I’ve just finished The Next Big Thing by Anita Brookner which was a great and sometimes difficult read. It’s about Julius who’s in his 70s and is now retired. His parents and brother have died and his wife has left him. He’s living alone in central London, his adopted city after his family fled from Nazi Germany. He’s looking for the next big thing in his life, pondering his past and feeling concern for his failing health. Sounds gloomy, right?! Well, the insightful writing just carries you along and pulls you in before you know it and you’re hooked on this story of loneliness and regret in later life. I found myself, like I often do with Anita Brookner, rereading sections due to the beautiful prose. Here’s an example to give you a flavour:
“He raised his eyes to a rooffline bristling with television aerials , lowered them again to windows still blank before the evening lights were lit. The sky was already darkening; signs of spring were absent, and yet the chilly damp held a promise of greenness, of new life only just in abeyance. it was even possible to appreciate that sky; its opaque blue reminded him of certain pictures, though no picture could compete with this strange sense of immanence. With the crust of the earth ready to break into life, the roots expanding to disclose flowers, the trees graciously putting forth leaves. The impassivity of nature never ceased to amaze him. This awakening process was surely superior to anything captured on canvas, yet art made all phenomena its province.in its unceasing war with the effort of capturing moments of time art won this unequal contest, but only just. The majestic indifference of nature was there to remind one of ones place, and no doubt to serve as a corrective to the artist’s ambition. When the canvas was finished it was already a relic, outside change. And surely change was primordial; all must obey it. To ignore the process was to ignore the evidence of one’s own evolutionary cycle.’
Haunting, introspective and with a hint of dark comedy this was so good, just maybe one to approach with caution if yu’re about to retire! This novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2002. #bookstodon#AmReading#Braille#BookReview#nature@bookstodon
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
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
#BookReview The Fortnight in September by R C Sheriff
Read on audio
Narrator: David Thorpe for RNIB
persephone Books
Pub. 1931, 304pp
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
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
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
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
@sarahmatthews@bookstodon I read it a long time ago and I don't remember hating it but I also don't remember anything about it one way or another, which I guess says a lot