sarahmatthews

sarahmatthews, 3 days ago to bookstodon

I had a sudden craving for Barbara Pym last week and thoroughly enjoyed rereading A Glass of Blessings, 1958, in which we follow Wilmet’s life in her suburban London parish. Full of quirky characters, it’s a great read! #bookstodon #BookReview #Storygraph @bookstodon
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/e7b574c0-ecaf-4a84-a30f-d3021490ad35

sarahmatthews, 4 days ago to Pubtips

ElevenLabs are getting in on #audiobooks uh oh via The Publishing Post | “Amidst widespread fears, in the publishing sector and beyond, about the prospect of a future labour market with jobs lost to generative AI, the collaboration has been met with scepticism.”
#bookstodon #publishing @bookstodon https://www.thepublishingpost.com/post/harpercollins-to-use-ai-narration-in-non-english-audiobooks

sarahmatthews, 14 days ago to books

That last boost from @NewDoorBooks led me to this interesting article on Dorothy L Sayers during WW2 #bookstodon #reading #history @bookstodon | “From September 1940 onwards her letters reported bombs near her London flat, the neighbouring property to her solicitor being ‘blown right down’, the destruction of her favourite milk bar near where she used to work and that of St Alban’s, Holborn, and devastation in Bloomsbury. She described Witham as ‘reasonably bomb free”, however. The only moment of interest was “a bit of a rocket, which sailed into the garden on Christmas Eve.’”
https://blogs.bl.uk/english-and-drama/2023/10/wartime-correspondence-of-dorothy-l-sayers.html

sarahmatthews, 18 days ago to bookstodon

The #WomensPrize shortlist for 2024 has just been announced! I’ve not read any of them yet but a couple are tempting - The Wren, The Wren and Restless Dolly Maunder. Shame Western Lane didn’t make it #bookstodon @bookstodon Announcing the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist! - Women's Prize : Women's Prize https://womensprize.com/announcing-the-2024-womens-prize-for-fiction-shortlist/

sarahmatthews, 22 days ago to Pubtips

uh oh, more AI experiments where they’re not needed! - “For readers, Hypnovels represents a new way to experience books aimed at making reading interesting for the ficklest audiences.” 🙃 #bookstodon #Publishing #reading @bookstodon

https://www.fastcompany.com/91090219/ai-artificial-intelligence-hypnovels-novels-video-pj-pereira?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

sarahmatthews, 29 days ago to deaf

We watched a bit of the Newcastle / Tottenham match earlier and were impressed to see this new initiative to include deaf fans more fully #deaf #HearingLoss #accessibility #disability @disability | RNID goes to the Premier League! - RNID https://rnid.org.uk/2024/04/rnid-goes-to-the-premier-league/

sarahmatthews, 29 days ago to mastoblind

For anyone in the UK who’s an experienced #Braille reader, this looks like a great project to get involved in #blind #PartiallySighted @mastoblind | Exciting Opportunity to Help Shape the Future of Braille Learning – The Braillists Foundation https://www.braillists.org/uncategorised/exciting-opportunity-to-help-shape-the-future-of-braille-learning/

sarahmatthews, 1 month ago to books

#BookReview The Fortnight in September by R C Sheriff
Read on audio
Narrator: David Thorpe for RNIB
persephone Books
Pub. 1931, 304pp

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I chose this book when I was in need of some comfort and it’s so wonderful I already know I’ll be reading it again in future. The story follows an ordinary family from Dulwich on their travels down to Bognor Regis for two weeks’ holiday, which they do every year. The routine ordinariness is the appeal and I related to many of the situations and feelings of the family, both in remembering being a child and now as a parent of a 12 year old. It’s staggering really how relevant the concerns expressed are to modern family life, given it was written in 1931. I definitely related to their anxiety about getting the train:
“There was plenty of time as there always is, if you panic sufficiently early and get it over with… there were so many little things that might happen, something forgotten that must be gone back for, a queue at the booking office window, a hich in labelling the luggage…one remote reason always haunted Mr Stephens with unreasoning and ridiculous fear; it was the possibility of a passing lady fainting or accidentally falling down. it would mean stopping and helping her up, brushing down her dress, picking up her umbrella and bag, possibly her spectacles. it was not that Mr Stephens lacked humanity or courtesy, it was simply the agonising delay that might be caused; for under such circumstances you cannot leave a lady with the cold blooded statement that you have a train to catch.”
The writing continues in this delightful way throughout their journey and, as there’s so much to say, they finally manage to get to the beach during Chapter 13!
We hear the anxieties and observations of each of the family as the story progresses and the characters are so beautifully written. the three children are growing up and there’s a melancholy atmosphere as they all reflect on their times at Bognor and wonder if this year will be their last.
I’ve been enjoying this gentle read at breakfast over the last couple of weeks and have loved every minute, I’m really going to miss it!
#Bookstodon #books #AmReading @bookstodon

ChrisMayLA6, 1 month ago to london

This week I've been mainly reading, no. 142.

Ami Rao's short novel Boundary Road (2023) is set on a London Bus & relates the multicultural interactions of London through the journey (and inner reflections) of two passengers. It brings the two narratives together in a pay off that while (sort of predictable) remains a reflection of what London has become. As an ex-Londoner this struck me very much as a London novel of our time, showing both the good & bad of the city!

#London
@bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 1 month ago to bookstodon

One for fellow UK Daphne du Maurier fans #bookstodon @bookstodon | This Wednesday (27th March) on BBC 4 two #DaphneDuMaurier programmes will be broadcast - the biographical drama, Daphne, and the interview, Daphne du Maurier talks to Wilfred De'Ath They will then be available on BBC iPlayer
https://www.dumaurier.org/mobile/index.php

sarahmatthews, 1 month ago to art

At the weekend I attended a brilliant event at the British Library in central London for blind and partially sighted people themed around portraits. I was excited to go because unusually there was the opportunity to get creative in response to the audio described works.
The workshop was run by artist Karly Allen who obviously had years of experience because her description of the 2 artworks we were introduced to was comprehensive and very natural.
We talked about a portrait of novelist Hilary Mantel by Nick Lord and a marble bust of King George III by Peter turnereli from the British Libry’s collection and were given a tactile drawing of them both which were printed using a Zychem machine which I desperately want to get my hands on now! I found them really pleasant to feel and although I did need the description to make full sense of the diagrams I felt they were very useful.
After the descriptions we were given a small circular frame and some clay along with some tools and Karly talked us through ideas of how we could get creative. I decided to use the various tools to draw into the clay which I’d filled the frame with and smoothed down. It was hard to get started and I experimented a bit and smoothed it out and started again several times. I kept in mind that the frame would be filled with plaster of paris and the clay discarded to make a tactile relief sculpture so whatever I drew would come out backwards. I cheated a bit and didn’t attempt a portrait as working in this way was new to me and my first attempts were awfully confusing! I decided to do an illustration of a flower instead because as I’m totally blind I couldn’t go back and add to the marks I’d made, I just had to go for it in one go, imagining the drawing as I went. I did ask my PA to tell me where there were some gaps so I could ad a couple of details which was helpful. I wasn’t the only person to take this approach.
We had a break for lunch and then went up to see the 2 artworks in the galleries and discuss them further while our sculptures set.
It was so exciting to feel the end result when we returned and we passed our creations around which got us talking to new people. Before the workshop I’d felt nervous about trying to do something creative again after 10 years of being blind and although it was frustrating at first I was relieved to find that we were encouraged to just get stuck in and have a go in any way we felt comfortable. I’ll definitely be returning to the library for future events of this kind!
#blind #PartiallySighted #Deafblind #audiodescription #TactileArt #art #creativity #inclusion #libraries #Disability

sarahmatthews, 1 month ago to books

One of my favourite book bloggers is Moira of Clothes in Books who writes mostly about classic crime. She’s writing about every Agatha Christie novel but hit on a dodgy one recently, Elephants Can Remember (1972), which she struggled to find much positive to say about. Anyone read it?! #bookstodon #reading @bookstodon

https://clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2024/03/elephants-can-remember-by-agatha.html?m=1

sarahmatthews, 2 months ago to bookstodon

Just finished Marking Time, the second in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s wonderful Cazalet Chronicle, set during WW2. again the characterisation is brilliant and the story so engaging. I’ve written a little more about it here #bookstodon #BookReview #Storygraph @bookstodon
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/78afd24c-f0e5-4abc-b5d2-dce638a6805d

sarahmatthews, 2 months ago to books

It’s #WomensPrize longlist announcement Day! Watch out for it on their website at 6pm #bookstodon #reading #books #publishing @bookstodon | Women’s Prize For Fiction https://womensprize.com/prizes/womens-prize-for-fiction/

sarahmatthews, 2 months ago to books

I wonder if this book, Julia by Sandra Newman, will make it onto the Women’s Prize longlist next week? It sounds like a really intriguing idea - a retelling of Orwell’s 1984 from the perspective of Julia! I reread the original about 10 years ago now so am very tempted to read it again then read this novel #bookstodon #books #AmReading @bookstodon
https://shows.acast.com/sara-cariads-weirdos-bookclub/episodes/julia-by-sandra-newman-with-daniel-rigby

sarahmatthews, 2 months ago to bookstodon

#BookReview Boundary Road by Ami Rao
Read as ebook using a mix of Braille and text-to-speech
Everything With Words
Pub. 2023, 239pp

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I knew I was going to read this one as soon as I found out it’s about a bus journey through London. As much as I hated my various bus commutes many years ago I did at least enjoy the opportunity to indulge in a bit of people watching and the odd bit of eavesdropping, curious about all the many lives around me. So this book gave me a slice of that nostalgia!
Aron has just started a new job and is heading home on the No. 13 bus from Victoria to Boundary Road. He’s genuinely interested in other people’s lives and is an easy stranger to pass a few stops with. He takes the best seat on the bus – top left corner – and spends the ride pondering his life up to now and the possibilities for the future. His reflections on his early hopes as a talented footballer are woven in and we learn more about his family, his father’s arrival in England and struggles with alcohol, his grandmother Yvonne and mother Carol.
In the present we meet all kinds of characters as he travels including a man who shares the story of his first love and is persuaded to visit Aron’s shop for some new clothes in a charming accidental way, and a pregnant woman carrying twins. He’s on a high from his first day at work which has given him a renewed optimism after a dark period and this could explain why he’s so open with people.
Early on a young woman enters who Aron spots before she even gets on as she’s dressed unusually, and we suspect she’ll play a larger role later on.
We learn this is Nora as the perspective shifts in the secon part of the novel. I was so invested in Aron’s story that I didn’t connect quite so well with Nora, though she meets some interesting people including an architect who shares a story about his surprising reaction to a client’s painting, and also reflects on her own upbringing, further exploring the diversity of London’s population. I enjoyed the sharp observations from her perspective concerning the reaction to Aron:
“The elderly white couple on the seats two rows behind them turn their heads around anxiously, eyes darting here and there.two black youths fist-bumping directly in front of them with only one row in between. The woman… turns around and tries to catch Nora’s eye. It is a plea of sorts, a plea, as Nora understands, seeking solidarity. Nora pointedly looks away in these matters, her loyalty is unwavering.”
The final section is gripping and brilliantly written. This is a book with a hard-hitting message and I thought it delivers it very successfully.
i red this for @kaggsy59 and Lizzy’s #ReadIndies month
#bookstodon @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 2 months ago to disability

This is great from Jamie Hale, of the disabled-led UK arts organisation Criptic Arts, in The Guardian - “When you go to a restaurant tell them you know a wheelchair user who would like to visit and ask if they’ve got a ramp. The more they are asked about it, the more they’ll think about it.”
#Disability #inclusion #restaurants #accessibility @disability
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/feb/15/yes-it-can-be-hard-to-get-a-restaurant-table-but-it-can-be-impossible-if-youre-a-wheelchair-user-jay-rayner

sarahmatthews, 2 months ago to Pubtips

🙌Great to see the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction longlist announcement! The one I’m most likely to read is Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein, Here’s the full list #bookstodon #publishing @bookstodon | “From gripping memoirs and polemic narratives, to groundbreaking investigative journalism and revisionist history, these 16 titles will change the way you view the non-fiction section of the bookshop.
Whether you are a seasoned non-fiction reader or considering trying for the first time, with this list you have at your fingertips a breadth of titles that reflects the quality and ambition of non-fiction writing by women around the globe that spark curiosity and might just change the world.”

https://womensprize.com/announcing-the-2024-womens-prize-for-non-fiction-longlist/

ppatel, 2 months ago to random

reorganizing and downloading books from my library just made me realize that I have yet to read four of Annette Marie's books. This is a travesty. And, there's no way I'm going to be able to read all these books on my trrip. I do have other things to accomplish.

sarahmatthews, 3 months ago to bookstodon

I’ve just finished The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard, 1990, a truly memorable family saga set just before the Second World War and I’m so glad it’s the first of a series of 5 books! Some more thoughts on it here #bookstodon #BookReview #Storygraph #Braille @bookstodon
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/4f0860f2-821a-49e5-8741-38eb3ff6e80c