My Top 5 Book to Musical adaptations

I am a huge musical fan. I am also a huge book fan. And musicals based on books? I'm all over them like a rash. There's emotions and storylines you can portray through music, there's characters that seem more real and naked (not literally) and fabulous, after you've seen them belt out, in song, the part of the book that made you weep. Of course you can get it wrong. I'm not saying every book should be turned into a musical, oh hell no. Can you imagine 'Dracula: Broadway's newest fang-tastic opera'? [Edit: Hey, apparently someone tried this... I literally have no words. I still need to find somewhere to watch this bad boy, but for now click here for the full cast recording I found...] Anyway, Dracula musicals out of the picture, here's a countdown of my personal top five favourite book to musical adaptations:

5) Oliver!
Composed by Lionel Bart
Based on 'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens.

"You gotta pick a pocket or two"

 

The 1968 film version of Oliver. The Ron Moody one (the best one). Yes, Mark Lester as Oliver Twist, wasn't the Oliver I imagined when reading the book. It probably wasn't his fault, bless his tiny blonde heart, but Oliver is decidedly meek, squeaky and sort of forgettable in this film. So why is it in my list? It's still one of the best adaptations out there.  Ron Moody and Jack Wild make the best Fagin and Dodger ever ever ever, as does Shani Willis as Nancy. This sounds awful, as it means missing out on the 'Food, glorious food' number, but skip the first 40 minutes and watch from when Oliver reaches London and meets Dodger. (I can't be the only one that does this?) As with many adaptations, the ending of the film is mighty sweeter than the book. However it does it in such a good way that I almost don't mind. The book is perfect. It was the first Dickens I read and I remember feeling so conflicted all the way through, and so emotionally invested I finished in less than two days. If you've never read Dickens, start with Oliver Twist. If you've never seen the film, watch this version. You'll be singing "Oom Pa Pa" for days and develop a bit of a cockney twang in the process probably. 

4) Wicked
Composed by Stephen Schwartz
Based on 'Wicked: The life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West' by Gregory Maguire.

Rocky Horror aside, these are the best red lips ever seen on a musical ad

The Wizard of Oz's saucier, more complex, big sister. The storyline focusses on the Witches of Oz pre, during and post Dorothy. The book is rife with politics, sex, rich character development and is written fantastically. The musical doesn't cover everything the book did, but makes up for it with show stopping numbers like 'Defying Gravity' and sprinkles humour into the tale with songs like 'Popular'. The show had more humour, in my opinion, than the book, and obvious changes were made for the stage, such as the particularities of Nessarose's disability. However this was a visually stunning musical to see live and the songs blew me away. This is a soundtrack I listen to regularly and a series of books that I could read again and again. People say the sequels of the first book fall a little flat, but I think that you become so invested in the characters in the first, you almost feel obliged to read the following books so you can understand everything this storyline has to offer.

3) The Phantom of the Opera
So many versions! Here I'll focus on the version composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber with Lyrics by Charles Hart.
Based on 'The Phantom of the Opera' by Gaston Leroux (originally in French)

The true mystery of the Phantom: How does his mask stay on?

Dark, brooding. Perfect for Opera. So that's what someone decided to do! A disfigured musical genius haunts an opera house and basically stalks young dancer and soprano Christine. It's sad and depressing with very few uplifting scenes. And these brief uplifting scenes are soon squished by more brooding and depressing solos. It culminates in a spectacular, scary and heart-racing finale in which the phantom's mask reveals his true visage and a chandelier falls onto people and basically it ends well for no-one, disfigured or otherwise. As a reader/watcher your emotions are played with mercilessly: do we feel sorry for this poor phantom genius, or should we be concerned by his lurking and murdering? Do we fancy Raoul, or is he a bit of a douche? Do we like Christine's hair? Well actually yes, it's beautiful. It's the second longest running musical in the West End, and it saddens me to know how few people have read the book. It's a haunting tale that will hover in your reading memory long after you pop it back on the shelf. You'll also start listening to mirrors and walls, to see if your house has a troubled singer making extravagant living arrangements out of your basement.

2) The Wizard of Oz
Composed by Herbert Stothart
Based on 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' by Frank L Baum

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops"

 



Even if you've never seen the film, you've heard the infamous 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' (unless you literally live at the bottom of the ocean), which won an Oscar for Best original song. It's more family friendly than 'Wicked', and obviously a timeless classic that everyone should see at least once. A few changes were made for the film, like silver shoes being changed to Technicolor friendly ruby red slippers, and the omission of a certain chapter in which Dorothy and friends stumble across people made of delicate China. But overall a good, solid adaptation of the novel. What's great about the novel, that differs from the musical, is that it doesn't make out Dorothy's journey to be a dream, or a vision of delirium, but an actual journey that she actually takes and has to travel back from. She doesn't just wake up at the end exclaiming "you were there, and you were there!" She runs back to her beloved farm and her beloved Aunt Em. I love the use of the sepia to colour in the film, as with the character crossovers and the make up and effects were pure genius (1939!!). Scarily 'Over the Rainbow' was nearly omitted, to shorten the running time. Whoever stomped on that decision needs a medal! A great film to watch on a rainy day. A great book to read in any weather.


1) Cats
Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Based on 'Old Possum's book of Practical Cats' by T. S. Eliot

"Feline, fearless, faithful and true"

 

What can I say about this musical? If you like a nice, continued storyline, it may not be for you. It's several little stories, with a slightly longer backstory that runs separately. The make-up, the costumes, the songs, the choreography...actually it is the choreography that stands out as one of the main reasons to go and see Cats. The dancing is beautiful. When you see it live, the cats come in amongst the audience. They are positively feline in all but biology. It's funny, it's serious, it's genius. It's my favourite musical of all time, based on a book or otherwise. It's tap, it's ballet, it's opera, it's choral. It's cheeky and tear-inducing. It's Cats. And the memory will live forever. The poems are great for adults and kids alike. What is a Jellicle Cat? Go and read and watch and find out! Go now!

 

 

And that concludes the list! Of course there are others. Here are a few:

 

Les Misererable - Book by Victor Hugo

Matilda - Book by Roald Dahl

My Fair Lady - Based on the play 'Pygmalion' by George Bernard Shaw (Apparently. This is one I haven't actually seen so bear with me here).

Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat - Book by...Well it's the Bible. God?

Apparently even Lord of the Rings has undergone a musical treatment. There's lots out there basically, and recent releases prove that fiction is still an excellent source of inspiration for those looking to write the next musical classic.

I hope this has provided some holiday film ideas. Tis the season for TV binging after all.

 

Over and out.

 

Getting over myself. A tale of okay assignment results and getting rid of a selfish attitude.

A 'first world' problem post about 'meh' assignment results. And how selfish I can be.

We received, via email, the results of our first assignment last week. It was an essay. We answered one of two questions, and I chose to write about censorship. It was the first academic essay I'd written in a long time. The bulk of my undergrad degree (creative writing) coursework, was as it said on the tin - creative pieces - and I was fairly clueless as to the level of a postgrad degree essay. I'd never used Harvard referencing (at least not properly) and I was utterly perplexed as to how to go about structuring. But I tried. I did the reading, poured over books and tried to make sense of the confusing and sometimes total lack of laws surrounding censorship. I watched Ted Talks, scoured journals and pieced together 3000 words in what I considered a fairly decent essay covering the main points of censorship. I handed it in two days early. I thought all was well.

And to be honest, all was well. It wasn't terrible. Not at all. I passed. The grade was the correct side of 50%. And that was that.

And that was that.
And that was that.

It wasn't anything to get excited over.
It wasn't ground-breaking writing.
It was just,
well...
that.

It just left me feeling downhearted. I commenced this course, bright eyed and bushy tailed and thinking awesome thoughts. Awesome thought examples:

"This is my calling!"

"I'm basically going to be a female Giles!" (spuffyshipperbtw)

and

"I'm going to re-define a stereotype!"

(tumblr) Yes Giles. Librarians can party too.

And then I got the essay back. And all that conjured up some less awesome thoughts:

"Is this my calling?"

"I'll never be a female Giles. My accent is the wrong sort of British."

and

"I have nothing to contribute to this profession. Go home boring white girl."

After I'd sobbed out my frustration over a hastily order Chinese takeaway, I sent a tearful email to my lecturer asking whether I could re-sit this essay of what I considered fairly 'meh' proportions. I understood what I'd done wrong and wanted to fix it. I then remembered that my lecturer is only in two days a week. So for the next few days I suffered feelings akin to when you send an overly embarrassing, emotional text to a friend whilst drunk. And they don't reply. And you're left waiting for days to see whether they still like you or not. And then I finally received an email. Summed up, it basically said:

You passed. It was fine for a first essay. Get over yourself.

But in much nicer terms, because my lecturer is actually super fantastic.
And you know what? She was right. Sure, I'm not "super-librarian" yet. But it was the first essay. I'm still in the baby steps of learning all this stuff and now I know what (and what not) to include in my next assignment.

I struggled, in the aftermath of receiving my result, to find the motivation to begin my next essay, due in in a couple of weeks. I wondered what the point was. I didn't want to put in all the effort again jut to get a similar 'meh' result. I phoned JJ on his lunch break for some motivation. He had wise words:
"Remember you've paid for this degree. Like, money. Lots of it."
Oh yeah. When nothing else can get you motivated, remember: You can't afford to do it again.

In all seriousness, not just because of the money thing, I am over myself. I was lucky and I know a few members of my class are having a far worse time than myself. Others would have been very happy with my result. In a moment of horrible, self-focussed, selfishness I thought it was the end of the world because I wasn't awesome yet. Which is the worse kind of attitude to have ever and I'm mentally slapping it out of myself right now because I don't want to be that sort of person. Tis the season to be grateful, and appreciate that I passed at all.

I will power through till the Christmas hols. Then I will continue to power through because more assignments are due after that. Basically I will not stop powering through for another approx 10 months.

The next post will be uplifting. Or possibly at least slightly less moany.

Over and out.

Hot off the Shelf: What I'm reading - 'Tiger Milk' by Stefanie De Velasco

*No spoilers, but discusses subject matter*

Long time no blog. Long story short I've been up to my eyeballs in other stuff but I really miss blogging so I'm gonna make more of an effort to get one post done each week. We'll see later how that goes. I'll apologise now for the grammar and way this is written. I think it's because I'm trying so hard to formalise my essays and stuff everything else I write come out like word-vom right now.

For now, the most pressing thing I want to talk about is what I've been reading outside of uni. There's been some very *ahem* enlightening books I've read recently about systems management and censorship and other joy-bringing topics, but let's stick to the fun stuff. Not only have I recently finished The Sandman graphic novels by the beautiful Neil Gaiman (might do another post about that. Not sure how I can sum up my thoughts on it without my head exploding with awe though), but I picked up, by chance, a book called Tiger Milk from my library the other week whilst collecting some other reservations. Tiger Milk is the literary debut from author Stephanie De Velasco. It was only released this month (at least the English translation anyway) and this is the cover:

(Image from Waterstones.com)

 

It was the cover that made me pick it up, I love it. For some reason, upon initial glance, I thought it might be about India (being where most Tigers live...I think) but nope, Tiger Milk is set in the grittier edges of Germany. It's written from the perspective of German teen Nini, and we follow her, her best fried Jameelah, and her other friends over one summer. For those wildly offended by such things I'll mention now this book contains smoking, swearing, under-aged sex and drinking, attempted suicide and murder. But it's not you're typical bad-girl book. At least I didn't think so. I think it was very real and those commenting on Goodreads saying that the girls were too young to be doing this that and the other, clearly were never a teen in the last twenty years. Characters were brought across to the reader effortlessly, I felt by the end I knew even some of the minor characters quite well. Even the stranger characters like Aslagon and Apollo, who early on in the book, demand nail clippings from Nini and Jameelah so they can "build the ship and bring on the apocalypse." I've only been to Germany a couple of times and knew none of the places in this books, but again, throughout the book Velasco paints a really clear picture of each setting so you feel you know what she's talking about (or you can imagine you do anyway). The dialogue flicks between blunt, reported style speech (hardly any of the book has any more punctuation than full stops and question marks) and lengthy, dream like passages - almost fairy tale-esque, like when Jameelah talks about the mythical, see-through beast she saw in her dreams that was a cross between a kangaroo and a dragon but lived in the water and purred like a cat. Or the purple spiral staircase Nini sees when she sleeps with people. I loved this mix of the real and the weird. It felt like being permanently drunk, or in and out of sleep whilst reading it.

Because it was written in the way someone would talk to you, and the girls were really interesting characters, I finished this in about two days. I just kept picking it up. I haven't had that in a long time so it was refreshing. I was shocked in parts, I reminisced at others, but the ending was brutal and sad and really brought to light the harsh reality underlying the whole book, even the more light-hearted parts. Most of all Tiger Milk made me want to be a teen again.

FYI: Tiger Milk is a drink; a mix of milk, Mariacron Brandy and Maracuja Juice. From the book:
"Pour a little of the school cafeteria milk, a lot of the maracuja juice and a decent slug of brandy into the Muller jar." You gotta stir it with your finger. The original German text was released in 2013 and called TigerMilch, if you want to read it in German. Buy it from Waterstones, and see what others have to say on Goodreads. Or just stumble across it in the library like I did.

Over and out.

Children's Literature - the Modern Classics.

I've just finished week two of my Masters course. I am enjoying it oh so very much and I'm loving the exciting 'back to school' vibe that seems to be staying with me, regardless of the torrential rain that's set in recently. I'm learning stuff and making new friends and reading lots. I've learnt the pro's and con's of Manchester's bus and rail network and spent more time in libraries in the past two weeks than I have done in the past two months.

I wanted to do a post today about something we've been studying in one particular module: Literature and it's Readers. This term is about children's literature, and how children's reading skills develop. For the past couple of lectures we've been learning about, amongst other things, what makes a classic children's book. What is it that causes certain books: The Hobbit, Charlotte's Web, The Railway Children, The Chronicles of Narnia and many others, to bridge generation gaps. What is it about these books that means your Granny read them, and your grandkids probably will too. Obviously, just because it is a classic, it doesn't mean you'll love it. Swallows and Amazons is a classic children's book. I tried reading it last year and found it very dull. I gave up (for now...one day I'll finish it, as it's on the BBC top 100 reads list I want to complete. Curse it's spine and bindings.) And it doesn't mean that just because it's a classic, it is never reappraised, or edited through the years. Of course they are. A famous example being Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree series.

Spot the old edition!

 

No longer do Dick and Fanny climb into magical lands with their neutrally named family members. Various edits for now, seemed to have settled on Rick and Frannie as the least offensive alternatives. Apart from little name changes, edits are often made to change offensive political, racial, or gendered elements. But the question I was faced with, was essentially, even after we have to edit them as the years go by, how do these books stand the test of time. It is most simply boiled down to a few bullet points.

 

1. An element of timelessness. If you set the story in a time frame anywhere but the present, it's less likely to date.

2. Characterisation

3. Literary Style

4. Imagination

5. Theme

6. Dramatic episodes Kids like to be scared (to a point). It's exciting!

7. Humorous episodes. They also love to laugh. Anything weird is hilarious if you're six.

 

But the more important thing I wanted to talk about here is the concept of Modern children's classics. Which authors, who've been writing more recently, do we think will live on through their literature. This is partially a matter of opinion. But sometimes fairly obvious. We were asked to bring to our lecture, a modern children's book that we believed had the makings of a children's classic. Half the class, myself included, brought in a Roald Dahl book. Dahl, to me, is classic children's literature in the making for sure. Our generation loved him as children, and when I was volunteering at a primary school last year, kids still love him just as much. Wondercrump, as the BFG would say.

 

Dahl: Modern Classic Material

 

But what else made the cut? We were split into groups of about three and asked to pick five books or authors we thought would make modern classics, ignoring Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. Here's what we settled on, in no particular order:

 

His Dark Materials Trilogy - Philip Pullman

The Jolly Pocket Postman - Janet Ahlberg

Jacqueline Wilson 

Dick King Smith (Not to be confused with Rick King Smith...)

We're going on a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen

 

Other suggestions included Meg and Mog, The Mr Men/Little Miss books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Gruffalo . And a load more that would take me forever to type. Who knows which of these books will still be read in the future. We could take a really bleak look at this and say that books won't exist in two hundred years (or maybe humans won't), so it doesn't matter. But the curious book worm inside me hopes some of these are still being enjoyed in 2214.

 

For now I'm off to finish Treasure Island, after a recommendation.

 

Over and out.





Hot off the Shelf: What I'm reading - 'The Clan of the Cave Bear' by Jean Auel

No spoilers

If I'm going to review a book, I usually do it really soon after reading it. I finished The Clan of the Cave Bear on the fourteenth of the month, approximately two weeks ago, so really it's not fresh in my little reading brain, so I should probably leave well alone. 

But for a couple of reasons I wanted to come back and have my say on this one. I wouldn't have picked up the book normally. The cover reminded me a little of an adult Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver. I read Wolf Brother whilst at university, after a recommendation from JJ, who had enjoyed reading it as a kid. So I read it. I remember it being okay, but found it a little forgettable. For instance, I cannot now remember the main characters name. I feared I would have the same reaction to The Clan of the Cave Bear, as I did to Wolf Brother. However, it was on the BBC Big Read list that I'm trying to work through, at number 97 (out of 100) and I spied it whilst visiting Manchester central library, so thought I'd give it a whirl. 

How do you even pronounce that surname anyway?

Now, this book seems to be, on Goodreads at least, a bit of a Marmite book. People love it and people hate it. There aren't many 'it was okay' kind of reviews. But first, a rapid plot outline.

It's set in the times of the Neanderthals. Mammoths and giant cave bears roam the physical plane and totem spirits determine your fate in hunting and mating. Ayla, a blonde, fair, five year old child is left alone and presumably orphaned when a giant earthquake destroys everything she ever knew. She's picked up by a group of travelling Neanderthal, who are looking for a new cave to live in after the same earthquake destroyed their last one. The rest is best surmised by Goodreads:

"Ayla inspires first surprise, then wariness and finally acceptance by the Clan. She is cared for by its medicine woman Iza and its wise holy man Creb. Only their future leader, Broud, is not willing to accept this strange woman. Consumed with hatred, he does all he can to destroy her. But Ayla bears the marks and the spirit of her totem, the Cave Lion. She is a survivor."

People seem to have two main issues with this book. 

1) Little white girl can do everything better than the slow, dying race that are the Neanderthals. They see her as an annoying 'golden child' and see the author as being a little white-supremacist. 

2) Do you even science? Readers are picking holes here there and everywhere in the claims Auel makes about Neanderthals, what they looked like, how they lived and everything that Auel has written about their world. 

So my opinion? First a confession: I know next to nothing about the Neanderthals. So I won't lie, the historical subtext... I have no clue. I enjoyed the little tit-bits of information scattered throughout the text and did not consider it 'info dumping' as some have suggested it feels like. 

I consider myself sensible enough to take everything with a pinch of salt, and research the things I find interesting, to separate the fact from fiction. I guess what the historical nit-pickers are worried about is that people will take what Auel has written, as the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The Clan of the Cave Bear is very plausible and well written - It sounds like Auel knows what she's on about, because she writes with such conviction. This hasn't changed my opinion - I will not assume that that period of history is exactly how it is portrayed in this book because I have an ounce of common sense in me. I enjoyed her portrayal of the era, and the facts strewn around within the novel because they all added so well to the story. I think the people here need to remember that this is a work of fiction. If she got some things wrong, well, she's only human and new discoveries are being made all of the time. The book was written in the 80's. 

(evolutionanimation.wordpress.com)

As for the golden child syndrome issue - I don't think there is one. Yes Ayla does some things better than the Neaderthals. But they do things better than her too. They teach her things. Iza, the medicine woman, takes her in in the first place, almost adopts her. That compassion sets her, and the Neanderthals in general, very high in my esteem right from the word go.  The Neanderthal people survived the earthquake (most of them anyway) - Ayla's family did not. As I understand it, Ayla's race did eventually continue to evolve, whereas the Neanderthals eventually died out. So with that in mind, perhaps the fact that Ayla could do some things better than the Neanderthals was simply based in historical/scientific fact. (Please, pre-history boffins out there, do, do correct me if I am wrong here.)

Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. I could curl up and escape into a pre-historic world for a couple of chapters, pop it down, do something else, then come back a while later and immerse myself again. I really liked the characters, and I felt like you really knew them by the end of the novel. A good one to read in an armchair on a stormy night. With toast and tea. Lovely. 

From your favourite person that knows nothing about the prehistoric era,

Over and out. 

A beginning and an end.

My course starts on the 22nd September. I am raring to go, super keen and oh so excited. I want to meet other library lovers and learn about boring things like copyright laws and the benefits of various shelving systems. I want to go to Manchester City Library's reading room (my new favourite place ever) and do all my work. I want to be productive! I joined, not only my local library, but the main one in the city too, and we only moved into our new place a week ago. There's still some boxes to be tripped over and a shower that I swear pumps water from the arctic, despite hot water flowing to the rest of the flat fine, but other than that it's just a waiting game at the minute. That and applying for jobs. Anyone out there want to hire me? Because I am rapidly running out of pennies and would love to earn some, pronto. That would be the beginning mentioned in the title post...and the end?

I finished my summer reading challenge *grin*. I have received no certificate, and no medal. However I have a lovely tingly feeling and six books crossed off my list that I wanted to read. My original list included Robinson Crusoe. I replaced this with Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, as I decided this was a book I wanted to read sooner rather than later. I might read Crusoe at some point, but for now, Kaysen's memoir was just the ticket. I also (finally) read the first Game of Thrones book, something I've been meaning and urged by friends to do for ages now. I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it would be hard going and not my cup of tea. However I really enjoyed it and some day would like to read the rest of the series. Right now I'm treating myself to some previously unread Atwood and then continuing my ever on going challenge to one day complete the BBC 's Big Read Top 100 books list, with The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M Auel, which is number 92 on the list. I've only read about 39 or so from the list. Perhaps it will be my aim to read all 100 by next summer. Or maybe next Christmas. There's some hefty books on there.

Things all quiet at the moment but looking forward to blogging again when the term officially starts! For now,

Over and Out.

In Preperation. Also my summer reading challenge update!

First off, just to keep you updated, I am officially halfway through my very own summer reading challenge! Three books have been read and three books are yet to be. I finally completed Gone with the Wind on a very long and boring train journey. Then, as is my custom, spent an hour mulling over the book in my head. Asking and answering questions, pondering over the actions of some characters and linking everything possible to my own life. Yeah I do this. Doesn't everyone? Or I at least decide what I would have done if I was in the situation of the characters. Not that it helps. *SPOILER* Gone with the Wind ends pretty miserably. Worth a read, if you can stomach the casual racism (which I very nearly couldn't). Why were humans so horrible to each other? Why are they still so horrible to each other? I think that's a topic for another blog.

Anyway, these next few weeks are going to  be all about Preparation. With a capital P. Because...well I don't know. For a bit of Emphasis. Grammar Nazi people avert your eyes. Many apologies.

I am awaiting information from MMU about my upcoming Library and Information Management masters degree. All I know so far is that it starts sometime in September. Which is kinda vague. More information would be great a.s.a.p as I really need to start applying for jobs. And I can't do that until I know when I need to be in Uni. So we wait. Me and JJ officially have signed the papers for our new flat, which will allow us to both be closer to his new job and the MMU campus. I had to give someone lots of money to secure this flat. My debit card had a little migraine afterwards.

Waiting is horrible. A reading list might be useful right about now, as I could be getting my nerd on and getting ahead on some things. I literally have very little to do at the moment. I am reading lots and seeing friends. And that is my life essentially. The point to this is that if anyone has any suggestions about prep reading I could be doing, or websites I could be looking through, or people I could be getting to know - tell me! Tell me now! Give me an excuse to avoid packing. Man, I hate packing. It used to be fun. Now I've done it too many times and it just makes me want to hurl all of my possessions out of the window and live purely on the love and goodwill of my fellow humans. But that's just not me. I like my collections of crap. So I guess I should stop grumbling about packing it all up and moving it every year. Where's that parcel tape?

Over and out.

My Summer Reading Challenge

For the past couple of summers, whilst travelling between Wales to see JJ and being at home, I've managed to volunteer at my local library, helping out with the summer reading challenge. This is a great, nation-wide scheme run by a charity called The Reading Agency and chances are it's started in your local library already (98% of UK libraries take part). It's a scheme aimed at kids (although anyone can take part). The challenge is to read six books from the library, earning stickers and little rewards along the way as they do. It's the biggest reading event for kids in libraries and IT IS FREE! FREE! FREE STUFF FOR YOUR CHILDREN! SOMETHING FOR THEM TO DO THAT IS FREE!

FREE THINGS AHMAGERD!

I think I've made my point...

When the kids sign up they get a little pack, with a poster and other goodies to help them track their progress. If they managed to read all six books, they get a medal and certificate and some libraries have a little ceremony to present them. There's always a theme - last years was 'Creepy House' - a sort of haunted house theme. The year before that it was 'Story Lab'. This years is 'Mythical Maze'. I think the 2014 theme is fab. It's a theme that kids of all ages can appreciate, as well as being a great theme to attract boys and girls.

Illustrations this year by Sarah McIntyre

There's lots for the kids to do on the website too. They can find new books to read, recommended by other children, play games and log their progress online if they want to (although this isn't necessary to keep track of your progress, it's something older children might like to do anyway).

Most libraries look for volunteers to help manage and run the challenge, so if you fancy popping to your library a couple of days per week, encouraging kids to read and basically helping to keep things flowing smoother than Michael Bublé chatting up your mum, go forth, and question those nice librarians and see if you can be of assistance. Due to house hunting and lots of uncertainties about my location this summer, I haven't volunteered. Hopefully I will make it next year! However, I've decided to do my own reading challenge. Here's my six books to read this summer:

This Book is Overdue by Marilyn Johnson
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Game of Thrones by George R R Martin
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

A couple were given to me as gifts, a couple I found lurking in my room (I think one more read and the copy of Gone with the Wind might fall apart. I have no idea where it came from), and a couple I feel like it's about time I read. I've finished This Book is Overdue, The Graveyard Book and I am currently battling through the thousands of pages that make up Gone with the Wind. Hopefully by the end of August I will have finished the lot and I can buy myself a medal. Sadly I get no poster or stickers along my summer reading challenge journey. If anyone wishes to donate stickers, do message.

It's not too late to sign up your kids/siblings/ChildrenYouChildMind/nieces/nephews/grandkids to the Summer Reading Challenge. So go do it! It doesn't matter if they don't finish, and they'll be proud of themselves if they do! For very young children, books you read to them/with them count too!

See the summer reading challenge on Facebook and use #summerreadingchallenge on Twitter.

For now, I've got to keep going with Gone with the Wind. Apart from struggling with the horrendous racism, I'm wondering if Scarlett O'Hara will ever, during the course of this book, get her head out of her own bum. Only 700 pages to go!!

Over and out.

I visit Manchester Central Library and take a whole bunch of pictures.

I'm going off to study Information Management and Librarianship at Manchester Metropolitan University this coming September. I'm very excited and literally counting down the days! So on Thursday fate took me to be in Manchester for a couple of hours - so what did I do? Hunted down the library of course!

Manchester central library was closed for a long time, due to refurbishment and building work. I have never managed to visit the central library, so what it looked like before is a mystery to me. However, what they have now is beautiful. There's four floors in a spectacular domed building.

The entrance, complete with a friendly security guy outside who smiled very nicely at me :)

 

 

I decided to work from the bottom and work my way up. Lower Ground Floor first:

 

 

 

As you can tell from the edge of the picture, it looked like work hadn't quite been finished on this floor. Some sections were blocked off by the green plastic sheeting you can see on the right. But on the whole this floor was the only place I saw that was still having any work done. I had a small wander around the children's section first, and what struck me first was the beautiful wall art.

 

 Autumn

 



Cute birds!

 

The simple, flowing designs were different to many other children's areas I've seen, where garish colours and bright, bold designs are often the norm. This was refreshingly different. It didn't come without the usual awesome children's furniture:

 

Why can't adults have this? The temptation to make a den was overwhelming.

 

One of the greatest things the children's section had was this:

 



 

This was a live image projected onto the floor of a lake reflecting trees. When you stepped anywhere onto the circle, the image rippled and made splashy noises, just as if you'd stepped into a real puddle! It was amazing! I did take a video, so maybe I'll upload that at some point so you can see. I have no idea how it works. I suspect magic.

 

So after playing in the fake lake, I had a quick browse of the section intended for my age group:

 

Endless shelves of lovely books...



Poe anyone?

There were these great information points scattered all around the library.

Before wandering around some of the other floors. The reference section, on the fourth floor, had some stunning photographical displays on the shelf sides.

The Pankhurst Sisters. Sylvia actually studied at MMU herself, so wiki says.

 



The music library was stunning. I cannot wait to come and borrow some music from here, as I recently found out I have passed my Grade 8 violin exam!

Light and airy.

 

There were a couple of silent pianos tucked away in one of the nooks to the left, so you could practise to your hearts content. The archives were equally impressive, with lots of interactive displays and a film archive.

 



The booths were great. You could search a database of local TV/Film archive material, settle yourself down in a chair and watch away. Open access at its best!

Next to the archive was a very important part of the library. I firmly believe every library should have one. It should be law.

Cakes, tea and sandwiches/salads galore. Delish.

 

But the crowning jewel for me personally was the reading room. This looked like it hadn't been modernized at all by the recent works and could easily seat about 300 people. It's in the centre, with the large domed roof circled with a quote from the Old Testament.

 



I wish my pictures could do it justice but they just don't!

 

The silence in here was gorgeous.

 

So here I took some time out to read my current book (The Bell Jar) and immersed myself in the peace. Please do look on their website for better pictures because I cannot get across how beautiful this room was. I would happily go there everyday. I'll leave you with one last picture of a stained window. The library has been amazingly modernized and renovated, however beautiful old features like this still exist.

 

 

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the famous Shakespeare window. But this one was nice too.

 

Have a look on their website here. There's a great section called reborn, where you can look at pictures and videos of the transformation. It's within walking distance of Piccadilly station and is open 9am-8pm Mon-Thurs and 9am-5pm Friday and Saturday. It is closed on Sundays. There's still some works going on around the outside of the building, but don't let that put you off. Go and investigate.

 

This has been a very long post. So for now, I'm off.

 

Over and out.  

The Carnegie Winner, my thoughts.

So if you've been reading the blog for a while you'll know that during my time working at a boarding school I was helping to run a book club. We were shadowing the books on the shortlist to win the Carnegie Medal, an award some would call the highest honour achievable for children's authors. Here's a link to a post I did about Carnegie Shadowing, if your unsure of how it works. The shortlisted books were as follows.

 

All the truth that's in me by Julie Berry 3\5
The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks 1\5
Blood Family by Anne Fine 4\5
The Child's Elephant by Rachel Campbell-Johnston
Ghost Hawk by Susan Cooper (here's a link to my review)
Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead 3.5\5
Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell 2\5
The Wall by William Sutcliffe 4\5

 

I managed to read them all, except The Child's Elephant. It wasn't because I didn't want too, I simply ran out of time. The students that read it weren't that excited about it anyway, so maybe I wasn't missing much. The ratings next to the books were my personal thoughts about each one. The students seems to think the best out of the lot, were Rooftoppers, The Bunker Diary and Liar and Spy. Ghost Hawk and Blood Family were also the favourites of one or two members.

So after months of reading and a penultimate session in which each chose the book they would want to win, and the one they thought would win (and why there is a difference between the two), we had our last session and the winner was announced. Which was it?

 

The Bunker Diary. Of course it was.

 

Even the cover is depressing. 

 

You'll notice I gave the Bunker Diary a measly 1\5. This wasn't because of the subject matter. The book got a lot of publicity, because of its grim content and the fact that it dredged up that age old conundrum of what literature is appropriate for children. But first, a plot summary.

 

In short the book is about a sixteen year old boy who is kidnapped by an unnamed man and held captive in a, presumably underground, bunker. More people appear in the bunker via a lift (that seems to be the only way in/out of the place), a nine year old girl, a drug addicted man, an elderly man with a terminal illness and a few more. Its written in a series of diary entries penned by Linus, the teenage boy. The kidnapper communicates with his victims via notes attached to things that come up and down in the lift. He punishes them, drugs them, toys with them. He sends down a rabid dog at one point. It doesn't have a happy ending. Everyone dies one by one and the diary entries become more and more garbled. And then it just ends. He isn't saved, we don't really know what happens, but we can assume he's died. Cannibalism, sex, drugs and other fun topics are introduced. Why didn't I like it? I'm not a prude, I don't think that these topics aren't suitable for children. So why?

 

For a start, See The Guardian review here, and The Times here (if you fancy paying to view the whole article). I usually agree with the guardian more than other papers, however I seem to think they're following the stance that children see much worse in real life, so it's okay to write about it. I'll do another post on what I think suitable literature for children is later, but although I do agree that largely you should let children explore fiction at their own pace I think there are better ways to present them in children's literature. Sutcliffe's The Wall did a fantastic job of introducing hard hitting topics, such as the Israel/Palestine conflict (although place names are never mentioned - see a great article about this here) and family breakdown, in a well written and thoughtful way that I thought would make good reading for children. Similarly Blood Family did a good job of presenting abuse at home and the difficulties of fostering and adopting in a fantastic novel that all of my students who read thought was eye opening and sad but brilliant at the same time.

 

My main bug bear? I thought The Bunker Diary was lazy. I think that CILIP chose it because it would present a talking point. (They did the same in 1996 when Junk by Melvin Burgess won the award, however, I did actually enjoy that book - click for my review). And it does, its a great book for reading groups because everyone will have a different, very strong view. But that doesn't make it automatically the winner of a children's book award. The ending was lazy. I hate books that trail off. And I know Brooks did it on purpose to put across his idea that not all children's books that talk about difficult subjects should have a happy ending. I'm not saying they should either. But they should end. I didn't feel like it ended at all. It just stopped. It was an easy read, because it wasn't challenging. It wasn't a difficult read at all, and because of that it bored me a little too.

 

I don't know, maybe I'm not qualified to tell a famous author how to do it. But my winner from that list would have either been Ghost Hawk or Liar and Spy. Another problem we had at our school was that three of the books on the shortlist were recommended for 14+ age group. The students I worked with were all 11\12. I wouldn't have minded perhaps two of the nominated books being for older readers, but three was a bit much considering only one was a 9+ (the rest were 11+). Again this brings up the issue of where to draw the line between YA and children's fiction. And you can't, because each child progresses at their own pace, but I didn't think The Bunker Diary should have been a children's book. It would have been better as an adult book. It felt like Room, by Emma Donoghue. Passing it off as a teen read, I think, was simply to get the extra publicity.

 

Rant over. Sorry Kevin Brooks, but The Bunker Diary wasn't for me. Though apparently very qualified librarians and thousands of teens disagree.

 

Over and out.

The End of Stage One: Leaving the Boarding School Library

It is over. My time as a boarding school librarian has come to an end. One very squashed car journey on Saturday, complete with four people, a dog and a years collection of stuff, brought me back home, and left me to reflect on my time at the school. Friday evening brought emotions to a high with the staff party (which was more a meal than anything else) during which CC, my boss, had to stand up and say a few words about me. After that I gathered with my friends and we reminisced before finally collapsing for a well earned full nights sleep. The last week was manic. Not only was it the end of term, so lots of extra events were on, i had my last days at the primary school too. It felt odd handing back my library keys after the last Friday shift. Bittersweet sums it up perfectly. I have been living and working alongside the same people for ten months, and you can't do that without forming some close friendships. You see them in the staff room and then they're there when you get home too. My department consisted of me and CC. It would have been awful if we didn't get on. We saw each other five days a week and, with one desk/computer between us, were constantly falling over one another. Luckily I've had the best 10 months I could have had. I thought I'd sum up my time with five things I'm going to miss and five things I might not miss about the job. Because otherwise this post runs the risk of becoming smushy and I believe in balance.

 

1) My boss. She never yelled, even on my 'slow' days, had bags full of patience, humour and wit and loved Neil Gaiman just as much as I do. She emailed me pictures of cats for crying out loud. Best person ever!

 

2) My friends. They know who they are and I couldn't have lasted more than a month without them. From late night running, cinema trips, London adventures and cheeky takeaways, they have been the best humans ever. I can't wait for the reunion In August!

 

3) The food. It was free, and yes I moaned about the constant 'filo' creations' but as school food goes, that place had it sorted. No1 dish? Risotto. Plus, if you can name me a school where you get served things like teriyaki salmon, sweet potato fries and have a salad bar complete with hummus and crudités, I'd be impressed.

 

4) The grounds. A deer terrified the life out of me the other week by just sauntering in front of me on my way up the hill. Cute baby ducks on the lake, acres of woodland. You can't really enjoy it much when the students were on site but in the holidays when the site was empty it was amazing waltzing around and being silly on the lacrosse pitch. A beautiful place.

 

5) The job. Its made me decide that this is what I want to do with my time. I loved my job and I actually looked forward to going to work everyday. I'm really keen to try working in other libraries now to see the differences and similarities and I've learned so, so much. I'm glad I've got the basics before going to do my degree as hopefully it will give me a massive advantage.

 

Too smushy? Here's my five least favourite points about the last year.

 

1) The 'bubble'. Living where you work and working where you live can sometimes run the risk of making you go crazy. You can feel like the school is impossible to get away from. Luckily I had friends to keep me sane, but when your days off are spend hanging around where you spend the rest of the week anyway, it can feel a bit claustrophobic at times.

 

2) The Bells. SweetFlipFlops. There's a chapel on site, less than 200 metres from where my accommodation was. The bells go off every quarter of an hour. The start bonging 8am and keep it up until 10pm. Lies ins don't exist. However you do always know what time it is.

 

3) The sirens. There's a hospital down one side of the school, a fire station opposite and a police station across the other way. Flashing blue lights and noisy sirens at all hours of the day and night become like unwelcome nightly mini-raves.

 

4) The awkward 'What year are you in?' question. Heaven help you if you're dressed casually and you bump into some touring parents/visitors/anyone who doesn't know who you are. This will only apply to those who don't look their age, those poor people, like me, who are still asked for ID for 18 certificate movies. I should not have to explain that I'm a member of staff, not a student, at 22 years old. I guess I might appreciate it when I'm 50. Maybe.

 

5) The short year. Okay so extra holiday time is always a plus, but I still felt at the end of ten months that I'd only just started to get to know some of the students. It would have been nicer to stay for two years perhaps. I guess this isn't really much of a negative but that rounds off my list on a slightly less negative note :)

 

There's lots more things I should say. But that would mean a super long post and to be honest I think this covers the main points. Thanks to the school for giving me my first leg up onto the library career ladder. Let's see what the next library adventure brings. Stick around for my further book related adventures this summer and for September when I begin my Librarianship degree! 

  

Over and out.

Book Club Activity: 'Three Word Review' Video.

Another Book Club activity idea! The members in the book club I help run are aged 11/12. Older, surlier teens might not get wildly enthusiastic about this one.  

What you need:

• A Camera

• Squares of paper/Bright Felt tips

• Willing participants!

• A computer with basic movie editing software installed onto it. Most Windows and Apple laptops come with pre-installed programs. If you don’t like these, there are a few great alternatives – Google search (or y’know…Bing search. Whatever) ‘Free Movie Editing Software’.

So the idea was originally to video the students shouting out three words they felt would best describe their favourite book we’ve read so far. However as the microphone wasn’t brilliant on the camera I had, I took photos of them holding up a piece of card with a word on it instead. So three cards in all, per student (although some chose to do less). See an example below:

Sorry for the quality, it's mega zoomed in to edit out the student holding it!

For the more camera shy members in the group, I took a picture of their handwritten ‘single-word review’ card with the book that they had chosen to ‘review’. One pupil helped me with the photo-taking too. There’re lots of jobs for everyone, and if you did it with a tech-savvy group, you could off-load the editing job over to them too.

So I finally have all these photos. I download some suitably funky music – in this case ‘You can’t stop the Beat’ from Hairspray and, using a basic movie maker software, insert the photos so that they play in time to the music. I insert a little stop motion introduction, completed by myself, and some credits, making sure to include everyone who took part, not just the ones in the photos, and voila! One video!

It’s surprising how much they appreciated it. They all loved seeing the pictures of each other, and having a giggle at the dramatic members who had posed very stylishly, and I even got a round of applause at the end! If you run a book club, you should suggest doing something like this, as it’s quite simple to put together and is a good thing to watch for a more chilled out session. Whilst taking the photos, make sure you record what book each of the students are reviewing – otherwise you’re left with a load of pictures and no idea which book anyone is talking about!

Happy filming!

Over and out.

Hot off the Shelf: What I'm reading - 'Trainspotting' by Irvine Welsh.

No spoilers. Explicit Language.

I thought I'd enjoy this in the same way I enjoyed A Clockwork Orange. Interesting language devices, violence, drugs, an antihero that makes you really think about the human society etc.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. What's the book about? Well in a nutshell, it's almost a collection of short stories, revolving around the lives of a group living in Edinburgh who are all either on heroin, have other addictions. or are affected by those addicted. It covers all the typically associated - alcoholism, violence, HIV etc. It's mainly from the perspective of Mark Renton, or Rents, who tells us about his daily existence - on heroin and off - and about his interactions with his friends, other 'classes' of society and himself. However the story does occasionally switch to the POV of other characters, who are often introduced to the reader without any backstory or warning. This can get a little confusing. You have to be on the ball with this book. Not least because of the dialect.

As with the Nadsat in Orange, once you get into the Scottish dialect of Trainspotting, it's fairly easy to read. It just looks daunting initially. Top tip: Put aside at least half an hour to begin the book. It's not something I found easy to just 'dip into'. I needed time to get used to the way it was written, then I was away. A random example below:

"Naw but, listen the now. You jist think aboot it. In the army they dae everything fir they daft cunts. Feed thum, gie the cunts cheap bevvy in scabby camp clubs tae keep thum fae gaun intae toon n lowerin the fuckin tone, upsetting the locals n that. Whin they git intae civvy street, thuv goat tae dae it aw fir thumsells."

That's a fairly easy example. It's actually very clever and I wish I had the skills to be able to pull something like this off. Reading this book feels like your emotions are getting slapped with a wet, very Scottish, fish. You'll feel disgusted, you'll laugh, you'll feel actual scorn and hatred, you'll want to punch something and you'll want to hug the characters all within half an hour.

So what's got me essentially feeling a bit...meh, about Trainspotting. After all, it's hailed as a cult classic, "the voice of punk, grown up, grown wiser and grown eloquent". Danny Boyle made a film about it in 1996. I think I'll watch the film, as it will be interesting to see how some of the scenes play out onto screen. Fans rave about it the world over. So what on earth is my problem?

I just...didn't really get the point. Nothing had really changed by the end for most of the characters. I understand the message that the image of a classless society is a false one. I understand that it's making big points about reality and image. Everyone associated with Rents is messed up somehow. I understand the points it made...I just didn't care. Which sounds horrible. But there was no plot. No resolution, apart from the notion of escape at the very end. But it doesn't even put that across fully, as Rents will never really be free, because of the actions he performs at the end of the novel. I didn't care because a lot of the time, the character of Rents made me not care. I thought I'd feel the same way about Rents that I did about Alex in Orange- emotionally tied - thinking about the bigger moral picture. Maybe that's my problem, I'm trying too much to compare it to Orange. I just can't help it. They're similar, but Trainspotting just didn't leave me as thoughtful afterwards. I didn't really care what happened to Rents. He was a very selfish character. And I think that's what got to me the most. There was nothing to like him for because he cared for nothing and no-one really apart from the big H.

One thing I did like about Trainspotting was that it painted a very real, bleak and sometimes pure gross image of what taking drugs can do to a person. We're talking grim here. It didn't sugar coat anything. The times Rents talks about how heroin is the best thing since sliced bread:

“take your best orgasm, multiply the feeling by twenty, and you're still fuckin miles off the pace”

are really shot down by the picture painted of the aftermath and effects. If you're teen has just read Junk by Melvin Burgess and thinks that there's not really anything too bad that can happen if you take hard hitting drugs, because everything will turn out okay in the end, get them to read Trainspotting and they'll probably run a mile if offered.

Blah. This has been a very ranty review. I'm finding it difficult to put across my feelings for this one. I think it's worth a read. Because it will make everyone feel different things. It didn't offend me, it just wasn't my cup of tea. So, onwards we read.

Over and out.

Comics Unmasked at the British Library

A couple of Friday's ago I visited the British Library, to have a looksee at the ‘Comics Unmasked’ exhibition.

I can’t consider myself a comic fanatic. My experience thus far into comics includes Brian Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series, a few Manga, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and more recently Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series (which by the way, is excellent).

I am a huge fan of the Batman/X-Men/Iron-Man/Avengers movie and game releases and would love to begin reading some of these in their original ink and paper format. I plan to research where to even begin with these and where I can source the comics from cheaply [or for free: *library dance*] over the summer.  

So what did I, as a comic-amateur, think of the exhibition?

It was great. The exhibition was interestingly broken up into various themes, such as gender, politics, violence etc with an area on sex that was curtained off slightly, so you could bypass it if you visited with children, or were likely to find it offensive. When you first enter you’re met with a series of quotes speech-bubbled along the wall from various famous people, my favourite of which is below:

 

Sorry about the quality - it was very dark and I was trying to be sneaky.

 

These were great as the quotes were not all favourable of comics and it introduced the idea right away the comics have always been a controversial topic.

Unfortunately you can’t take pictures inside the exhibition so you’ll have to imagine: A dark high ceiling that gave each illuminated display an almost stage-like quality. Looming from the shadowy corners were groups of mannequins, each sporting  V’s mask from V for Vendetta (a graphic novel written by Alan Moore – although the film version is possibly more well-known), giving the eerie impression I was being followed by a collective hidden gaze as I shuffled around.  

Some of the series I’d heard of, so it was really interesting to learn more about them – they had Judge Dredd’s mask, worn in the most recent film by Karl Urban (I think the mask was from the most recent film!) and it was amazing to see Neil Gaiman’s handwritten letters and sketches for the Sandman series, and learn about his earlier Punch and Judy works (very creepy).  But what was really great was discovering just how far back comics go. They had works from the Victorian times, and even prior to that! Some in huge, bound volumes and some that would have appeared simply in newspapers. Simple sketches and bold black and whites ran alongside intricate, detailed colour work.

Looking at the themes of gender and race through comics was especially fascinating for me. People tend to associate comics with white, male writers, but this exhibition showed examples of when this began to change and who was writing what, when Britain was undergoing different political and cultural shifts. The exhibition remained very central to Britain’s history which was great as well, as again, people tend to associate most comic work with American writers.

There was some thoroughly disturbing viewing to be had in the Sex section, including Penis monsters, anthropomorphic testicles and an almost scarring take on Rupert Bear. I would suggest no-one younger than 15/16 venture there.

Apart from an embarrassing moment, where I leant so close to the glass casing that I smacked my giant forehead on it, it was an excellent trip. A great way to spend an hour or so, even for comic-book novices. In fact, afterwards, I could recommend heading to Tottenham Court Road tube station, as from there it’s easy walking distance to Foyles Bookstore (they have dedicated manga and graphic novel sections) and the Forbidden Planet London megastore – their basement is any comic book or graphic novel fan’s heaven.

Entrance!

The exhibition at the British Library is open until the 19th August 2014. It’s £9.50 for adults and £5 for concessions. For other prices and to book tickets follow the link here.  

Over and out.