sarahmatthews

sarahmatthews, 29 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, 2 months 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, 2 months 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 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, 3 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/

sarahmatthews, 3 months ago to random

It’s been a good day - had some great conversations and have some interesting volunteering work lined up. Also had an enquiry to teach #Braille to some #Deafblind learners in my local area who’re struggling to find anyone. I’ve no specific experience but would like to help if I possibly can as I do teach blind / partially sighted learners, so I’m now off down an internet rabbit hole to see if I can find some useful resources. Any advise from those in the know gratefully received!

sarahmatthews, 3 months ago to audiobooks

#BookReview The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Read on audio
Narrators: Alma Cuervo, Julia Whelan and Robin Miles
Simon & Schuster
Pub. 2017, 385pp

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I adored Daisy Jones and the Six by this author a few years ago and have been meaning to read another of her books since, so when I was ill and needed something to get engrossed in I got it on audio. I’d seen the press around the TV version of Daisy Jones winning at the Emmy’s (which I’ve not seen yet) and that reminded me of her novels.
This was the perfect choice for me as the story follows the life of a 50s movie star, Evelyn Hugo, told in flashbacks to a journalist, Monique Grant.
I knew there was going to be a twist at the end because it’s alluded to as you go along, and I did find myself trying to figure out what it would be, but mostly I was loving the gossipy nature of the story of an actress trying to force her way into Hollywood using any underhand methods she can think of, and her beauty of course.sometimes you just need a decade spanning saga to take you away from the present and this book did that so well. Definitely a case of the right book at the right time.
i very much enjoyed all the references to fashion, popular culture, the depiction of celebrity scandals and the character of Evelyn herself. Glamourous, selfish and ruthless, she’s got that indefinable star quality.
You can tell that the author had the time of her life researching this book and I enjoyed all the fictitious news articles that popped up at intervals.
My hunch about the ending proved to be pretty much what I suspected but I didn’t mind a bit! Overall a great plot-driven read about the artificiality of fame.
This book was published a couple of years before Daisy Jones and the Six and it’s fascinating to see how her writing developed. The latter is, for me, a much more successful book but this one is a great read too.
#bookstodon @bookstodon @audiobooks

sarahmatthews, 4 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

sarahmatthews, 4 months ago to Pubtips

Ignore the headline (Keanu isn’t mentioned again) and read this great balanced piece on celebrity authors… I think they’ve always been part of publishing but they’re selling in bigger numbers now - “In 2023, five of the top 20 bestselling paperback fiction books were written by celebrities”. It seems the temptation to tap into a ready-made audience is taking over like it did for the UK children’s book market a few years ago
#publishing #bookstodon #writing #GhostWriters @bookstodon
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/13/keanu-and-co-how-celebrities-became-bestselling-novelists?CMP=twt_books_b-gdnbooks

sarahmatthews, 4 months ago to random

Waking up before 7am wasn’t my plan for Sunday morning, but I have to admit there’s something special about reading in bed before everyone’s awake! #bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 4 months ago to audiobooks

#BookReview The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark
Read on audio
Narrator: Elizabeth Proud
Published 1960, 143pp

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This is a story which really starts at the end; a young woman, Dixie, is jilted at the altar and the narrative then rewinds several months to explore the run up to that day, in Spark’s quirky and unique style. We find out that many locals blame a newcomer, Dougal Douglas, for stirring up trouble and a few believe him to be the Devil himself!
Dougal’s a Scottish arts graduate who’s moved to London to be near his girl, Ginny, taking a room in lodgings (with Humphrey, the groom from the wedding) in Peckham. He’s got a ghost-writing commission for a retired actress, but also takes a job (in fact he sneakily takes two!) at the local textiles factories who’re following the current trend to employ an “arts man” to modernise the business and increase productivity.
Dougal is a brilliant creation, someone who knows how to influence and charm others. His interviews are very entertaining as his youthful confidence and self assurance allow him to take charge:
“Dougal put Mr Druce through the process of his smile which was wide and full of white young teeth…Mr Druce couldn’t take his eyes off Dougal, as Dougal perceived. ‘I feel I’m your man” dougal said ‘something told me so when I woke first thing this morning’ …Mr Douglas leaned forward and became a television interviewer. Mr Druce stopped walking and looked at him in wonder.”
He’s told to make the job his own and proceeds to charm the factory workers into sharing personal experiences in the name of ‘human research’. he takes notes for his reports and to embellish his book for Mrs Cheeseman which is meant to be largely autobiographical, resulting in some funny conversations when she tells him off for making too much up!
Everyone around him is caught up in this chaos as he advises people to take Mondays off, allows the local gang to believe he’s working for the police and shows people the scars where he’s had his ‘Devil’s horns’ removed.
I loved the depiction of South East London, including pubs and dancehalls, the old English garden and bowling green at Peckham Rye, and One Tree Hill. At one point Dougal and Merle Coverdale, the head of the typing pool, walk through Camberwell Old Cemetery and pass through the ornate tombs:
“He posed as an angel Devil, with his humped shoulder and gleaming smile and his fingers of each hand wide spread against the sky”
There are references to the Devil throughout but it’s never clear if he’s meant to be the literal Devil or not and I liked this ambiguity.
There were also some great scenes of scuffles on the Rye, indicating the simmering violence that continually threatens to erupt in this darkly funny novella. I recommend going back and reading the first chapter again when you finish, so clever!
#Bookstodon @bookstodon @audiobooks

sarahmatthews, 4 months ago to tea

My @tea today is a Christmas gift and it’s delicious, i’m enjoying it brewed in a glass teapot and a proper tea cup and saucer cos it’s the weekend and I love the ceremony of making it 🫖
~ "Darvilles of Windsor have been blending fine tea since 1860, and remain an established family business.

EARL GREY

The classic oriental blend, light and fragrant with the distinctive flavour of the Oil of Bergamot.” #DailyTea

sarahmatthews, 4 months ago to bookstodon

I’ve had a brilliant year of reading so had a look back today to come up with a top 10 books of 2023 list, in no particular order:
📚 Towards Zero, Agatha Christie, 1944
📚 Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan, 2021
📚 I’m A Fan, Sheena Patel, 2022
📚 Moshi-Moshi, Banana Yoshimoto, 2010
📚 less, andrew Sean Greer, 2017
📚 Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, 2022
📚 Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism, Elsa Sjunneson, 2021
📚 The Fashion In Shrouds, Margery Allingham, 1938
📚 A Month in the Country, J. L. Carr, 1980
📚 Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates, 1961
That was incredibly hard! These are the books I highly recommend and that stayed with me long after reading. Ask me again in a few days and I’ll probably give you a different list haha!
2023 has been my first year of posting book reviews here and it’s started some great conversations and led me to trying out Storygraph again where I’m now tracking my reading and adding reviews, and I’m finding it so much fun #bookstodon @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 4 months ago to bookstodon

A great list, via Electric Literature, this one’s definitely going on my reading list! - Almost Surely Dead by Amina Akhtar “Amina Akhtar, founding editor of The Cut, has written a novel about a woman who, having gone missing for a year, becomes the subject of a true-crime podcast. “Part thriller, part family saga, part supernatural horror, Almost Surely Dead will surprise you in the best way possible”
#bookstodon @bookstodon
https://electricliterature.com/75-books-by-women-of-color-to-read-in-2024/#content

sarahmatthews, 5 months ago to Pubtips

this is an interesting read on the struggle new, non-celebrity, authors are facing via The Walrus | “a self-fulfilling prophecy: the authors expected to attract the most attention and resources from consumers are given the most attention and resources by their publishers (which in turn helps them attract the most attention and resources from consumers).” #publishing #bookstodon #books @bookstodon
https://thewalrus.ca/how-do-you-even-sell-a-book-anymore/#content

sarahmatthews, 5 months ago to random

I’m off to bed with my Braille book and a cuppa so I’ll have enough energy for a meal out with friends later 🥱

sarahmatthews, 5 months ago to Pubtips

Dean Street Press is a great independent publisher who are ‘ devoted to producing, uncovering, and revitalizing good books’. Their authors include Stella Gibbons, Brian Flynn and D E Stevenson. This month it’s Dean Street December and I fancy reading a new author to me, Patricia Wentworth, who wrote mystery novels in the mid 20th century. I’ve been having fun looking through their website this morning trying to decide which one to read first #bookstodon #publishing @bookstodon
https://www.deanstreetpress.co.uk/pages/author_page/33

sarahmatthews, 5 months ago to random

I’ve not had an advent calendar for years but the boys spotted a Terry’s Chocolate Orange one this year and knew I’d like it, yum! So I put little sticky Dymo Braille labels on the windows but they’re all falling off already 🤣 oh dear, gonna have to do audio ones instead I guess

sarahmatthews, 5 months ago to bookstodon

Just finished reading Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, 1961, and I absolutely loved it! For a book with a slow pace I found it perfectly plotted with characters who were so rounded. None of them are wholly good or bad and none of them are particularly likeable which appealed to me. I thought I’d seen the film years ago but from the beginning it didn’t feel familiar so I guess it could’ve been one of those Netflix DVDs back in the day that arrived, sat around for a bit and got sent back unwatched! 🤣 So glad about that as I thought the writing was beautiful and devastating and I’m so relieved I didn’t know anything about it before going in, other than it’s considered a modern American classic #bookstodon @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 5 months ago to random

Just had a very enjoyable chat with a researcher from the London College of Fashion, talking about what makes an in-store shopping experience more accessible for blind people. I realised that over the years I’ve developed strategies without really knowing it like going shopping when I know it’ll be quieter so I get better customer service and there’s more room to get around shops, and that I’m very loyal to places where I’ve had good customer service. Sadly it turns out that as a result I mainly shop in large shopping centres these days if I’m looking for clothes. I do miss being happy to just spend the afternoon wandering around all kinds of random independent city centre shops but it’s just too stressful now!

sarahmatthews, 5 months ago to bookstodon

The winner of The Booker Prize will be announced this evening… I enjoy following it and this year only Western Lane really tempted me.i did look for it on audio but couldn’t find it. Anyway, here’s a good summary of the shortlist:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67518323?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
#bookstodon @bookstodon.

sarahmatthews, 5 months ago to Pubtips

Boundary Road by Ami Rao is going straight on my TBR list - a book set on a London bus, with all the possible drama that will likely involve and the glimpses of life outside the window - looks like it’ll be a Kindle read for me as it’s from a very small publisher called Everything with Words #bookstodon #blind #publishing @bookstodon
https://www.everythingwithwords.com/books/boundary-road/

sarahmatthews, 6 months ago to nature

I’m spending my afternoon proof reading some #Braille for a great UK charity called The Sensory Trust who are really committed to getting more #blind and #PartiallySighted people interested in enjoying #nature This booklet is a series of lovely short stories about trees 🌳 I’m making some notes to give them feedback on the layout and content too, good fun!

sarahmatthews, 6 months ago to bookstodon

#BookReview A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr
Read in Braille
Penguin
Pub. 1980, 104pp

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This is a novella I’ve been meaning to read for years and it’s delightful.

Tom Birkin’s a Londoner who’s returned from war with shellshock and he takes a commission to restore a medieval church wall painting in a Yorkshire village. The warm summer days are glorious as he gets to work, with high hopes for the project:
“I willed it to be something good, really splendid, truly astonishing… something to wring a mention from The Times and a detailed account (with pictures) in the Illustrated London News.”

To his relief he’s quickly welcomed into the community:
“In the first few minutes of my first morning, I felt that this alien northern countryside - friendly, that I’d turned a corner and that this summer of 1920, was to smoulder on until the first leaves fell, was to be a propitious season of living”

For a book of just over 100 pages it’s full of fully realised characters; from his neighbour Moon (a fellow veteran who’s also on a contract from the vicarage) to the stationmaster’s daughter Kathy and the vicar’s wife Alice - they all visit him often, interested in him and his work. The vicar’s a miserly character and there’re some very uncomfortable conversations between him and Birkin.

And the description of landscape is evocative throughout:
“For me that will always be the summer day of summer days – a cloudless sky, ditches and roadside deep in grass, poppies, cuckoo pint, trees heavy with leaf, orchards bulging over hedge briars.”
This is a beautifully written story of someone looking back fondly on a restorative period in their youth, with the gradual unveiling of the painting mirroring his own feelings of rediscovering himself. The conversational tone, a hint of romance and poignant moments of reflection on religion and war make it easy to relate to this character from another time.

Thanks to #NovNov23 for nudging me to read it!
#Bookstodon @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 6 months ago to Fashion

🛍️Research opportunity for blind people in the UK | ‘Greetings from our research group at the London College of Fashion! We are reaching out to you with an opportunity to be at the forefront of a study that aims to revolutionize the fashion retail landscape, making it more inclusive and accessible’

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdqiNZNw7al6oReA7JLMyKHlJm0whHwgvdLpMPRfN-et0U0IQ/viewform

#blind #PartiallySighted #Deafblind #VisuallyImpaired #fashion #accessibility #disability @disability