BOOKS BOOKS

I have been reading a lot of children's books lately and I am loving them. I have finished my children's literature course but everything I have learned  is still with me, everytime I read (any kind of book). When I was a child I was a voracious reader but not really of children's books; I disliked anything overly sentimental, so Winnie the Pooh and Paddington Bear weren't  my favourites. I liked reality; things I could relate to but growing up in South Africa meant that we were flooded with American literature as well as television which didn't really relate to me. As I got older and could read better and better I turned away from children's books (too childish for me!, attitude) and lost myself in some dark worlds ( Virginia Andrews and Robin Cook) and didn't really think very much about children's books again, until now! And now I realise how much I missed out! The power of books especially for the young is phenomenal - who knows where I would have ended up if I had only perservered with children's books.

I work in a school and decided to run a book club to shadow the Kate Greenaway Awards. As it is an infant school I chose the picture books for young children to look at with the children but also read what would ultimately break the record by winning both the Greenaway Medal as well as the Carnegie Medal : A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. The same author who only a year ago won the Carnegie for his final instalment of the Choas Walking trilogy, Monsters of Men.  The two books couldn't be more different but Ness's magic won again. The way an author can transport you from the life you live into the life of a character within a book by mere words on a printed page, never fails to astound me. I haven't come across an author who can do this as effortlessly as Ness does. He has a real skill for emotive writing but without over doing it, for writing simply but being able to engage you with huge themes such as death and truth. There was a quote I really liked which I was looking for after I had read the book, and whilst flicking to roughly the part of the book in which I knew it was in, I started reading everyword again and felt the pull of the book on my heart and before I knew it I was crying all over again and feeling like I had lost something very special to me. I did find the quote eventually, which is:

You do not write your life with words. You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.

(A Monster Calls, P.202)



This is a book for everyone because it deals with something we are all going to have to face eventually, the loss of someone we love. A powerful story, told beautifully both in text and image. It is a real treasure and deserving winner, twice over! 

Summer?

I have been gone a long while but the last few weeks have been a time for recovery for me. I completed my Hons degree at the end of May and have felt utterly bereft. It has been a strange time because for many years and certainly for the last nine months my life was consumed with reading and analysing and writing essays - then waiting for the results of those essays - reflecting and trying to improve which turned out to be quite intense, and then for it all to suddenly stop came at quite a shock! I got up in the morning, fired up the computer (it takes a while to get warmed up!!) then realised that actually I don't need to sit at it anymore, unless I want to catch up on emails or blogs. Then I would sort of wander around the house contemplating what I should do and what I wanted to do...

Now I feel a little better about my situation, I have picked up some of my unfinished crafts that I would like to finally finish ( like my daughter's quilt) and I haven't stopped reading either - which would have been totally out of character! I feel like now I have returned to the person I once was, so I am back to the world of blogging.....

Can't wait to get started on talking about some of the books I have read and am in the process of reading but that will have to wait for another day.......

Hopefully a sunny day.......

Book reviews - long overdue!

Well I have been neglecting my blogging time lately but I have been incredibly busy with reading and writing essays and working and running around for my activity mad children too. Phew that makes me feel a little better...

Well my son and I have finished the second instalment of Harry Potter and I must say that they are slowly growing on me. We both have a copy of the third book (because I was out charity shop hunting and forgot that I had already bought a copy of The Prizoner of Azkaban in Abergavenny) so we take turns reading to each other which is lovely. (He even corrects my pronunciation and the little omissions I seem to make - ooops).

I had to read a book that was highly controversial in the 1990s called Junk and initially after reading it I was outraged that something like this could be published for children! I mean the way the author glamourised heroin was terrible - How could this happen?? But as I chose to write an essay on it and I examined the book more closely with the authors intentions I soon saw that actually he was allowing children to make up their own minds about what the character did and gave them the opportunity to explore the situation rather than preaching down to them. I am sure that if I had read this book as a teenager I might have ultimate respect for him for doing so, but as I am a mother of a daughter roughly the age of his solipsistic character, I was fearful that something like this could happen so easily. It certainly made me think and remember that young people (just because they can act a bit dumb some of the time) are actually entirely capable of contextualising and analysing information for themselves.

I have just finished reading Treasure Island  and surprisingly I have enjoyed it more and more as I have read this book. Thank goodness for literature courses because otherwise I wouldn't have persevered with half as many of them and been introduced to others - What am I going to do when I finish in the summer? Join a book group? Start a book group? Read everything I can get my hand on? Hmmm well I will have to see. I have the task of writing my last ever assignment for my degree, so I had better get on with it I suppose!

Till the next time,

It has been a while ~ I have neglected my little bit of creative space partly because I haven't had the time and partly because I have been dealing with some dilemma that has arisen in my life lately. I am not prepared to divulge but it will be enough to say I have had a knock back - and I am picking myself up ~ slowly!

A few days ago I came across the Heather Small song again - which has always been an inspiration!

' I step out of the ordinary

 I can feel my soul ascending

 I'm on my way can't stop me now

 and you can do the same

What have you done today

to make you feel proud?'

I have been busy with reading too - of course! I have finished the whole Walking choas trilogy, Junk (more of that later!), Instances of the Number Three, The other side of Truth and A monster Calls! I have become a rather big Patrick Ness fan, which I know I have already said I am not a fanatical type person but I think Ness is the exception. I bought A Monster Calls because it is longlisted for the Kate Greenaway awards this year and after reading the Monsters of Men trilogy, I thought it would be interesting to see how he wrote for a (little bit) younger audience. It is so good - the illustrations are superb and I think he might win it. Even though I haven't even seen the other books in the category!

I am on the last leg of this long race that is my degree. I have spent many enjoyable yet frustrating years studying for an English degree whilst also being mummy and wife and the finish line is finally in sight. I have two assignments left (5000 words worth) and then I am DONE! I feel sad but excited too, because it is something that I have been working towards for such a long time! I am not sure how I will cope with out deadlines and stress over too many words but I reckon I'll be okay because I have a list of creative projects as long as my essay. I can't think about that yet though, I have to stay focussed on my next task.....

Till the next time

I can only reiterate: Ness is Genius!

Monsters of Men

DONE!! It was a gruelling read but oh my goodness it had me in its clutches that I just couldn't escape. The end was painful to read, I  had to keep stopping, steeling myself to be brave and hoping against what seemed like all hope that Ness was going to be gentle with me - which he wasn't - at one point I was enraged with him - how could he???? But then he redeemed himself spectacularly. I really don't like to give anything away, but all I kept thinking was I would never, ever in a million years picked up these books to read and do you know what, I would have missed out! Never have a set of books moved me so emotionally before - the style is simple but the themes are HUGE, a proper young adult book that some power driven adults would do good to read! I can not recommend these books enough - I was in awe from an artists point of view how exceptional Ness is at gripping the reader, making them question what they know and be utterly devastated by the events that happen essentially through words printed on a page! My heart still aches when I recall some things from these books - they will live with me forever! And strangely as hard as they were to read, it makes them all the more special! Thank-you Patrick Ness!

Another Book Update

My son and I have finished reading the first instalment of Harry Potter:

We both come to these books from different places - my son has seen all the films which I have never managed to stay awake for the entirety of any of the films (not sure what that says about me or the films) ~ anyhow I was constantly being interrupted by his interjections, 'that's not what happens' or 'I love this bit' etc which did make me chuckle but it also made me think about the differing pictures we must've had in our imaginations. His were of the actors and the settings from the films and mine although I haven't been able to escape the films entirely was a real mixture of what I have seen and what I had to make up for myself. I have to say I really like making those pictures up myself - I think the films have robbed my son to a certain extent of his creative imagination - it is a real shame! It is my fault of course - I should have read the books to him before the films obviously! That brings me on to my next point: I didn't get the Harry Potter hype and to a certain extent I still don't but I am not generally of a fanatic disposition. (Things I like - I like but wouldn't spend days camping to get the next book etc etc.) However after reading the first one I did enjoy the story, being taken to another world and lived the fantasy of being magical ( only a little bit - like I said not fanatical by nature!) I think thats where JK Rowling really did excel and for some reason critics have failed to notice is that she wrote FOR children. The simplicity is perfect for children with emerging literacy skills and the story line is exciting and full of a fantastical adventure that nearly any child anywhere can relate to whether it is the unhappy home life or the challenging school life or maybe it is the escapist element of their happy humdrum life but it is clear that Rowling knew a lot about children and what they like ~ CLEARLY, and yet she gets slated for it!

We are on Chapter 3 of the Chamber of Secrets and hopefully we will be able to get through the next 6 books before the year is out! My son is optimistic but when I saw the length of  the order of the phoenix I became a little worried! I hope I am as enthusiastic by December as I am now - we will see!

The Ask and the Answer {OMG}

OH MY GOSH!!! After my rather luke warm review of the first book - I feel a bit silly now as this book took my breath away! I hear the phrase, ' I couldn't put it down' so often, and have always wondered whether that is entirely true ~ I mean did you take it EVERYWHERE with you? Well this was a book that I literally couldn't put down - I went to work with it in my hand bag just in case I might get a chance to read a page or two, (highly unlikely! but nevertheless in it went) I took it shopping with me - who knows when I could've poked my nose in? As it came hurtling to the end of the book and definitely not the end of the story I read it while I walked from the car park to work and even drove with it on my lap, in case I hit a red light and would allow my self a few moments to read whilst I waited, (which I didn't!). It was a rollicking good, unexpected, brutal read! I don't like to give anything away because I like to read books without knowing what is going to happen but all I can say is Ness is genius! I picked up his final book with trepidation because I feel physically hurt by some of the stuff that happens and I am not sure if I am ready for the onslaught now - but I really want to know what is going to happen and more than anything I don't want to be disappointed!
The Ask is the best book I have read for a very very long time! I love the way it ends and then the next one picks up in the same time frame -  I hope Monsters of Men lives up to and even surpasses it!