Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

I'm going to be spending my weekend doing some painting, I think (of the still life variety, rather than the walls-and-ceiling variety), but before I get out my brushes, here's a weekend miscellany...

1.) The blog post - is a delight of a poem on Kate Macdonald's blog. It's 'The Plaint of the Middlebrow Novelist' by Phoebe Fenwick Gaye, and will ring true to any of us immersed in the middlebrow world.

2.) The link - is a YouTube video of a documentary from a few years back called Twincredibles. I believe the title here is in Hungarian, but that's only because it's the only version I could find... c'mon, BBC, update your archives. It was part of a 'Mixed Race Season' that they did, and looks at several sets of mixed race twins who have very different skin tones. The thing I find strangest about some of these pairs, though (particularly Daniel and James) is how little they seem to get on. I can't imagine a twin not being the most important person in your life.

3.) The books - I went to the Oxfam bookshop near my work the other day, with my colleague and friend Kirsty, and picked up a couple of books I know nothing about. (I also revelled in the fact that she bought four; it's rare that I'm out-booked by a fellow shopper.) Has anybody read I Thought of Daisy by Edmund Wilson or The Wrong Box by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne? I bought the former because I've vaguely meant to read him for ages, and the latter... for the amusing cover.

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

My day started with pancakes and went on to pie (a mushroom, spinach, hazelnut and white truffle oil pie, since you ask = bliss), so it's all going pretty well. My intention to read all day isn't going great, although I am loving David Sedaris in brief snatches. And not reading the two books I told myself I'd read today. Still, it's only 5.30pm, so still plenty of reading time left today - and time to give you a few bits of miscellaneous linking.

1.) You may know that Oliver Sacks is one of my heroes, and I love his books (and his humanity). His heroism continues in this beautiful, sad, wise piece for the New York Times about learning that he has terminal cancer.

2.) In a totally different tone, you might enjoy this quiz I put together in honour of Go Set a Watchman being announced: it is titles of books which are taken from elsewhere. Half are from the Bible; half are not. Can you tell which is which? (And thanks Susan for pointing out to me that Go Set a Watchman borrows its title from the Bible! I'm ashamed that I didn't realise that myself.)

3.) Helene Hanff's Letter from New York is on my bedside table, so I was excited to see Ali's review of it - especially since it's rather glowing.

4.) Do you (like me) love bad films? Not just mediocrity, but the ones with a script, direction, acting, and sound quality so bad that you ask 'How did this get made?' Well, that just so happens to be the title of a hilarious podcast I discovered recently. It's been going for four or so years, so there should be something in the archives to whet the appetite.

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

I've been rather under the weather this week (those reviews were thankfully pre-scheduled!) so haven't been around the blogs as much as I'd have liked... but I'm still going to rustle up a few links and whatnot for you.

1.) The Persephone Prize - have you entered? Are you going to? I suppose we should keep these things strictly confidential, so I shall just say that Mum and I have both entered (or are planning on entering) - the mother vs son competition starts right here!

2.) There are lots of Shiny New Books reviews of mine that I've not pointed to yet, but I'll stick one in here that isn't a date for A Century of Books (which I have officially given up finishing this year, but which will be finished eventually): Bed Manners, a spoof etiquette guide from the 1930s. It's every bit as fun as that sounds.

3.) Early announcement that My Life in Books will be coming back soon(ish)! I've had most of the answers in, so I need to chase some people and match up some partners (which I usually do earlier, but... not this time.)

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

I'm off for part of the weekend - to visit Jane Austen's house, no less - and so still haven't caught up with answering comments yet. I will soon! But I shan't leave you empty-handed; here are a few bits and pieces to tide you over.

1.) I wrote about A.A. Milne for the OxfordWords blog, which I've been intending to do ever since I started working at OUP.

2.) Margaret Kennedy Reading Week was good fun, and I've bought a copy of her book The Outlaws on Parnassus: on the art of the novel as a result of it. Enjoy a full round-up over at Jane/Fleur's.

3.) It's actually been ages since I submitted my DPhil thesis (last October) was vivaed (in January) and had my corrections approved (May) - but I still haven't had my graduation (November). I have, though, finally got my thesis bound. One copy has been submitted to the Bodleian; another is here:

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Hope you're all having a good weekend! Mine is disappearing all too quickly... and I've read only 20 pages of the book I was intending to finish. Oops.

Slightly different from usual this week, as I'm going to be entirely egotistical in this miscellany... these things are all me elsewhere.

1. I wrote about Jeeves in the Offing by P.G. Wodehouse over at Vulpes Libris.

2. I made a cake to celebrate the 400th Very Short Introduction book.

3. And I appeared in this Oxford Dictionaries video (see the post for answers):

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Hope you've all had a great weekend! There's still a bit of it left, so there is time for a book, a blog post, and a link... and, you never know, I might even manage to review some books this week. I'm back in the position of reading lots at once, including some chunksters (Sarah Waters, anyone?) so I'll have to dive into the backlog of unreviewed books. And I will reply to comments soon too, promise...

1.) The link - if you live near Oxford and want to abseil down a church on October 4th in support of Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre, then this link will tell you how. If you either don't live near Oxford or (like me) could never be brought to abseil for anything, the same link will give more info anyway, if you would like to support. Thanks to my friend Sophie for sharing the link.

2.) The blog post - I adored Dodie Smith's Look Back With Love, the first volume of her four-part autobiography, and bought a couple of the others immediately. I still hadn't read any more, but Barb at Leaves and Pages has written lovely and glowing reviews of them. All got 10/10. And now I'm knee-deep in Look Back With Mixed Feelings.

3.) The book - I have heard much of Una Silberrad at middlebrow conferences, but not read anything by her yet - so was delighted to receive a copy of The Good Comrade from Victorian Secrets, and will report back in due course. Find out more here...

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Well, the rains, they cometh. Hopefully that means I can curl up indoors and fight off Reader's Block (I know I keep mentioning it, but it's a bit of a worry with the pile of Shiny New Books to read, although mine is nothing compared to Victoria's). But I've still rustled up a book, a link, and a blog post...

1.) The link - I put together another quiz for OxfordWords - this time, can you spot titles borrowed from other books? I think this is the post I've had most fun creating so far. Let me know how you did!

2.) The book - Can I be mammothly indiscreet for a moment? Almost every publisher has been wonderful about providing books for Shiny New Books - either to us or to a band of willing reviewers. The exception is Fourth Estate, who have ignored all of our emails - but, damn their eyes &c., they also publish some very intriguing-sounding books (and I'm sure they have v good reasons for not being able to reply!) It's played in their favour, as we've ended up buying the books ourselves and sending them off to reviewers - and today I ordered a beautiful reprint of Penelope Fitzgerald's Charlotte Mew and Her Friends. They've also reprinted lots of her novels in equally striking covers.

3.) The blog post - my Shiny New Books co-editor has done her own Q&A - you're too late to ask the Q, I'm afraid, but you can read the A - part one and part two.

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Another busy weekend coming up for me - I really must arrange one where I just lie around reading books - so I'll leave you with a quick trio!

1.) The blog post - it's been ages since I read a Richmal Crompton book, and Leadon Hill isn't one of the 26 I have read (not including the William series), but Claire's review has whetted my appetite for more.

2.) The link - I watched Twenty-Twelve long after everyone else (the BBC sitcom about a committee preparing for the Olympics), but I'm on board with W1A.  It's a sort-of sequel, with Hugh Bonneville and Jessica Stevenson reprising their roles, set at the BBC - Bonneville's character has become 'Head of Values'. It's just as brilliantly believable as before, with lots of verbal ticks (tics?) offering the most comedy. Watch here on iPlayer, if you can.

3.) The poll results - a slight change from the usual miscellany! Thank you for so many results; I found it really interesting to see how the different Penelopes fared (and loved the comment from Jill, on the poll, that her favourite was Penelope!)  The results are above - so far, anyway; the poll is still open - and I will report back on The Pumpkin Eater when I've finished it.

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Hope you're having a nice weekend - in the UK we finally have SUN!  It's amazing.

1.) The book - have you read any of Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky's short stories? NYRB Classics have brought out a few with lovely covers (as per) and I'm currently reading The Autobiography of a Corpse, and finding it... interesting. Jury's out at the moment. Anybody know anything more about his writing?

2.) The review - one of my biggest surprises in recent years was when Claire/Captive Reader didn't love the (oh-so-lovely) Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton. So she's moved down to my second favourite book read in 2012 - although I suspect that is a coincidence - and did end up loving the equally-lovely Blue Remembered Hills by Rosemary Sutcliff. Go and enjoy her review here. And then make sure you read the book.

3.) The link - this one has been doing the rounds in various places, so this is just the most recent place I've seen it. First brought to my attention by my friend Hannah, there is an app which will cleverly scroll through words, enabling you to read a book much more quickly than you would moving your eyes across a page.  Now, when it comes to reading novels I remain a technophobe, and I certainly shan't be getting one, but I'm still impressed by the idea...

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

I'm off to Bristol for the weekend (as mentioned the other day) - but my quiz ability might be hampered by the fact that I'm not feeling very well.  Doh.  (That's my excuse if I do badly, anyway.)

Here's your usual (ahem) round-up of book, blog, and link!

1.) The book - I don't know much about this one, but it arrived through my letterbox and looks interesting... Grace and Mary by Melvyn Bragg, from Sceptre. A quick google tells me that it was actually out in hardback and I missed it completely (or, more likely, read about it and forgot it).  Well, more info here!

2.) The blog - you probably all know and love Thomas of My Porch and The Readers.  Well, he can add a third string to his violin (which is, incidentally, the number of strings my violin has had for three years) with Lucy's Forever Home.  It documents the transformation of his home (which was, frankly, already sublimely beautiful) - all the planning, reasons behind choices, diagrams, mood boards, and pictures of machinery that you could wish for.  I lived for property programmes during my teens, and still love them now when I'm in at the right time - and this is like watching one about people I know.

3.) The link - a neat segue. Terry's Fabrics sent me a link to a fun infographic they'd made about homes in classic literature, from Jane Eyre to The Secret Garden.  Enjoy!

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Short intro... enjoy!

1.) The blog post - don't forget to be checking out Kim's advent calendar of bloggers' best books of 2013!  That link takes you to Kim's blog Reading Matters so you can scroll through the choices; to see mine, which appeared on day one, click here.

2.) The book - another reprint publisher which got in touch recently was Turnpike Books, who sent A.E. Coppard's short stories Weep Not My Wanton, which I'm excited to read as soon as I possibly can.

3.) The link - these are probably faked, at least some of them, but funny notes written by kids are always going to be funny, yes?

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Gosh, it's been a while since I did one of these, so I have quite a few things to catch you up on!  Here are just ten of them...

1.) Angela Young's brilliant novel Speaking of Love is now available as an e-book for Kindle (etc.? I don't know how these things work.)  You can see/buy it here, and it's only £1.99, which is crazy cheap for such a good book.  Go give it a try!

2.) National flags created by the foods the countries are associated with!

3.) Daunt Books recently sent me a beautiful new edition of Virginia Woolf's The London Scene.  I reviewed this collection of stories back in 2007, and highly recommend this really lovely edition - maybe as a Christmas present?

4.) Jura Whisky are running some flash fiction competitions #WinningWords - more info here.

5.)  If you haven't see Blue Jasmine and get the chance, do.  It's the best film I've seen this year, and Cate Blanchett is astonishingly good.

6.) Jennifer Walker has written a biography of bloggers'-favourite Elizabeth von Arnim (called Elizabeth of the German Garden: A Literary Journey) - I've not started it yet, but I'm excited about reading it.

7.) An interesting book bloggers' survey (to which I contributed) has results here (four results posts linked from that link).  I was mostly surprised by what a high percentage of bloggers are paid to write reviews for publications or other sites.

8.) I loved Susan Sellers' Vanessa and Virginia (review here) and thought that you might like to know that she has a new book out - Given The Choice - published by Cillian Press.

9.) I'm ashamed to say I hadn't heard of Elie Wiesel, whom the good people of Souvenir Press assure me is one of the best-known European writers, but I shall find out more with The Testament (trans. Marion Wiesel) which they've sent me.

10.) Someone sent me Amazon.com's 100 Best Books of 2013.  I have heard of 4 of them, and read none.  I do quite want to read three of those four - the Tartt, Rowling, and Humans of New York.

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany: Shirley Jackson Special!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend so far - I'm going to be seeing Felicity Kendal in Alan Ayckbourn's Relatively Speaking tonight, which is pretty exciting (although I did start reading a book by him yesterday that gave away the plot, ooops...)  Entirely unrelated to that, this week's book, blog post, and link come with a Shirley Jackson theme!

1.) The book - it was via Claire/Paperback Reader's Facebook page that I discovered the obscure Shirley Jackson novels I'd hankered after were - gasp - soon to be reprinted by Penguin!  So, Hangsaman, The Sundial, and The Road Through The Wall will all come out over the next few months.  I'm starting to wish I hadn't spent a pretty penny on The Sundial, especially since I still haven't read it...

2.) The link - the New Yorker had a great interview with Shirley Jackson's son last month...

3.) The blog post - hunting around for a recent Shirley Jackson post, I stumbled on a great review (and discussion in the comments section) of We Have Always Lived in the Castle, over at Estella's Revenge.

Have you read any/much/all of Shirley Jackson?  Let me know your favourites, or you want to read next....

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Hope y'all are having a great weekend, folks!  (I've been thinking about my autumnal trip to America, if that's any excuse for that sentence - although 'autumnal' has rather scuppered that line of thought.)

It's getting rather too hot again, so I shall collapse in a heap - before I do so, here's a book, a blog post, and a link, as per.

1.) The book - Janet Todd wrote a fantastic book called Death and the Maidens a few years ago, and the Shelleys and Wollstonecrafts (read my review here) - I've heard that she's now got a novel out reimagining Jane Austen's Lady Susan. It's only available as an ebook, so I can't read it (and I haven't even read Lady Susan yet, as I want to save something by Austen) - but perhaps you can.  Find out more here.

2.) The blog post - Hurrah and hurray for Vintage Books reprinting Stella Gibbons!  When I think I know about her output, still more appear - I'm currently reading Here Be Dragons, but for today, go and read Jane/Fleur Fisher's fantastic and enticing review of The Rich House.

3.) The link - Nanny Net sent me a link to their 10 Nanny Themed Summer Reading Books... as target audiences go, this is up there with the person who emailed me recently saying they'd like to feature me on their TV show as 'a book lover and mother of two', but perhaps some of you will be intrigued!

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

There are three people I routinely refer to as my best friend (playing fast and loose with my superlatives) - one is my lovely brother Colin, one is my dear friend Washington Wife, and the third is wonderful Mel.  (Since her blog isn't updated, I can link instead to a review she wrote for me, that was for a long time the most read page on my blog.)  They're all enormously brilliant people, and I am very blessed to know them - and only one of them is biologically predetermined to like me.

I bring this up only because today is Mel's wedding day, and I'm off to usher (ush?), give a reading, and probably cry.  I'll leave you with a whole range of links, rather than the usual book, blog post, and link (because there are so many this week), but first of all - I've done the prize draw for Stephen Leacock's Literary Lapses and the winner is Pam from Travellin' Penguin!  Email me your address, and I'll get it in the post.  I so enjoyed reading everyone's favourite things about Canada, and it's made me even more determined to visit one day.  And how serendipitous that I chose Canada Day to hold the draw!  Right - some links:

1.) You'll love this list of 'book titles with one letter missing', and accompanying illustrations.

2.) I wrote again for OxfordWords - this time, 5 Words That Are Older Than You Think.  Go and be surprised!

3.) So did Hayley!  She's written all about the language of whisky.

4.) AND Washington Wife, aforementioned!  A really fantastic article on 'journalese'.

5.) Margaret sent me this fascinating article about the letters received after Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery' was first published in the New Yorker.  Warning: spoilers, so make sure you read the short story (which you can do here) first.

Have a great weekend, all!

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

It's been a little while since I did one of these... and this one's going to be brief, because the painkillers I'm on for endless headaches have made me very sleepy!  (They're not especially heavy-duty painkillers, but... well, maybe I have a predisposition to sleepiness. It's been noted before.)

1.) The book - is The Matriarch by G.B. Stern, which Daunt Books sent me a day or two ago - I've been wanting to read some of her fiction for ages, and this is a great opportunity in a lovely edition.

2.) The link - oh, just Buzzfeed. I spend my life there now.

3.) The blog post - Washington Wife has put up another two hilarious posts - read 'em here and here.

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

And the weekend comes at the end of the week which, in Britain, finally brought warm weather!  We seem to have skipped spring altogether, and moved straight to summer - which is a shame for me, because spring is easily my favourite season.  Ho-hum.

Today I'll be going to a 1970s-themed murder mystery party... which I'm also writing.  And that tense is used intentionally, since I still haven't finished writing it... eek!  Best get a move on; just time to tell you about a blog post, a book, and a link.

1.) The book - isn't new, but is a mini-project between me and Karen / Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings, which we're inviting everyone to join in with.  I love doing little readalongs with other bloggers, so if I see that they've recently bought a book I've been intending to read, I quite often pop a comment in, seeing if they'd like to read at the same time.  Karen and I talked about reading Nina Bawden together (an author I've yet to read, although I have a few of her books) and the only one we both owned was A Woman of My Age.  So we'll be both be reading it, and probably posting about it sometime towards the end of the month.  Do join in!

2.) The link - I have got so obsessed BuzzFeed of late... yes, the cute animals, but also myriad other addictive lists.  I do love a list.  Most recently, I have been amazed by these optical illusions (particularly numbers 11 and 14).

3.) The blog post - read about the postal book group I'm in, and the fantastic book Danielle sent around this time, in her blog post here.

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Happy weekend, everyone! I'm feeling in a good mood as I write this on Friday night, because I went back to the first chapter of my DPhil thesis for the first time in 3 years, and I still felt inspired to see how I could edit and re-frame it!  It's been so long since I had time to work on my DPhil properly that I'd forgotten the thrill when planning goes right.  The only academic thing to compare is the thrill when archives turn up something wonderful.  There are plenty of downsides to spending four years earning very little money and working alongside very few people, but it has its upsides too.

So that's put me in a cheery frame of mind for sharing a book, a link, and a blog post!

1.) The book - is one I was offered by the author.  I know I won't have time to read it, so I haven't accepted the review copy, but I still think it sounds very intriguing. It's A Bright Moon For Fools by Jasper Gibson, and the cover art is enough to catch my attention...

I like the quick synopsis Jasper put in an email to me: "Though it is (I hope) funny in parts, it's really about an ageing man, unable to get over the loss of his wife, crashing around rural Venezuela and getting into serious trouble."

2.) The blog post - was a very easy choice this week, as it's about a book I adored, but never wrote about: Economy Must Be Our Watchword by Joyce Dennys.  I didn't write about it, because it was impossible to find and I didn't want to fill people with hopeless desire to read this gem!  But I mentioned it when I took part in Lost in the Stacks over at A Work in Progress, and Danielle, marvellously, managed to find a copy through her library - and wrote a brilliant review here.  Go and check it out; it also includes lots of Dennys's brilliant illustrations.

3.) The link - this video had my office in fits of laughter this week:

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Happy weekend, everyone.  It's finally starting to look a bit sunnier and - dare I say it - a touch less freezing here, so I'll be spending my Saturday... at work.  Oh well, it'll be nice to say hello to Bodleian people, and then I'm off to spend Saturday evening at my friend's house, watching The Voice.  Very classy, me.  You can treat yourself better, by reading a weekend miscellany.

1.) The blog post - check out Hayley's response to my recent On Not Knowing Art post, entitled On Knowing Art.

2.) The book - came courtesy of lovely Folio books, and is a beautiful copy of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - which I've been intending to read for ages.  Has anyone read it? (Follow that link to see the details of the Folio edition I was kindly sent.)

3.) The link - is silly. It just is silly. But I love it. Click here to ask one of nature's great questions.

Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Hopefully I'm going to see some crocodiles this weekend... I'll keep you posted, either on here or, more likely, on Twitter - where I'm @stuck_inabook, donchaknow.  I'm afraid I'm just as likely to talk about Neighbours or cats as I am books, but...

1.) The books - you know me, I love reprints - so it's always exciting to unwrap an unsolicited publisher package and discover that it's got reprints.  Even better, they're by an author I like, and they're books I don't own - soon I'll be trying The Boat and A Perfect Woman by L.P. Hartley (best known for the very good The Go-Between), courtesy of John Murray.  Click on the images for more info.

2.) The links - time for an update about OxfordWords blog posts, sneakily put in the 'links' section!  I've been calling in favours from the blogosphere, and a couple of posts appeared over the past weeks from names you'll recognise... here are some of my favourite recent articles:

Harriet wrote about Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Rachel wrote about Vita Sackville-West
Andrew Motion wrote about poetry and memory
My lovely boss Malie wrote about My Fair Lady
I wrote about pronunciations of 'scone'.
Our 'baby names generator' proved very popular!

3.) The blog post - do check out Karyn's posts about her travels - especially if piles of Penguins get you all tingly.