Dickens and Scones

I visited London last weekend. It was sunny, and beautiful and altogether fabulous to be back in the capital, even if only for two days. Of course I couldn't go all that way and not engage with some literature related fun. So I took some time out to visit The Charles Dickens Museum.

48 Doughty Street, London

Dickens lived in many places throughout his life, however this is the only house left standing of his in London. You enter into a slightly dark hallway and to your left is the gift shop and entry to the museum (go straight ahead for the cafe). The museum is over four floors and various shadowy figures on the walls guide you up the stairs:

Ghostly.

My favourite piece of furniture was his writing desk. If I ever win the lottery, I will have a writing desk made specially for me, after I've bought a house big enough for a writing room. 

The rear of Dickens once graced that chair. 

Walking around the house felt oddly intrusive, due to the personal nature of the museum. The beds were neatly made, one with a nightgown once belonging to Dicken's wife laid on the cover. His wedding ring was on display, as well as various items once belonging to his children. Although some items were encased in glass cabinets, many were 'out in the open' with polite signs reminding guests not to touch/sit or neatly cornered off with small ropes as with the desk above. I found it a big contrast to the British Museum, in respect that although the BM houses some deeply personal and culturally significant items, this museum is centered around one man and his family, in the very house where some of his life was spent. It gave a feeling of closeness you don't often find in larger museums and a feeling of better connecting with the stories behind the items. 

Please sir, can I have some more?

My favourite element of the museum by far was the exhibition regarding Catherine Dickens, Charles's wife. Having only scratched the surface in terms of Dickens literature I have read, I knew almost nothing of his personal life, let alone that of his family. Sound recordings were running through the museum and the upper floor dedicated to a timeline and artifacts special to Catherine. 

The entrance to the top floor 'Discovering Catherine' exhibition

It was incredible to learn more about Catherine, her relationship, children, sisters and eventual split from Charles. Basically, she seemed to be fascinating enough to have her own museum. It seems after the separation, Catherine was a little forgotten and slightly ill-spoken of (sometimes by Charles himself) and this exhibition goes someway to disproving the negativity through hard evidence (letters etc), personal effects and bringing a sense of 'human' back to Catherine, as opposed to just 'wife'.

After all of my wandering I avoided the temptation of the gift shop but instead accidentally stopped for cake in the cafe instead. I would highly recommend the cake.

Small, but NOM

Seeing as I still have a valid student card, it cost me £6 to enter the museum as a concession. You can visit the gift shop and cafe for free, if you just want cake! Other prices are:

Adult £9.00

Child 6-16 £4.00

Children under 6 go free

Closet tubes are Holborn, Chancery Lane or Russel Square. I walked it from Kings Cross in about 20 minutes. Find out more information about travelling to the museum on their website. 

Over and out. 

P.S: My favourite painting in the museum was a watercolour called 'Dickens Dream' by Robert William Buss. He died before he could complete the painting, so the sketches are still visible on a large section of the canvas. I think this makes it more dreamlike. You can buy a print of the paining here.

P.P.S: See my post from May 'Dickens Drama' if you want to read a long whining post about how I didn't understand Great Expectations.

Roald Dahl and Running

A quick update. In just over a week now I'll be running the Race for Life 5K at Tatton Park. Now, there's nothing particularly library-like or book-ish about this, so what's my point?

Well.

After I've sweatily puffed my way around this 5K business (I really hate running) I can go and sit down for half an hour, then make my way over to this:

[Picture Credit: Tatton Park/Quentin Blake]

The Tatton Park estate are holding a whole years worth of events to celebrate 100 years since the birth of the magical author. I am yet to find a person who does not enjoy Roald Dahl. He is marvellous. Anyway, many of the events are aimed at children, however it seems there's been much effort to include events for adults and this is one I will definitely be attending, running gear and all. The Mansion will be holding an exhibition of Roald Dahl book covers from all over the world and from different times in history. I cannot wait, and plan to do a post after my visit to vent my excitement. 

I'm also keen this month for the release of new BFG adaptation by Stephen Spielberg, released July 22nd in the UK. Another post on that awaits. To conclude this short post, I'm still alive and plan to post about many lovely book-ish things soon. For now,

Over and out. 

Birthday books

I had a birthday this month. The day was fairly ordinary, and I was in work to boot. Being a book lover and a library worker however, I did receive a couple of wordy nerdy book gifts. For starters, check out my cake!

"and the mome raths outgrabeeee"

This was made by two of my wonderful friends *hugs*. Alice in Wonderland is one of my favourite books and I love the original Disney film (even thought it isn't much like the book). Also I'm from Cheshire, so what could be more perfect! The cake underneath the icing was sponge with jam and buttercream, oh so yum!

Secondly, I received a copy of 'The Guest Cat' by Takashi Hiraide. I'm really looking forward to this. It's short, at around 130 pages, so a perfect quick summer read. I love cats and I've been wanting to explore more modern Japanese authors after reading a few of Haruki Murikami's books (which I fell in love with).

[This beautiful photo is taken from the blogger: Paperback Castles]

The eyes and title on the cover are a sort of foil green so they shine in the light, and the artwork is lovely. I'll probably do a proper review after I have read it. Now I've finished the lengthy Great Expectations (see last post), I have a couple of Empire magazines to catch up on then I can start this.

On the not-so-short end of the scale, I also receive these beauties:

This is the complete works of Shakespeare and the works of Chaucer. I really enjoyed studying the Pardoner's Tale for A Level English Literature, and I always wanted to read more. They both smell phenomenally of 'old book'. That vanillary sort of smell. I have a little collection of older fabric bound books and these will look great on my bookshelf and when I read them I can pretend I'm an heiress to a great estate with a massive library.

See 'The Guest Cat' available to buy from Waterstones or your local bookshop. I'm very happy with all my bookish birthday gifts <3 

Over and out. 

Dickens Drama

*Spoilers about Great Expectations*

Do I love Dickens, or do I not have a clue what he's saying half the time?

[Gif Credit: thatonemoviechick.tumblr.com] 

I just finished Great Expectations. For those who don't know, it's split into three 'books' (or parts). I was with it during book one: Pip meets a convict, Pip is nice to people, Pip is summoned mysteriously to places and made to walk an old lady around a room etc etc...lots of odd, kooky things occur. It sets up some Great Expectations.

Then book two happens. I honesty don't know if I understood what was happening through a lot of book two. Perhaps I wasn't in the right 'zone'. Much of book two passed me by in a blur. Why is Pip called Handel? What? Not much happened here IMO that was relevant to the greater plot. I struggled.

My favourite quote from the whole book did actually happen in part two though (just to contradict myself). It reads:

 "We spent as much money as we could, and got as little for it as people could make up their minds to give us. We were always more or less miserable, and most of our acquaintance were in the same condition. There was a gay fiction among us that we were constantly enjoying ourselves, and a skeleton truth that we never did. To the best of my belief, our case was in the last aspect a rather common one." (Chapter 34, Page 275).

Isn't that a beauty?

Book three. Things get shocking and reveal-y. I sort of managed to pick it up again here. But Pip's whining opinions and mood swings go on for so long it's hard to remain focused. However all the oddness and kookyness from earlier does get wrapped up in one way or another, so if you like neat endings then this might be the book for you.

[Side note]  Pip really is a horrible person sometimes. The worst thing is, he knows this most of the time, feels guilt-ridden for most of the book BUT STILL DOES NOTHING ABOUT IT until the end of the book. I'm glad he went home to find Biddy married to Joe. He deserved her not. [Grumble over].

So what's my drama? In total contrast to G.E, I have read David Copperfield and Oliver Twist, and both I enjoyed hugely and wished there was more to read at the end. SO MUCH LOVE FOR THOSE BOOKS. On a different note, I have also read A Christmas Carol, and during this, kinda wished the first spirit had killed Mr Scrooge off to spare us reading the rest.

Why do I have this love/hate relationship with Dickens books? It's putting me off reading any more in case I find it a total snooze-fest like G.E. Butttttt do I give him one more chance and read one more, just in case I find another fav like Oliver Twist? I don't know. This has been my Dickens Drama. Any suggestions/help greatly appreciated.

Over and out.

'Shelf Help' in the college

Okay, so it's not the most original title for a promotion on self help through reading, but it works!

I work in an FE college. As you may be aware, there's been lots of media coverage and much emphasis placed on the mental health of our young adults in recent years, which is very amazing. It's important, especially around exam time when many students experience extra levels of stress, sometimes on top of existing issues. FE colleges around the UK are working to help their students and where I work is no different. But what can the library do? We can offer books, of course! It would be a longggg post if I were to go through everything we're doing, so I just wanted to share one little aspect.

As part of a larger promotion on mental health, stress and and self help, I have put together some little 'shelf help' packs. These include a book, a DVD, a CD, a quick read (a shorter book, usually no longer than 100 pages) and some leaflets about various mental health issues and how reading can help. These items are all chosen with the aim of cheering people up. They are stories, movies and songs to help the students feel happier, inspired and make them feel less alone. It's tricky, because what makes one person happy might not make another person happy, but I did some research and did my best to put together good selections. The choices included things like 'Freedom Writer's' DVD, 'Slam' by Nick Hornby, 'Life in a Day' DVD, 'The Hundred Foot Journey' by Richard Morais and 'Feel good songs' CD.

A poster I created to promote the packs

So far one pack has been borrowed, which I am pleased with. It might not sound like a great success but I honestly didn't know whether any would be borrowed. I prepared five packs. Library promotions are often trial and error. If no more are borrowed, then I'll try something different next year. I won't bore you with the details of how reading can boost your mood, just thought I'd share my little experiment.

Over and out.

The EU referendum and our college library

There's a big vote coming up in the UK. On the 23rd June 2016, everyone in the UK aged 18 and over can vote to decide whether they want to stay in or leave the EU. I won't go into my personal views here, but we're doing some cool things in the Library to help get the students interested in the whole situation.

The college I work at takes students aged 16 and over. This means that many of them won't be able to vote. But that doesn't mean they won't have an opinion. I created a display on a notice board giving the basic details about the Referendum (the pro-leave and pro-stay campaigns and supporters with details of how to vote and where to find information). We then popped this up in the main walkway through the Library:

This was just an idea to give students the chance to voice their opinion, but mainly so that those who can't vote in June because they are too young, have a chance to have their say now.  Now, these things can occasionally fall flat on their face and you're left with a lonely looking notice board with nothing written on it. But here, the opposite happened. This was after three days:

I then had to start rubbing off the ticks and starting a tally so that other people would have space to tick and cast their vote. The next picture is after 8 days:

(Leave 51, Stay 76, Not Sure 2)

So far more students seem to want to stay but the leave voters are catching up. For anyone thinking of planning something similar in their library, here's two big things to know:

1) These students have a definite opinion. Less than five people so far have said that they are 'not sure'. Most have confidently ticked either yes, or no. They are more interested in this than perhaps people would give them credit for.

2) They can be sensible. I was expecting penis drawings and random swear words. But apart from one person who wrote 'racist' on the board, nothing like that has happened. Just people looking at the board, asking us questions at the desk and happily ticking what they thought.

We did a similar experiment back in October, asking students to join the debate on whether we should still celebrate Black History Month.  That worked out really well too, with lots of students writing comments on the boards as well as just ticking yes or no. Basically, give them a whiteboard to cast their vote on something political and important and they will deliver and you'll have minimal penis doodles. The other main point to all of this was to remind those who can vote in the real referendum to register to vote. We have set up a dedicated computer permanently logged into the register website to get people to sign up and help them if they need help.

Libraries are really good places to get people interested in important community and global events. I think I read somewhere that during the last general election there were more people who didn't vote at all than who voted for any of the parties. It's important libraries work to get those who can vote to go and vote and those who can't interested enough so that they care enough to register when they can. Enough political rambling for today.

Over and out.

Throw ALL of the books away. A sad story.

Weeding. It's a controversial topic. No I'm not talking digging out the dandelions from your lawn, I'm talking digging out books from the shelves of your library and getting rid of them. This seems to be a problem for some people. This opinion bothers me.

I read an article from The New Yorker the other day. It reported that a library director from California weeded roughly 40,000 books from the shelves of his library over a summer. Protesters angrily gathered. The director gave his perspective, explaining his perfectly acceptable reasons for this 'purge'. 1000 protesting people signed a petition insisting he step down. And then, he did. The man was bullied from his job.

There's a few things people should remember about Librarians and Libraries.

1) We appreciate books. We know books. And most of all we know which books haven't been borrowed in two years, because out library systems tell us so. "Ahh, but what if someone had looked or used the book in the library without borrowing it?" I hear you cry. This is a possibility. However the people that work in libraries often know their shelves like the back of their hand. Some books don't move from their shelf positions, ever. They are dusty and unappreciated and untouched. Sometimes it's better for them to move on and free the shelf space for a book that someone needs.

I'm not even sure what a Valentine Potato is

2) Times move on. When I was at LibraryCamp back in 2014, I head a tale about a library where books on homosexuality were still classified under 'criminal activity' because no-one had weeded that section in forever. Some books do hold their own against time, such as classic fiction and philosophy. But the truth is most non-fiction books get to a point where they can be wildly offensive or dangerously inaccurate. Would you give a trainee doctor a book on mental health treatment from the 1960's? No. God only knows what horrors they would inflict upon their future patients. Books from the fifties on how to be a perfect housewife, cookery books that have old measurements in, medical volumes that still recommend segregating bathrooms...they all need to go!

"A very lovely training manual" OhGodWhy

3) As the article mentions, libraries aren't necessarily museums. Yes some of these older books are nostalgic and remind people of past times or are culturally significant. But that's the responsibility of a museum to house those treasured antiques. More often than not, a museum wouldn't take a library copy of a book anyway. Too many stickers and alarms and suspicious stains.

Museums don't want this. This isn't culture.

4) Library books tend to wear out faster than those at home. Sometimes these books can be taken to hundreds of different homes in one year and they begin to fall apart. Then you repair them. Then they fall apart again. After a few rounds of this there's often not much worth keeping. From my experience, tatty books are always checked over before they go to book Nirvana to see if a replacement copy is worth buying.

No-one, however, is going to replace this. Ever. 

5) Where do people think these books go? Yes a large proportion do go on to be pulped, but then some of those books deserve that fate. Some go on to be re-sold. You know amazon market place? It's full of ex-library books looking for a new home. Some companies, like Better World Books sell the books on for a library, to reduce their workload. Some are donated to anyone who might want them. But again, books such as a very, very out-of-date law book could be dangerous if someone used it in practice. Some books need to go.

Doctors in the 21st Century that's who.

The article story made me so mad. The main niggle of the protesters, was that they wanted to know what had been weeded and why, so the article states. Why? We don't tell anyone else how to do their job! Librarian's are trained for this work. We don't just waltz through the shelves employing crazy reasoning like "oh, this book has a orange cover and I hate carrots, so it must be burned immediately."

So as a last note, please trust us. We won't be getting rid of anything useful. For one, libraries as you might have noticed, are struggling financially, so getting rid of perfectly good books is hardly our number one priority...and finally people complain sometimes that libraries are 'old' or 'only have out of date' books. Quite often that's not the case. But by persecuting and bullying those who do try and weed, you're only increasing the chances of this being the reality.

Over and out.

P.S: If you need cheering up after this, Awful Library Books is a blog dedicated to posting the weirdest, most hilarious and creepy books that libraries decide to weed. If you're still not convinced that weeding is a good thing, check out their site.  All images on this post are credited to this blog.