White Swan Leeds
- not at Outlaws as previously announced. 
25th Jul - The Moving Toyshop - Edmund Crispin
Thursday, 25 July 2013
LBC Outlaws - Change of Venue!!
Tonight's LBCOutlaws will be taking place from 6pm at the
25th Jul - The Moving Toyshop - Edmund Crispin
25th Jul - The Moving Toyshop - Edmund Crispin
Wednesday, 24 July 2013
Things I like - Colette Nic Aodha
The following poem appeared in the 2013 Art Craftwork Higher Level and I thought it was too gorgeous to keep to myself!!
It's the first time that I've read anything by this homegrown (mine - so Irish, before you all get all excited) poet, but I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for more from now on!
Just perfect!
autumn leaves
old buildings
running my fingers along spines
of books
discovering museums
art
ebb of music
to the beat of your heart
jazz when dreaming
landscape with birdsong
sitting in your sheltering sun
some outdoor cafe
on the cobbled streets of Madrid
lost in the history of Spain,
learning new words,
if I have any of these
I forget to eat
It's the first time that I've read anything by this homegrown (mine - so Irish, before you all get all excited) poet, but I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for more from now on!
Just perfect!
Things I like - Colette Nic Aodha
autumn leaves
old buildings
running my fingers along spines
of books
discovering museums
art
ebb of music
to the beat of your heart
jazz when dreaming
landscape with birdsong
sitting in your sheltering sun
some outdoor cafe
on the cobbled streets of Madrid
lost in the history of Spain,
learning new words,
if I have any of these
I forget to eat
* * * * *
School Days Over
Leaving Certificate Poetry
GCSE Poetry - T'Elf
A Level Poetry
O Level Poetry
Full Table of Contents
Sunday, 21 July 2013
Lainibop Challenge - Book 27 - Pride and Prejudice
| READ! | TO GO! |
|---|---|
| 27 | 103 |
The LainiBop Challenge
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
JANE AUSTEN
* * * * *
* * * * *
BLURB
This much-loved novel by Jane Austen was first published in 1813 and Solis Press is proud to produce this 200th anniversary edition.
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife," so starts this social satire on the marriage market in Regency England.
With five daughters and no money for dowries, Mrs. Bennet's main ambition in life is to find suitable matches for her girls.
When eligible and wealthy Mr. Bingley moves into the area, Mrs. Bennet seizes the opportunity to advance her plan. She embarks on a determined campaign to see him settled with her eldest daughter, Jane.
The discovery that Mr. Bingley's richer, handsomer, but haughty friend, Fitzwilliam Darcy, will also be in residence sets Mrs. Bennet in even more of a spin. This is much to Elizabeth ("Lizzy") Bennet's distress, as Lizzy is daughter number two and so next in line in the suitor stakes.
The path of the Bennet sisters is fraught with misunderstandings, deceptions, jealousy, and hypocrisy, but it is a journey that has captivated readers, making Pride and Prejudice one of the most popular works of all time.
A certain friend of mine who shall remain nameless (IT'S ME!!!)cites this as one of her favourite books of all time. As such, she has been trying to get me to read it for quite a few years now. On a recent visit to her, I happened to be in a bookshop and found a very reasonable second hand copy so on her advice I bought it.
I'm sorry to say that the only thing I really knew about this novel before reading it, was that it was a love story about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. I also knew that Mr Darcy was the type of man to make women swoon in his presence and by women I mean female readers, not just the characters in the book.
Unfortunately for me and also for my friend, who will probably kill me for writing this, Mr Darcy did not have that effect on me. Not even close in fact. Let me start at the beginning....
Elizabeth Bennet is one of the main characters in the book, she is the second eldest of a family of 5 daughters. Mrs Bennet is primarily concerned with making decent matches for her daughters and will do anything to put them in the sights of eligible gentlemen. Elizabeths older sister Jane soon catches the eye of Mr Bingley the latest batchelor to move into the area, and Mrs Bennet has high hopes for the couple. Now enter Mr Darcy, who is a close friend of Mr Bingley, but in contrast to Mr Bingley's friendly, and enthusiastic air, Mr Darcy is quite shy and reserved, which comes across to the Bennets as condescending and a little bit snobby.
So where is the grand romance?...I'm not too sure either, you see Darcy appears to take a dislike to the Bennets because of their status, and Elizabeth takes an immediate dislike to Darcy as she overhears him saying that there are no attractive women in the room for him to make the effort to dance with (bearing in mind he had just caught her eye moments before...ouch!). Things become yet more complicated when Elizabeth becomes a confidant for an old friend of Darcy's and hears a story of his past that paints a very ugly picture.
You would think this should be the end of their aquaintance, but that would make a very short and uncomplicated story now wouldn't it? No, instead things get more complicated and life keeps throwing them together.
My main problem with the book is the characters, I just couldn't relate to them at all. From the annoying sister Lydia, who is supposed to be annoying to Elizabeth and Darcy themselves I just couldn't bring myself to like any of them. Elizabeth is too quick to judge, for a character who is supposed to be strong willed, she believes whatever she is told about people without giving a second thought, and has no problems in spreading these lies to other people. Darcy is stubborn and condescending, he also judges people very quickly but in this case he bases his judgements on outward appearances, he wants nothing to do with the Bennets because of their status and also because of the way he see's Lydia behave at a party and again delights in discouraging his friends from any association with them too.
For me to like a novel, I must have some sort of relationship with the characters in it, I must either love them, pity them, or despise them, but with this, my dislike of the characters only went so far as to ensure I didn't really care about them or the events in their lives. I have a feeling I could get lynched for this review however the novel just didn't appeal to me one little bit. Won't be picking it up again I'm afraid, although saying that, I did watch the film with Keira Knightly and also the BBC adaptation which weren't bad so maybe I'd recommend a night in with some popcorn instead of picking up the book.
YouTube Playlist
SCORE
5/10
5/10
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Say Hello to @Lainibop
Her To Be Read Challenge - The Countdown Begins!
Book 30 - ?
Book 29 - ?
Book 28 - Sexing the Cherries by Jeanette Winterson
Book 27 - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Book 26 - Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
Book 25 - Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Book 24 - From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne
Book 23 - Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Book 22 - Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less by Jeffery Archer
Book 21 - Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Book 19 - Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Book 18 - The Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry
Book 17 - A Falcon for a Queen by Catherine Gaskin
Book 16 - The Marian Conspiracy by Graham Philips
Book 15 - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Book 14 - Mary, Mary by Julie Parsons
Book 13 - Glitz by Louise Bagshawe
Book 12 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Book 11 - Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
Book 10 - New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos editor Ramsey Campbell
Book 08 - Glamour by Louise Bagshawe
Book 06 - The Blue Hour by Jefferson Parker
Book 05 - The Drifters - Jim Thompson
Book 04 - The Turn of the Screw - Henry James
Book 03 - Atonement - Ian McEwan
Book 02 - Waiting for Columbus - Thomas Trofimuk
Book 01 - Under the Dome - Stephen King
Find more reviews HERE
If we've used any videos, you'll find them on the LeedsBookClub YouTube Channel -
The 10 Things I Hate About You playlist is HERE!
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Full Table of Contents
Saturday, 13 July 2013
LBC Outlaws Write Up - The Glass Key - GUEST
LBC Outlaws
The books that make you go ooooooooo!!!!
Venue: Outlaws Yacht Club
Date: 27th of June 2013
Time: 6pm for a 6:30 start
THE GLASS KEY
DASHIELL HAMMETT
* * * SPOILERS * * *
BLURB (Goodreads)
‘Paul Madvig was a cheerfully corrupt ward-heeler who aspired to something better: the daughter of Senator Ralph Bancroft Henry, the heiress to a dynasty of political purebreds.
Did he want her badly enough to commit murder? And if Madvig was innocent, which of his dozens of enemies was doing an awfully good job of framing him?
Dashiell Hammett's tour de force of detective fiction combines an airtight plot, authentically venal characters, and writing of telegraphic crispness.
A one-time detective and a master of deft understatement, Dashiell Hammett virtually invented the hard-boiled crime novel. This classic Hammett work of detective fiction combines an airtight plot, authentically venal characters, and writing of telegraphic crispness.’
ADDITIONAL BLURBAGE
Ned Beaumont is a tall, thin, moustache-wearing, TB-ridden, drinking, gambling and hanger-on to the political boss of a corrupt Eastern city. Nevertheless - like every Hammett hero (and like Hammett himself) - he has an unbreakable, if idiosyncratic moral code.About the Author (Amazon)
Ned’s boss wants him to better himself with a thoroughbred senators daughter; but does he want it badly enough to commit murder? If he’s innocent, who wants him in the frame? Beaumont must find out.
B.1894, d.1961.
Dashiell Samuel Hammett was born in St. Mary’s County. He grew up in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Hammett left school at the age of fourteen and held several kinds of jobs thereafter—messenger boy, newsboy, clerk, operator, and stevedore, finally becoming an operative for Pinkerton’s Detective Agency.
Sleuthing suited young Hammett, but World War I intervened, interrupting his work and injuring his health. When Sergeant Hammett was discharged from the last of several hospitals, he resumed detective work.
He soon turned to writing, and in the late 1920s Hammett became the unquestioned master of detective-story fiction in America. In The Maltese Falcon (1930) he first introduced his famous private eye, Sam Spade. The Thin Man (1932) offered another immortal sleuth, Nick Charles. Red Harvest (1929), The Dain Curse (1929), and The Glass Key (1931) are among his most successful novels.
During World War II, Hammett again served as sergeant in the Army, this time for more than two years, most of which he spent in the Aleutians.
Hammett’s later life was marked in part by ill health, alcoholism, a period of imprisonment related to his alleged membership in the Communist Party, and by his long-time companion, the author Lillian Hellman, with whom he had a very volatile relationship. His attempt at autobiographical fiction survives in the story “Tulip,” which is contained in the posthumous collection The Big Knockover (1966, edited by Lillian Hellman).
Another volume of his stories, The Continental Op (1974, edited by Stephen Marcus), introduced the final Hammett character: the “Op,” a nameless detective (or “operative”) who displays little of his personality, making him a classic tough guy in the hard-boiled mould—a bit like Hammett himself.
THE REVIEW
I had been reading this on my kindle and I hadn’t seen or read anything about it, so essentially I went in blind and believed for the most part of it I was reading a western. How wrong was I?
Instead it is about relationships, bad decision making, gangsters, gamblers, politicians and the corrupt world of the 1930s.
But it has been a tough one to review.
Although it is a classic this book; it didn’t seem to go down too well with some in the group, but that’s the great thing about book club – so many different viewpoints! The Glass Key was said by some to be like that classic vegetable based spread, you either loved it or hated it (or in one person’s case it was so bad the kindle/book nearly went across the room while another said they would rather read the back of a packet of cornflakes)!
It was thought that because this story is told in the third person, it felt like it lacked a connection between the reader and the characters. None was built and as there was no explanation about background information, it felt like you were just dipping into someone’s world for the day. Hopefully if you choose to read this a second time, you might have a different opinion again.
This book has been adapted into a film on two occasions. Those who had seen a film version noted that it bore little resemblance to the book and didn’t have the same feel. The writing of the book did make people feel that the writer assumed quite a lot and thought we would all know what it was like in the 1930s - just goes to prove as I thought we were dealing with cowboys and then when I was told all I could hear was ‘we could have been anything we wanted to be’ from the film Bugsy Malone.
But in the end it was a story about class, politics, people wining in love or power and mainly about friendship, and how you should always stick by someone.
Score
6/10
Join in the chat on twitter #LBCOutlaws or chat with @Pixlz or @LeedsBookClub.
Follow Helen @IsFromUpNorth
Book Club - Table of Contents
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Friday, 12 July 2013
LBCPuffins Write Up - The Sheep Pig - Guest
LBC Puffins
Date: Tuesday, 11th of June 2013
Time: 6pm
DISCUSSING:
THE SHEEP-PIG
DICK KING-SMITH
The
Sheep-pig is one of Dick King-Smith's most famous tales. It shot to further
fame when the film adaptation – Babe - was released in 1995.
'Why can't I learn to be a
Sheep-Pig?'
When
Babe, the little orphaned piglet, is won at a fair by Farmer Hogget, he is
adopted by Fly, the kind-hearted sheep-dog. Babe is determined to learn
everything he can from Fly. He knows he can't be a sheep-dog. But maybe, just
maybe, he might be a sheep-pig.
Dick
King-Smith served in the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War, and
afterwards spent twenty years as a farmer in Gloucestershire, the country of
his birth. Many of his stories are inspired by his farming experiences. He
wrote a great number of children's books, including The Sheep-Pig (winner of
the Guardian Award and filmed as Babe), Harry's Mad, Noah's Brother, The Queen's
Nose, Martin's Mice, Ace, The Cuckoo Child and Harriet's Hare (winner of the
Children's Book Award in 1995). In 2009 he was made an OBE for services to
children's literature. Dick King-Smith died in 2011 at the age of eighty-eight.
Babe is a
sensitive soul, deeply loyal to those who are kind to him. So when he is taken
in by Farmer Hogget's sheepdog, Fly, it's only natural that he would want to
follow in his foster mum's paw-steps.
Even with
Babe's considerable handicaps as a sheepdog - namely, that he's a pig - he
manages to overcome all with his earnestly polite and soft-spoken ways, proving
once again that might doesn't always make right. After saving the sheep from
rustlers and wild dogs, Babe convinces Hogget that his idea of becoming a
sheep-pig "b'aint so stupid" as it might look. But neither Hogget nor
Babe, nor anyone else, could have predicted what follows.
As
utterly charming as Charlotte's Web, this book is bound to pluck even the
tightest heartstrings. Masterful characterization brings every personality to
vibrant life, while Mary Rayner's lively line illustrations only elucidate
images Dick King-Smith has already planted in the reader's mind. Herd the whole
farmyard together: readers of all ages, ambitions, and antecedents will love
this one.
Emilie Coulter
THE REVIEW
I can't
believe this story is 30 years old!!!
The story
begins in the house of Mrs Hogget and Farmer Hogget hearing the sounds of the
fair deep from the Valley. It is There that Farmer Hogget first encounters
Babe.
After
dropping off some produce he hears a squealing noise and discovers it is coming
from Babe. A small creature making so much noise all for a competition to guess
its weight. The Vicar persuades Farmer Hoggart to have a go and guess his weight
and the moment he picks Babe up there is a connection, He goes quiet. Later in
the day Farmer Hoggart is told he has ‘won’ Babe. He returns and places him in
the barn not sure what to do with him other than his wife thinking he’ll make a
great meal for Christmas.
This is
where the story begins. Alone and afraid, Babe’s first encounter with another
animal is with Fly and her pups. The pups are told ‘pigs are stupid because
people only eat stupid animals like, sheep and pigs’. This is because Fly has
never encountered a pig and didn’t want to appear ignorant to her
children. Our first lesson of judging a
book by its cover.
It is not
until she speaks to Babe and realises he scared and lonely from being separated
from his Mum and takes him under her wing that she builds a relationship and following
the loss of her pups to other farms, that she discovers how intelligent the
little pig is and what he can achieve.
The same
goes with the encounter with the sheep. When Fly is showing Babe how to bring
them back, she believes they are stupid when in fact they just get a bit
confused at the orders being shouted and would much prefer it they were all as polite
as babe and treat them ‘ a bit decent’, then they would do as they were asked.
A bit of common courtesy goes a long way.
In this
story Babe has to show courage, strength and loyalty to his foster mum, the
farmer and bravery against all odds. It’s about how one little animal/person
can have such an immense impact on everyone’s lives. He changed the animal’s/people’s
views about others and proved to everyone that anything is possible no matter
who you are or what you look like.
THE MEETING
This was
the second choice for LBCPuffins, a well known story, made famous by the film
Babe released in 1995. To be honest I didn’t know the film was based on a book
until it was pointed out at the last meeting. I have always loved the film
especially when the mice pop up and did think that they would in the book, but
of course they don’t.
With all
children’s books; they take out all the unnecessary fillers and just create a
beautiful story that can be told again and again. This one exceeded that with
masterful characterization which brought every personality to life in such a
way you forgot they were animals.
Dick
King-Smith wrote this story after becoming inspired by his farming experience
and what an amazing idea to portray a lovely message. The group believed that
he was trying to say that the story was about not being prejudice about other
people because of their appearances, as in the sheep dog accepting Babe as one
of her own, and to always be polite to others. It also was a very positive
story and that when people believe in you like the farmer did in ‘pig’ aka Babe,
it shows how confidence can grow, when believing in yourself.
Again, as
mentioned in other reviews, we went back to the subject of film adaptations
from books, and couldn’t quite decide which was better. There were slight
differences, which I’ll leave for you to spot, but the lovely thing about this
book is the illustrations. Illustrations can be a huge positive for a book
sometimes and can break the story up. These were created by Ann Kronheimer and
one of my favourites was the diagram of the sheep dog trials or ‘pig’ chasing
the animals and barking.
Once
again I love the idea of this book club – adult reading kids books. I think
reading is an amazing gift and once in a while we need to take a break from our
busy lives and read children’s books as sometimes the stories can still have an
impact - though not necessarily be as intense as an adult's book, This such a
heart warming story that can make you look at the world in a different way.
I highly
recommend it to everyone; I think it's one that will stay with me for a while.
SCORE:
9/10
And don't hesitate to contact Outlaws on @OutlawYachtClub
Let me know your thoughts by either tweeting me @LeedsBookClub, commenting below or emailing me at leedsbookclub@gmail.com
* * * * *
LBC Puffins
NOV - Wee Free Men - Terry Prachett - GUEST
OCT - Black Beauty - Anna Sewell - GUEST
SEP - The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson-Burnett - GUEST
AUG - Coraline - Neil Gaiman - GUEST
Book Club - Table of Contents
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Full Table of Contents
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Sharing Stories - Poppy Shakespeare Review - GUEST
Leeds Book Club will be participating in the Arts and Minds Network's new project on raising awareness of mental health issues.
This cracking review is provided to us by book lover @BatRachy.
POPPY SHAKESPEARE
CLARE ALLEN
BLURB
Who is mad? Who is sane? Who decides? Welcome to the
Dorothy Fish, a hospital in North London. N has been a patient for thirteen
years. Day after day she sits smoking in the common room and swapping
medication. Like the other patients, N's ambition is never to be discharged.
Then in walks Poppy Shakespeare in a short skirt and snakeskin heels. Poppy is
certain she isn't mentally ill and desperate to return to her life outside and,
though baffled, N agrees to help her. But in a world where everything's upside
down, are they crazy enough to upset the system?
I
recently re-read this to refresh my memory of it, after having read initially
it when it first came out. Between reads I saw the Channel 4 adaptation, which
I thought worked pretty well, especially considering how badly adapted some
books are!
Anyway, I
shall focus on the book…
I loved
the main narrator N, who has spent her entire life submersed in mental health
problems (in other family members and the community in which she lives). N is a
day patient at Dorothy Fish, the local psych unit, and is convinced she will
never be discharged. It becomes clear there was very little question as to
whether N would be a patient in Dorothy Fish, simply because of the family and
situation she heralded from. I would like to think that this is partly due to
the story being told from N’s perspective, rather than the way in which local
authorities truly operate. For me, this throws up a problem with fiction such
as this: how much does the author know about the mental health system? (or
rather, have they experienced it themselves either directly or indirectly
through family/friends, and if so, how much are they putting into this novel?).
I would like to think local authorities don’t ear-mark children from families
with history of mental health issues to follow in the footsteps of their
parent(s) into institutions, and instead they are more sensitive (I know in
serious circumstances social services would be involved anyway, to help both
parent and child).
The
reader needs to bear in mind that the story is from N’s point of view. She
feels the authorities have assumed, as she is from a long line of ‘dribblers’
(the Dorothy Fish slang for those with learning difficulties/mental health
issues who use the day service), that she will go straight into the unit. We
don’t know what support & assessments she has had. This is N’s version of
the truth, and I’m sure if the narrator was an employee at Dorothy Fish the
version of the truth would be different. I love it when a book makes you
question what the true reality is. Is there one solid version of events
(regardless of whether someone has mental health issues or not, everyone surely
has different bias/agendas/roles to play).
This
comes into play even more when we meet Poppy. Poppy is determined she is not
mad (a term bandied around by the patients freely), and has been ordered to
attend the Dorothy Fish. As you can imagine, all Poppy wants to do is prove she
not mad and get out of there and back home to her daughter. The author Clare
Allan gets this absolutely spot-on. Unfortunately, as Poppy discovers, the more
you protest you are not mad upon being labelled as having mental health problems,
the less likely people are to believe you, and indeed such protests are put
down to being so ill you are unaware of your own wellness. Indeed, it works
both ways – it is very rare that someone who asks to be sectioned is.
At this
point, I can’t help thinking back to an episode of Don’t Call Me Crazy (a
series following teenagers in a psych ward currently on the BBC) I saw recently
where an outwardly smiling, energetic girl is admitted for depression and an
eating disorder. During her treatment she starts to worsen and has numerous
meetings to try new things to improve her situation, warning her she on the
path to being sectioned. She is adamant it’s just empty threats and tells
everyone she is fine and shouldn’t need to be there at all. The next meeting
they have they decide they need to section her for her own safety.
Overall I
feel the book portrays a quite real and accurate experience of a long-term
day-patient. Not necessarily the way the system works (although in any unit
like this there will be cynicism, speculation and rumours as to how the system
works - in the case of Dorothy Fish the Ministry of Madness, and MAD money to
name but a few), but the way the group works together, and the relationships
between patients, definitely so. Everyone is so wrapped up in their own ‘stuff’
that although they have little cliques, ultimately they are out for themselves
– their own targets (whether that be to get out of there, to stay as long as
possible etc etc).
I found I
recognised the assumed knowledge there was within the group, which came to the
fore as Poppy was introduced to each of them by N. A little back-story would be
given, but N assumes Poppy will know the intricacies of each disorder &
character. In a similar vein, Dorothy Fish dribblers have similar rules to (in
my experience) families; they can call each other nicknames, and they can call
each other things like ‘mad’. If someone from outside of the support
network/family/group of dribblers called them something similar they’d all be
up in arms against the outsider. This shows, the dribblers do have a supportive
network between themselves, indeed, they do worry for one another when someone
is discharged, or when someone is sectioned.
Ultimately,
I love this book. It smacks of a time when mental health care wasn’t top of the
agenda, and as the government works to amend this, the Dorothy Fish centre
changes to adopt the ‘care in the community’ stance to which I was subject to
(in 2006, the year of publication). Clare Allan has worked hard to show the reforms
needed in mental health care, both inpatients and out-patients. She has created
this world, in a run-down area of London where there is a struggle to see who
is mad and who isn’t. Where there is a struggle to see who needs help and who
doesn’t. Where there is a struggle to see who is in-charge and able to care for
those who need it and who isn’t.
At a time
when the NHS is currently under-threat from those who think it should be run as
a business, and who are more bothered about figures than the people this book
comes into its own yet again.
* * * * *
Mental Health Reading Challenge
Blurbs for the books!
Podcast with Tom at Arts and Minds Leeds
Write Up's
Dec - Jane Eyre - GUEST
Nov - A life too short - GUEST
Oct - Notes from an exhibition - GUEST
Sep - Day - GUEST
Aug - Tender is the Night - GUEST
Jul - Ariel - GUEST
Jul - Birthday Letters - GUEST
Jun - Poppy Shakespeare - GUEST
May - Why be happy when you can be normal - GUEST
Apr - I had a black dog - GUEST
Mar - The Psychopath Test - GUEST
Feb - The Silver Linings Play Book - GUEST
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Table of Contents - Guest Stars
* * * * *
Full Table of Contents
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
WSwan LBC - The Eyre Affair - GUEST
White Swan LBC
Discussing:
THE EYRE AFFAIR
JASPER FFORDE
* * * * * S P O I L E R S * * * * *
* * * * * S P O I L E R S * * * * *
* * * * * S P O I L E R S * * * * *
Thanks to Helen for this epic write up! She's been contributing so much, I think we'll have to create her own book shelf page!
About the book
Pirouetting on the boundaries between sci-fi, the crime thriller and intertextual whimsy, Jasper Fforde's outrageous The Eyre Affair puts you on the wrong footing even on its dedication page, which proudly announces that the book conforms to Crimean War economy standard.
Fforde's heroine, Thursday Next, lives in a world where time and reality are endlessly mutable--someone has ensured that the Crimean War never ended for example--a world policed by men like her disgraced father, whose name has been edited out of existence. She herself polices text--against men like the Moriarty-like Acheron Styx, whose current scam is to hold the minor characters of Dickens' novels to ransom, entering the manuscript and abducting them for execution and extinction one by one. When that caper goes sour, Styx moves on to the nation's most beloved novel--an oddly truncated version of Jane Eyre--and kidnaps its heroine.
The phlegmatic and resourceful Thursday pursues Acheron across the border into a Leninist Wales and further to Mr Rochester's Thornfield Hall, where both books find their climax on the roof amid flames.
Meet Thursday Next, literary detective without equal, fear or boyfriend. There is another 1985, where London’s criminal gangs have moved into the lucrative literary market, and Thursday Next is on the trail of the new crime wave’s MR Big. Acheron Hades has been kidnapping certain characters from works of fiction and holding them to ransom. Jane Eyre is gone. Missing.
Thursday sets out to find a way into the book to repair the damage. But solving crimes against literature isn’t easy when you also have to find time to halt the Crimean War, persuade the man you love to marry you, and figure out who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays.
Perhaps today just isn’t going to be Thursday’s day. Join her on a truly breathtaking adventure, and find out for yourself. Fiction will never be the same again ...
About the Author
Jasper Fforde traded a varied career in the film industry for staring out of the window and chewing the end of a pencil. He lives and works in Wales and has a passion for aviation.
From the Author
Welcome to the inside of my head. Apart from a few panicked memories about getting lost in a department store aged five, my imagination is a pleasant enough place to be - if you’re me. If you’re not me then you can do the next best thing and order up 'The Eyre Affair’ and have a read. There should be something to appeal to most readers as the plot visits, at one time or another, most genres - thriller, crime, romance, humour, sci-fi, literary - a veritable Swiss army knife in fact; if you don’t like a subplot then wait awhile - another is sure to pop up soon.
Over here at the Fforde Ffiction Ffactory we have many more novels bubbling away in our cauldron as well as a Thursday Next website and much else besides.
But for now I wish you health and happiness - and trust you have as much fun reading 'The Eyre Affair’ as I did
About the book
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| By Lurazeda, found on Deviant Art. Ain't it awesome? |
Fforde's heroine, Thursday Next, lives in a world where time and reality are endlessly mutable--someone has ensured that the Crimean War never ended for example--a world policed by men like her disgraced father, whose name has been edited out of existence. She herself polices text--against men like the Moriarty-like Acheron Styx, whose current scam is to hold the minor characters of Dickens' novels to ransom, entering the manuscript and abducting them for execution and extinction one by one. When that caper goes sour, Styx moves on to the nation's most beloved novel--an oddly truncated version of Jane Eyre--and kidnaps its heroine.
The phlegmatic and resourceful Thursday pursues Acheron across the border into a Leninist Wales and further to Mr Rochester's Thornfield Hall, where both books find their climax on the roof amid flames.
Meet Thursday Next, literary detective without equal, fear or boyfriend. There is another 1985, where London’s criminal gangs have moved into the lucrative literary market, and Thursday Next is on the trail of the new crime wave’s MR Big. Acheron Hades has been kidnapping certain characters from works of fiction and holding them to ransom. Jane Eyre is gone. Missing.
Thursday sets out to find a way into the book to repair the damage. But solving crimes against literature isn’t easy when you also have to find time to halt the Crimean War, persuade the man you love to marry you, and figure out who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays.
Perhaps today just isn’t going to be Thursday’s day. Join her on a truly breathtaking adventure, and find out for yourself. Fiction will never be the same again ...
About the Author
Jasper Fforde traded a varied career in the film industry for staring out of the window and chewing the end of a pencil. He lives and works in Wales and has a passion for aviation.
From the Author
Welcome to the inside of my head. Apart from a few panicked memories about getting lost in a department store aged five, my imagination is a pleasant enough place to be - if you’re me. If you’re not me then you can do the next best thing and order up 'The Eyre Affair’ and have a read. There should be something to appeal to most readers as the plot visits, at one time or another, most genres - thriller, crime, romance, humour, sci-fi, literary - a veritable Swiss army knife in fact; if you don’t like a subplot then wait awhile - another is sure to pop up soon.
Over here at the Fforde Ffiction Ffactory we have many more novels bubbling away in our cauldron as well as a Thursday Next website and much else besides.
But for now I wish you health and happiness - and trust you have as much fun reading 'The Eyre Affair’ as I did
Helen's Review
It was on a sunny Sunday evening sat in the cosy settings of The White Swan that our story begins, talk of Dodo’s as pets (actually happens in the book), Twitter identities, the story from monsters made of bubble wrap to a scary impression of Kate Bush and the fact that when you bite heads off jelly babies, they know!
To the book and here we meet Thursday Next, our heroine, Lover of books and a literary detective. Her job/role is to deal with illegal traders, fraudsters and copyright infringements. Living alone with only her regenerated pet dodo named Pickwick. An ambitious young lady wanting to further her career but unable to do so until she meets with Hades, A criminal ,mastermind out to bring characters into our world or banish them forever!
From gothic fiction (Jane Eyre) to mention of Shakespeare and meeting characters from Charles Dickens this book dips in and out of different worlds yet keeping us firmly on our feet. This book introduces us to so many worlds and with so much going on you would think the story and characters would be watered down, but they’re not. You’re sucked into another dimension without realising until you come back down with a thump on your sofa when the story ends.
I loved the fact that this book was based in England, there sometimes seem very few and the fact it used classic stories and twisted them into a sci-fi/ mystery adventure. It is probably only in books and in films where the impossible can become the possible. The fact that there is a magic machine which can extract characters from books into the real world, to be able to meet our heroes and heroines of our favourite stories, in Thursday Next’s case it was Rochester from Jane Eyre, who appears a few times to save her and in return she brings Jane back to him.
During the discussion a question was asked about the problem where we find what happens we fall in love with books, bringing the story to life in our minds is that sometimes we find to have someone else make it into a tv series or film may spoil the feeling of the book, spoil the journey you made with the characters like in the book, people were in uproar as the story changed in front of the eyes, demanding it be returned to it’s original form, however drab it was. Today TV & filmmakers do the same as it is their vision of the story, and especially if their
idea comes from a book, sometimes they can make it how we see it or improve it, sometimes they can destroy it. But in the end stories are to be told and shared in whatever form.
And finally for people who have not read Jane Eyre but have read this would you go to the original now? Just food for thought.
Best line - ‘Wotcha, Doofus!’
Reason to read it – The Dodo still exists and you can have it as a pet!
Score -
8/10
For further details, please email me at leedsbookclub@gmail.com or tweet me @LeedsBookClub!
The Pub can be contacted on @WhiteSwanLeeds
And feel free to let us know your thoughts using #WSwanLBC!
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WSwanLBC
17 - Jun - The Fire Gospel - Michel Faber
16 - May - The Eyre Affair - Jasper FForde
15 - Apr - The Waterproof Bible - Andrew Kaufman - GUEST
14 - Mar - The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak - GUEST
13 - Feb - Weight - Jeanette Winterson - GUEST
12 - Jan - Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates
11 - Nov - Lighthouse Keeping - Jeanette Winterson
16 - May - The Eyre Affair - Jasper FForde
15 - Apr - The Waterproof Bible - Andrew Kaufman - GUEST
14 - Mar - The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak - GUEST
13 - Feb - Weight - Jeanette Winterson - GUEST
12 - Jan - Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates
11 - Nov - Lighthouse Keeping - Jeanette Winterson
10 - Oct - Winter's Bone Daniel Woodrell
09 - Sep - The Wind Up Bird Chronicles - Haruki Murakami
08 - Aug - The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ - Philip Pullman
07 - Jul - American Gods - Neil Gaiman
06 - Jun - The Travelling Hornplayer - Barbara Trapido
05 - May - Atomised - Michel Houellebecq - GUEST
04 - Apr - Even the Dogs - Jon McGregor
03 - Mar - Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
02 - Feb - The Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova
01 - Jan - Suttree - Cormac McCarthy
I'm just full of good ideas...WSwanLBC
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Book Club - Table of Contents
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Full Table of Contents
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