All

Thanks for all your sympathy and encouragement with The Challenge! I know, in the grand scheme of things, that a month without buying books isn’t a biggie… but it might well be the first for a few years, and strain my self-discipline. This isn’t about buying books to read immediately – otherwise Peter’s suggestion about using the local library would, of course, meet with my cheerful approval – but more a magpie instinct which could do with calming…

And another book sneaked/snuck into my hands before the ban starts. Well, actually, this book wasn’t an impulse buy. I saw it in one of Crewkerne’s bookshops a few months ago, and decided I couldn’t *really* afford it… but the fact that I’m still thinking about it all this while later suggested that it wouldn’t be an unrewarding purchase.

The Yellow Book: A Selection comes, unsurprisingly, from The Yellow Book – I wrote about this quite a bit in my Special Topic thesis on Victorian Short Stories. It was around in the 1890s and published fin-de-siecle stories, poetry and art in a beautiful yellow, good quality format. The 1949 anthology followed these pointers, and this book is a delight to both behold and hold. What’s more, the contents are great – although set up with the amusing purposes of a)avoiding advertising in periodicals and b)avoiding Oscar Wilde altogether, The Yellow Book witnessed some of that very early Modernism, alongside some very late Victorianism. Writers include Henry James, Arthur Symons, George Gissing, Kenneth Grahame, Yeats, Edmund Gosse, George Moore, Max Beerbohm, Richard Garnett. I know rather less about the art of the period (or, indeed, any period) but recognised Walter Sickert’s name and, of course, Aubrey Beardsley.

Lots of copies from abebooks.co.uk cheaper than I paid (The Bodley Head edition) and definitely a work of art as well as literature – a great coffee table book too, it must be admitted. Especially if your walls are yellow.

What have I done?

It all started out so innocently. I was having lunch a week or so ago with my library cronies, Lucy and Clare, and the topic of my book-buying came up. These gals aren’t foreigners to the world of book buying, believe me, but for some reason they thought I took the art to excess. And somehow, in the course of this conversation, I managed to agree to a bet that I wouldn’t be able to abstain from book-buying throughout January. Once again, in bold, I will not buy any books in January. Goodness.

A couple exceptions. I can buy gifts; I can receive gifts. I just can’t buy books for myself. For a whole month. Eek.

Yes, I do have something of a backlog to get through. But popping into a charity shop and buying a couple of 20p books – this is like oxygen to me. So will I manage a whole month? Will I forget and order something from Amazon? I’ll let you know, and perhaps post a photograph of the monies I receive from/give to Lucy…

These are a couple I bought today, making the most of my last days as a book buyer. Tara talked about Chatterton Square by E. H. Young a while ago, and couldn’t this Jonathan Cape publication. He also published Elizabeth Cambridge’s Hostages to Fortune originally, and since then I’ve been drawn to that entrancing typeface used on covers… never seen a dustjacket, though. Also had to buy the sequel to Three Men in a Boat, especially with that nice cover…

Oh, and I went carol singing with Paddy Ashdown for the second time this evening… that might mean nothing to non-UK/Irish readers.

And here we are!
I’ve spent my day in the kitchen, making my vegetarian Christmas dinner to freeze (artichoke and wild mushroom pie) so I don’t get in Our Vicar’s Wife’s way come Christmas Eve. Also made some mince pies (and variants with syrup and with honey as the Carbon Copy doesn’t like mince pies) and something made entirely of cream, chocolate and Baileys. Mmm.
At the end of that, which was great fun, seems right to share 2007’s top reads. I know you’ve thought of little else for the past week…
Here goes…

10. Three Men In A Boat – Jerome K. Jerome
Wonderfully funny, and must read the sequel before too long. More here.

9. Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead – Barbara Comyns
Surreal but special – in the 50 Books… here.

8. Watching the English – Kate Fox
Fascinating pop-anthropology about my very own English people. Also in the 50 Books… back when I took much effort over my photgraphs… here.

7. The London Scene – Virginia Woolf
Our friend Ginny has appeared in ’04, ’05, ’06 and ’07. What an accolade for the lass.

6. Cymbeline – William Shakespeare
Not one of his most popular plays, but read the final scene as comedy and you’re away.

5. Speaking of Love – Angela Young
Neighbour to Billybob, Angela! Another 50 Books… entrant; look out for the paperback in 2008.

4. A Winter Book – Tove Jansson
Read it on a beautiful beach – maybe I should give this book a re-read in more wintery temperatures. More here…

3. The Love Child – Edith Olivier
A bit like Miss Hargreaves in that it’s domestic life with a fantasy twist, the protagonist conjures to life an imaginary childhood companion, but power tussels ensue… more on The Love Child soon.

2. One Pair of Hands – Monica Dickens
Been ages that I’d intended to read some Monica Dickens, and what a treat I’d been missing. Makes the fourth 50 Books… this year. So what beat it?

1. The Bible
No, not the first year I read any of the Bible, of course, but I did finish reading it this year. Started with “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” and ended with “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen”. Not really going to be any competition, is there?

Getting very close to this year’s list, but before I let you in on 2007’s top ten, here’s what made the grade last year. As always, it is ones I’ve enjoyed most, rather than those which are most meritworthy. Otherwise I might have some trouble justifying my choice of no.1 over my choice for no.5…

10. A House and Its Head – Ivy Compton-Burnett
ICB is a love-or-loathe author, and luckily I love her. Preferred Mother and Son, but this is quite wonderful too.

9. There Were No Windows – Norah Hoult
Another Persephone Book (not often they aren’t good enough for my top ten) and one which is both heart-rending and very funny – about an authoress with dementia.

8. The Two Doctors – Elizabeth Cambridge
She appeared on my 2004 list, and this is a worthy follower.

7. Discipline – Mary Brunton
Jane Austen mentions Mary B a couple of times in her letters, quite sardonically, and she is certainly worth reading. The 1980s introduction to my copy kind of misses the point…

6. The Vicar of Wakefield – Oliver Goldsmith
Very funny, and finger-on-the-pulse theologically too. Nice combination.

5. All’s Well That Ends Well – William Shakespeare
Saw this with Dame Judi Dench in it, which probably helped me choose this Billybob play. No two entries by the same author, doncha know.

4. We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Shirley Jackson
Lisa (Bluestalking Reader) sent this one in the dovegreybooks postal group – we don’t often disagree on books. Brilliantly Gothic and a classy page-turner.

3. Evelina – Frances Burney
See here…

2. A Writer’s Diary – Virginia Woolf
Leonard Woolf edited Woolf’s diaries into this book, which deals mainly with her literary output. Good place to start with Ginny.

1. The Letters of… – Elizabeth Myers
Only from Myers side, these letters are to all sorts of people (including Walter de la Mare) and reveal a gentle, humorous and ultimately slightly tragic figure. Myers died quite young, and, as the letters are divided into sections for each recipient, you feel this death coming on again and again and again… Still, this collection has a fragile beauty which cannot be forged.

2005 wasn’t a great year for reading. Not for me, that is. Somehow I only managed to compile a top five of the year, since nothing else I’d read qualified… shame. It was the first full year of university, and I suppose that meant I read mainly chapters of things and so forth. Did get through Ulysses, but that didn’t come close to making the top 5, believe you me… anyway, without further ado:

5. Lady Into Fox – David Garnett
Which I talked about here…

4. Jacob’s Room – Virginia Woolf
Ginny strikes again.

3. The Mill on the Floss – George Eliot
Still the only Eliot I’ve finished, and surprised I only placed this at number three, since it’s one of my favourite novels. Very strange title, if you think about it.

2. The Long Afternoon – Giles Waterfield
Angela sent this out on the dovegreybooks postal book group, and I thank her for it. Look out for it in my 50 Books…

1. Blind Man’s Buff – Richmal Crompton
Must eulogise about Ms. Crompton at greater length, one of these days…

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.