself (albeit with a different hat), but I am keenly awaiting the start of February to get stuck into letter writing. This will be the second year that I have tackled Mary Robinette Kowal’s wonderful letter writing challenge. The re-blog is to help spread the letter writing bug as far and wide as possible!

Meanwhile I will be working on the next instalment of the Landing Reading Challenge…

Irish News Review

I know we are not yet clear of January but I am already looking ahead to February’s comparatively brief span. The reason for all of this eagerness is that the second month of the year has been designated as ‘letter-writing season’. If you are even the slightest bit intrigued by that idea, then read on:

Last year I participated in the ‘Month of Letters’ challenge set up by American writer Mary Robinette Kowal, although I discovered the challenge too late to be able to begin on time. I enjoyed making the effort to write more letters and postcards to family and friends than I usually manage. Most people I know still love to have something more cheering than a utility bill plopping onto their doormat in the morning. And in this year of ‘The Gathering’ it seems a good idea to get writing to all of those friends…

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Janus strikes again…

Jan13

I am still trying to get my head around January and I am still working out where I want to go this year (and indeed, how I propose getting there) so Alison Wells’ January Project has provided food for thought. Take a look at Alison’s blog if your mental processes need a gentle kick up the proverbial…

Alison Wells Author

This series of articles running through January will explore ways of keeping our head above water in physical, mental, emotional and creative areas. There will be creative challenges, competitions and giveaways. For the full background see here.

A busy day today so I have just time for a flying post. I saw a link this morning to English actor Benedict Cumberbatch reading John Keats ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ and Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky.

The luxuriance of Ode to a Nightingale reminded me of the experience of studying poetry in school, of being immersed in a poem, of committing sections of it to memory, of speaking the words and feeling the rhythm of them, becoming familiar with them. Listening to the reading of Ode to a Nightingale and the nonsense poem Jabberwocky I realised that in my quest to be a writer in the middle of a prosaic family life, I read…

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My New Year Message: Janus

Jan8

Book, books, books…

I was pondering the vexed question of what my first post for 2013 should be: progress report on the Landing Eight; review of last year’s books; looking ahead to this year’s reading or maybe about tackling a new angle in my Reading Challenge.

Finally, I decided to side step all of the above and feature a paragraph that I wrote on a previous New Year for Paragraph Planet:

New Year, New You. Ring out the old and ring in the new. In Janus’s month twixt past and future we try diets, makeovers, new resolutions and evening classes. De-clutter, downsize and de-tox; perhaps try yoga classes or join a gym. Pilates sounds good, there’s a special offer too. Then comes the inevitable backslide into laziness, excuses and over indulgence. That two-faced Janus strikes again. New you, old you, which do you want to be?

The above question was posed and previously published New Year 2011 (and no, I didn’t try the de-tox)

Let me know if you have made any resolutions, literary or otherwise! Drop them in the comment box below.

Meanwhile I’ll leave you with a link to a piece I wrote this week for the Irish News Review featuring a couple of Reading and Writing Challenges to give you a little zest…

A Happy New Year from The Landing!

Dec31

As 2012 draws to a close and 2013 creeps tantalizingly nearer, I will leave you with a final poem from Read Me and Laugh (edited by Gaby Morgan) about a topic that causes much angst at the turn of the year:

‘New Year Resolution’ (by Steve Turner)

Funny poems galore

It was January the 1st

I turned over a new leaf

It was clean on the top side

But had bugs underneath.

This says it all really: behind every good resolution is a creepy crawly waiting to get us. It is also quite an evocative image to any gardener, conjuring up visions of pesky greenfly.

I have yet to make any resolutions although I have signed up for a new course so I suppose that counts in my favour. I usually try to come up with a book challenge, but as I still have to finish my Landing Eight selection I may have to shelve (ha, ha) that idea for a while.

Meanwhile, if any readers would like to let me know about their reading resolutions, please drop a line in the comment box.

Wishing all of my blog and Twitter followers and anyone else who stumbles into The Landing Bookshelves:

‘A very Happy and Peaceful New Year!

‘Ring out the old, Ring in the new!

A seasonal peal…

Post-Challenge Bonus Book: Andersen

Dec27

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas (with plenty of new books to read) and that you are enjoying the peaceful hiatus between one set of festivities and the next. You may have even begun to ponder the dreaded New Year’s Resolution question.

But as Christmas is not yet over (there are Twelve days of Christmas after all) I am taking the opportunity to squeeze in one more tinselly title before normal service is resumed on the Landing Book Shelves. As I think I have mentioned during the course of the Advent Calendar Challenge, I try to add a Christmas book to our shelves every year.

The Fir Tree

This year’s choice fell upon The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen in a new edition illustrated by Finnish designer Sanna Annukka (Hutchinson, 2012). Annukka’s beautiful geometric style illustrations give the book a contemporary feel without detracting from the magic of this classic fable. The volume is produced as a cloth bound hard backed book with Annuka’s designs decorating the end papers.

Perhaps this is an apt choice for post-Christmas /pre-New Year since I am sure we could all learn a lesson from the little fir tree who realised too late that he should have been living in the present and making the most of what he had:

“It’s over, it’s over!” said the poor tree. “If only I had enjoyed it while I could. It’s over, it’s over!”

Hmm, I can feel a New Year’s Resolution coming on….

By the way, if anyone is interested in Sanna Annukka’s work the link to her website is here with some fabulous designs. I may well return to Hans Christian Andersen at a future date as there are many lovely editions of his stories available. In the meantime…

Enjoy the rest of the festive season, folks!

Advent Reading Challenge: Nativity

Dec24

24th December

Jesus’ Christmas Party written and illustrated by Nicholas Allan (taken from The Hutchinson Treasury of Children’s Literature, 1995). This story was first published in 1991 (Hutchinson Children’s Books).

Curl up with a story…

Well, we are finally at Christmas Eve and on the last day of the Landing Advent Calendar. Today’s offering comes from a compendium of stories and poems that I bought many years before I ever became a parent. I was going through a phase of collecting children’s literature at the time and this newly published collection fitted the bill to a tee. It is still in print (though scheduled for a reprint at present) and well worth buying.

This story is a humorous re-telling of The Nativity, from the point of view of a much put upon innkeeper:

There was nothing the innkeeper liked more than a good night’s sleep.
But that night there was a knock at the door.
“No room,” said the innkeeper.
“But we’re tired and have travelled through night and day.”
“There’s only the stable round the back. Here’s two blankets. Sign the register.”
So they signed it: “Mary and Joseph.”

But as I am sure everyone has worked out, there was to be no rest for the innkeeper that night. He became more and more exasperated with all of the comings and goings (including a request for an extra blanket) so that when he heard the noise the Heavenly Host were making….

“RIGHT – THAT DOES IT!”

So he got out of bed, stomped down the stairs, threw open the door, went round the back, stormed into the stable, and was just about to speak when –

Away in a Manger….

Now, I think you can probably guess how it all ended, but if not, then you will have to read the story for yourself. There is a recent edition of Nicholas Allan’s book available, published in 2011 which would be a nice addition to any Christmas library.

So it only remains for me to wish all of my regular readers (and anyone else who drops by The Landing) a very ‘Merry Christmas’ indeed!

I would love to know which pieces were your favourites – so do drop me a line to let me know..

Advent Reading Challenge: Santa (again)

Dec23

23rd December

Another Night Before Christmas by Carol Ann Duffy, illustrated by Rob Ryan (Picador, 2010)

The Advent Calendar is now drawing to a close and I hope this trawl though some seasonal children’s literature has been as enjoyable

Another Night…

for you as it has for me. Today’s calendar slot features a fairly recent publication by Carol Ann Duffy re-telling ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (see here). I bought this when it was first published as that year’s contribution to the festive library.

In this poem, a small girl decides to stay up late and see if Father Christmas really exists:

On the night before Christmas, a child in a house,
As the whole family slept, behaved just like a mouse…
And crept on soft toes down red-carpeted stairs.
Her hand held the paw of her favourite bear.
…
It’s a fact that a faraway satellite dish,
Which observes us from space, cannot know what we wish.
Its eye’s empty socket films famine and greed,
But cannot see Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.
…
Though she lived in an age where celebrity rules
And when most of the people were easily fooled,
By TV and fashion, by money and cars,
The little girl knew that here was a real STAR!

I like the modern twist here of Santa being compared to the twenty-first celebrity culture and coming out as the only true star on the horizon. Duffy captures the magic of Christmas that we as adults would still like to believe in. The black and white illustrations from Rob Ryan are striking: beautifully detailed and magical in themselves.

Only one more day to go…