tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39955767955020793662024-02-20T06:15:44.652+00:00Leeds Book ClubAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.comBlogger604125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-86898235948082139912014-03-30T08:00:00.000+01:002014-03-30T08:00:00.171+01:00Mothers Day!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I was going to buy you</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">a card with hearts of pink and red, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">but then I thought</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">I'd rather spend the money on me instead. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New;">It's </span><span style="font-family: Courier New;">awfully hard to buy things</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">when one's allowance is so small, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">so, I guess you're pretty lucky</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">I got you anything at all. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">Happy Mother's Day to you. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">There I said it. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">Now, I'm done. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">So how 'bout getting out of bed, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;">and cooking breakfast for your son?</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkGMLqO0NEqhVytWuN4Rai3vWHxqIVQjk1WqaxLRBtSR-VBs-dqqU_ubqpoRWIut8SGbE_oJWt_mvljWGEIiZ44iUGkETTTggQ4074g8kPVb2ljU0jL_grXYQ4Jv-gKrVQYJ-EfvgP5T1I/s1600/calvin+and+hobbes+Mother's+day.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img bba="true" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkGMLqO0NEqhVytWuN4Rai3vWHxqIVQjk1WqaxLRBtSR-VBs-dqqU_ubqpoRWIut8SGbE_oJWt_mvljWGEIiZ44iUGkETTTggQ4074g8kPVb2ljU0jL_grXYQ4Jv-gKrVQYJ-EfvgP5T1I/s1600/calvin+and+hobbes+Mother's+day.gif" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Calvin and Hobbes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Bill Watterson</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book</span><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxq_m0nGQFoKRhX6stMzHq1zHzdvVPjrVw3Et-jQr47nQx0Y3_c8UMycbdkN4958WJT-Bnqwj36xUYjJ0OjKzcCgl08N52-GdFYqfP7mjWCAIO_KV-7OfhiYOXRQD8j2hv-Wsofbsr3s6g/s1600/untitled.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img bba="true" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxq_m0nGQFoKRhX6stMzHq1zHzdvVPjrVw3Et-jQr47nQx0Y3_c8UMycbdkN4958WJT-Bnqwj36xUYjJ0OjKzcCgl08N52-GdFYqfP7mjWCAIO_KV-7OfhiYOXRQD8j2hv-Wsofbsr3s6g/s1600/untitled.bmp" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05213540967843619318noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-85052575821763691842014-03-26T21:25:00.003+00:002014-03-26T21:25:41.275+00:00Site will be changingThis week we shall be changing our host from blogger to wordpress.<br />
<br />
So if your links go all wonky - that's why!<br />
<br />
As soon as possible, I'll get the details of our new and improved book blog posted here, on twitter, facebook, tumblr et al!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05213540967843619318noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-78564246068689061072014-02-07T19:50:00.000+00:002014-02-07T19:50:00.676+00:00Interview with WY Playhouse Literary Director - Part 1<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a review from March 2013. </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Refugee Boy is now on a national tour and is about to start a new run at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I thought it was an ideal time to dust this interview off!!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6f9QemxOeT-SlQ3tl-WrGz_Y6yAAtif-pDl9kf_Q5jXZzm6UOylBU4mdWKZ3wm0z-SRDzmo0NnyznSNpH1J2gWTWj68yixnWuEP4fI_eSMH-WfLq4BHfz8pBwUWjglrrMjZfPudi9P4U2/s1600/WYP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6f9QemxOeT-SlQ3tl-WrGz_Y6yAAtif-pDl9kf_Q5jXZzm6UOylBU4mdWKZ3wm0z-SRDzmo0NnyznSNpH1J2gWTWj68yixnWuEP4fI_eSMH-WfLq4BHfz8pBwUWjglrrMjZfPudi9P4U2/s1600/WYP.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ALEX CHISHOLM<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">WEST YORKSHIRE PLAYHOUSE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR (<o:p></o:p></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">LITERARY) </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Leeds
Book Club caught up with Alex Chisholm a few weeks ago, for a quick chat
between putting the final touches on Refugee Boy and collaborating on Sherlock
and Doctor Faustus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Refugee Boy will open on the 9th of March and run until the 30th. Copies of the play and book will be available from the Playhouse. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The interview will be posted in two parts. This section shall focus on Refugee Boy while part 2 will look at the inner workings of the Playhouse. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Thanks very much for
taking the time to speak with us. We appreciate that must be incredibly busy at
the moment. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Refugee Boy is a 2001
novel by <a href="http://benjaminzephaniah.com/">Benjamin Zephaniah</a> about a
young adult named Alem. He is abandoned in the UK due to conflicts in his
country of origin. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">How does something like this
production of Refugee Boy get started? Does a writer or director approach you?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It
happens in all sorts of different ways. In this particular instance it was our
associate Director that deals specifically with young people and their theatre.
She knew Benjamin Zephaniah and the book and said ‘I’d like to do a version of
this’. Looking back through old files the other day, I came across my original
document that had a list of potential adaptors. I came up with that list, we
talked about it, we liked Lemn Sissay (a poet and playwright) – it turned out
that he had himself a very similar history so that all dovetailed very well
with the book. It’s been a very long journey getting it to this place for all
sorts of different reasons. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It’s
pretty much there now. Final few tweaks to do. It’s pretty much there. Then
again, it’ll change again in rehearsal. And it’ll open on the 9<sup>th </sup>of
March with its first performance with rehearsal beginning about four weeks
before that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Refugee Boy – is it an accurate
portrayal of the Ethiopian and Eritrean conflict?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There
isn’t, in fact, in the book that much detail about the nature of the conflict
and the little bit that’s in there isn’t necessarily terribly accurate, but
that’s not the point of the book. The point of the book was to follow the
journey of the Refugee Boy himself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
two tiny flashbacks that he does in Ethiopia and Eritrea – the whole piece
takes place in England – there’s this
sort of prologue of two tiny snippets and they are intentionally abstract and
not realistic and very similar to each other another. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Benedict
– one of our contacts – is himself from Ethiopia and Eritrea and he came over
as a young man – not quite as young as the character in the book. Benedict says
that you can pick at it; you can tear away parts and say ‘Well actually that
wouldn’t really happen that way’ but on the other hand he read that book as a
sort of alternative narrative of his own life because essentially the story was
his and a lot of the emotional journey and the journey of adjustment to a
different country was absolutely his. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">You
wouldn’t read Refugee Boy in order to gain insights into the Ethiopian and
Eritrean conflicts. You do so in order to gain insights into what it is to be a
refugee, an asylum seeker in this country. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Refugee Boy – the Charity
sector</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Since
getting involved with this particular project, we’ve become much more in
contact with the org and people and agencies that work in that area in our
region. We’ve been struck both by the immense generosity and hard work and
selflessness and <b><i>kindness</i></b> of people who work and volunteer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And
also about the terrible circumstances and deprivations which go along with
that. In particular destitution being the big issue we’re dealing with at the
moment – there’s a particular thing that’s happening right at the moment with
the way that housing is changing which –
I imagine you’re aware of – it’s causing particular problems. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Refugee Boy – won the
Portsmouth Book Award – and certainly caught the zeitgeist. Author Benjamin
Zephaniah is renowned for his music, poetry and writing. This is a particularly
inherently human book revolving around isolation, alienation and finding your
own place in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0-ZXGaAIpiU2Lanlx7_dWp_EmuoZnMC_BYBC-hViNHtrEmY9GeB5FDBuq_AqSoqyqKEoM9sYldIdEkcyETuKTRLPDxYQTZVpT_Ww7l9NWkdk6OunvJSoPgE1jHZyTor7hM767oAvh-CA2/s1600/Refugee+Boy+-+02.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0-ZXGaAIpiU2Lanlx7_dWp_EmuoZnMC_BYBC-hViNHtrEmY9GeB5FDBuq_AqSoqyqKEoM9sYldIdEkcyETuKTRLPDxYQTZVpT_Ww7l9NWkdk6OunvJSoPgE1jHZyTor7hM767oAvh-CA2/s1600/Refugee+Boy+-+02.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Benjamin Zephaniah</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Have you spoken with him
about the book or the WY Playhouse adaptation of it?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
haven’t spoken to him directly to him about it. However, I’ve read and heard
him speak about it. I don’t know if there was a particular incident that got
him interested in this but I know that he himself felt empathy for people who
have gone through that experience. Coming from a Caribbean background, but one
where he felt that he understood that isolation and being misunderstood as a
young person. He also has a keen sense of justice that comes from his
background and having experienced injustice. As a Rastafarian, who is
practising and religious and spiritual; he particularly had an interest in this
journey. [That of] seeming outcast and that essential notion of finding a
family. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
Ethiopian and Eritrean conflict was reaching a certain point around the time
that he was writing it so there was a public awareness at that time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">How did you find the
right playwright to adapt this novel?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.lemnsissay.com/">Lemn Sissay</a></span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> who did the adaptation,
is also a poet. Actually it’s one of those strange coincidences that happen in
life. I had read a play of his called Storm I think (written for <a href="http://www.contactmcr.com/">Contact theatre</a> in Manchester) and it was
set in a children’s home and I felt that it captured the voice of those young
people extremely well. It was his first play and incorporated some poetry into
the play writing. And he wrote those young people in a well rounded,
un-clichéd, unsentimental way – which is very rare. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">They
were first and foremost young people and they happened to be in a situation and
they reacted to that situation. Rather than them being types. That’s what made
me think about <b>him</b> in the first
instance. Because there is a part of the book where Alem goes to a children’s
home and then a foster home so writing a piece where the main character is a
young person. He’d directed a lot of young people. There was something in Lemn’s
writing where I felt that he could find that character. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So
I called him up, said that we were interested in adapting this book called
Refugee Boy by Ben Zephaniah and had he heard of it? He said no, what’s it
about and I summarised ‘it’s about a young boy, born half Ethiopian and half
Eritrean, abandoned in this country and raised in the care system’. And he just
exclaimed ‘You’re kidding me. That’s <b><i>my</i></b> life.’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And
that is, it’s genuinely his life. He is half Ethiopian and half Eritrean, his
mother came to this country to give birth to him here and then abandoned him
here and went back. Lemn’s gone on a huge journey – which is quite well
documented – to discover what his past is. And he started off in a children’s
home; was then fostered; then he was essentially rejected by his foster home;
returned to the children’s home; grew up there and left at 18 years and that’s
when he was given his papers. This was when he discovered his birth name. He’d
had a completely different name up until the age of 18. He gravitated towards
Manchester, discovered poetry and found his voice and became, or was kind of
taken up by John G at Contact and given a lot of support. Discovering that, he
felt that he was the right person to take this on. He has brought a lot to the
adaptation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">On making necessary
changes from the original<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There
are some aspects of the play that are not actually in the books, but this was
right. If you read the book, it reads very well but there are certain things
missing that you’d want for a play. It’s telling you a story but the additional
insight from any other characters apart from Alem can only be inferred. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It
works in a novel but not as naturally as a play. So you don’t necessarily know
what’s going on with Ruth or the foster parents. Basically they are ciphers.
Although you do get a bit more from Alem’s father – the relationship between
the two is fairly straight forward. There isn’t that much change in it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSQlMsNnnipWEw9UN7H2EkEien53lvDp7gt4i3FIeKklwi_TdSTKGH7xfu0p0CQ6gAlHKJKY4iboVofnGNI8L4ZNAiXg3cglo_eXk40xqPBtT_Txee3OrMo_KCKtweP-YPw05X4cSkcg4/s1600/Refugee+Boy+-+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSQlMsNnnipWEw9UN7H2EkEien53lvDp7gt4i3FIeKklwi_TdSTKGH7xfu0p0CQ6gAlHKJKY4iboVofnGNI8L4ZNAiXg3cglo_eXk40xqPBtT_Txee3OrMo_KCKtweP-YPw05X4cSkcg4/s320/Refugee+Boy+-+03.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lemn Sissay</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So,
Lemn has sort of added aspects to that; while retaining the story of the
refugee boy; keeping the central premise of the piece, but there’s a very
strong relationship between Alem and a friend of his from the children’s home
that is totally invented. It doesn’t exist in the book. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">You
need people for your central character to talk to. Otherwise it’s a one man
show. And funnily enough, Lemn has already done that show. He did it about his
own life. It’s called <b><a href="http://www.lemnsissay.com/writing-2/plays/">‘Something Dark’</a></b> and
it’s absolutely brilliant. It’s a one man show. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">But
he’s done it. It’s not actually about refugee or asylum but about a young man
coming to terms with having been abandoned – the search for identity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">You
watch that show and think ‘you’re still standing?’ So I think it’s really…now
we’re at a place where we have I think a really good play from a really good
book. They are going to be there own
things. Benjamin Zephaniah has read the play and was happy with it. He found it
a bit strange – in that it is and isn’t his novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Different
people have different levels on control. Benjamin has been very open and relaxed
which has been lovely. It’s very good that it is happening. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Did you ever doubt that
it would all come together?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
thing is that there is a burst of activity and then there would a long long
while where nothing happened at all and then there’d be another burst of
activity and then a long long while where nothing happened at all. But we’ve
got the momentum back. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">[All
of this is of course worthwhile as] I think it is a play that will engage a lot
of different people in a lot of different ways. I think that there are a lot of
people who are broadly sympathetic to the issue around refuges and asylum
seekers and will be interested in it for that reason. I think that there are
people who will be interested in it because they’ve heard of Benjamin Zephaniah
or enjoy his poetry and his writing. And maybe people who’ll try it because
maybe their kids had to study it in school and hopefully they will bring them
along. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I’m
hoping that it will reach out to quite a broad audience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Now the production is
coming together, how involved are you at this point?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">To
an extent…personally I’m less involved now that the director Gail McIntyre [has
taken the reins]. Certainly less once it goes into rehearsals. I’ll be coming
to see it towards the end of rehearsal and once it goes into preview. I mean
I’m very involved in how the events are happening so I’ll be working through
the whole time and I’m probably more involved in this one that others because
I’ve been so involved in the making of it. We’ll see. It depends on how much
Lemn wants to be around. Whether there’s a need for me to manage the dynamic
between how much you want it to be changed, how much you don’t want it to be
changed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Every
production is different and needs different kinds of support.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Touch wood – it’s a huge
tremendous success. Will it tour?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Our
aim is to tour it the following year if we can make everything work out.
Because Benjamin is a successful writer and that is a very popular book – it’s
studied in schools – there is a certain amount of interest from other theatres.
That’s the idea really. We’ll see; we’ll see what happens. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It’s
not even always down to whether it’s a success. It’s down to money and what
budgets are like and what other plays have been planned for [for other
theatres]. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And
then of course, it’s onto the next stage of the project. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Well best of luck with the opening. And thanks so much for chatting with
us. </span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-68807308880165354782014-02-06T08:08:00.000+00:002014-02-06T08:08:00.783+00:00Interview with WY Playhouse Literary Director - Part 2<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a review from March 2013. </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Refugee Boy is now on a national tour and is about to start a new run at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I thought it was an ideal time to dust this interview off!!</span><br />
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</div>
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</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYf6JSpWtjXFPE58MoP7Rqc_XlMBTOBCaFYDDKu_h4XzQZdHbuQ8bqQ-hUW5C8D9rEUhQT5esAa5JEvwoLG3XcHbTWecbIic5_s060GI2UtRpOyNbwyYwAiffFyTl6_t4JzZTvQPTCzauy/s1600/WYP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYf6JSpWtjXFPE58MoP7Rqc_XlMBTOBCaFYDDKu_h4XzQZdHbuQ8bqQ-hUW5C8D9rEUhQT5esAa5JEvwoLG3XcHbTWecbIic5_s060GI2UtRpOyNbwyYwAiffFyTl6_t4JzZTvQPTCzauy/s1600/WYP.jpg" /></a><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />ALEX CHISHOLM<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">WEST YORKSHIRE PLAYHOUSE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR (<o:p></o:p></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">LITERARY) </span></b></div>
<br />
<span style="text-align: start;"></span><br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Leeds Book Club caught up with Alex Chisholm a few weeks ago, for a quick chat between putting the final touches on Refugee Boy and collaborating on Sherlock and Doctor Faustus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Refugee Boy will open on the 9th of March and run until the 30th. Copies of the play and book will be available from the Playhouse. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The interview will be posted in two parts. The first section shall focus on <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/03/interview-with-wy-playhouse-literary.html"><b>Refugee Boy</b></a> while this part will look at the inner workings of the Playhouse. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYnjR4cgesCyYGMSIQ1hQC_fpT7Ow2CFJF8oHKuvsUz1EBpQiorZRGDi7oF475MsVRKs-0T6ODeY-NSj_PINmNA7zQ2Q1PKacHcF7nH9UKhhk8TgzKP_DvYkjoKA2sX1d5xOoP_oeBnzdj/s1600/Refugee+Boy+-+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYnjR4cgesCyYGMSIQ1hQC_fpT7Ow2CFJF8oHKuvsUz1EBpQiorZRGDi7oF475MsVRKs-0T6ODeY-NSj_PINmNA7zQ2Q1PKacHcF7nH9UKhhk8TgzKP_DvYkjoKA2sX1d5xOoP_oeBnzdj/s320/Refugee+Boy+-+01.jpg" height="118" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Let’s jump straight
in. What is a literary director?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
am responsible for everything to do with writers and writing. That is
everything from running schemes for very very new writers through to things
like managing the commission and writing of a production like <b><a href="http://www.wyp.org.uk/what'son-/2012/refugee-boy/">Refugee Boy</a></b>. Pretty
much anything to do with the writing of plays falls within my remit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">That
can be incredibly varying. Some people think that it’s only to do with new
writers who are not very well known and creating completely original work, but
that’s not the case. For instance this season we’ve got <b>Refugee Boy</b> – an adaptation of a novel; <b><a href="http://www.wyp.org.uk/what'son/2013/doctor-faustus/">Doctor Faustus</a></b>
– with two completely rewritten acts within the construct of the pre-existing
play – that’s Colin Teevan. We’ve also have <b><a href="http://www.wpy.org.uk/what's-on/sherlock-holmes-the-best-kept-secret/">Sherlock</a></b>
which is a completely original storyline employing the characters of Arthur
Conan Doyle. That’s by a writer that I’ve worked with a lot in the last few
years – Mark Catley. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We’ve
got the <b><a href="http://www.wyp.org.uk/what's-on/2013/transform-13/">Transform</a></b>
season – where we work alongside a lot of writers. In fact there’s a particular
project that I’m very involved in that which is 3 writers creating a piece on
being at Leeds Markets – <b>At the Market </b>–
and that’s what we’ve most recently being doing interviews for. I’m involved in
all of these things to different levels and extents. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I’m
also responsible, of course, for developing newer writers and also for working
with slightly more experienced people on creating plays that we will hopefully
eventually do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">On the new Sherlock <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Sherlock
is a lot of work because it’s a completely original script. And in fact coming
up with a completely original Sherlock plotline is actually quite a challenge.
It’s a very enjoyable challenge at that. I’m really enjoying it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
can’t say that I’ve read a great deal of the Sherlock books. I’ve read Scandal
in Bohemia and Hound of the Baskervilles – I know the classic series and films
and the recent series which I’ve enjoyed very very much.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3366ff; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">[We each
take a moment to properly appreciate Benedict Cumberbatch]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">They
are extremely good updates of them. They are steeped in a deep love of Conan
Doyle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This
is something else. The decision was made to keep it Victorian so it’s not up
against the show. And also, it is not an adaptation of an existing story. It’s
completely original and still orientates around a mystery. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We
did some years ago, a comedic version with the <b><a href="http://peepolykus.com/about">Peepolykus</a> (People Like Us)</b>
theatre group of Hound of the Baskervilles. Essentially there are two
performers that set it up. One was Basque – he played Sherlock and there was
something very amusing about Sherlock having a very pronounced accent. It was fantastic and hugely enjoyable and
well managed the combination between comedy and a genuine love of mystery. It’s
Hound so everyone knows ‘who dun it’ but that wasn’t the point. It was a
fun-ride type of scary. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
<b>Peepolykus</b> production had people
becoming groupies of this particular show. But you can only do that with a
certain type of production. We have to come up with something that manages to
negotiate these different genera’s. It
is based in London. Still working on that – it’s a work in progress but I think
it’s looking really exciting and I’m looking forward to that too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So
that was very enjoyable but this is something totally new. It’s a periodic
version that can use the clichés around Sherlock and use them to great effect. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Do you write yourself?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
have done a bit. I have written a children’s play, which was performed here a
little while ago. It was called The Magic Paintbrush – an adaptation of a
Chinese folk tale. It was lovely and I really enjoyed doing that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I’ve
also done a couple of translations. Which is writing of a different sort! And
there’s been quite a lot of putting together of shows from different materials.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
also direct. Though not this season. Actually I suppose I am in a way. I am
co-directing ‘At the Market’, part of the Transform project, I’m one of the
directors of that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Which of those titles do
you use to describe yourself – Writer or Director?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
suppose I’d say Director. Because that’s where I started. That’s predominantly
how I see myself and I see all the other skills as falling under that category.
I think one of the major functions that I play is managing the dramaturgy of
the scripts - working directly with the writer myself or with the director or
managing a team. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">An
awful lot of project management goes on within a building of this size. I do
enjoy that side of it too. You get a lot of satisfaction seeing things coming
to fruition. So; like with Refugee Boy; I’m one of the people that’s making
that happen. It’s one of the great aspects of this particular theatre is that
it pays as much attention to the whole round experience, not just the way that
it feels on the stage but also in the many different ways that people will
relate to that to how we make our connections within the community. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It’s
important to give people a good experience across the project. Good admin is
about making sure that you do things <b><i>well</i></b>. And take <b><i>care of people</i></b> in the
process. It’s not that easy but in the end that’s what it comes down too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">At the West Yorkshire
Playhouse<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">[I’ve
been] eleven years (at the WY Playhouse). It is home. Leeds feels like home – it’s
the longest I’ve been anywhere since I left home at the age of 18. I was at
university then going around the country for 7 or 8 years, ostensibly based in
London but not necessarily there. Then I came to Leeds for this job. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">What has been of
particular interest to you?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Well,
obviously there are high points for me that involve work that I’ve actually
done. There was a piece called<b> Dust</b>
which was created by a writer called Kenneth Yates. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Again
it was a verbatim piece, based in an asbestos factory about a woman called <a href="http://www.junehancockfund.org/">June Hancock</a>. Having nursed her
mother through pleural mesothelioma which is a cancer based on asbestos; she
was then diagnosed with it herself. She subsequently sued the company responsible
– or an American parent company of the people who owned the factory for
compensation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It’s
an amazing David versus Goliath story. We told that with a community company
and opened it in an old warehouse just literally a stone’s throw from the
factory in Armley. Then we took it to the Courtyard for a week. That was an
amazing experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Her
children were there. Obviously June Hancock had passed away several years
before. Pleural mesothelioma either kills you quickly, at a medium rate or
slowly. The second longest survivor was just over three years. It’s terminal,
there is no remission from it and it’s particularly nasty. It’s the cancer of
the pleural lining. You can’t do chemotherapy and the tumour grows around your
lungs so you can’t breathe. It’s also got an incubation period. You can get it
from exposure to just one fibre. But it can take 40 or 50 years to manifest and
by then…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
factory is still there. It’s concreted up, but it’s still there. It’s right
within a residential area and was at the time. The local school’s playground is
just over the road from the factory and the children used to play in the dust
from this factory. <b>Alan Bennet</b> went
there. And <b>Barbara Taylor Bradford</b>.
Neither of whom have mesothelioma. It’s random chance basically. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">But
June Hancock did. There’s a …there’s one of those maps that has the entire
borough’s of Leeds on it. Its colour coded according to incidences of
Mesothelioma. White is normal – 1:10 000 or whatever. Black is a certain
density. Basically the entirety, the whole area around Armley is black. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So
in fact – one of the shocking things – you don’t live in Armley do you? Because
the stuff is still there. It’s in the attics, it’s in the terrace. Not just of
the factory but all the houses around it. The company paid to clean up the area
– they sealed off large areas and attics and so on. And in some sort of deal
for the clean up; they had this taken off the land registry. As though it never
existed. So if you buy a property in Armley now; it won’t show up on the surveys.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">You
get told on the quiet – if you live in Armley, don’t convert your attic.
Because it could be lethal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">You
can see why this is a piece that I’m so proud of doing. We worked very closely
with Russell and Kimberley – June’s children. We also raised over a thousand
pounds for a related charity. As well as, I think, doing a genuinely good piece
of theatre. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Would you say that
theatre is a reflection of the social world to you?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
probably am one of those people who got into theatre who thought that I could
made a difference in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Other
things that I’m particularly proud of include – oh, I did a play with (Leeds
born) Mark Catley – writer of Sherlock called <b><a href="http://oberonbooks.com/modern-plays/scuffer">Scuffer</a></b> –
which we described as a Beeston Rom Com, which I really really enjoyed. It was
lovely – very funny, very touching and very enjoyable and did very well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There
have been lots of things that I’ve really enjoyed doing here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">As to the future?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There
are some very exciting ideas which I can’t necessarily say at the moment. I
think that yes, there is a gravitational pull to social stories. Not to say
that these can’t be entertaining and fun. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">That
was one of the things I enjoyed most about <b>Scuffer</b>.
It had a point to it. It was also incredibly entertaining. I don’t think that
it was written with the Rom Com genera in mind. Yet, it did live within that
genus to an extent as there was a character that was useless that came good in
the end. There was such a huge amount of pleasure derived from that, seeing
that happen, seeing someone overcome their … uselessness! Actually, make
something more of themselves. Rise to the occasion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We’ve
certainly got quite a literary season this year. May be of interested to those
who are literary minded. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Doctor Fautus<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3wQQH-4V0rw7b_c2EjnjxbrXS9Df173xEqAis0XST0hF_hQdOVCZf5eYmTpEZcuKP8g-J3EEOisekEJX8HO0Wx7T0PyYd7IX0FdPujvKSNjy5bySn9LPhm1uhc0Xt4-QHeAMPezsg6Q2/s1600/Dr+Faustus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3wQQH-4V0rw7b_c2EjnjxbrXS9Df173xEqAis0XST0hF_hQdOVCZf5eYmTpEZcuKP8g-J3EEOisekEJX8HO0Wx7T0PyYd7IX0FdPujvKSNjy5bySn9LPhm1uhc0Xt4-QHeAMPezsg6Q2/s1600/Dr+Faustus.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/colin-teevan/">Colin Teevan</a> puts it very
well. He says that the whole play straddles very well the tradition between two
different sorts of styles – it’s modern in terms of manipulations, motivations
and the psychology of the characters and then is also a medieval mystery
play. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
central section is all medieval mystery play. It can be quite heavy going
actually. There’s not much else going on. It’s almost relentless. There are
just a few big set pieces. And for comedy it just wasn’t.... A lot of
renaissance humour is word play and references and puns and we don’t get it. It
doesn’t mean anything any more. The third and Forth acts are not good and
there’s a theory that they weren’t actually written by him – Kit Marlowe – but perhaps
by a student. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So,
I think it’s going to be really interesting seeing people’s reactions to it. I
think that it really does go renaissance, renaissance,<b> MODERN</b>. It’s quite a stark change, an attempt to make it knit
together. I like what Colin has done. It <b>echoes</b>
the words that Marlowe used. It’s not trying to blank verse or … its set in the
modern world, following some of the incidents in the Marlowe or the original
Doctor Faustus but with a narrative line following through that. It’s not
something we do so often in this country. Here we prefer our plays to be slightly
homogenous. We tend to get a bit nervy when people start mixing up their
genera’s. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">On changing things up<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There
is the gang that turn up to Shakespeare and laugh at all the jokes because they
understand it. Because they have studied it. And sometimes, [they are so busy
getting it] they don’t seem to always get to enjoy it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
remember when <b><a href="http://www.kneehigh.co.uk/">Kneehigh</a> </b>did Cymbeline – they largely
rewrote it; almost entirely rewrote it and performed it at Stratford , they
were invited as part of the RAC festival of Shakespeare when they did the full
works. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It
was a very strange experience for them. Normally the Kneehigh audience shows up
knowing who Kneehigh are and what to expect from them. But a lot of people came
to the play because it was Stratfrod. And they wanted to watch <b><a href="http://www.william-shakespeare.info/script-text-cymbeline.htm">Cymbeline</a></b>.
Not because it was Kneehigh. And Cymbeline got a lot of shit in it too to be
perfectly honest. As beautiful as some parts of it are…a lot of the humour is
missed – there’s a lot of it that I think is supposed to be funnier than people
actually react to it. But Act 5 was hysterical. It just becomes plain
exposition ‘I did this, and I did that, and you need to know for the plot that
I also did this’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
did speak with one of the people from Kneehigh and they said that it was very
odd. They had people in the audience with the script, with a copy of the play –
their penguin copy – on their laps. They were trying to read it as the play was
going on and of course not being able too because they had completely rewritten
it. And then one person who was doing that – and it being Knee High they had
somebody in the audience – turned around and snarled ‘this is a disgrace’. Oh
dear. So that person didn’t have a good time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">On bringing plays and
scripts into the theatre – does it put a company off?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Oh
god yes, I was at a production at the <b><a href="http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/">Old Bush</a></b>, not the new one, a tiny
tiny space. And it was the press night, no it was the night afterwards. The
press night had clashed with another press night so a lot of the reviewers
actually came that night. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There
can only have been about 30 of us, friends, press and others in the whole
audience. At least 3 of the press were sitting on the front row had the script
to the play in their hands. And they bought it and were reading along to it. I
mean it was a new play, a new production and surely watching it should have
been the point. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It’s
the critics. They are essentially kind of signalling that the production is
neither here nor there. All they are really interested in is what the text
says, so they are reviewing almost as a piece of literature rather than the
play itself. They see the production as merely a transmission mechanism rather
than anything that has its own independent, artistic and creative life. If you
are going to look at it like that then you really are better off just getting a
copy of the text. Because there’s no choice then. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Right – we’d better let
you get back to it. Thanks so much for chatting with us.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-42588641689116895312014-02-05T08:00:00.000+00:002014-02-05T08:00:03.293+00:00Refugee Boy at the West Yorkshire Playhouse<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a review from March 2013. </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Refugee Boy is now on a national tour and is about to start a new run at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I thought it was an ideal time to dust this review off!!</span><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUyYGB242l_GxG-Oazs6RuLSWv0SOAEghqiK347JJIn9yxeUjfDY9JTxtAYUhYs3dx1zQiAYRCvnwPiIZPb_mh1yslPMfCav-7oYzZlmcwc5OgAqBl7O7i5Sy3xqet_Rl-JW9BpjCndqE/s1600/WYP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUyYGB242l_GxG-Oazs6RuLSWv0SOAEghqiK347JJIn9yxeUjfDY9JTxtAYUhYs3dx1zQiAYRCvnwPiIZPb_mh1yslPMfCav-7oYzZlmcwc5OgAqBl7O7i5Sy3xqet_Rl-JW9BpjCndqE/s1600/WYP.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">As you know, I’ve been very excited about the West Yorkshire Playhouse production of Refugee Boy; finally attending a showing on Saturday evening. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For details about the show, please visit the <a href="http://wyp.org.uk/what's-on/2013/refugee-boy/">West Yorkshire Playhouse</a>. You'll find a video on the production and galleries. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The play is only on for the next few days, so if you fancy it, don't hesitate!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">You can also find our interview with the WY Playhouse's literary director on Refugee Boy <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/03/interview-with-wy-playhouse-literary.html">HERE</a> and a chat about upcoming projects <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/03/interview-with-wy-playhouse-literary_16.html">HERE</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A 14 year old Ethiopian/Eritrean boy is left in England by his father after a holiday. His parents are desperate to keep him safe, far from the conflict that is ravaging their homeland. They themselves are positioned squarely in the centre of the violence, due to their mixed marriage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Despite his best efforts to fit in, Alem is isolated, bullied and frequently homesick, not only for his parents but also for his native tongue and land. Even the stars are different now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Alem is initially housed at a children’s care home before being placed with a foster family – the Fitzgerald's, while seeking refugee status. His story is one of identity, belonging and finding a place in the world to call home.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJg3K_YevCvRdGS_lcDMeDJ9xTD9gnCxeaqiSwNp0vfgYn_icba_rFWJ3nE_U8AnZETuhPmYXn8cWFGTofAKoFqwg6IQBbpM99e3C0EdnKuus3C0WyB7eJIZBiqI5olIBfEDOHIYFBRyo/s1600/Refugee+Boy+-+Photo+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJg3K_YevCvRdGS_lcDMeDJ9xTD9gnCxeaqiSwNp0vfgYn_icba_rFWJ3nE_U8AnZETuhPmYXn8cWFGTofAKoFqwg6IQBbpM99e3C0EdnKuus3C0WyB7eJIZBiqI5olIBfEDOHIYFBRyo/s320/Refugee+Boy+-+Photo+02.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Father and Son<br />
Photographer - Keith Pattison</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Before I go onto the review proper, I must take a moment to admire the inventive set design. The creative use of suitcases as a motif and as the building blocks for the set, portrayed not only the transient nature of the accommodation provided in England but also allowed a constant visual reminder of Alem’s sense of otherness. He is foreign with every breath; living his life out of a suitcase; always ready to run. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The transformative nature of this set was pivotal required as it was to stand in for the outside of an English children’s home, a court, a kitchen and the violence racked streets in the border areas of Ethiopia and Eritrea. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The cast interacted with the set as though it were a jungle gym – racing around it, crawling under it, hiding within it – lending an almost dance like element to the production and a near continuous sense of forward momentum. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweeney, Alem, Alem's parents<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Photographer - Keith Pattison</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The 25 (!) year old Fisayo Akinade is astounding as Alem – balancing just the right degree of innocence and optimism with the agony of his abandonment and forlorn need to belong. This is never more clearly demonstrated than during his first sight of snow – a truly evocative and magical moment within the play. While Alem is cheerful, good natured and willing, he is no sap. The boy who can wax lyrical about Charles Dickens begins to carry a cheese knife for defence after a vicious bullying incident. He forgives Mustapha (Dwayne Scantlebury) - his only friend - for not helping him, but gently pushes to know why, determined not to merely accept such behaviour as his due. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_dYeuDZK_QFHTm3zjOAmyNmqTUr1uJl4_ImRiiGbK6oXjlB_-QQQ_w9o_fLA3ZM1RQRVgXTSX7oVVCEYH1nnEQlpeWz8xmlOgcdqQPd0KJHPjWbmLgqq-P5u6xwh8xO_3HWE52TsK9v0/s1600/Refugee+Boy+-+Photo+03.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_dYeuDZK_QFHTm3zjOAmyNmqTUr1uJl4_ImRiiGbK6oXjlB_-QQQ_w9o_fLA3ZM1RQRVgXTSX7oVVCEYH1nnEQlpeWz8xmlOgcdqQPd0KJHPjWbmLgqq-P5u6xwh8xO_3HWE52TsK9v0/s200/Refugee+Boy+-+Photo+03.JPG" height="200" width="132" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Photographer - Keith Pattison</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Regardless of how affable Fisayo’s portrayal – the heart of Alem’s story is contained within the father-son relationship and Akiade and Andrew French are note perfect here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Not only do they convey the difficulties of the initial decision to leave Alem, but they also manage to make clear the rifts and differences that emerge as Alem begins to grow away from his parents, taking on board the influences and directions of his new residence. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Additionally, they occasionally share dialogue, either repeating certain phrases or speaking for and alongside one another, further cementing their lifelong bond. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">While all six members of the cast were universally stellar – the following two performers deserve especial praise. Rachel Caffrey played Ruth Fitzgerald as a bouncy, energetic and occasionally sulky teenager to perfection. Within this persona, she (and her on screen mother, the wonderfully understated Becky Hindley) bring to life the realities of foster parenting, especially those of asylum or refugee status – from the desire to help and provide security to the harsh reality that this boy – like so many others – might be plucked from their midst with no warning and sent away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Then, transformed by a mere head scarf, she became Alem’s mother – a character who carries huge emotional impact despite never speaking a word. In fact, at no point is there any interaction between Alem and his mother yet nevertheless Caffrey convinces utterly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alem, Mustapha and Ruth<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Photographer - Keith Pattison</span></td></tr>
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</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In a very different way; Dominic Gately was a compelling presence regardless of the role he took on – the coldly distant barrister, the warm if worn down foster father and the garrulous unpredictable Sweeney. He seemed to physically transform in front of us – one moment volatile and unpredictable, the next a supportive shoulder to cry on. When he was in play, I couldn’t tear my eyes away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mrs Fitzgerald and Alem<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Photographer - Keith Pattison</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The cast were on stage for the entirety of the production – at some points it felt as though they were providing additional witness to the events taking place. Simple devices – like all supporting characters jumping to their feet during a dramatic moment created a claustrophobic sense of urgency that haunted the audience, building anticipation for a resolution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Lemn Sissay – himself Ethiopian-Eritrean – wasn’t Benjamin Zephaniah’s first choice for adapting the book, despite the two having a friendship spanning many years (the author had originally hoped to offer a local first timer the challenge). However, it’s hard to imagine another version that could so perfectly translate this story to the stage. While the book was an individual’s journey; the play is an ensemble piece, with every character adding to the protagonists experiences. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Photographer - Keith Pattison</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Running at just over an hour and a half, I’m glad that there was no interval to break the narrative flow. Sissay has created a fluid, compassionate and empathic piece. His dialogue is particularly impressive – and the nuances between the speech of his adults and teenagers, locals and foreigners, professional and family are further emphasised by being portrayed by the same actors in multiple roles. Accents, phrases and individual quirks combine to create a greater whole – giving the audience the sense of a fully fleshed out world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There are no stereotypes to be found here – no victims, no bullies. Even the least character has some detail provided which transform them from being a convenient plot device to feeling like actual people, with experiences of their own that inform their actions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Photographer - Keith Pattison</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">At the heart of this wonderful story are people in need of additional support within our society. Throughout the Playhouse, there were a number of stalls with information for charities that work with asylum seekers and refugees and related areas. For me this demonstrated not only the Playhouse’s commitment to exploring the human experience, even when it isn’t pretty, but also its concerted effort to learn, engage and change its local community in a positive way. That might sound over the top to some, however; with content like this; I felt it was important to place the story within a wider context. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Incorporating elements of poetry and dance, this vibrant and energetic adaptation of Benjamin Zephaniah’s seminal novel had a tremendous impact on me. I left the theatre physically exhausted from the emotional journey undertaken. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It’s been many years since I read Refugee Boy and while there are a number of difference between the original and its adaptation; it felt to me that the spirit of the tale came across in a vivid and powerful way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Am I gushing? It feels like I’m gushing. If this reads as though penned by an enthusiastic inarticulate 5 year old, then remember this. Every review boils down to only two points. Here are mine – <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I liked it an awful lot. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I think that you will too!</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
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<span style="color: grey; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">REFUGEE BOY<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: grey; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Benjamin Zephaniah<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: grey; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Stage Adaptation – Lemn Sissay<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: grey; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Director – Gail McIntyre<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: grey; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Set Design – Emma Williams<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: grey; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Alem – Fisayo Akinade <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: grey; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Alem’s father – Andrew French<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: grey; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Mustapha & others – Dwayne Scantlebury<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: grey; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Sweeney, Mr Fitzgerald & others – Dominc Gately<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: grey; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Mrs Fitzgerald & others – Becky Hindley<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: grey; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Ruth Fitzgerald, Alem’s mother & others – Rachel Caffrey</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-50691819374055922542014-01-28T13:11:00.002+00:002014-02-24T11:33:34.076+00:00Sharing Stories 2014 - Blurbs<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9_WnZSv5fmTgOMtzYkyiSA77ezMNQD_Bo6XXjhecZG5fvO4vbUZerMIQJxkBHO-CYVYiTQV0uH2u9VT9ldbSZRLZ5y0yuURHz_MsWX8k7SA80r0Wj4ca9trAYJDpmYRzqWS0IGIDgIoQ/s1600/sharing+stories+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9_WnZSv5fmTgOMtzYkyiSA77ezMNQD_Bo6XXjhecZG5fvO4vbUZerMIQJxkBHO-CYVYiTQV0uH2u9VT9ldbSZRLZ5y0yuURHz_MsWX8k7SA80r0Wj4ca9trAYJDpmYRzqWS0IGIDgIoQ/s1600/sharing+stories+logo.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Courier;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Courier;">Our Book Choices </span></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkoBbtRvh5x-LvoOZ1rZcNJrYglSo5kJO061BEkaIDAyU2vDcPiFAx7xBGt3MVoQXGmnsWrKy7YE2k6BFW9KhTFOVvd3eKpZS1qKoTdYW7wmSH-Zh4b7AgwJmqbcWRyrlrTzJKFuVWIUc/s1600/the+shock+of+the+fall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkoBbtRvh5x-LvoOZ1rZcNJrYglSo5kJO061BEkaIDAyU2vDcPiFAx7xBGt3MVoQXGmnsWrKy7YE2k6BFW9KhTFOVvd3eKpZS1qKoTdYW7wmSH-Zh4b7AgwJmqbcWRyrlrTzJKFuVWIUc/s1600/the+shock+of+the+fall.jpg" height="200" width="141" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2013</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">‘I’ll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name’s Simon. I think you’re going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he’ll be dead. And he was never the same after that.’<span style="text-align: center;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There are books you can’t stop reading, which keep you up all night.</span></div>
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There are books which let us into the hidden parts of life and make them vividly real.</div>
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There are books which, because of the sheer skill with which every word is chosen, linger in your mind for days.<span style="text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Shock of the Fall is all of these books.</span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
The Shock of the Fall is an extraordinary portrait of one man’s descent into mental illness. It is a brave and groundbreaking novel from one of the most exciting new voices in fiction.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzvh1rQChx4kiX1o2ULhkSAclwZK6_3SmADOtV7zyOYByonddTt_o8jdCUarYaX_2qrh99yR9jT4-1qFefhuoMrAsWr1GjttkV54RVV7PfMco8QxiYBUQfEdTT3G01svA67018CQej7oU/s1600/marbles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzvh1rQChx4kiX1o2ULhkSAclwZK6_3SmADOtV7zyOYByonddTt_o8jdCUarYaX_2qrh99yR9jT4-1qFefhuoMrAsWr1GjttkV54RVV7PfMco8QxiYBUQfEdTT3G01svA67018CQej7oU/s1600/marbles.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Marbles - Ellen Forney</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, Forney was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Suffering from (but enjoying) extreme mania, and terrified that medication would cause her to lose creativity, she began a long struggle over many years to find mental stability while retaining her creativity. Searching to make sense of the popular idea of the 'crazy artist', she finds inspiration from the lives and work of other artists and writers who suffered from mood disorders, including Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O'Keeffe, William Styron, and Sylvia Plath.</span></span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">She also researches the clinical aspects of bipolar disorder, including the strengths and limitations of various treatments and medications, and what studies tell us about the conundrum of attempting to "cure" an otherwise brilliant mind.Darkly funny and intensely personal, Forney's memoir provides a humorous but authentic glimpse into the effects of a mood disorder on an artist's work, as she shares her own story through black-and-white graphic images and prose.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Meet Don Tillman.</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Don is getting married.</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He just doesn't know who to yet.</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But he has designed a very detailed questionnaire to help him find the perfect woman.</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One thing he already knows, though, is that it's not Rosie.</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Absolutely, completely, definitely not.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuCRDctv908xxKhlZvwDM4eTmJ1desETs6zsygwpEmxkcC_LtcmU7PM8wxrb4Oj2pMc0Ua7-WcdMNHXw62cp3utZcWnxfS9BVQFBu6wiE6eGq0Ir94pQSD0GDuDOV6Mt2hmuwMfXRq8xc/s1600/elizabeth+is+missing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuCRDctv908xxKhlZvwDM4eTmJ1desETs6zsygwpEmxkcC_LtcmU7PM8wxrb4Oj2pMc0Ua7-WcdMNHXw62cp3utZcWnxfS9BVQFBu6wiE6eGq0Ir94pQSD0GDuDOV6Mt2hmuwMfXRq8xc/s1600/elizabeth+is+missing.jpg" height="200" width="145" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Elizabeth is Missing - Emma Healy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">'Elizabeth is missing' reads the note in Maud's pocket in her own handwriting, and the one on the wall.</span><span style="color: #181818; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span>Maud's been getting forgetful. She keeps buying peach slices when she has a cupboard full, forgets to drink the cups of tea she's made and writes notes to remind herself of things. But Maud is determined to discover what has happened to her friend, Elizabeth, and what it has to do with the unsolved disappearance of her sister Sukey, years back, just after the war.<span style="color: #181818; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span>A fast-paced mystery, an unforgettable voice: you will laugh and cry but you'll never forget Maud.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE46hrzeq6SgvnZ36bEgY-kMvFQqIrFTC2K9ST9Oa412ztVzsy0bzotJO5XEE2arSF-hlSLTQcIbf2jX1-KD9OytPyOCrqdgINOGLlOpgZscGZf-yb3YRkd2EyzY2pe_Y1PDqAx3aMnwc/s1600/the+examined+life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE46hrzeq6SgvnZ36bEgY-kMvFQqIrFTC2K9ST9Oa412ztVzsy0bzotJO5XEE2arSF-hlSLTQcIbf2jX1-KD9OytPyOCrqdgINOGLlOpgZscGZf-yb3YRkd2EyzY2pe_Y1PDqAx3aMnwc/s1600/the+examined+life.jpg" height="200" width="126" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Examined Life - Stephen Grosz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sunday Times </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">bestseller</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Longlisted for the <i>Guardian </i>first book award</span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
A Radio 4 Book of the Week<span style="text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This book is about learning to live.<span style="text-align: center;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In simple stories of encounter between a psychoanalyst and his patients, <i>The Examined Life</i> reveals how the art of insight can illuminate the most complicated, confounding and human of experiences.</span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
These are stories about our everyday lives: they are about the people we love and the lies that we tell; the changes we bear, and the grief. Ultimately, they show us not only how we lose ourselves but how we might find ourselves too.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj62SoyYbpPDUhhLni_RQq2FdSrYwjwuClKxVmeKDBImnqyikGTn4fbarOrwSJvwfhNgycMp2OGKuhgKAzcYmS1-pFanUpTYdZMPoF6QRygfbyR91nPov8XMdP8Ry4TMDk-o2mvBxhVD58/s1600/stranger+than+kindness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj62SoyYbpPDUhhLni_RQq2FdSrYwjwuClKxVmeKDBImnqyikGTn4fbarOrwSJvwfhNgycMp2OGKuhgKAzcYmS1-pFanUpTYdZMPoF6QRygfbyR91nPov8XMdP8Ry4TMDk-o2mvBxhVD58/s1600/stranger+than+kindness.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Stranger than Kindness - Mark A Radcliffe</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">There is a fine line between madness and magic. It is 1989 and Community Care is about to reboot the industry of psychiatry. In a soon-to-be-closed asylum a bruised nurse, Adam Sands, is feeling less like a purveyor of kindness and more like a concentration camp guard with every passing drink. Years later Adam has got used to the quiet life when his past finds him. Maybe this time he can do some good. Even make a difference. But redemption, like magic, can come from the strangest of places.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Courier;">* * * * *</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2014</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">JAN -</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"> FEB:</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MAR - APR:</span> Marbles - Ellen Forney</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MAY - JUN:</span> The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">JUL - AUG:</span> Elizabeth is Missing - Emma Healy</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">SEP - OCT:</span> The Examined Life - Stephen Grosz</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">NOV - DEC:</span> Stranger than Kindness - Mark A Radcliffe</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2013</b></span><span style="font-family: Courier New;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Feb:</span> </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/02/mental-health-reading-list-silver.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">The Silver Linings Play Book</a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> - Matthew Quick </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mar:</span> </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/03/mental-health-reading-list-psychopath.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">The Psychopath Test</a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> - Jon Ronson </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Apr:</span> </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/04/mental-health-reading-list-i-had-black.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">I had a black dog</a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> - Matthew Johnson </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">May:</span> </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/05/mental-health-reading-challenge-why-be.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Why be happy when you can be normal</a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> - Jeanette Winterson</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jun:</span> </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/07/mental-health-reading-challenge-poppy.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Poppy Shakespeare</a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Courier New';"> </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- Clare Allan</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jul:</span> 01 - Birthday Letters - Ted Hughes</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jul:</span> 02 - Ariel - Sylvia Plath</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Aug:</span> </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/sharing-stories-tender-is-night-guest.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Tender is the Night</a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Courier New';"> </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- F Scott Fitzgerald </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sep:</span> Day - A L Kennedy</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Oct:</span> <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2014/01/sharing-stories-notes-from-exhibition.html">Notes from an exhibition</a> - Patrick Gale</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nov:</span> A life too short - Ronald Reng </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dec:</span> Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 18px;"> </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier;">* * * * *</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2014/01/sharing-stories-2014.html">Sharing Stories 2014</a></span><br />
<a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/02/interview-with-peter-bullimore-podcast.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Chat with Peter Bullimore</a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New';"> 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/01/mental-health-reading-challenge-2013.html">Mental Health Reading Challenge</a> 2013</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/09/sharing-stories-podcast.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Podcast with Tom at Arts and Minds Leeds</a> 2013</div>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Courier;">* * * * *</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">Table of Contents - <b><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-guest-stars.html">Guest Stars</a></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier;">* * * * *</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Full <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents.html">Table of Contents</a></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-44035772425615186812014-01-28T12:45:00.000+00:002014-02-24T10:23:44.179+00:00Sharing Stories 2014<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiof4-AdOvt7D6QnP7gyEdOqUUz2Jxw_Hx0e-p_2-gfclRgs7i-RjmonM2CO3ZF5avAvAJ2h1_1frPiXvMn05qCha9W9AA6_PNF2AZApWhidAHgnUhV1lSamUzJ-mS_FPrX9nqw5vaEhFo/s1600/sharing+stories+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiof4-AdOvt7D6QnP7gyEdOqUUz2Jxw_Hx0e-p_2-gfclRgs7i-RjmonM2CO3ZF5avAvAJ2h1_1frPiXvMn05qCha9W9AA6_PNF2AZApWhidAHgnUhV1lSamUzJ-mS_FPrX9nqw5vaEhFo/s1600/sharing+stories+01.jpg" height="153" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 18px;">Leeds Book Club will be participating in the second </span><a href="http://www.artsandmindsnetwork.org.uk/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 18px;">Arts and Minds Network</a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 18px;">'s Sharing Stories Project - to raise awareness of mental health; learning difficulties and autism through the use of fiction. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-q0H_0CRwtCFgVwZqsEPeqrljN7XPpdes7sBMXY3bfcYJuTt4BZ7mj5tbqLB-xhGVGlJRkGUoLTEA2JugX2UjudF89mg0eZa6qcko1EH0vkxTe75BadypytDW16sFa7zkJbsI5jpgqeU/s1600/sharing+stories+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-q0H_0CRwtCFgVwZqsEPeqrljN7XPpdes7sBMXY3bfcYJuTt4BZ7mj5tbqLB-xhGVGlJRkGUoLTEA2JugX2UjudF89mg0eZa6qcko1EH0vkxTe75BadypytDW16sFa7zkJbsI5jpgqeU/s1600/sharing+stories+logo.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Every two months, we'll read one of books listed below and pay special attention to descriptions, characters and plot that include those facing mental health issues. Hopefully, we will then take part in a vibrant discussion online, on social media and IRL at book clubs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';">We'd be delighted to invite you to join us - if you'd like to offer a review of one (or more) of the books on the list, please drop me a line at leedsbookclub@gmail.com or via twitter (</span><a href="https://twitter.com/LeedsBookClub" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">@leedsbookclub</a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New';">) or contact the ever-cheerful Tom via <a href="https://twitter.com/ArtsMindsLeeds">@ArtsMindsLeeds</a> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6G09VbqpjXgWkbbuScj8By22xOkomFoCloLzRW6mk_Yp2oi0anN89_0BOQJbslr-tHq0ESUzxgYIxgsWWp9LsXY2RrBCdQA6LlCThbIfqfbjdP7mTQS3b_WVAEpKYzDVa-E5nDZyY-N0/s1600/the+shock+of+the+fall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6G09VbqpjXgWkbbuScj8By22xOkomFoCloLzRW6mk_Yp2oi0anN89_0BOQJbslr-tHq0ESUzxgYIxgsWWp9LsXY2RrBCdQA6LlCThbIfqfbjdP7mTQS3b_WVAEpKYzDVa-E5nDZyY-N0/s1600/the+shock+of+the+fall.jpg" height="200" width="141" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1L6A7R2G81Wxk2jErL5KezEGhWZzUXsYn-dW9EYnQHHqbvTlWlUZSA-IrRGYuFSmyhf3wjc2XVO7zPuKldT5tifue7MWbHn4H9MhqXrWPlr8EvzN0H_S52K944hpJTbLJOJ2wPJXUTx4/s1600/marbles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1L6A7R2G81Wxk2jErL5KezEGhWZzUXsYn-dW9EYnQHHqbvTlWlUZSA-IrRGYuFSmyhf3wjc2XVO7zPuKldT5tifue7MWbHn4H9MhqXrWPlr8EvzN0H_S52K944hpJTbLJOJ2wPJXUTx4/s1600/marbles.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Where indicated, I’ll happily post blog posts anonymously – I appreciate that not everyone will want to discuss their personal reflections on a sensitive topic on a public forum like this. Obviously, on the other hand, I'll also include links to twitter names, your blogs and so on if so desired.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Also, read any books that feature mental health? Then let us know - the good, the bad and the ugly!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgapy8efkE0uEgtZdVo_0N57OSto-uiSEvgqfvl0NhlSHAi_KLrTgv_YOkxEcqKL4XxTeLlEgzhwHvW2DPnalvqoH-vdWbmQMxWIOk-EARB5a7LuCNY-fvtes95N1vrSPzbpgAwIuvpAsg/s1600/the+examined+life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgapy8efkE0uEgtZdVo_0N57OSto-uiSEvgqfvl0NhlSHAi_KLrTgv_YOkxEcqKL4XxTeLlEgzhwHvW2DPnalvqoH-vdWbmQMxWIOk-EARB5a7LuCNY-fvtes95N1vrSPzbpgAwIuvpAsg/s1600/the+examined+life.jpg" height="200" width="126" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOqOibL69G6e4bNr6nBslLzU8ZtlPtVRnvGGsmu1liEp-G4_-U5swkPOfbiz2Ix8brvD74jPwckrwjZzOETpJefSw0ayzxd-MezH94u19nEtF68f8PuMeorIaE45v6ODkA7_OQI6VctC8/s1600/stranger+than+kindness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOqOibL69G6e4bNr6nBslLzU8ZtlPtVRnvGGsmu1liEp-G4_-U5swkPOfbiz2Ix8brvD74jPwckrwjZzOETpJefSw0ayzxd-MezH94u19nEtF68f8PuMeorIaE45v6ODkA7_OQI6VctC8/s1600/stranger+than+kindness.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2014</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">JAN & FEB:</span> The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MAR & APR:</span> Marbles - Ellen Forney</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MAY & JUN:</span> The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">JUL & AUG:</span> Elizabeth is Missing - Emma Healy</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">SEP & OCT:</span> The Examined Life - Stephen Grosz</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">NOV & DEC:</span> Stranger than Kindness - Mark A Radcliffe</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2013</b></span><span style="font-family: Courier New;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Feb:</span> </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/02/mental-health-reading-list-silver.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">The Silver Linings Play Book</a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> - Matthew Quick </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mar:</span> </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/03/mental-health-reading-list-psychopath.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">The Psychopath Test</a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> - Jon Ronson </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Apr:</span> </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/04/mental-health-reading-list-i-had-black.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">I had a black dog</a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> - Matthew Johnson </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">May:</span> </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/05/mental-health-reading-challenge-why-be.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Why be happy when you can be normal</a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> - Jeanette Winterson</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jun:</span> </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/07/mental-health-reading-challenge-poppy.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Poppy Shakespeare</a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Courier New';"> </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- Clare Allan</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jul:</span> 01 - Birthday Letters - Ted Hughes</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jul:</span> 02 - Ariel - Sylvia Plath</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Aug:</span> </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/sharing-stories-tender-is-night-guest.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Tender is the Night</a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Courier New';"> </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- F Scott Fitzgerald </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sep:</span> Day - A L Kennedy</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Oct:</span> <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2014/01/sharing-stories-notes-from-exhibition.html">Notes from an exhibition</a> - Patrick Gale</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nov:</span> A life too short - Ronald Reng </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dec:</span> Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 18px;"> </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier;">* * * * *</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2014/01/sharing-stories-2014.html">Sharing Stories 2014</a></span><br />
<a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/02/interview-with-peter-bullimore-podcast.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Chat with Peter Bullimore</a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New';"> 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/01/mental-health-reading-challenge-2013.html">Mental Health Reading Challenge</a> 2013</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/09/sharing-stories-podcast.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Podcast with Tom at Arts and Minds Leeds</a> 2013</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">Table of Contents - <b><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-guest-stars.html">Guest Stars</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Full <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents.html">Table of Contents</a></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-39539606770129514962014-01-19T23:49:00.000+00:002014-01-28T12:09:22.298+00:00Sharing Stories - Notes from an Exhibition - GUEST<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Courier; font-size: 13.5pt;">Leeds Book Club has been participating in the </span><a href="http://www.artsandmindsnetwork.org.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Arts and Minds Network</span></a><span style="font-family: Courier; font-size: 13.5pt;">'s 2013 project on raising awareness of mental health issues. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />Now Fiona actually provided me with this <b>MONTHS</b> ago and it was lost in the wilderness that is my email inbox, languishing, wilting for lack of attention. I'm so glad that this review has finally found it's place in the sun as it's fantastic! Huge thanks to <b><a href="https://twitter.com/Mindfiona">@MindFiona</a></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 24pt;">NOTES FROM AN EXHIBITION</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: large;"><b>PATRICK GALE</b></span></div>
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From the author of A Perfectly Good Man, the bestselling story of an artist tormented by depression and the toll of creativity.</div>
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When troubled artist Rachel Kelly dies she leaves behind an extraordinary body of work – but for her family there is a legacy of secrets and painful revelations.</div>
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Rachel exerts a power that outlives her. To her children she is both curse and blessing, as they cope with the inheritance of her passions – and demons. Only their father's gift of stillness can withstand Rachel’s destructive influence and the suspicion that they all came a poor second to her art.</div>
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Piecing together the clues of her life – as artist, lover, mother, wife and patient – takes the reader from Cornwall to Canada across a span of forty years. What emerges is a tender story of enduring love, and a portrait of a family coping with the sometimes too dazzling brilliance of a genius.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When I volunteered to review one of the Sharing Stories books I ended up picking </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">one that I knew nothing about. As the subject matter was quite heavy, I might </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">not normally have chosen to read it. So it was with some trepidation that I started </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">reading ‘Notes from an Exhibition’.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I was expecting to struggle through the book, however I found couldn’t put it down. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The focus of the story is Rachel Kelly, an artist, her husband Anthony, and their </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">children, Garfield, Morwenna, Heldley, and Petroc. Rachel suffers from bi-polar </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">disorder and much of the story focuses on the tangle of her that, her art and family </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and the shifting pressures of them all. Though Rachel has the greatest share of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">narrative, the story is seen from the perspective of all of the family members. Each </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">chapter is prefaced with an ‘interpretation card’ from a posthumous exhibition of her </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">works and items from her life -Hence, notes from an exhibition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The book begins with Rachel at the end of her life and about to embark on a series </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">of paintings we later learn are some of her greatest works. From there, the book </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">follows the aftermath of her death for her husband and now grown-up children, whilst </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">flashing back to significant points in all of their lives. I quite liked the structure. At first </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I found it a little disorientating but by the end appreciated the different perspectives. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">They rounded out the characters and showed the differences between how they </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">behaved and how they felt. I also felt it gave the book more of a sense of hope. All </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">the ‘notes’ say who donated which item in the exhibition, and the fact that the donors </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">were able and willing to contribute is promising. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The family isn't always a particularly likeable one; as individuals they are all flawed </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">in some way, and all struggle to communicate with one another. Though Rachel </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">undoubtedly loves her children, </span></div>
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">‘art was the one thing that stilled and focused her </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">impossibly restless personality; art won through where her family failed.’ </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Though art </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">offers her respite, but it is occasionally her focus over everything else. She herself </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">isn't sure of her motivation for coming off her medication whilst pregnant. It exposes </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">her to a greater chance of post-partum depression but </span></div>
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">‘the glorious ascent before the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">fall and the work she could achieve in climbing made it worthwhile. Perhaps.’ </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">She </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">can be quite cruel at times; the incident on Morwenna’s tenth birthday stands out. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">However it is counterbalanced by chapters told from Rachel’s perspective. Though </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">she herself admits she isn't always kind (‘she ignored him, and used to it, poor sod, </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">he went away’) these chapters gave me more of an insight to the fragility she feels. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">One part that stood out for me was the account of a costume ball that Rachel attends </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">with her friend/doctor Jack. She has finally been diagnosed, in part because of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">support from Jack, and the (admittedly imperfect) sense of relief she feels really </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">struck me </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-size: large;">‘She was not mad. She had a chemical imbalance that was controllable.’</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The book isn't an easy ride, but I found it was worth it. I felt it gave me more </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">insight into the complexities of living with mental illness. Gale presents all of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">character’s as complex individuals, complete with flaws and virtues. As ‘Notes from </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">an Exhibition’ made me want to read more by Gale I would definitely recommend it to </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">others.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">* * * * *</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/02/interview-with-peter-bullimore-podcast.html">Chat with Peter Bullimore</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/01/mental-health-reading-challenge-2013.html">Mental Health Reading Challenge</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/01/blurbs-for-mental-health-reading.html">Blurbs for the books!</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/09/sharing-stories-podcast.html">Podcast with Tom at Arts and Minds Leeds</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The List</b></span><span style="font-family: Courier New;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Feb: </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/02/mental-health-reading-list-silver.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">The Silver Linings Play Book</a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> - Matthew Quick </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Mar: </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/03/mental-health-reading-list-psychopath.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">The Psychopath Test</a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> - Jon Ronson </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Apr: </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/04/mental-health-reading-list-i-had-black.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">I had a black dog</a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> - Matthew Johnson </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">May: </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/05/mental-health-reading-challenge-why-be.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Why be happy when you can be normal</a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> - Jeanette Winterson</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Jun: </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/07/mental-health-reading-challenge-poppy.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Poppy Shakespeare</a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Courier New';"> </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- Clare Allan</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Jul: 01 - Birthday Letters - Ted Hughes</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Jul: 02 - Ariel - Sylvia Plath</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Aug: </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/sharing-stories-tender-is-night-guest.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Tender is the Night</a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Courier New';"> </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- F Scott Fitzgerald </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Sep: Day - A L Kennedy</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Oct: <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2014/01/sharing-stories-notes-from-exhibition.html">Notes from an exhibition</a> - Patrick Gale</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Nov: A life too short - Ronald Reng </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Dec: Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte </span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier;">* * * * *</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">Table of Contents - <b><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-guest-stars.html">Guest Stars</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Full <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents.html">Table of Contents</a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-23163801662095959842014-01-19T22:59:00.001+00:002014-01-19T23:00:35.562+00:00Guest Post - Evan reviews Russian Roulette by Anthony Horowitz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Leeds Book Club are delighted to present one of our most popular writers - Evan Shelton. Evan happens to also be the youngest on our writing team.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Evan is an avid reader and enjoys reading and writing about books.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As always, huge thanks!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">RUSSIAN ROULETTE</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">ANTHONY HOROWITZ</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">REVIEW</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />Russian Roulette is a spin-off of the hugely popular Alex Rider series of books, which I have read and are extremely good. It is about the life story of a Russian contract killer by the name of Yassen Gregorovich and what it would take him to kill. The way it fits into the Alex Rider series is that Yassen is hired to kill a fourteen year old Alex Rider.<br /><br />It is a thrilling story of how a boy lived in poverty in a tiny village, saw everyone he loved die, turned to a life of crime in Moscow, had been in slavery and joined a worldwide crime organisation. <br /><br />I think, in the book, Horowitz gets across perfectly that with Yassen (or anyone in fact) taking other people’s lives is the least natural thing anyone can do – it takes a great many horrific things for someone to become a killer.<br /><br />I would highly recommend this book to an eleven to fifteen year old. All in all, I think this is a real page-turner style book which is certainly worth reading. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Other Posts by Evan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2014/01/guest-post-evan-reviews-russian.html">Russian Roulette</a> by Anthony Horowitz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/02/guesy-post-ean-reviews-percy-jackson.html">Percy Jackson</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/11/guest-post-evan-shelton-meets-michael.html">Interview with Michael Morpurgo</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Table of Contents</b> - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/11/table-of-contents-childrens-corner.html">Children's Corner</a> </span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-71647184146524225572014-01-19T22:38:00.000+00:002014-01-19T22:43:22.591+00:00LBC 3Reads - Book 07 - The Wapshot Chronicles<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><u>#LBC3Reads</u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.cafe164.com/">Cafe 164</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Date: 19th of January 2014</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Time: 11am - 1pm</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Address: Unit 2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Munro House,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Duke St,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Leeds LS9 8AG</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Book the 7th:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLE</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><b>JOHN CHEEVER</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>This write up was contributed by one of our regulars from memory as I was unfortunately unable to attend! Huge thanks!!</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">DESCRIPTION </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">Based in part on Cheever’s adolescence in New England, the novel follows the destinies of the impecunious and wildly eccentric Wapshots of St. Botolphs, a quintessential Massachusetts fishing village. Here are the stories of Captain Leander Wapshot, venerable sea dog and would-be suicide; of his licentious older son, Moses; and of Moses’ adoring and errant younger brother, Coverly. Tragic and funny, ribald and splendidly picaresque, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">The Wapshot Chronicle</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"> is a family narrative in the tradition of Trollope, Dickens, and Henry James.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">A few notes on our discussion today:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">All of us were rather underwhelmed by Cheever, the book felt very disjointed. We all felt it was obvious that Cheever was more of a short story writer as the book was more a series of loosely connected episodes. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">We all felt that the story suffered from some of the authors personal issues with the women in his life & his conflict over his sexuality.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">We felt that the descriptions in the book were good & that Cheever was good at evoking the sense of small town America. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">It was also felt that some of the blurbs on the book cover were rather misleading. The Wapshot Chronicle is not 'uproariously comic' as one claimed, but we felt is had a very dry black humour in places. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The difference in book covers was also commented on, the most recent edition had an illustration of a scene that wasn't really in the book and again implied the book was more amusing & light hearted than it is. It was commented that if they had got the earlier edition with the black & white photo of a New England house they would have had different expectations going into the book.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><b>SCORE - 5/10</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">THE AWAKENING</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">KATE CHOPIN</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Find fellow members on twitter by searching for <a href="http://www.twitter.com/search/#LBC3Reads">#LBC3Reads</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Follow <a href="http://www.twitter.com/cafe164">@Cafe164</a> for details on the deliciousables!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Let me know your thoughts by either tweeting me <a href="http://www.twitter.com/leedsbookclub">@LeedsBookClub</a>, commenting below or emailing me at leedsbookclub@gmail.com</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">07 - Jan - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2014/01/lbc-3reads-book-07-wapshot-chronicles.html">The Wapshot Chronicle</a> - John Cheever</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">06 - ??? - Their eyes were watching God</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">05 - ??? - Mason and Dixon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">04 - ??? - O Pioneer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">03 - Jan - The City and the Pillar - Gore Vidal</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">02 - Aug - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/09/lbc-3reads-book-02-paris-wife.html">The Paris Wife</a> - Paula McLain</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">01 -</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> May - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/05/lbc3reads-book-1-sherlock-holmes.html">The Hound of the Baskervilles</a> - Arthur Conan Doyle</span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">An Idea Is Born - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2011/11/its-book-club-jim-just-not-as-we-know.html">It's Book Club Jim, Just Not As We Know It</a></span></span></span><br />
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Book Club - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-book-club.html">Table of Contents</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Full <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents.html">Table of Contents</a></span></b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-36293160784675289722014-01-09T22:22:00.001+00:002014-01-09T22:23:12.683+00:00Giraffe LBC - Children of Men Write Up<div style="border: medium none;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Venue: <a href="http://www.giraffe.net/barandgrill/location/leeds-greek-street">Giraffe Bar and Grill</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Date: Tuesday 7th of October 2014</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Time: 6pm - 8pm</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Address: </span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">6 Greek Street, </span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Leeds, </span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">LS1 5RW</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tel: (0113) 244 1500</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>THE CHILDREN OF MEN</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">* * * * *</span><b style="color: red; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> SPOILERS </b><span style="color: red; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">* * * * *</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">* * * * *</span><b style="color: red; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> SPOILERS </b><span style="color: red; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">* * * * *</span></div>
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</b> <b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Huge thanks to the wonderful <a href="https://twitter.com/AlisonNeale">@AlisonNeale</a> for providing this write up and co-ordinating the return of the Dystopian book club for 2014!</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.390625px;">The Children of Men </b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.390625px;">is a story of a world with no children and no future. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.390625px;">The human race has become infertile, and the last generation to be born is now adult. Civilization itself is crumbling as suicide and despair become commonplace. Oxford historian Theodore Faron, apathetic toward a future without a future, spends most of his time reminiscing. Then he is approached by Julian, a bright, attractive woman who wants him to help get her an audience with his cousin, the powerful Warden of England. She and her band of unlikely revolutionaries may just awaken his desire to live . . . and they may also hold the key to survival for the human race.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">No children. No future. No hope. In the year 2027, eighteen years since the last baby was born, disillusioned Theo (Clive Owen) becomes an unlikely champion of the human race when he is asked by his former lover (Julianne Moore) to escort a young pregnant woman out of the country as quickly as possible. In a thrilling race against time, Theo will risk everything to deliver the miracle the whole world has been waiting for. Co-starring Michael Caine, filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men is the powerful film Pete Hammond of Maxim calls "magnificent...a unique and totally original vision.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">We read the book and watched the film in this case, and unusually, they both have merit in different areas, although they bear little resemblance. It was noticeable that those of us who read the book first preferred it, while those who knew the film beforehand enjoyed its bleaker story line and cinematic beauty. It was also felt that the film was more representative of its time in terms of politics and attitudes, while the book was somehow timeless, or perhaps more accurately old-fashioned. The film felt more global, the book more local. In the film the baby needed to escape the UK, and thus Theo’s (the protagonist) role at the end had been played out; the book, conversely, kept the baby in the UK, so Theo had a new part to play, as protector.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">This may have to do with the altered setting: </span></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">the film shows the country in a violent and dangerous flux after the discovery of the fertility problem, </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">whereas the book seems to be set much later, when the ageing population has calmed somewhat and just wants to ensure a peaceful, safe existence, free from boredom.</span></li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1o9hlqjUk7ZIJdSwqSrI5Ltnr7hKwqsa96NISlKnhn1cchCt4oVG7RW1Mp07_ySdwaQE6SWv6DuBxqdFk135XFyvu4FcGiv7-QTvPxhULql1gcVA-6_kXNfgopv8KDuAd8DbLuufpZQc/s1600/CHILDREN+OF+MEN.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1o9hlqjUk7ZIJdSwqSrI5Ltnr7hKwqsa96NISlKnhn1cchCt4oVG7RW1Mp07_ySdwaQE6SWv6DuBxqdFk135XFyvu4FcGiv7-QTvPxhULql1gcVA-6_kXNfgopv8KDuAd8DbLuufpZQc/s1600/CHILDREN+OF+MEN.jpeg" height="320" width="203" /></a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> One reader suggested that the book would have been more interesting without the baby, simply telling the tale of the demise of the human race until the lights went out. Certainly the disturbing idea of the Quietus - not used in the film - gives a glimpse of the brutal possibilities. So to a major criticism of the novel: coincidence. It was felt to be somewhat unrealistic that Theo just happened to know someone at the Quietus he attended. In a rather larger example, how fortunate that of all the women who could get pregnant, it was one of the rebel group. Some book clubbers pointed out that in the novel the population has shrunk significantly and society is very insular, so it is less unrealistic. The film does not suffer from this problem. In the novel, it is men who have become infertile - a clever device, as it narrows the window to recover the human race in a way that infertile women does not. The latter is the case in the film, which some felt disempowered women and at the same time changed the dynamic of the rebel group. The characters in the novel are thoroughly unlikeable, be it unpleasant or completely devoid of personality, and none of us felt any sympathy for them. Some readers pointed out that this would not have been a problem had they been interesting. Sadly, so often not the case. We agreed that the one character we really wanted to know more about was the Warden, whose motives were never entirely clear. Both novel and film were felt to be hyper-realisations of immigration policy. The film, with its detention centre, took this to extremes, while the book only mentioned in passing the trials and treatment of the ‘sojourners’. A good point was made that this element of the story could not have worked anywhere but on an island. British society has fought to retain the country as a last bastion of civilisation and hope, resigning itself to dictatorship in order to retain order. We had an intriguing conflict of opinion about Theo’s actions at the end of the book. Some of us felt that unpleasant as Theo was, it was only when he donned the ring at the end that he lost his morality and humanity; others disagreed, claiming that the ring was a temporary measure and his actions redeemed his earlier crime of wilful blindness. You’ll have to read the book yourself to decide! Criticism of the author’s repetitive style also caused discussion, with a few readers feeling that it built in atmosphere and emphasised the religious tone, while others claimed that it made the book more difficult (in one case impossible) to read. The religious theme and references throughout the book annoyed some readers (partly owing to recognising vaguely, but not fully understanding them); however, it was acknowledged that the author and any readers with a similar viewpoint would enjoy their significance. We felt that this dystopia was a realistic imagination of events that could genuinely come to pass, with some nifty nods to long-term British political issues. Our criticism was more of writing style than storyline, and this is reflected in our scores. The film probably won out in the end, though.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><b>Our next read is Divergent by Veronica Roth!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Find fellow members on twitter by searching for <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23GiraffeLBC">#GiraffeLBC</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/giraffetweet">@GiraffeTweet</a> for details on the deliciousables and their projects nationwide.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Let me know your thoughts by either tweeting me <a href="http://www.twitter.com/leedsbookclub">@LeedsBookClub</a>, commenting below or emailing me at leedsbookclub@gmail.com</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">* * * * * <b>Giraffe LBC</b> * * * * *</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">10 - FEB - Divergent - Veronica Roth </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">09 - JAN - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2014/01/giraffe-lbc-children-of-men-write-up.html">Children of Men</a> - P.D. James </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
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</span></b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">08 - OCT - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/11/giraffe-lbc-high-rise-write-up.html">High Rise</a> - J.G. Ballard </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">07 - JUL - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/giraffe-lbc-miracle-inspector-review.html">The Miracle Inspector</a> - Helen Smith </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">06 - APR - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/05/giraffe-lbc-logans-run-write-up-guest.html">Logan's Run</a> - Book and Film </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">05 - FEB - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/11/giraffe-lbc-watchmen.html">Watchmen</a> - Comic and Film</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">04 - NOV - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/11/giraffe-lbc-brave-new-world-write-up.html">Brave New World</a> - Aldous Huxley - </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">03 - OCT - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/01/giraffe-lbc-iron-heel-write-up-guest.html">The Iron Heel</a> - Jack London - </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">02 - AUG - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/09/giraffelbc-running-man.html">The Running Man</a> - Stephen King</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">01 - JUL - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/08/giraffelbc-fahrenheit-451-guest.html">Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>GUEST</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/07/how-i-learned-to-continue-worrying-love.html">How I learned to continue worrying and love the dystopian</a> - <span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;"><b>GUEST</b></span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/06/giraffe-lbc-list-of-potentials.html">The List of Potentials</a></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/06/giraffe-lbc-our-first-meeting.html">A Dystopian Book Club</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: start;">
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/07/how-i-learned-to-continue-worrying-love.html">How I learned to continue worrying and love the dystopian</a> - <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>GUEST</b></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/06/giraffe-lbc-list-of-potentials.html">The List of Potentials</a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/06/giraffe-lbc-our-first-meeting.html">A Dystopian Book Club</a></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: start;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #4c4b4c; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; line-height: 19px;">
<b>* * * * *</b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #4c4b4c; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; line-height: 19px;">
Book Club - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-book-club.html" style="color: #fc318a;">Table of Contents</a><br />
<br />
<div>
<b>* * * * *</b></div>
<div>
Guest - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-guest-stars.html">Table of Contents</a></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #4c4b4c; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; line-height: 19px;">
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #4c4b4c; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; line-height: 19px;">
<b>* * * * *</b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #4c4b4c; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; line-height: 19px;">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Full <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents.html" style="color: #fc318a;">Table of Contents</a></span></span></b></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-19334509970961263752013-12-31T23:59:00.000+00:002013-12-31T23:59:00.583+00:00Happy New Year!!!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">From all of us at Leeds Book Club...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheX1rQDdGY_RS2GjT89ioWFogtmiwm039JTt2JdRDuhuRd6YxFYoq4RiTxqpUw7bQNybckoDL0wxujtMiQkZWpj7sTJ2jDqPDac_IZomxZy7KWn6VzGZf0bWyU3rYFGHQLsIiAfQw8mBP1/s1600/new-year-reading.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheX1rQDdGY_RS2GjT89ioWFogtmiwm039JTt2JdRDuhuRd6YxFYoq4RiTxqpUw7bQNybckoDL0wxujtMiQkZWpj7sTJ2jDqPDac_IZomxZy7KWn6VzGZf0bWyU3rYFGHQLsIiAfQw8mBP1/s400/new-year-reading.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First up for LeedsBookClub is The Human by Matt Haig</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Date: 8th January</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Venue: Medusa Bar, Horsforth</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05213540967843619318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-70694944247629414652013-12-24T09:00:00.000+00:002013-12-24T09:00:01.023+00:00A Visit From St. Nicholas<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDiDychrhlNKzNoeBQP7WdCUS-X20f7-5jsexyFaluJkKQ2xvq4NZwUHOTqvt3RH6ujUhCXDG-1kiZUp0_v7f3HBHafzkqdoXI-apPk8q8nRtsLQa7EBDPBRv1-p0gou6pCn-Im1GoO0HR/s1600/a-visit-from-st-nicholas-granger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDiDychrhlNKzNoeBQP7WdCUS-X20f7-5jsexyFaluJkKQ2xvq4NZwUHOTqvt3RH6ujUhCXDG-1kiZUp0_v7f3HBHafzkqdoXI-apPk8q8nRtsLQa7EBDPBRv1-p0gou6pCn-Im1GoO0HR/s1600/a-visit-from-st-nicholas-granger.jpg" /></a></div>
<pre style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u style="color: #cc0000;"><b>A Visit From St. Nicholas </b></u></span></pre>
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<pre style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></pre>
<b>
</b><br />
<pre style="color: #38761d; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">by Clement Clark Moore (1822)</span></b></pre>
<pre style="color: #38761d; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></pre>
<table align="CENTER" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">’T WAS the night before Christmas, when all through the house</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="1"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="2"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="3"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In hopes that <b>ST. NICHOLAS</b> soon would be there;</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="4"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The children were nestled all snug in their beds,</span></td><td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="5"><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 5</span></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="6"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="7"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="8"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="9"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.</span></td><td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="10"><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 10</span></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Away to the window I flew like a flash,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="11"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="12"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="13"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="14"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,</span></td><td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="15"><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 15</span></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="16"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With a little old driver, so lively and quick,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="17"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I knew in a moment it must be <b>St. Nick</b>.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="18"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="19"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;</span></td><td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="20"><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 20</span></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Now, <i>Dasher!</i> now, <i>Dancer!</i> now, <i>Prancer</i> and <i>Vixen!</i></span></b></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="21"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On, <i>Comet!</i> on, <i>Cupid!</i> on, <i>Donder</i> and <i>Blitzen!</i></span></b></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="22"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!</span></b></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="23"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”</span></b></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="24"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,</span></td><td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="25"><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 25</span></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="26"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="27"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the sleigh full of Toys, and <b>St. Nicholas</b> too.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="28"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="29"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.</span></td><td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="30"><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 30</span></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I drew in my head, and was turning around,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="31"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Down the chimney <b>St. Nicholas</b> came with a bound.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="32"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="33"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="34"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,</span></td><td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="35"><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 35</span></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="36"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="37"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="38"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="39"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;</span></td><td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="40"><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 40</span></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="41"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="42"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He had a broad face and a little round belly,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="43"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="44"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,</span></td><td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="45"><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 45</span></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="46"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="47"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="48"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="49"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,</span></td><td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="50"><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 50</span></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And laying his finger aside of his nose,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="51"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="52"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="53"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And away they all flew like the down of a thistle,</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="54"></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,</span></td><td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3995576795502079366" name="55"><i> 55</i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td><i><br /></i>
<i>“<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.</b></span>”</i></td><td></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-46948352047555233002013-12-20T08:30:00.000+00:002013-12-20T08:30:02.842+00:00Chris Nickson Exclusive Short Story - Family <div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Christmas Short Story</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bu5uoK-UXTfPz0PSnyXUMyJy6Ya7PT2HbJHllo8kTKXlIPMitPNDXwvtrhvvmAH2DkoarRu1LwNxwURkzZpgkOIi-aGvjCq6k0cmUDqHe0xUB-e_hmZCkQs5P9YPkw0PIQ1RXfbae_s/s1600/James_Valentine_The_Briggate_Leeds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bu5uoK-UXTfPz0PSnyXUMyJy6Ya7PT2HbJHllo8kTKXlIPMitPNDXwvtrhvvmAH2DkoarRu1LwNxwURkzZpgkOIi-aGvjCq6k0cmUDqHe0xUB-e_hmZCkQs5P9YPkw0PIQ1RXfbae_s/s320/James_Valentine_The_Briggate_Leeds.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Family </span></b></div>
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<b>by </b></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<b>Chris Nickson</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Leeds, December 1889</span></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-293dfb2c-a063-1c66-fa32-84af1d9b3e2d" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It was still dark when she finished the baking, and bitter outside the kitchen. She washed the flour from her hands, walked through the yard and unlocked gate that led to Roundhay Road. The draymen would arrive soon enough, the sharp sound of hooves as the horses stopped outside the Victoria. She peeked out into the street. The air was winter-heavy and wet with soot.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It was early but there were already men out walking, on their way to jobs in the boot factories and tanneries, the mills and breweries. The gas lamps offered a faint glow. She turned and caught the silhouette of someone crouched on the doorstep of the pub.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Someone small. A boy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Waiting for something, luv?” Annabelle Atkinson asked as she crossed her arms. “We’ll not be open for two hours yet.”</span></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“I’m just sitting,” the lad answered. She could hear the cold in his voice. As she came closer, she was that his face was grubby and he was only wearing a thin shirt and a pair of ragged trousers that left his calves bare, his shoes were held together withpieces of string. He wasn’t local, she was certain of that. Annabelle knew everyone around Sheepscar, each man, woman and child. “No law agin it, is there?” he asked.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Not if you want to stay there,” she told him. “Warmer inside, though. The oven’s going. Cup of tea. Maybe even breakfast if you’re not too cheeky.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">He was torn, it was plain on his face. He was thin as a stick and didn’t look as if he’d had a full meal in days. She didn’t say anything more, deliberately turning away to stare back up the road towards the endless streets of back-to-back houses and factories that lined the way out to Harehills. December. It would be a good while yet before it was light. As light as it ever got when the air was filled with fog and smoke.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When she looked again he was there, standing close, expectant and wary.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“You’re not having me on, missus?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“No, luv, in you go.” She watched him run through the yard and into the kitchen. By the time she entered he was already standing by the oven, hands outstretched, soaking in the heat. She didn’t have any bairns of her own. Her husband had been older, then he’d died and she’d taken over running the pub. However it had happened, she’d never caught. Now she was courting again, a man called Tom Harper, a copper of all things, and set to wed next year if she could ever persuade him to pop the question.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">She cut two doorsteps of bread, buttered them thickly and placed them on the table in front of him. Before he could grab one she took hold of his tiny wrist and said,</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“You’re not eating with those filthy hands. Get them under the tap. Your face, too. We’re not short on soap.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">He returned, skin scrubbed and glowing, grabbing the food before she could say anything more. Annabelle brewed tea, one cup for herself, another for him, milky, with plenty of sugar.</span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“What’s your name?” she asked.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Henry, missus,” he answered with his mouth full.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“You can call me Annabelle. Where are you from? I’ve not seen you around before.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Me and me da just moved here two day back. We was living in Morley, then me mam and me sister got ill and died and me da started drinking and lost his job so we had to leave.” The words came out in a rush. “He thought we might do better up here.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">She smiled softly. The lad couldn’t be more than eight. But what had happened to him was no more than had happened in so many families.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“We’d best get you home then, Henry. Your da’ll be worried. Get some food in you and I’ll walk you back.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“He din’t wake up yesterday, missus.” He said the words flatly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“What do you mean, luv?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“He’d had a few drinks the night before so I thought he were asleep. I knew he’d belt me if I tried to wake him up, so I left. When I got back the door were locked and he din’t answer. I don’t know anyone round here so I din’t know where to go.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Right,” she said after a minute. “You tell me where you live, Henry and I’ll go and see your Da.” Emma the maid came into the kitchen, raising her eyebrows at the sight of the child. “Can you make him something hot?” Annabelle asked. “Bacon and eggs or summat. Poor little sod’s perishing. And see he gets a bath after. I’m off to see his Da.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Are you posh, missus?” Henry asked, looking at the servant in awe.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“No, luv,” Annabelle laughed. “I’m not.”</span></span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Armenia Grove ended in a big stone wall at the back of the dyeworks. A little further along, Gipton beck ran along past the school, down to the mill pond. Number six was the same as its neighbours, all blackened brick and rotting woodwork, the front door opening as the turned the handle. Henry and his father had the upstairs room at the front, the boy had told her. Locked, just he’d said. She knocked but there was no reply.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Back on the street, Annabelle caught a glimpse of Bert Hardwick and shouted him over before he could duck out of sight.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“There’s a door I need opening,” she said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">He gave her a sheepish glance. “I don’t do that no more. I’m over at the brick works now. It’s steady, like.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">She shook her head. “I don’t want to take owt, you daft ‘apeth. Just work the lock for me. Or do you want me to tell your Annie about seeing you with Betsy Ainsworth the other night?”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It only took him a few seconds, working with the tip of his pocket knife. Before she could enter, he’d vanished, boots hammering down the stairs. Men, she thought. They were all bloody useless.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Rags covered the window, blocking out the first light. But she could still see the shape on the floor, huddled under a threadbare blanket. Annabelle spoke his name but he didn’t stir. She reached out to touch his cheek then recoiled with a gasp as soon as her fingers felt his cold skin. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Quietly, she left the house.</span></span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Dan the barman was emptying the spittoons and polishing the tables. She asked him to find the beat bobby and take him to the house on Armenia Grove.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“He’ll know what to do.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">She brightened her expression and walked through to the kitchen. Henry was sitting in front of the oven, wearing nothing more than a large towel. Emma had stoked up the fire and washed his clothes; they were strung up on the wooden rack, steaming as they dried.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“You look better all cleaned up,” she told him. “Right handsome.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Did you find my Da, missus?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“I did.” She stood by the chair and took hold of his hand. “What’s his Christian name?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Edward,” the boy answered. “But everyone calls him Ted.” Worry flashed across his eyes. “Why, missus?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">She gazed at him for a moment.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“I don’t know how to tell you, Henry, so I’ll just do it straight. Your father’s dead. It looks like he passed away in his sleep. I’m sorry.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">His grip tightened.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“But…” he began, then the words failed him. He began to cry and she cradled him close, rocking him softly until the tears turned to slow hiccoughs.</span></span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Tom, you’ve got to help him.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">He’d arrived after work, close to eight on a dreary evening, exhausted and dirty. He’d ended up chasing a pickpocket out to Marsh Lane, finally bringing him down in the mud that passed for road there. She’d kept a plate warm in the oven for him, the way she always did, hoping he’d visit on the way back to his lodgings.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Where is he now?” Inspector Harper asked.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Fast asleep.” She smoothed the silk gown and with a satisfied sigh, let down her hair so it fanned over her shoulders. The mutter of voices came from the bar downstairs. “Poor little lamb’s all cried out. I finally got him to tell me that his mother’s sister lives in Morley. She’s Temperance, so after his ma died, she wouldn’t have anything to do with his father because he was a drinker. What do you think? Maybe she’d take him in.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Maybe. What’s her name?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Molly Wild.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“I’ll get in touch with the station down there. Someone will let her know. I can’t promise anything. What about the father?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“The undertaker has him. Burial tomorrow up at Beckett Street.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">He shook his head.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“You’re paying?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Someone has to,” she pointed out. “Come on, Tom. I couldn’t let the boy’s father go to a pauper’s grave, could I?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“No,” he answered slowly. “I suppose you couldn’t.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“It’s only money. I have the brass for that.”</span></span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Two days passed before the woman arrived. Annabelle had set Henry to work, washing glasses and helping with small tasks in the kitchen. He was an eager little worker, humming as he did whatever he was told. Only when the memories caught up with him would his face crumple and the tears begin. She fed him well and tucked him into the spare bed every night, watching from the doorway until he was asleep.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“There’s a woman outside wanting to talk to you,” Sad Andrew told her as he entered the Victoria. It was a little after ten in the morning, the fog thick as twilight.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Tell her to come in, then,” she said. “I’m right here.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“She won’t come into a public house.” He mimicked a prim voice and Annabelle sighed, drying her raw hands on an old cloth before pulling a shawl around her shoulders and pasting a smile on her face.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A horse and cart stood at the curb, driven by a man with hunched shoulders and a defeated expression. The woman had climbed down, glancing at the pub with a critical eye. Her bonnet was black, her gown a plain charcoal grey, button boots peeking from the hem.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“You must be Mrs.Wild.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“I am,” she replied with a sniff.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“I’m Mrs. Atkinson.” The woman’s gaze moved to Annabelle’s hand, no ring on the third finger. “I’m a widow.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“I see.” Her tone was disapproving. “The police came,” she said as if it was the most humiliating thing that could have happened. “They said Henry’s here and that his father’s dead.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“That’s right. Do you want to see him?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The woman stepped back as if she’d been slapped.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“I would never set foot on licensed premises.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Then I’m glad not everyone’s like you,” Annabelle said, smiling to take the sting from her words. “I’d be out of business in a week.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Was it the drink that killed my sister’s husband?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“I don’t know, luv. All I did was take the boy in and see that his father was buried. But now you’re here, I’m sure Henry will be glad to have a home with you.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“We already have five children.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Then you’ll hardly notice another.” She tried to make her voice light.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“We have good, God-fearing children.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“You’ll love Henry. He’s a wonderful little boy.” She paused for a heartbeat. “And he’s flesh and blood to you. Your sister’s boy.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“I don’t know.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Tell me something, luv,” Annabelle said. “You strike me as someone who likes to live by the Bible.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Of course we do.” Mrs. Wild lifted her head.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Then what does it say inre about looking after those in need?”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Don’t you go quoting that to me!” the woman bristled. “I’ll not have that from someone who runs a place like this.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“What about someone who took your nephew in when he had nowhere else to go and arranged his father’s burial?” It didn’t matter who the woman was or what Annabelle needed from her. No one was going to speak to her that way. “Or doesn’t that count because I own a pub?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The man on the cart turned.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Just bring the lad out, missus.” He glared at his wife. “Don’t worry, we’ll look after him proper, won’t we, Molly? Like you said, he’s family.”</span></span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">She stood on the doorstep of the Victoria, watching them drive away until they vanished into the fog. Henry had clung to her, not wanting to leave, crying once again as his aunt looked on, hawk-faced.</span><div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">But it was for the best, she told herself. They were family.</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">* * * * *</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Chris Nickson</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Reviews</span></div>
Richard Nottingham - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2011/07/broken-token-review.html">Book 1 - The Broken Token</a></div>
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Richard Nottingham - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2011/10/richard-nottingham-book-2-cold-cruel.html">Book 2 - Cold Cruel Winter</a></div>
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Richard Nottingham - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/01/richard-nottingham-book-3-constant.html">Book 3 - The Constant Lovers</a><br />
Richard Nottingham - Book 4 - Come The Fear</div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Christmas Short Story - </span></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/12/christmas-gift-for-you-from-chris.html">Annabelle Atkinson and Mr. Grimshaw</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Richard Nottingham 03 - </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #222222;">Sanctuary - </span><span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;"><b>LIMITED TIME ONLY</b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Richard Nottingham 02 - </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2011/12/chris-tmas-surprise.html" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">December</a></div>
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Richard Nottingham 01 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2011/09/chris-nickson-exclusive.html">Home</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">02 - Chris Nickson - <a href="http://podcastmachine.com/podcasts/8365/episodes/73196/media_files/172501/download/3/file_128kb.mp3">Interview</a> about Come the Fear book launch!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Mobile Link - </span><a href="http://podcastmachine.com/podcasts/8365/episodes/73196/media_files/172502/download/3/file_128kb.m4a" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Chris Nickson 2</a><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">01 - Chris Nickson - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2011/09/chris-nickson-podcast-interview.html">Interview</a> about Richard Nottingham</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Mobile Link - </span><a href="http://podcastmachine.com/podcasts/8365/episodes/53948/media_files/126021/download/3/file_128kb.m4a" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Chris Nickson</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Contact Details</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Follow Chris on Twitter - <a href="http://twitter.com/chrisnickson2">@ChrisNickson2</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Visit Chris' website - <b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.chrisnickson.co.uk/">HERE</a></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Best Book of 2001 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2011/11/chris-nickson-best-books-2011.html">Library Journal Award</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Miscellaneous</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sweet Tooth - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/p/sweet-tooth.html">Mary Nottingham's Lemon Meringue Pie</a></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;">* * * * *</b><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Chris Nickson <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-chris-nickson.html">Table of Contents</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>* * * * *</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Full <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents.html">Table of Contents</a></span></b></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-60360851427451593142013-12-10T08:00:00.000+00:002013-12-10T08:00:00.405+00:00The Gift of the Magi - O. Henry<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0.9em; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>The Gift of the Magi</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0.9em; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><b>O Henry</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0.9em; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQy8rUm586zx1cx3_ncfVg-R8a69F51xXA7fRznHgnqM9PK9F3_42z-oJbBUrErMmQ6Dxk15gaRJQclMpFDW1Uh00SxBqpZXmDncjSwxmcCgei_rD0UB9TBIguGbgiSOGPG4gpZF99f6U/s1600/magi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQy8rUm586zx1cx3_ncfVg-R8a69F51xXA7fRznHgnqM9PK9F3_42z-oJbBUrErMmQ6Dxk15gaRJQclMpFDW1Uh00SxBqpZXmDncjSwxmcCgei_rD0UB9TBIguGbgiSOGPG4gpZF99f6U/s320/magi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">One
dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in
pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the
vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent
imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della
counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be
Christmas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">There
was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So
Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of
sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">While
the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the
second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not
exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for
the mendicancy squad. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">In
the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an
electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also
appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name "Mr. James Dillingham
Young." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">The
"Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze during a former period of
prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the income
was shrunk to $20, though, they were thinking seriously of contracting to a
modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and
reached his flat above he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs.
James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very
good. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Della
finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by
the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray
backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to
buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with
this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been greater
than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim.
Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him.
Something fine and rare and sterling—something just a little bit near to being
worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">There
was a pier-glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen a
pier-glass in an $8 flat. A very thin and very agile person may, by observing
his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly
accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered the art. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Suddenly
she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes were shining
brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Rapidly she
pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Now,
there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both
took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and
his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had the queen of Sheba lived in
the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window
some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts. Had King
Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim
would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at
his beard from envy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">So
now Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade
of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for
her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for
a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">On
went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts
and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door
and down the stairs to the street. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Where
she stopped the sign read: "Mne. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds."
One flight up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too
white, chilly, hardly looked the "Sofronie." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">"Will
you buy my hair?" asked Della. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">"I
buy hair," said Madame. "Take yer hat off and let's have a sight at
the looks of it." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Down
rippled the brown cascade. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">"Twenty
dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a practiced hand. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">"Give
it to me quick," said Della. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Oh,
and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor.
She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">She
found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no
other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out.
It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming
its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation—as all good
things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she
knew that it must be Jim's. It was like him. Quietness and value—the
description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and
she hurried home with the 87 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be
properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he
sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap that he
used in place of a chain. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">When
Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason.
She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing
the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous
task, dear friends--a mammoth task. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Within
forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her
look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the
mirror long, carefully, and critically. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">"If
Jim doesn't kill me," she said to herself, "before he takes a second
look at me, he'll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I
do—oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty seven cents?" <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">At
7 o'clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove
hot and ready to cook the chops. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Jim
was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner
of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on
the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a
moment. She had a habit for saying little silent prayer about the simplest
everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please God, make him think I am
still pretty." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">The
door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious.
Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two—and to be burdened with a family! He needed
a new overcoat and he was without gloves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Jim
stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His
eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could
not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor
disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared
for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Della
wriggled off the table and went for him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">"Jim,
darling," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut
off and sold because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you
a present. It'll grow out again—you won't mind, will you? I just had to do it.
My hair grows awfully fast. Say `Merry Christmas!' Jim, and let's be happy. You
don't know what a nice—what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">"You've
cut off your hair?" asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at
that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">"Cut
it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me just as well,
anyhow? I'm me without my hair, ain't I?" <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Jim
looked about the room curiously. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">"You
say your hair is gone?" he said, with an air almost of idiocy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">"You
needn't look for it," said Della. "It's sold, I tell you—sold and
gone, too. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe
the hairs of my head were numbered," she went on with sudden serious
sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the
chops on, Jim?" <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Out
of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten
seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the
other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year—what is the
difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi
brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will
be illuminated later on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Jim
drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">"Don't
make any mistake, Dell," he said, "about me. I don't think there's
anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me
like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you
had me going a while at first." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">White
fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of
joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails,
necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord
of the flat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">For
there lay The Combs—the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped
long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jeweled
rims—just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive
combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without
the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that
should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">But
she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim
eyes and a smile and say: "My hair grows so fast, Jim!" <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">And
then Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, "Oh, oh!" <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Jim
had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her
open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her
bright and ardent spirit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">"Isn't
it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the
time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks
on it." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">Instead
of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of
his head and smiled. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">"Dell,"
said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while.
They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to
buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; font-size: 12pt;">The
magi, as you know, were wise men—wonderfully wise men—who brought gifts to the
Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being
wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of
exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the
uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely
sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last
word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these
two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest.
Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Free e-versions</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">iTunes - <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-gift-of-the-magi/id481683765?mt=11">The Gift of the Magi</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: x-small;">Kindle - <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Gift-Magi-O-Henry-ebook/dp/B0082Z3S3G">The </a></span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Gift-Magi-O-Henry-ebook/dp/B0082Z3S3G">Gift of the Magi</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: x-small;">Project Gutenberg - <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7256">The </a></span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7256">Gift of the Magi</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large; text-decoration: underline;"><u>Christmas - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2011/11/table-of-contents-occasions.html">Table of Contents</a></u></span></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-90855455342136865692013-12-07T01:31:00.002+00:002013-12-07T01:37:08.196+00:00The Story of the Other Wise Man - Henry Van Dyke <div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Originally posted in 1895, this beautiful story has become part of our Christmas lore. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In lieu of a read-a-long this year (I intended too then suddenly it's the 6th of December and I've organised nothing.), I thought that I would share one of my favourite festive tales. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The links lead to a HTML version of the story by Project Gutenberg.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Story of the Other Wise Man</span></b></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">Henry Van Dyke</span></b></div>
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<i>Who seeks for heaven alone to save his soul,<br />May keep the path, but will not reach the goal;<br />While he who walks in love may wander far,<br />Yet God will bring him where the blessed are.</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJPOBy1mowOjDhkN3qtlTrkibBHucOsZXrjtay7RynemzopsIHVF7k_UZKjAFQpEH3ERimXojFMpvluBhh4wvDcxCeW_cFi4xPlJ67Wd-QHFToQVolxxd8yrxZ9uBNyV252r3X2G9SFE/s1600/followed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJPOBy1mowOjDhkN3qtlTrkibBHucOsZXrjtay7RynemzopsIHVF7k_UZKjAFQpEH3ERimXojFMpvluBhh4wvDcxCeW_cFi4xPlJ67Wd-QHFToQVolxxd8yrxZ9uBNyV252r3X2G9SFE/s320/followed.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Introduction</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">You know the story of the Three Wise Men of the East, and how they traveled from far away to offer their gifts at the manger-cradle in Bethlehem. But have you ever heard the story of the Other Wise Man, who also saw the star in its rising, and set out to follow it, yet did not arrive with his brethren in the presence of the young child Jesus? Of the great desire of this fourth pilgrim, and how it was denied, yet accomplished in the denial; of his many wanderings and the probations of his soul; of the long way of his seeking, and the strange way of his finding, the One whom he sought—I would tell the tale as I have heard fragments of it in the Hall of Dreams, in the palace of the Heart of Man.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Part 01 - Introduction</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Part 02 - <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19608/19608-h/19608-h.htm#2">The Sign in the Sky</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Part 03 - <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19608/19608-h/19608-h.htm#3">By the Waters of Babylon</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Part 04 - <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19608/19608-h/19608-h.htm#4">For the Sake of a little child</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Part 04 - <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19608/19608-h/19608-h.htm#5">In the hidden way of sorrow</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Part 05 - <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19608/19608-h/19608-h.htm#6">A pearl of a great price</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Free e-versions</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">iTunes - <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/henry-van-dyke/id891788?mt=11">The Story of the Other Wise Man</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: x-small;">Kindle - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Story-Other-Wise-Man-ebook/dp/B0084C98FO">The Story of the Other Wise Man</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: x-small;">Project Gutenberg - <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19608">The Story of the Other Wise Man</a></span></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">* * * * *</b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><u><br /></u></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large; text-decoration: underline;"><u>Christmas - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2011/11/table-of-contents-occasions.html">Table of Contents</a></u></span></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-77685156631926042342013-12-07T00:03:00.000+00:002013-12-07T00:03:37.746+00:00Man Booker Shortlist - Book 06 - The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>WoodsieGirl's </b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>Man Booker</b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b>Challenge</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Our good friend WoodsieGirl has read all the books on the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize for the last few years. This is not because she is an avid reader, with varied interests and is constantly on the lookout for new great fiction. She does this purely to mock my inability to organize my book list. Honestly. It's evil. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Anyhoo, once again, she has kindly written up reviews of each book for us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>THE LUMINARIES</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><b>ELEANOR CATTON</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b>THE BLURB </b>(Amazon)</span></div>
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It is 1866, and Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields. On arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men, who have met in secret to discuss a series of unsolved crimes. A wealthy man has vanished, a whore has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely patterned as the night sky.<span style="background-color: transparent; text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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The Luminaries is an extraordinary piece of fiction. It is full of narrative, linguistic and psychological pleasures, and has a fiendishly clever and original structuring device. Written in pitch-perfect historical register, richly evoking a mid-19th century world of shipping and banking and goldrush boom and bust, it is also a ghost story, and a gripping mystery. It is a thrilling achievement for someone still in her mid-20s, and will confirm for critics and readers that Catton is one of the brightest stars in the international writing firmament.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b>THE REVIEW</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9KOKJ4v_-1TIVbeMZ9NOWEmdM_XJWMsP1gwcvQ3EMlL9ipQJ0H8EL9MmGjp6I6KDjja3MUnUf53sXIyKps0JHTI1-cpOS0hxDprq_mtvFRC3w9iiwHmRKHJ5kEGEAUKgz5cfVkm0Rw9A/s1600/Man+Booker+2013+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9KOKJ4v_-1TIVbeMZ9NOWEmdM_XJWMsP1gwcvQ3EMlL9ipQJ0H8EL9MmGjp6I6KDjja3MUnUf53sXIyKps0JHTI1-cpOS0hxDprq_mtvFRC3w9iiwHmRKHJ5kEGEAUKgz5cfVkm0Rw9A/s1600/Man+Booker+2013+01.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">When the Booker prize winner was announced, I groaned inwardly. Because of course, it was the one I hadn't read yet. The one I'd been putting off due to its daunting size. The one that had caused the library assistant who gave it to me to remark: <b>"Oh,</b></span><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><i style="color: #222222;">you're </i></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>the one that reserved this! Good luck..."</b> in a rather unnecessarily foreboding fashion.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I was a little surprised to see it announced as the winner, as it had seemed like the outside choice to me. Up against literary heavyweights like Jim Crace and Colm Toibin, I hadn't really thought the second novel of a relatively unknown young writer would stand much of a chance. I'd promised myself I wouldn't harp on about Eleanor Catton's age in the way ALL of the media coverage of her win did, but just allow me a moment here - she's twenty-sodding-eight and she's won the Booker prize! I'm 29 and have achieved precisely nothing with my life. NOTHING. *wails*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Ahem. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Anyway, since I started reading this the day the winner was announced, I was very curious about what it would be like. This year's shortlist was exceptionally strong, so I thought this must be something truly special to have scooped the prize. I wasn't disappointed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>The Luminaries</i> is astonishing. I found it a little slow-going at first - the first couple of chapters are heavy with exposition and introduce a truly dizzying array of characters that took me a while to get straight in my head - but it was well worth persevering. If it wasn't for the fact that I could only read this book at home (at 832 pages it was FAR too big to fit into my handbag and read on the train!) I'm sure I would have zipped through it in a few days.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYZkSPMcoYdWrllolWpE7FO23pnjR8XqJsXgIyNkaNNPSO0k377PTsHO-jE3QuDFE9mupgmTVWCnKpWBy0rlyRjNnU_azPQGSueiD9ewZdmkm-BFwfwFE9As2-A_HI1PwjTCZn1On5Hf8/s1600/Man+Booker+-+2013+-+06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In a way, I'm glad its size forced me to read it in small chunks, as it's the kind of story that really rewards slow, careful reading. I don't want to give away the plot here as it is so carefully, intricately unfolded as one character after another tells their version of events, the points of view overlapping and moving forwards and backwards in time until the full story gradually reveals itself.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYZkSPMcoYdWrllolWpE7FO23pnjR8XqJsXgIyNkaNNPSO0k377PTsHO-jE3QuDFE9mupgmTVWCnKpWBy0rlyRjNnU_azPQGSueiD9ewZdmkm-BFwfwFE9As2-A_HI1PwjTCZn1On5Hf8/s1600/Man+Booker+-+2013+-+06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYZkSPMcoYdWrllolWpE7FO23pnjR8XqJsXgIyNkaNNPSO0k377PTsHO-jE3QuDFE9mupgmTVWCnKpWBy0rlyRjNnU_azPQGSueiD9ewZdmkm-BFwfwFE9As2-A_HI1PwjTCZn1On5Hf8/s320/Man+Booker+-+2013+-+06.jpg" width="206" /></a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Most of the reviews I read of <i>The Luminaries</i> mention its structure: twelve characters, their roles directed by their astrological charts; twelve sections to the book, each half the length of the section before so the book wanes in mimicry of the waning moon. I noticed this - it's hard not to notice the decreasing chapter and section lengths, and the character list at the front of the book lists each character and their astrological association - but I didn't find it as distracting or irritating as I thought I might when I first read the description of the book. In the hands of a less-skilled writer this could have been an obvious gimmick, but Catton weaves it in with enough skill that you stop noticing and just get carried along with the plot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I was hugely impressed by the characterisation throughout the novel. There's a huge amount of characters to keep straight, each with their own distinct voice and motivation, but Catton succeeds in making each of them a fully-realised individual. I've seen some reviews that complain about their artificiality, but I rather thought this was the point: <i>The Luminaries</i> is a pastiche of a Victorian sensation novel, so the characters are by necessity playing certain archetypes. That doesn't mean that the characters are flat: on the contrary, Catton has created characters that feel like real people as well as playing well-worn roles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>The Luminaries</i> is one of those books that had me rushing towards the end, while at the same time wishing it would last longer - quite a feat for a book of its length! As a final note on the size of it: I was tempted to get the Kindle edition once I saw the heft of the library hardback copy I borrowed, but I was glad I didn't in the end. The plot is so complex that I regularly found myself flicking backwards and forwards to remind myself of previous chapters and what other characters had said about the same events - and ebooks, unfortunately, don't really lend themselves to that kind of easy scanning! Plus, the hardback is weighty enough that, should someone have the temerity to interrupt you while reading it, you could beat them senseless with it. Which is always a useful feature of any good book, to my mind.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>The </b></span><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WoodsieGirl">@WoodsieGirl</a></b><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Challenge 2013</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 06 - The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 05 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/11/man-booker-shortlist-book-05-lowland.html">The Lowland</a> - Jhumpa Lahiri</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 04 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-04-we-need.html">We need new names</a> - NoViolet Bulawayo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 03 - <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-03-tale-for.html">A Tale for the Time Being</a> - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Ruth Ozeki</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 02 - <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-02-harvest.html">Harvest</a> - Jim Crace</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 01 - <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/09/man-booker-shortlist-book-01-testament.html">The Testament of Mary</a> - Colm Toibin</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>The </b></span><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WoodsieGirl">@WoodsieGirl</a></b><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Challenge 2012</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 05 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-05-bring-up.html">Bring up the Bodies</a> - Hilary Mantel</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 04 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-04-lighthouse.html">The Lighthouse</a> - Alison Moore</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 03 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-guest.html">Swimming Home</a> - Deborah Levy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 02 - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-narcopolis-guest.html">Narcopolis</a> - Jeet Thayil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 01 - </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/09/man-booker-shortlist-garden-of-evening.html">The Garden of Evening Mists</a> - </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Tan Twan Eng</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Visit her blog </span></span><a href="http://woodsiegirl.wordpress.com/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">HERE</a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Visit her other blog </span></span><a href="http://woodsiegirlwrites.wordpress.com/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">HERE</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-11871966654240326062013-11-29T00:49:00.000+00:002013-12-07T00:49:19.892+00:00Table of Contents - The WoodsieGirl Shelf<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Woodsie Girl Shelf</span></div>
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You've probably noticed the wonderful reviews (and recent Man Booker Shortlist Challenge) cropping up by the fabulous WoodsieGirl (Laura) - book clubber, cake baker and Very Awesome Person. </div>
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We've decided that it's only fair that we give her a little space...in the hopes of conning more stuff out of her! Ha ha, I'm only kidding of course. </div>
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Being suspicious makes your heart smaller. </div>
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Here you'll find all our WG reviews, poetry picks, playlists (as soon as I ask her)and more!</div>
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<u>About our contributor (doesn't that look official!)</u></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Laura, aka Woodsiegirl, learned to read almost before she could walk and has never quite recovered from the realisation that the real world isn't like the stories. She tweets occasionally as </span><a href="https://twitter.com/WoodsieGirl" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">@woodsiegirl</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">, and blogs about books and life (in that order)</span><a href="http://woodsiegirlwrites.wordpress.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Reviews</span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Mental Health Reading Challenge - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/03/mental-health-reading-list-psychopath.html">The Psychopath Test</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Giraffe LBC - 04 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/11/giraffe-lbc-brave-new-world-write-up.html">Brave New World</a> - Aldous Huxley</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/05/woodsiegirls-choice-in-mouldy-land.html">In Mouldy Land</a> - Terry Jones</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Shortlist 06 - </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/12/man-booker-shortlist-book-06-luminaries.html">The Luminaries</a> - Eleanor Catton</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Shortlist 05 - </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/11/man-booker-shortlist-book-05-lowland.html">The Lowland</a> - Jhumpa Lahiri</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Shortlist 04 - </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-04-we-need.html">We need new names</a> - NoViolet Bulawayo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Shortlist 03 - </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-03-tale-for.html">A Tale for the Time Being</a> - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Ruth Ozeki</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Shortlist 02 - </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-02-harvest.html">Harvest</a> - Jim Crace</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Shortlist 01 - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/09/man-booker-shortlist-book-01-testament.html">The Testament of Mary</a> - Colm Toibin</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Shortlist 05 - </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-05-bring-up.html">Bring up the Bodies</a> - Hilary Mantel</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Shortlist 04 - </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-04-lighthouse.html">The Lighthouse</a> - Alison Moore</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Shortlist 03 - </span><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-guest.html">Swimming Home</a> - Deborah Levy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Shortlist 02 - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-narcopolis-guest.html">Narcopolis</a> - Jeet Thayil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Shortlist 01 - </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/09/man-booker-shortlist-garden-of-evening.html">The Garden of Evening Mists</a> - </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Tan Twan Eng</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Say hello on Twitter - <a href="https://twitter.com/WoodsieGirl">@WoodsieGirl</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Visit her blog - WoodsieGirl - </span></span><a href="http://woodsiegirl.wordpress.com/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">HERE</a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Visit her other blog - WoodsieGirl Writes - </span></span><a href="http://woodsiegirlwrites.wordpress.com/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">HERE</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Guest Stars - <b><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-guest-stars.html">Table of Contents</a></b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-25610226705311911842013-11-28T23:29:00.000+00:002014-01-09T22:24:20.906+00:00Giraffe LBC - High Rise - Write Up<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Venue: <a href="http://www.giraffe.net/barandgrill/location/leeds-greek-street">Giraffe Bar and Grill</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Date: Tuesday October 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Time: 6pm - 8pm</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Address: </span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">6 Greek Street, </span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Leeds, </span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">LS1 5RW</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tel: (0113) 244 1500</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>HIGH RISE</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><b>J.G. BALLARD</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: red;">* * * * *<b> SPOILERS </b>* * * * *</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">* * * * *</span><b style="color: red; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> SPOILERS </b><span style="color: red; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">* * * * *</span></div>
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Within the concealing walls of an elegant forty-storey tower block, the affluent tenants are hell-bent on an orgy of destruction. Cocktail parties degenerate into marauding attacks on ‘enemy’ floors and the once-luxurious amenities become an arena for riots and technological mayhem.</div>
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In this visionary tale of urban disillusionment from the renowned author of Crash and Cocaine Nights, society slips into a violent reverse as the isolated inhabitants of the high-rise, driven by primal urges, recreate a dystopian world ruled by the laws of the jungle.</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Huge thanks to the wonderful <a href="https://twitter.com/AlisonNeale">@AlisonNeale</a> for providing this write up and co-ordinating the Dystopian book club!</b></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-28442f1a-a109-30cb-1c77-ec19d5e1f101"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-8msD9u-qdxPs_wBroq-zpnKh_7gt3iGbd7Ya4VFYQKVzG_EhYHAwHvqHj2GiiVJyH20rRDQ5iWIRyCdONQ_FPxv9pn-DaWO0OIEGoCfvacWZWnXDCN6mro34rUhxYhJdIKFmFy99oAQ/s1600/BOOK+08+-+HIGH+RISE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-8msD9u-qdxPs_wBroq-zpnKh_7gt3iGbd7Ya4VFYQKVzG_EhYHAwHvqHj2GiiVJyH20rRDQ5iWIRyCdONQ_FPxv9pn-DaWO0OIEGoCfvacWZWnXDCN6mro34rUhxYhJdIKFmFy99oAQ/s320/BOOK+08+-+HIGH+RISE.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-28442f1a-a109-30cb-1c77-ec19d5e1f101"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Possibly the oddest opening line I’ve ever read and the book only gets weirder. We agreed at the start, however, that this book is not intended to be realistic – although those of us living in blocks of flats could see flashes of realism in the situation – and is instead an allegory and an amplification of the actions of humanity in times of crisis.</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-28442f1a-a109-30cb-1c77-ec19d5e1f101"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">High-Rise</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> interestingly reveals that even among people of one class or social stratum, divisions and shifts of allegiance into tribes will take place. There’s always someone to look down on or blame. Politically, this is perhaps a particularly good time to be reading such a book.</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The story switches between representatives of the tribes, allowing the reader alone to realise the depth of paranoia among the inhabitants of the high-rise. Alongside the author, residents are shown to be orchestrating and furthering the ‘experiment’, videoing events and manipulating those around them. We found it hard to understand why they wished to exacerbate the situation and at the same time keep it a secret from the outside world. As society breaks down, the adults become primeval cave(wo)men – a behaviour that in the character of Laing, for example, leads to uncomfortable extremes.</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, what did we think of it? </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the first dystopian novel we have read set in such insular circumstances. In fact, the setting of London is completely irrelevant: the story could be anywhere, and almost at any time. However, it took us longer to read than expected, given that it’s a short book. We found it interesting, but unpleasant; however, we were nearly all ‘gripped’ and eager to reach the end. Said ending was somewhat unexpected, although its lack of a proper conclusion was not unliked by most.</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We noted the book’s detached feel: there is no moralising, no judgement – simply documentary narration. On the heels of the recent announcement of a film version, we felt that the last lines of the story seemed particularly cinematic.</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the same time, however, we were uncomfortable with the extremely male perspective: rape was a simple shorthand for the breakdown in society and some of the attitudes to an extent reflect the time in which the book was written. Abusive behaviour also applied to the treatment of animals – again a rather uncomfortable read – but oddly, in this case the author gave more detail and expressed far more sympathy than for the humans.</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The scores probably accurately reflect our feelings: it was a worthy novel, well written, and while in no way was it a pleasure to read, we were glad we had.</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>6/10</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Find fellow members on twitter by searching for <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23GiraffeLBC">#GiraffeLBC</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/giraffetweet">@GiraffeTweet</a> for details on the deliciousables and their projects nationwide (which this month include an awesome #<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23giraffescantdance">GiraffesCantDance</a> giveaway!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Let me know your thoughts by either tweeting me <a href="http://www.twitter.com/leedsbookclub">@LeedsBookClub</a>, commenting below or emailing me at leedsbookclub@gmail.com</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">* * * * * <b>Giraffe LBC</b> * * * * *</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">10 - FEB - Divergent - Veronica Roth </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">09 - JAN - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2014/01/giraffe-lbc-children-of-men-write-up.html">Children of Men</a> - P.D. James </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
<b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">08 - OCT - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/11/giraffe-lbc-high-rise-write-up.html">High Rise</a> - J.G. Ballard </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">07 - JUL - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/giraffe-lbc-miracle-inspector-review.html">The Miracle Inspector</a> - Helen Smith </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">06 - APR - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/05/giraffe-lbc-logans-run-write-up-guest.html">Logan's Run</a> - Book and Film </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">05 - FEB - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/11/giraffe-lbc-watchmen.html">Watchmen</a> - Comic and Film</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">04 - NOV - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/11/giraffe-lbc-brave-new-world-write-up.html">Brave New World</a> - Aldous Huxley - </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">03 - OCT - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/01/giraffe-lbc-iron-heel-write-up-guest.html">The Iron Heel</a> - Jack London - </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">02 - AUG - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/09/giraffelbc-running-man.html">The Running Man</a> - Stephen King</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">01 - JUL - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/08/giraffelbc-fahrenheit-451-guest.html">Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>GUEST</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/07/how-i-learned-to-continue-worrying-love.html">How I learned to continue worrying and love the dystopian</a> - <span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;"><b>GUEST</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/06/giraffe-lbc-list-of-potentials.html">The List of Potentials</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/06/giraffe-lbc-our-first-meeting.html">A Dystopian Book Club</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/07/how-i-learned-to-continue-worrying-love.html">How I learned to continue worrying and love the dystopian</a> - <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>GUEST</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/06/giraffe-lbc-list-of-potentials.html">The List of Potentials</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/06/giraffe-lbc-our-first-meeting.html">A Dystopian Book Club</a></span></div>
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Book Club - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-book-club.html" style="color: #fc318a;">Table of Contents</a><br />
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Guest - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-guest-stars.html">Table of Contents</a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Full <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents.html" style="color: #fc318a;">Table of Contents</a></span></span></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-29326209417588795572013-11-28T23:15:00.001+00:002014-01-09T22:24:35.476+00:00Giraffe LBC - Watchmen<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Venue: <a href="http://www.giraffe.net/barandgrill/location/leeds-greek-street">Giraffe Bar and Grill</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Date: Tuesday 5th of February 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Time: 6pm - 8pm</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Address: </span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">6 Greek Street, </span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Leeds, </span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">LS1 5RW</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tel: (0113) 244 1500</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>WATCHMEN</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><b>ALAN MOORE</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">DAVE GIBBONS </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">(ARTIST)</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">JOHN HIGGINS </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">(COLOURIST)</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">“Stood in firelight, sweltering. Bloodstain on chest like map of violent new continent. Felt cleansed. Felt dark planet turn under my feet and knew what cats know that makes them scream like babies in night.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Looked at sky through smoke heavy with human fat and God was not there. The cold, suffocating dark goes on forever and we are alone. Live our lives, lacking anything better to do. Devise reason later. Born from oblivion; bear children, hell-bound as ourselves, go into oblivion. There is nothing else.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It’s us. Only us. Streets stank of fire. The void breathed hard on my heart, turning its illusions to ice, shattering them. Was reborn then, free to scrawl own design on this morally blank world.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Was Rorschach.</span></blockquote>
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</b></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Find fellow members on twitter by searching for <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23GiraffeLBC">#GiraffeLBC</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';">Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/giraffetweet">@GiraffeTweet</a> for details on the deliciousables and their projects nationwide (which this month include an awesome #<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23giraffescantdance">GiraffesCantDance</a> giveaway!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Let me know your thoughts by either tweeting me <a href="http://www.twitter.com/leedsbookclub">@LeedsBookClub</a>, commenting below or emailing me at leedsbookclub@gmail.com</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">* * * * * <b>Giraffe LBC</b> * * * * *</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">10 - FEB - Divergent - Veronica Roth </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">09 - JAN - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2014/01/giraffe-lbc-children-of-men-write-up.html">Children of Men</a> - P.D. James </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
<b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">08 - OCT - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/11/giraffe-lbc-high-rise-write-up.html">High Rise</a> - J.G. Ballard </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">07 - JUL - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/giraffe-lbc-miracle-inspector-review.html">The Miracle Inspector</a> - Helen Smith </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">06 - APR - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/05/giraffe-lbc-logans-run-write-up-guest.html">Logan's Run</a> - Book and Film </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">05 - FEB - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/11/giraffe-lbc-watchmen.html">Watchmen</a> - Comic and Film</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">04 - NOV - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/11/giraffe-lbc-brave-new-world-write-up.html">Brave New World</a> - Aldous Huxley - </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">03 - OCT - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/01/giraffe-lbc-iron-heel-write-up-guest.html">The Iron Heel</a> - Jack London - </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">GUEST</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">02 - AUG - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/09/giraffelbc-running-man.html">The Running Man</a> - Stephen King</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">01 - JUL - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/08/giraffelbc-fahrenheit-451-guest.html">Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">- </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>GUEST</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/07/how-i-learned-to-continue-worrying-love.html">How I learned to continue worrying and love the dystopian</a> - <span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;"><b>GUEST</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/06/giraffe-lbc-list-of-potentials.html">The List of Potentials</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/06/giraffe-lbc-our-first-meeting.html">A Dystopian Book Club</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/07/how-i-learned-to-continue-worrying-love.html">How I learned to continue worrying and love the dystopian</a> - <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>GUEST</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/06/giraffe-lbc-list-of-potentials.html">The List of Potentials</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/06/giraffe-lbc-our-first-meeting.html">A Dystopian Book Club</a></span></div>
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Book Club - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-book-club.html" style="color: #fc318a;">Table of Contents</a><br />
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Guest - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-guest-stars.html">Table of Contents</a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Full <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents.html" style="color: #fc318a;">Table of Contents</a></span></span></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-357615610090133832013-11-11T08:00:00.000+00:002013-11-29T01:21:06.021+00:00Man Booker Shortlist - Book 05 - The Lowland - Jhumpa Lahiri<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>Man Booker</b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Our good friend WoodsieGirl has read all the books on the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize for the last few years. This is not because she is an avid reader, with varied interests and is constantly on the lookout for new great fiction. She does this purely to mock my inability to organize my book list. Honestly. It's evil. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Anyhoo, once again, she has kindly written up reviews of each book for us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>THE LOWLAND</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><b>JHUMPA LAHIRI</b></span><br />
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From Subhash’s earliest memories, at every point, his brother was there. In the suburban streets of Calcutta where they wandered before dusk and in the hyacinth-strewn ponds where they played for hours on end, Udayan was always in his older brother’s sight.</div>
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So close in age, they were inseparable in childhood and yet, as the years pass – as U.S tanks roll into Vietnam and riots sweep across India – their brotherly bond can do nothing to forestall the tragedy that will upend their lives. Udayan – charismatic and impulsive – finds himself drawn to the Naxalite movement, a rebellion waged to eradicate inequity and poverty. He will give everything, risk all, for what he believes, and in doing so will transform the futures of those dearest to him: his newly married, pregnant wife, his brother and their parents. For all of them, the repercussions of his actions will reverberate across continents and seep through the generations that follow.</div>
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Epic in its canvas and intimate in its portrayal of lives undone and forged anew, The Lowland is a deeply felt novel of family ties that entangle and fray in ways unforeseen and unrevealed, of ties that ineluctably define who we are. With all the hallmarks of Jhumpa Lahiri’s achingly poignant, exquisitely empathetic story-telling, this is her most devastating work of fiction to date.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i style="color: #222222;">The Lowland </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">is Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri's second novel and fourth book (the other two were collections of short stories - one of which,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><i style="color: #222222;">The Interpreter of Maladies</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">, I read a year or so ago and can highly recommend). It spans more than 50 years in the life of several generations of a family. I apologise in advance for spoilers in this review - I'm not sure I could do an accurate review of this book while keeping it spoiler-free!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The book opens in Calcutta in the 1950s, and we are introduced to two young brothers: Subhash, the older and more cautious of the two, and Udayan, his impulsive but beloved younger brother. As they grow older, both become involved in the radical communist movement (following the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naxalite#History" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Naxalite uprising</a> which, I must admit, I'd never heard of previously - this book really underlined how ignorant I am of Indian history). While Udayan gets drawn deeper into the movement, Subhash, disturbed by the violence he perceives within the movement, decides instead to leave for America, to study for a PhD. He does not return to Calcutta until several years later, when Udayan has been executed by the police, leaving behind his new wife Gauri, a brilliant student of philosophy, who is in the early stages of pregnancy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Wanting to protect Gauri and Udayan's unborn child, Subhash marries Gauri and takes her back to Rhode Island with him. Together they keep up the pretence that the child, Bela, is Subhash's daughter, telling no one in America (including Bela) about Udayan. The book then follows the course of the family's life in America: the disintegration of Subhash and Gauri's loveless marriage; Bela's somewhat neglected childhood, with her two academically-brilliant but frequently absent parents; and Gauri's inability to be a mother to her daughter, culminating in her running away to Southern California to take a university lecturing post, abandoning her family, when 12-year-old Bela is on a visit to Calcutta with Subhash. The final part of the book charts Subhash and Bela's lives following this abandonment: Subhash attempting to comfort the daughter he adores, while still concealing from her that he is not her biological father; and Bela's rootless, nomadic adult life spent in communes and working on farms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It's a little difficult to know where to start in reviewing this book. It's so vast and all-encompassing, but at the same time very intimate. I was reminded while reading of the phrase "the personal is political" - this is very much true of <i>The Lowland</i>. Lahiri manages simultaneously to evoke the political upheaval of post-independence India, the Indian immigrant experience of America, and the lives of feminist intellectuals in the 1970s to present; alongside an intimate portrayal of family lives, mother-daughter relationships, and the grief of Udayan's sudden death that ripples throughout the entire book. The plot is not complex exactly, but is certainly multi-layered. Lahiri frequently switches viewpoints, to give us everyone's side of the story. The brief synopsis I've given above is really only the bare bones of the plot - there are many other diversions and digressions which add to the whole picture. I was particularly moved by the passages concerning Subhash and Udayan's mother, who never recovered from her son's violent death. We see her visiting the very spot where he was murdered, every day for decades - only stopping when her infirmity and dementia prevent her from leaving the house.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Character-wise, some are better drawn than others. I never felt like I really got to know Bela: although we are given glimpses of her adult life, as a child we don't really see much of what she is thinking and experiencing, only seeing her through the eyes of her parents. I thought this made it difficult to sympathise with her as a character - although this could be because most other characters were so vividly drawn by comparison. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Gauri was one of the most interesting characters for me. She's not a sympathetic character - it's hard to like someone who abandons their child - but then it made me think that we probably judge women more harshly for this than we judge men who do the same thing. I did sympathise with her in a lot of ways: she's an academically brilliant woman born into a time and place where that is not an easy thing to be, and unprepared for the social expectations put on her. It's not until quite late on in the book that we find out more about the days leading up to Udayan's death, and what precisely his (and her) involvement in the Communist movement was. When it comes, it's muted but quietly shocking: we see that Gauri has lived with a secret every bit as crushing as Subhash's concealment of Bela's true paternity has been. When Gauri abandons her family, she completely disappears from the text until very close to the end, when we get a few chapters outlining what has happened to her since and her feelings of guilt and shame at abandoning her daughter. I did think it was appropriate that she doesn't get a neat, happy reunion scene with Bela: what actually occurs is tough to read, but feels more realistic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In case it's not clear, I loved this book. Lahiri's writing is beautiful and confident, and the story she tells is astonishing in its scope. I think this is a very strong contender for the Booker, and it's probably my favourite from the shortlist so far.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>The </b></span><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WoodsieGirl">@WoodsieGirl</a></b><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Challenge 2013</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 06 - The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 05 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/11/man-booker-shortlist-book-05-lowland.html">The Lowland</a> - Jhumpa Lahiri</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 04 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-04-we-need.html">We need new names</a> - NoViolet Bulawayo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 03 - <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-03-tale-for.html">A Tale for the Time Being</a> - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Ruth Ozeki</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 02 - <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-02-harvest.html">Harvest</a> - Jim Crace</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 01 - <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/09/man-booker-shortlist-book-01-testament.html">The Testament of Mary</a> - Colm Toibin</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>The </b></span><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WoodsieGirl">@WoodsieGirl</a></b><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Challenge 2012</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 06 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/woodsiegirls-man-booker-challenge-im.html">Umbrella</a> - Will Self</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 05 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-05-bring-up.html">Bring up the Bodies</a> - Hilary Mantel</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 04 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-04-lighthouse.html">The Lighthouse</a> - Alison Moore</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 03 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-guest.html">Swimming Home</a> - Deborah Levy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 02 - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-narcopolis-guest.html">Narcopolis</a> - Jeet Thayil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 01 - </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/09/man-booker-shortlist-garden-of-evening.html">The Garden of Evening Mists</a> - </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Tan Twan Eng</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Visit her blog </span></span><a href="http://woodsiegirl.wordpress.com/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">HERE</a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Visit her other blog </span></span><a href="http://woodsiegirlwrites.wordpress.com/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">HERE</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Guest Stars - <b><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-guest-stars.html">Table of Contents</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Full - <b><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents.html">Table of Contents</a></b></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-6657236248216150122013-10-28T08:00:00.000+00:002013-11-29T01:21:06.050+00:00Man Booker Shortlist - Book 04 - We need new names - NoViolet Bulawayo<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>WoodsieGirl's </b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>Man Booker</b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Our good friend WoodsieGirl has read all the books on the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize for the last few years. This is not because she is an avid reader, with varied interests and is constantly on the lookout for new great fiction. She does this purely to mock my inability to organize my book list. Honestly. It's evil. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Anyhoo, once again, she has kindly written up reviews of each book for us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>WE NEED NEW NAMES</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><b>NOVIOLET BULAWAYO</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b>THE BLURB </b>(Amazon)</span></div>
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'To play the country-game, we have to choose a country. Everybody wants to be the USA and Britain and Canada and Australia and Switzerland and them. Nobody wants to be rags of countries like Congo, like Somalia, like Iraq, like Sudan, like Haiti and not even this one we live in - who wants to be a terrible place of hunger and things falling apart?'<br />
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Darling and her friends live in a shanty called Paradise, which of course is no such thing. It isn't all bad, though. There's mischief and adventure, games of Find bin Laden, stealing guavas, singing Lady Gaga at the tops of their voices.<br />
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They dream of the paradises of America, Dubai, Europe, where Madonna and Barack Obama and David Beckham live. For Darling, that dream will come true. But, like the thousands of people all over the world trying to forge new lives far from home, Darling finds this new paradise brings its own set of challenges - for her and also for those she's left behind.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b>THE REVIEW</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">NoViolet Bulawayo's </span><i style="color: #222222;">We Need New Names </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">is a coming-of-age tale. It follows a young girl, Darling, through her childhood in the optimistically named Paradise, a slum somewhere in Zimbabwe, and her move to America as a young adolescent. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In the first part of the book, we meet Darling's gang of friends in Paradise - kids with names like Godknows and Bastard, who spend their days playing games made up from hearing the news around them (like "Find Bin Laden") and leading raids on the nearby, wealthy town to steal guavas from the trees. Life is hard in Paradise: there are frequent references to the children's hunger (hence the guava raids), and hints of the violence that characterises their lives. In one memorable chapter the kids find the dead body of a young woman hanging from a tree, and after initially running terrified from the scene, they return when one of them points out that the dead woman's shoes looked new, so they could make good money from selling them. Darling's father is dying of AIDS, and 11-year-old Chipo is pregnant after being raped by her grandfather. However, it's not a bleak book: despite the hardship, Darling and her gang of friends act much as children everywhere do, accepting the world the way it is and playing their games.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We see the social and political upheaval of the area through the children's eyes, as they describe incidents they don't really understand: such as the displacement of their families from their homes that lead to their lives in Paradise, and the initial jubilation followed by disappointment of democratic elections in the country. Sometimes these moments are successful, but I sometimes found them a bit unconvincing: as when the children act out the murder of a revolutionary leader. This could have been a very powerful scene, and it is graphic enough to pack a punch, but I just found it a bit contrived. By comparison, another scene describing a visit from an NGO handing out toys and clothes for the children, and food for the adults, is much more affecting - Bulawayo does a fantastic job of portraying the children's excitement at the visit, mixed with the shame they feel and sense from the adults. "They just like taking pictures, these NGO people...they don’t care that we are embarrassed by our dirt and torn clothing, that maybe we would prefer they didn't do it...We don’t complain because after the picture-taking comes the giving of gifts."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">All the children dream of escaping Paradise, but it's only Darling who manages it: she has an aunt in America, and as a young teenager she is sent to live with her. The second half of the book focuses on Darling's life in America, and the disappointment she finds. It is not how she expected it: it is cold (Darling is unnerved by the snow: "coldness that makes like it wants to kill you, like it's telling you, with its snow, that you should go back to where you came from."), unfriendly, and she misses the familiar sights, sounds and smells of Paradise. Ultimately she feels guilty for leaving Paradise. When she speaks to Chipo (by now raising a young daughter) on the phone, Chipo chides her: "You think watching on the BBC means you know what is going on? No, you don't...it's us who stayed here feel the real suffering."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>We Need New Names</i> is a book with a lot to say about Zimbabwe, immigration, cultural and physical displacement, poverty and relative poverty. However, I didn't think it hung together all that well as a novel. It felt more like a series of short stories, and I think it might have worked better in that way. The second half of the book in particular is fragmented, which made it difficult to really get invested in the story or with the characters. I enjoyed it, but I don't think it's the strongest off the shortlist - it's not a patch on <i>The Lowlands</i>, which deals with some similar themes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>The </b></span><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WoodsieGirl">@WoodsieGirl</a></b><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Challenge 2013</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 06 - The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 05 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/11/man-booker-shortlist-book-05-lowland.html">The Lowland</a> - Jhumpa Lahiri</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 04 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-04-we-need.html">We need new names</a> - NoViolet Bulawayo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 03 - <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-03-tale-for.html">A Tale for the Time Being</a> - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Ruth Ozeki</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 02 - <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-02-harvest.html">Harvest</a> - Jim Crace</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 01 - <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/09/man-booker-shortlist-book-01-testament.html">The Testament of Mary</a> - Colm Toibin</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>The </b></span><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WoodsieGirl">@WoodsieGirl</a></b><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Challenge 2012</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 06 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/woodsiegirls-man-booker-challenge-im.html">Umbrella</a> - Will Self</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 05 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-05-bring-up.html">Bring up the Bodies</a> - Hilary Mantel</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 04 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-04-lighthouse.html">The Lighthouse</a> - Alison Moore</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 03 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-guest.html">Swimming Home</a> - Deborah Levy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 02 - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-narcopolis-guest.html">Narcopolis</a> - Jeet Thayil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 01 - </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/09/man-booker-shortlist-garden-of-evening.html">The Garden of Evening Mists</a> - </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Tan Twan Eng</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Visit her blog </span></span><a href="http://woodsiegirl.wordpress.com/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">HERE</a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Visit her other blog </span></span><a href="http://woodsiegirlwrites.wordpress.com/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">HERE</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Guest Stars - <b><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-guest-stars.html">Table of Contents</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Full - <b><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents.html">Table of Contents</a></b></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-38474330652342497832013-10-27T13:30:00.003+00:002013-10-27T13:30:48.089+00:00The Doubleclicks - Nothing to Prove<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I apologise now to anyone kind enough to follow more than one of my blogs. This is going to be a cross-post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It's just <b><span style="color: #351c75;">BRILLIANT</span></b> and I'm actually a little emotional after reading many of the placards. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">For such a long time I would refuse to call myself a geek (aside from the whole 'do I really need to put a label on this?') because I felt that I hadn't anything like the knowledge base to justify the title. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/s4Rjy5yW1gQ?rel=0" width="560"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It was meeting people like <a href="https://twitter.com/stevecult">@SteveCult</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/BookElfLeeds">@BookElfLeeds</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/cidergirli">@Cidergirli</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/LYOC8">@LYOC8</a>, our awesome Browncoats captian and the team at <a href="https://twitter.com/OKComics">@OKComics</a> that demonstrated that 'Geek' isn't a closed garden, a preserve of tech wizards - rather it's anything that makes you passionate, inspires you and teaches you outside of the mainstream. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Fortunately, I've never encountered any <b><span style="color: #38761d;">gender</span></b> based bias so I would have been just as happy to have an equal gender mix of geeks represented in the video. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The cons that I attend are usually fairly evenly split and the guys that attend aren't dicks so it's never been an issue for me personally, ditto with my book clubs and certainly within the Whedon fandom, equality and inclusion tends to be a given. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">But from the reports coming out of certain sections of the gaming community and fandom as a whole in the US, I appreciate the need for this song and the wonderful representation it provides. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Anyway, sorry this is a bit long. And possible lacking in coherency. I'm just in the midst of having all the *feels* right now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Must be a chick thing right? ;) </span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05213540967843619318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-36710528604513073392013-10-14T08:00:00.000+01:002013-11-29T01:21:06.025+00:00Man Booker Shortlist - Book 03 - A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>WoodsieGirl's </b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>Man Booker</b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b>Challenge</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Our good friend WoodsieGirl has read all the books on the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize for the last few years. This is not because she is an avid reader, with varied interests and is constantly on the lookout for new great fiction. She does this purely to mock my inability to organize my book list. Honestly. It's evil. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Anyhoo, once again, she has kindly written up reviews of each book for us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><b>RUTH OZEKI</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b>THE BLURB </b>(from Amazon)</span><br />
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<i>'Hi! My name is Nao, and I am a time being. Do you know what a time being is? Well, if you give me a moment, I will tell you.'</i></div>
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Ruth discovers a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore of her beach home. Within it lies a diary that expresses the hopes and dreams of a young girl. She suspects it might have arrived on a drift of debris from the 2011 tsunami. With every turn of the page, she is sucked deeper into an enchanting mystery.</div>
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In a small cafe in Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao Yasutani is navigating the challenges thrown up by modern life. In the face of cyberbullying, the mysteries of a 104-year-old Buddhist nun and great-grandmother, and the joy and heartbreak of family, Nao is trying to find her own place - and voice - through a diary she hopes will find a reader and friend who finally understands her.</div>
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Weaving across continents and decades, and exploring the relationship between reader and writer, fact and fiction, <i>A Tale for the Time Being</i> is an extraordinary novel about our shared humanity and the search for home.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b>THE REVIEW</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg66VuXdRACcV3RXoWTLBsyBy4UJyafYJJH40OtWkxHd6zqsHbzx7fwWtzuwG25tniqrQGknvq45u-5440Mi7WicqMZ-J1RUxHhwFLZk3j56NHXdFDei3ENEstzfHKsU0cKW0k2EI2Qmhc/s1600/Man+Booker+2013+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg66VuXdRACcV3RXoWTLBsyBy4UJyafYJJH40OtWkxHd6zqsHbzx7fwWtzuwG25tniqrQGknvq45u-5440Mi7WicqMZ-J1RUxHhwFLZk3j56NHXdFDei3ENEstzfHKsU0cKW0k2EI2Qmhc/s1600/Man+Booker+2013+01.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>A Tale for the Time Being</i>, by Ruth Ozeki, is a strange and sprawling book. It's two intertwining stories: that of Nao (pronounced 'now'), a Japanese schoolgirl writing a diary about what she intends to be the last days of her life; and Ruth, a Japanese-American writer who finds Nao's diary washed up on the shores of her remote Canadian home. The chapters alternate between Nao's diary (translated and with added footnotes and comments from Ruth), and Ruth's story of reading the diary and trying to find out what it means and what has happened to Nao.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Both tales are fairly sad. Nao, having grown up in Silicon Valley but moved back to Japan as a teenager when the dotcom bubble burst and her father lost his job, doesn't fit in and is horrifically bullied by her classmates (culminating in an attempted rape and a humiliating online auction of her underwear). Her parents don't seem aware of their daughter's struggles - particularly her suicidal father. Her only real support comes from her grandmother Jiko, a Buddhist nun.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Ruth's tale is less dramatic, but still melancholy. She is suffering from writers' block, grieving from the recent death of her mother, and struggling to adjust to life on a remote island in British Columbia, having moved there from New York to be with her husband. She becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Nao. Her claustrophobic days spent Googling Nao and her family and avoiding her gossipy neighbours are a sharp counterpoint to the drama of Nao's life.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYUmpMOHuaKAHeWvPS6yCXFN7ex4l9ForIOzJvp3vpESJShG2OeTQ3dU62iUp5JIgMEHwrTMdq4UCMNMw5qB7q10SxFaIZMacO6g96CtfyHXr_Aeeq7UycenhJQTWGrHLnuMaO2OBFNA/s1600/Man+Booker+2013+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYUmpMOHuaKAHeWvPS6yCXFN7ex4l9ForIOzJvp3vpESJShG2OeTQ3dU62iUp5JIgMEHwrTMdq4UCMNMw5qB7q10SxFaIZMacO6g96CtfyHXr_Aeeq7UycenhJQTWGrHLnuMaO2OBFNA/s320/Man+Booker+2013+04.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Weaving through both stories are some pretty big themes - taking in Zen Buddhism, Japanese kamikaze pilots of the second world war, the morality of suicide, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of 2011, the nature of time and memory, oceanic currents and the Pacific gyre, and even quantum mechanics. It's an ambitious novel, and it's hard not to be impressed at its scope.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So I'm not really sure why I didn't enjoy it more. For some reason, despite being impressed at the ideas and the ambition behind it, I just couldn't get into the story. It could be that I found the teenage narrator, Nao, incredibly irritating - I did sympathise with her plight, but her voice really grated on me after a while. I also really didn't enjoy the sections of the book that veer into magical realism. This is entirely a personal preference, so other readers who do enjoy magical realism may get a lot more out of the book than I did, but I generally don't get on with that particular genre!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Although the concept and the ideas within the book are fascinating, ultimately I think the writing lets it down. It's certainly not as strong as the previous two Booker shortlisters I've read so far (Jim Crace's <i>Harvest</i> and Colm Toibin's <i>The Testament of Mary</i>), so I don't think it's a likely contender for the winner.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>The </b></span><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WoodsieGirl">@WoodsieGirl</a></b><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Challenge 2013</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 06 - The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 05 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/11/man-booker-shortlist-book-05-lowland.html">The Lowland</a> - Jhumpa Lahiri</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 04 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-04-we-need.html">We need new names</a> - NoViolet Bulawayo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 03 - <span style="color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-03-tale-for.html">A Tale for the Time Being</a> - </span><span style="color: #222222;">Ruth Ozeki</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 02 - <span style="color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-02-harvest.html">Harvest</a> - Jim Crace</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 01 - <span style="color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/09/man-booker-shortlist-book-01-testament.html">The Testament of Mary</a> - Colm Toibin</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>The </b></span><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WoodsieGirl">@WoodsieGirl</a></b><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Challenge 2012</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 06 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/woodsiegirls-man-booker-challenge-im.html">Umbrella</a> - Will Self</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 05 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-05-bring-up.html">Bring up the Bodies</a> - Hilary Mantel</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 04 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-04-lighthouse.html">The Lighthouse</a> - Alison Moore</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 03 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-guest.html">Swimming Home</a> - Deborah Levy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 02 - </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-narcopolis-guest.html">Narcopolis</a> - Jeet Thayil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 01 - </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/09/man-booker-shortlist-garden-of-evening.html">The Garden of Evening Mists</a> - </span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Tan Twan Eng</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Visit her blog </span></span><a href="http://woodsiegirl.wordpress.com/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">HERE</a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Visit her other blog </span></span><a href="http://woodsiegirlwrites.wordpress.com/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">HERE</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Guest Stars - <b><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-guest-stars.html">Table of Contents</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Full - <b><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents.html">Table of Contents</a></b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836771763779415335noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3995576795502079366.post-37975156544079725052013-10-07T08:00:00.000+01:002013-11-29T01:21:06.028+00:00Man Booker Shortlist Book 02 - Harvest - Jim Crace<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>WoodsieGirl's </b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>Man Booker</b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Our good friend WoodsieGirl has read all the books on the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize for the last few years. This is not because she is an avid reader, with varied interests and is constantly on the lookout for new great fiction. She does this purely to mock my inability to organize my book list. Honestly. It's evil. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Anyhoo, once again, she has kindly written up reviews of each book for us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>HARVEST</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><b>JIM CRACE</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As late summer steals in and the final pearls of barley are gleaned, a village comes under threat. A trio of outsiders – two men and a dangerously magnetic woman – arrives on the woodland borders and puts up a make-shift camp. That same night, the local manor house is set on fire. Over the course of seven days, Walter Thirsk sees his hamlet unmade: the harvest blackened by smoke and fear, the new arrivals cruelly punished, and his neighbours held captive on suspicion of witchcraft. But something even darker is at the heart of his story, and he will be the only man left to tell it . . . Told in Jim Crace’s hypnotic prose, Harvest evokes the tragedy of land pillaged and communities scattered, as England’s fields are irrevocably enclosed. Timeless yet singular, mythical yet deeply personal, this beautiful novel of one man and his unnamed village speaks for a way of life lost for ever.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b>THE REVIEW</b></span><br />
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Harvest </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">is Jim Crace's second book to be shortlisted for the Booker (he was shortlisted in 1997 for </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Quarantine</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">). It is his 11th book, and he has said it will be his last - although authors announcing they're quitting writing rather puts me in mind of people who rage-quit Twitter, and then are quietly back a week later...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #222222;">In </span><i style="color: #222222;">Harvest</i><span style="color: #222222;">, Crace tells the story of seven devastating days in an unnamed English rural village, in an unspecified time period (probably late middle ages?). The book opens with two linked events, on the eve of the harvest: a fire is started at the manor house; and three strangers appear on the village borders. The strangers are quickly (and wrongly) blamed for the fire, setting into action a violent chain of events that hastens the village's demise: as, unbeknown to the villagers, their way of life is about to be taken from them. Their common land is to be enclosed for sheep to graze on - wool production being more profitable: </span><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">"the sheaf is giving way to the sheep".</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The story is told through the eyes of Walter Thirsk, a local man for the past 12 years but still regarded as an outsider - as becomes clearer as the events of the week unfold and the villagers close ranks against these outside threats. Walter had arrived in the village as the servant of Master Kent, who had inherited the manor house through marriage. Now 12 years on, with Master Kent's wife dead, leaving him no heir and therefore no claim on the manor, the new lord of the manor, Master Jordan, arrives to claim his inheritance and usher in the changes that will drive the villagers from their land and deprive them of their land and their ability to feed and support themselves. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">On one level, <i>Harvest </i>is a superb historical novel. It's a vivid depiction of the lives of subsistence farmers in the middle ages. I loved the descriptions of the harvest, and of the traditions and rituals that surround it - such as the harvest feast, and the selection of a "Gleaning Queen" from among the village girls. I also really enjoyed the depiction of the tensions, rivalries, family feuds and gossip of such a small, closely-knit settlement - where there are only a few family names, and everyone is related to one another either by blood or by marriage. The link between the people and the land is close - these are people that have lived in the same way, on the same land for generations. It is this that makes the threat of enclosure so dire: it is not just the land that is threatened, but the very history of the village:</span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">"We're used to looking out seeing what's preceded us, and what will also outlive us. Now we have to contemplate a land bare of both. Those woods that linked us to eternity will be removed by spring... flocks will chomp back on the past until there is no trace of it."</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">On a deeper level, <i>Harvest</i> is also an allegory for displacement and exclusion. The main protagonists are all outsiders: Walter Thirsk, still not accepted despite marrying into and living among the villagers for 12 years; Master Kent, who stands apart as the lord of the manor already, but whose precarious position is exposed by the arrival of Master Jordan; Mr Quill, the mapmaker employed to map out the land and the new enclosures, who cannot find a place among either the villagers or the masters; and Master Jordan himself, who wields his outsider status as a weapon, imposing devastating changes on a land and people that he neither understands nor cares to. And then there are the three strangers whose arrival is the catalyst for the changes that ensue - two men and a "dangerously magnetic" woman - displaced from their own land by the same type of enclosure that is threatened here. By the end of the novel the villagers, their efforts to present a united front to all these outsiders having proved worthless, have lost their land and become wandering outsiders themselves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I thought this was an excellent book. The writing is vivid and detailed - occasionally comical, but mostly tragic. The narrative occasionally wanders a bit, as our narrator struggles to make sense of events that are rapidly overtaking him, but this just added to the general sense of powerlessness within the novel. My only complaint is about the characterisation of the woman who appears with the trio of outsiders at the beginning of the novel - or rather, the lack of characterisation. We are told she is "enthralling to behold in ways they never could explain". We never find out her name - the villagers nickname her Mistress Beldam: "Beldam, the sorceress. Belle Dame, the beautiful". And all the village men - our narrator, Master Kent and Mr Quill included - appear instantly infatuated with her. And I was never satisfied as to why: either why Mistress Beldam is so beguiling, or why it was necessary for the purposes of the plot that she be so. Perhaps I'm missing something here, but it just irritated me: the "beautiful, mysterious woman" trope is so overused in fiction, and I really expect better of a Booker shortlister.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Other than that point, which irritated me but didn't spoil the book for me, I really enjoyed <i>Harvest</i>. Based on this and <i>The Testament of Mary</i>, this is shaping up to be a very strong shortlist indeed!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>The </b></span><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WoodsieGirl">@WoodsieGirl</a></b><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Challenge 2013</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 06 - The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 05 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/11/man-booker-shortlist-book-05-lowland.html">The Lowland</a> - Jhumpa Lahiri</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 04 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-04-we-need.html">We need new names</a> - NoViolet Bulawayo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 03 - <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-03-tale-for.html">A Tale for the Time Being</a> - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Ruth Ozeki</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 02 - <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-02-harvest.html">Harvest</a> - Jim Crace</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 01 - <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2013/09/man-booker-shortlist-book-01-testament.html">The Testament of Mary</a> - Colm Toibin</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>The </b></span><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WoodsieGirl">@WoodsieGirl</a></b><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Challenge 2012</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 06 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/woodsiegirls-man-booker-challenge-im.html">Umbrella</a> - Will Self</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 05 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-05-bring-up.html">Bring up the Bodies</a> - Hilary Mantel</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 04 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-book-04-lighthouse.html">The Lighthouse</a> - Alison Moore</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 03 - <a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-guest.html">Swimming Home</a> - Deborah Levy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 02 - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/man-booker-shortlist-narcopolis-guest.html">Narcopolis</a> - Jeet Thayil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortlist 01 - </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2012/09/man-booker-shortlist-garden-of-evening.html">The Garden of Evening Mists</a> - </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Tan Twan Eng</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Visit her blog </span></span><a href="http://woodsiegirl.wordpress.com/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">HERE</a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Visit her other blog </span></span><a href="http://woodsiegirlwrites.wordpress.com/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">HERE</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Guest Stars - <b><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents-guest-stars.html">Table of Contents</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Full - <b><a href="http://www.leedsbookclub.com/2009/11/table-of-contents.html">Table of Contents</a></b></span><br />
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