Holiday Reading - We will need it if this weather keeps up.

I'm off for a week in Keswick, in the rain - if the forecast is to be believed. Here are the books I'm taking with me:

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Simon Armitage
I was introduced to this anonymous 14th century tale as a teenager when I read the Tolkien translation on the back of Lord of the Rings, and to be honest I found it hard going. I'm looking forward to Simon Armitage's version; I love his poetry and have high expectations of this book.

Whit, Iain Banks
I chose this after borrowing The Wasp Factory from my friend Michele and enjoying the twisted, sordid tale immensely. The reviews of Banks' work suggests his prose has improved as his experience has progressed. I'll let you know, but if his first novel is anything to go by, It'll take me a few days to get over it!

Of course I'll be racing to ensure both books are finished in the week; not just so I can tell you about them but so I can dash of to Asda when I get back for a cheap copy of the final Harry Potter.

A Journey Through War and Mental Illness

I've neglected these pages for a while, but with a purpose. My reading seems to follow themes and I've just reached the end of a chain of related - at least in my own mind - books. Back in November I read Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong, the same month I bought Anthem For a Doomed Youth a collection of, and guide to, Great War poetry, after that I read the other two stunningly good books in Faulks loose trilogy: The Girl at the Lion D'Or and Charlotte Grey; both books disturbing and enthralling in their depth as they follow characters from the Great War, between the wars and into the Second World War. All three books feature, to a degree, mental illness which led me to yet another Faulks book: Human Traces this book's setting pre-dates the Great War and charts the birth of modern psychiatry and the tussles of two 19th Century doctors as they struggle to help patients suffering from mental illness with techniques based on the flimsiest understanding of neurology and psychology (the term not yet coined).

Still in my war phase I was introduced to Pat Barker and her Regeneration Trilogy (Regeneration, The Eye in the Door and The Ghost Road - I have yet to read The Ghost Road) these stunning books examine societal attitudes to mental illness during the Great War among officers and a lower ranked men. They also consider homosexuality and the anti war lobby. They are again disturbing and compelling reading (this also tied in perfectly with my reading of the war poets: Regeneration features Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen).

Hot on the trail of psychiatry by then, I followed the track to The Interpretation Of Murder by Jed Reubenfeld; this is essentially a detective story where the case is solved with the assistance of embryonic psychotherapy set against the backdrop of a wealthy nineteenth century New York community and their resistance to Freud's theories based on sexuality.

Phew! what a journey, in another few months I dare say I'll have another list of books to share with you.

A novel for a change

Having not read a novel for a while I was keen to start Sebastian Faulks' Human Traces. I've read most of his other novels and found it to be another Tardis - for the uninitiated , the Tardis is Dr Who's time travelling machine - pick up the book for five minutes and step back in to your life an hour and a half later blinking in the light and wondering how you are going to explain your flagrant disregard for the list of jobs you were supposed to do that afternoon.

I don't know what else to say about Faulks' novels; he is a master of his genre - historically based novels - if you haven't read one, I'd start where most people do: with Birdsong, the first world war bombshell.

Poet's corner

I've always got a book of poetry on the go; I get most value for money out of them, returning time after time to them. Here is a selection of my favourite anthologies:

Poems on the Underground: an anthology
This is a collection of poems displayed as part of the scheme that gives the book its name. Not only is the poetry great but the presentation of the book makes it a joy to read too. The poems span aeons from Michael Drayton to winners of the current Young Poet of the Year; the emphasis is on the quality of the work. Also of importance, to me, is that all the poems are fairly short, which suits my preference - I don't do epics. You can get a sample of the scheme by visiting the Poetry Society web site by clicking here.




52 Ways of Looking at a Poem: Ruth Padel
Ruth Padel, herself an accomplished poet, wrote a column in The Independent on Sunday newspaper. The purpose of the column was to help readers understand how modern poetry worked. This book is a collection of a year's worth of her column. If you hesitate to appreciate modern poetry this is for you. Ruth takes 52 individual poems and talks you through the way it hangs together, the meanings and suggestion, hidden rhymes and much more.




The Rattle Bag: edited by Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes
An eclectic collection of poems from around the world, this collection has been around for years. My copy is ancient from the early eighties. It is interesting not only because of who the poems were chosen by, but also because it is deliberately international with many poems in translation. The emphasis is on exploring poetry outside the usual repertoire and it works.



The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms: Mark Strand and Eavan Boland
Another book about poems. Ever wondered what the rules of poetic form are? No? oh you can stop reading now then; because this book tells you about the formalities and manners of form. You, like me, may have read poems that seem to follow a poetic rhyming scheme, not knowing that it is not simply the invention of the poet but is rather a form laid down years ago requiring great skill. Want to know about a sestina or a sonnet? This is the book for you.

My reading list

I hate describing myself or trying to define myself, consequently my Blogger profile is a bit sparse. I thought it would be more fun to include a list of; and comments about what I'm reading at the moment.

Untold Stories: Alan Bennett

I love Alan Bennett's plays, I particularly liked his Talking Heads, the monologues read by, among others, Patricia Routledge and Thora Hird. The gritty Northern dialogue suits me. It was with that in mind that I started to read Untold Stories and I wasn't dissapointed. The book is autobiographical and features, initially, an account of his upbringing in Leeds and subsequent life as an Oxford student. He has little self pity and views hardship dispassionately.
The middle bit of the book, where I am up to at the moment, is his diaries from 1996 to 2005. They are fascinating and give an insight into how damned clever he is! He talks about art, literature and includes many anecdotes of his peers, again in his frank non-gossipy way. Although much of the in-depth historical and artistic conversation goes right over my head it still makes good reading.
As an undercurrent the diaries are also set against a fascinating political backdrop with his comments reflecting the climate in the UK about many social and political happenings.
Well worth a read.


A Winter Book: Tove Janssen

Please don't ask me what this beautiful book is about!
Do you remember the Moomins? This is a remarkable book of short stories by the woman who created them. She didn't start writing until she was in her fifties and wrote fiction for adults as well as her stories for children.
I can't describe this book adequately. The stories are mainly written from a child's viewpoint and they are about everything and nothing at the same time. Take the first one, the story of a girl who finds a huge rock that is full of silver; enough silver to make her and her family rich. The story tells how she rolls it home and loses it off the balcony where it smashes into bits: that's it; but that's far from it! I've read it three times now and it's different every time.
I can't tell you how or why this writing is so cool: but it is.