Month: December 2007

Here we are, then, with the Top Ten as decided in December 2004… I’ll work my way up to this year’s list bit by bit. Sadly three of the books are currently in Oxford, and one has gone astray – if anyone out there borrowed the Richmal Crompton, just let me know! Must emphasise again that the lists are how much I enjoyed/valued the books, not anything else…

10. The Haunted Woman – David Lindsay
Entered the 50 Books… only the other day.

9. Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell
And three years later, the rest of the BBC-watching world agrees…

8. Someone at a Distance – Dorothy Whipple
See this post for more Whipple/Persephone Books musings.

7. Hostages to Fortune – Elizabeth Cambridge
Another Persephone Book, still one of my favourites, though the copy photographed is actually an original hardback edition.

6. The Awakening – Kate Chopin
Thanks Lynne (dovegreyreader) for introducing me to this one

5. The Gypsy’s Baby – Richmal Crompton
LOVE her novels, and though this one isn’t one of her best, my year of Crompton-gorging was 2003

4. The Waves – Virginia Woolf
Sublime. For more on Woolf… well, most of my posts seem to mention the lady.

3. Agnes Grey – Anne Bronte
My copy is in Oxford, and this remains my favourite of all the Bronte novels. Just wish I could remember how to get the accent in.

2. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
What a great year for novels this was… and what a shame I immediately followed this classic with the abysmal Rebecca’s Tale.

1. Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
The final Austen for me to read, and of course it is utterly brilliant.

For 2005, come back tomorrow…

Very nice to be back in the rural idyll that is Chiselborough, Somerset, England. I’m not back to work until January 10th, by which time I might have forgotten quite how early 7.30am feels. Since most of the people reading this probably rise at 6 or thereabouts, so I shan’t moan – but nor shall I get up early for the next couple of weeks if I have anything to say about it.

So why have I taken leave and come home to Somerset early? Well, since you ask – for the West Chinnock Christmas Extravaganza. In case you’re compiling a catalogue of my various abilities, don’t pop acting on the list. Before you think I’m being modest, the crowd at West Chinnock Christmas Extravaganza wholly agree with me. We’ve just come back from delivering our sketch, and it was rather a tough crib – but lots of nice people said they enjoyed it afterwards. The Carbon Copy penned the script, which was very funny, and we all played ourselves, preparing for the Extravaganza. A bit of metatheatre, if you will. Lots of bits of sketches and awful puns and the sorts of things which village shows require – though we refused to provide their favourite fare of semi-nudity and toilet humour. They’d have loved Renaissance drama…

I’ve been busy compiling my Top Ten Books of the Year, more difficult this year than I remember it being before, but I’m going to whet your appetite over the next few days with 2004, 2005 and 2006’s top tens. And I might even give you a run down of all the books I’ve read this year. Something to look out for…

A while ago my friend Mel set up a website called The Pygmy Giant – not entirely sure (or at all sure) where the name came from, possibly Mel’s diminuitive stature, but that needn’t worry us right now. The website is for flash fiction – which Wikipedia describes as “fiction characterised by its extreme brevity”. Poems or stories of under 2000 words, more or less, which one can read easily in one go, and which generally has some quick, singular impact. Great fun, and interesting to see what people can do with few words.

Anyway, I submitted a poem the other day, and it is now in place. Not the most cheery ditty in the world, but I quite liked it. If any of you are budding writers, or just fancy the challenge of seeing what you can write in a short space, then I’m sure Mel would love to hear from you. Email thepygmygiant@googlemail.com but do check the submission guidelines first; for one thing, I think everyone submitting work is British, or at least living in Britain. That’s because there are lots of American flash fiction websites out there, and Mel wanted to try something a bit different.

Do go and check out the site, there’s some really interesting stuff going on over there. And if I ever performed by friendship role better, I might even be an assistant editor. I’ll settle with contributor for now.

I saw the Magna Carta today.

I also learnt that there are more than one – dozens of the things, actually, since it was issued several times, and each time one was sent to every county. Frankly, I’m surprised I haven’t tripped over one before. Anyway, the Bodleian is currently displaying some of them, and I went along to have a look – was quite a surreal experience, but very fun and interesting. Our Vicar would be proud.

That opening sentence was quite unusual – which leads me to remark; Danielle had a good idea the other day, well I think she may have borrowed the idea, but it is good nonetheless. The idea is that you type out the first sentence from the first day/entry of each month, on your blog, and thus present a progress of the year. Just one sentence per month. Well, I only started in April, but I’m going to count the 10th April as a ‘first day’.

April – Why, hello there.

May – May 1st is coming to an end in England, and thus comes the close of Magdalen’s May Day.

June – We’ve all heard about the difficulties authors have with their second books – especially if these authors have had phenomenal success with their first books.

July – I don’t read Science Fiction, but I think it’s true to say that a lot of it is about making humans.

August – I’m back, I’m back!

September – This year has been one of lengthy absences in the world of Stuck-in-a-Book, and for that I apologise.

October – I’m sure most of you have been in this position: you want to tell someone a funny quotation you’ve read, only you can’t remember the book, author, page or even the quotation properly.

November – If you’re not singing Dolly Parton in your head right now, then either a)you’re too young b)you’re too sophisticated, or c)you’re too sane.

December – Another week of being rather lax with blog posting – as I scroll down the section in the column which categorises posts by months, I’m astonished that I managed 28 in October and May.

What a strange collection of month-openings… and many of ’em apologising for my reticence. And not much about books there! How accurate a cross-section of my logging this is, I leave up to you…

I attended rather a fun Secret Santa party this evening, and this is what I got:

1) All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
2) A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr
3) The Go-Between on DVD

Doesn’t Santa know me well? Helps that I talk a lot about my literary likes and dislikes – always feel bad when I realise I don’t know the preferences of those around me, when mine are well known. Perhaps because, where many of my friends have devotion towards certain sports or instruments or activities, I profess a deep-set adoration for Virginia Woolf and Jane Austen. Hmm. BUT these wonderful gifts are much appreciated, and perform that wonderful feat of being both beautiful and having great contents. Or so I assume – have not read/seen any of them, but am most confident. And now I can join in Cornflower’s Book Group!

This week’s Booking Through Thursday question is:

Do you have a favourite book, now out of print, that you would like to see become available again?

This might just rank as one of the easiest questions I’ve ever answered – yes yes yes! All of ’em! I used to naively believe that ‘good’ books (whatever they are) stayed in print – how much better do I know now?!

I’m too sleepy to write a proper post tonight, but tomorrow I’ll be introducing a new book to the 50 Books You Must Read But May Not Have Heard About. Thought this question warranted it.

A few clues. Well, not really clues, because you May Not Have Heard About this novel, but something to set the mood…

published in 1922written by a manprimarily about a womanreissued by the same people who reissued Miss Hargreavesthis is a close-up of the cover:

I know it’s barely December, and at this rate we’ll spend a fifth of the year celebrating Christmas, but I can’t help it. Love the festivities, as I’ve said, and this year made even better by the revelation that I do like mince pies – have spent a decade believing my childhood dislike was unchanged. It’s going to be a good year…

Anyway, Nan has tagged me for a Christmas meme (what a strange sentence, and shows just how much technology affects language… discuss) so here goes:

What is your most enduring Christmas memory?
I think it must be when we were eight, and Mum & Dad both had awful flu. They stayed in bed, except for a brief appearance to open presents, but had wisely procured remote control cars for Colin and me – we spent a contented two days playing with them, and the batteries ran out just in time to coincide with the parents being able to stagger down the stairs. How callous children are…

Do you have a favourite piece of Christmas music?
Nan says In The Bleak Midwinter, and I have to agree. Also love O, Little Town of Bethlehem, and, on a less classy note, All I Want For Christmas Is You…

Do you stick to the old family traditions?
I still have Christmas with the old family, so yes! I don’t know if we do anything that my grandparents initiated. Most of the things we do on the day itself are dictated by Our Vicar being Our Vicar – Christmas dinner is on Christmas Eve, because he has so many services to do, and we open presents after a leftovers meal on Christmas Day. And there are certain cake decorations that must go on the cake every year. Oh, and we have a couple of Harrods Christmas decorations which are proudly displayed (when I bought the 79p I was actually moved to a less salubrious queue at the back of the shop) – in fact, in Worcestershire they stayed in place all year, hanging from the light fittings, so that people wouldn’t bang their heads.

What makes your mouth water at Christmas time?
Chocolate pies (like mince pies, but with chocolate spread in – it goes all crumbly and delicious when baked), roast potatoes, brussel sprouts (WHY do we only have these once a year? They’re brilliant), stuffing, mulled wine. Yet to find a vegetarian meat-substitute which gets me incredibly excited. Quorn roast is quite nice, but I defy anyone to get very excited about a nut roast. Going to experiment this year, methinks…

How soon do you put the Christmas tree up and when do you take it down?
Here’s how it goes – every year I nag for the tree to go up on December 1st; the Carbon Copy says 24th December is the day; Our Vicar’s Wife says perhaps we don’t need a tree after all; the tree goes up about the 15th. I nag everyone to help me decorate it, the Carbon Copy helps a bit under duress, I criticise his efforts and re-do them, the parents subtly disappear. It stays up until the day before the annual Epiphany Party, usually.

Oh, I love Christmas.