Travelling Suitcase is famous!!! Famous I tell thee!

Our very own BookElf is taking the city by storm!
Well, the reading part of it anyway! Your average football fans are probably less aware...

If you haven't followed the twitter links - please visit http://bit.ly/cT9S5M  For Books Sake (linked on the main page) are featuring our intrepid book warrier, and her mission to make books more accessable and communal!

And, a little earlier, Culture Vulture (I think www.theculturevulture.co.uk/blog/?p=6120) also ran a feature on her book swop/twitter event!

You Know You're Getting Old When...

Possibly my favourite of all my neighbours has to be R, the coolest ten year old in the world. She is an avid reader, I've lived next door to her for two years (in two separate houses, funnily enough) and over that time I am proud to have introduced to her such classics as Nicobobinus, Watership Down and The Railway Children.

This week we had our fairly regular doorstep chat about books and got onto the subject of Little Women. Now I, like probably every girl in the world ever, have always identified strongly with Jo March. I was over-dramatic, loved to make a performance out of everything (and frequently did-massive props go to Mrs Oldfield who let us put on our weekly plays in Yr5 and gave me the writing bug!) loved writing, and in an act of teenage rebellion against traditional gender roles cut off all of my hair, much to the rest of my families annoyance. I loved the books when I was a young teen, but was angered by Jo's refusal to marry Laurie.

In my head he was perfect for her: her best friend who could smarm his way out of anything, they would have led the ideal life of constant laughter and amusement. I have to admit I did tear the page out where she said 'no' and wouldn't speak to anyone for an entire evening in a preteen sulk. When she married the old boring German intellectual I thought she had gone stark raving mad. Why would you say no to the beautiful, funny Laurie and fall instead for this austere (and much older) Professor?

Then I grew up. Now I long to meet a kind, unassuming, passionate, intelligent older man who will support me without belittling me and provide me with opportunities for self-growth and personal-development. I totally understand Jo's life choices and these are the ones I wish I had made, instead of throwing my heart away on silly boys that would show me a good time, but in reality provide no lifelong stimulus. This shift of thinking from Laurie to the Professor is one of the things I had semi acknowledged but never given much thought to until R, in her optimistic youthful brilliant way said 'and why does she marry the professor he's OLD! Laurie is so much better, I'd marry him over some boring old clever person any day'.

Oh child, child, how much you have to learn...

World Cup Reading-Long Walk to Freedom

As this summer's World Cup is taking place in a country I have never been to, and know little of, I decided my World Cup Reading would be the autobiography of the country's former leader, Nelson Mandela. I began reading the book on the evening of the opening ceremony. Long Walk to Freedom is over 700 pages long, and it would be insulting and wrong of me to skim read, or skip past sections of this amazing and inspirational man's life, so you must forgive me if I cover this in more than one blog post. This is a book that needs to be talked about.

I thought I knew something of the history of South Africa. I knew that Mandela has been released to become President after being jailed for over twenty years by the racist apartheid promoting government, and that my parents and thousands of others in this country had refused to buy South African goods, or contribute to firms and economises of countries that supported the regime. Reading the detailed, and disarming descriptions of life as a freedom fighter in the 1950s, I realised that actually I know nothing. Nationalist government used violence and intimidation as tools against a non-violent, highly organised ANC led by educated and thoughtful men and women. This policies led to people being forced out of their homes, jailed for months without legal representation in conditions that mock the idea of sanitary and massacred by a racist and ineffectual police force that did not even keep up to date records on the legal status of the supposed 'communist terrorists' they were persecuting.

The account of Mandela's early life is brief, but fascinating. I would have loved for it to go into more detail, however considering Mandela's age when the book was published, and the amazing life he has led (this books makes the idea of a 21 year old glamour model's life being worthy of the status of 'best-selling autobiography'laughable) , it is unsurprising he chooses not to go into detail of an African childhood in the early part of the twentieth century. What is well done, and as quite a politicised person in their 20s myself fascinating to me, is how Mandela's views change over time, from radical anti-communist intellectual to a man who is not searching for freedom for Africans, but for everybody. He is totally without apology, but explains how hot-headedness in youth is natural and can be tamed by thought, reflection and experience.

Mandela also does not go into detail about his 'private' life. He explains his divorce from his first wife again without apology or apparent regret, yet is loving and nostalgic about his relationship with Winnie, and talks with love of his children. He explains rationally how his involvement with the struggle (in fact a section of the book is named 'The Struggle is my Life' had impact on the amount of time he spent with his family, but as a reader knowing what his actions, and those of the movement he described, achieved, we cannot judge him too harshly for this.

I am just up to the point after the Treason Trial that lasted four years, and which over 30 members of the ANC were arrested for promoting violent other throwing of the government ans subsequently found innocent. The trial is decribded in great detail, and the farcical prosecution, and efforts to the extend the trial though making each defendant cross-examine each other is turn and told in an almost comical style. The reader is hopeful of a happy ending for Mandela, but it is only 1961, and this section of the book ends, 'During the Treason Trial, there were no examples of individuals being isolated, beaten and tortured. All of these things became commonplace shortly after'. I shall continue on.

This book was again very kindly donated to the Suitcase Library by a very kind and generous man, and I would have probably have never have read it (or at least not thought to for many years) were it not for the exchange of books, rather than relying on the best sellers or latest releases promoted by publishers. Thank you.

Green Knowe - truely, madly, creepy!

I don't know about you, but as far as I'm concerned, the most enjoyable children's books always have some sort of a bite in them(is it the same as Young Adult? I've never known where the cut off point is there. Will check with the oracle in a bit! - UPDATE - she indicates that its discretionary. So I shall stick with children's, as I think YA is a horrendous degrading marketing ploy.). 

From Roald Dahl (where the bite might be literal!), to Enid Blyton, to Philip Pullman, Michelle Paver, JK Rowling  and so on; the who's who of children's books  have all recognised that to appeal to a literate and intelligent young person; there needs to be an element of danger, consequences for crimes, consistent and rational (albeit fantastical) characters, and the reality that, very often, you can rely only on yourself (and a select band of buds) to get the job done. I believe that they also recognise that to provide anything less is to patronise and condescend their audience.

Article

Recently, I read an article linking strong, successful young heroes and heroines with abusive, absent or neglectful parents. While the focus in this article was bad parents, I found myself reflecting that while society seems to enjoy portraying children as soft, delicate, vulnerable and weak, the books standing the test of time do not. Rather, they provide somewhat more of a challenge.

After all, in some parts of the world, it's little people that make our shoes - and I don't mean elves!

The prime example here is in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness books by Michelle Paver (introduced to me by BookElf, whose speciality seems to be finding stories set in the ether before time, that are too compelling to put down!). On the first page alone of the first book, a character dies from a bear mauling. Sorry, a father dies, leaving his ten year old son alone.

It's not graphic, but it's still pretty grim, and the rest of the books are all similarly set with a realistic tone. Good things happen, and everyone feels great, but bad things also happen, and each bruise, scrape and hurt feeling is equally revealed.

It's great. In a world where children's television has never really recovered from the horrendous purple dinosaur, and the PC explosion - I love that it is in books that the shadows of this world are explained to our young un's. 

For me, one of the most delicious and creepy of worlds was created in the mid 50's by a woman in her mid-60's, Lucy M Boston. She wrote stories that linked the past to the present -  inspired by her own home, one of the oldest continually occupied houses in Britain, built in the 1130's(!) - and wasn't afraid to delve into the dark to achieve the most fulfilling stories. 

In 1976, the Beeb made a 4 episode series based on the first book, and even more recently, Maggie Smith headed the cast of From Time to Time in 2009, based on the second in the series. 

1. The Children of Green Knowe

2. The Chimneys of Green Knowe

3. The River at Green Knowe

4. A Stranger at Green Knowe

5. An Enemy at Green Knowe

6. The Stones of Green Knowe

If you're losing interest, stop now! What follows is a rather chaotic and rambling appreciation for each book, which will make no sense to those who havn't read the books...and possibly only slightly more if you have!

Meet Linnet Oldknow. She is the most recent occupant of a house that dates back to the times of Moses...or the Norman's actually. Her family have been occupying the house for generations, and when her grandchild - the most improbably named Toseland (Tolly) comes to stay, she entertains him with stories of the old days. Somehow - in a beautiful piece of magic that is all the better for not being explained - Tolly begins to interact with the 'ghosts' of the house's other children (Toby, Alex and Linnet), primarily through the only surviving picture of the family of the time (though its been a while and I might be mixing books here!).

In the following book, it is the patchwork quilt being repaired that provides the medium for the ghostly encounter, and Tolly meets the blind Susan and her special friend, and slave Jacob. The themes begin to develop and evolve from mere familial interaction and a sense of home, to the social issues that would have been present at the time - the restrictions placed on girls,(perceived!) racial superiority, the treatment of slaves, and the disabled/advantaged, and a mysterious theft!

Of all of them, I think that this is the most compelling, and I love Love LOVE Susan! She is brave, determined, kind and bossy - wonderful traits all!

The third book is my most and least favourite at the same time. Tolly and Linnet are away, and the house is rented out to homeless children. Once again, there is more focus on the social themes relating to the story. I didn't like how fantastic the house was, with time travel, flying animals and all sorts of 'kiddie' magic elements, but the sub-text, of a house that has the power to heal and provide a home for the displaced is just gorgeous.

At first, I found the change of primary cast to be very jarring, but as I was pulled back into the house, it became clear that the harmony that it encouraged affected more than the family that lived there. Ping in particular reminds you of an optimism for the future that, to be honest, seems a bit lacking at the moment!

The forth in the series won the 1961 Carnegie Medal in literature. It follows Ping - one of the homeless children mentioned above - revisiting the house, and befriending - like you do - an escaped gorrilla. 

I was fascinated by the detailed research that went into this book, and horrified and heartbroken by the cruelty that we inflict onto the animal kingdom. 

Although as a story, it all seems a bit ridiculous - and while I am a dreamer, I have always been rooted in the practical - the House, as a character in its own right is so well developed, that it seems, if not actually possible, at least an appropriate metaphore. 

But my favourite one of the books is number 5. So naturally Idon't want to reveal anything about it!

Definately the darkest in the set, I mean, how many children's books focus on the devil or his daughter...okay, far too many, but fewer have a detailed alphabet of doom, or discuss the difficulties of writing on bat wings! 

Both Tolly and Ping feature in this adventure, staying with Linnet. Naturally this leads to stories - in particular the evil Dr Vogel. The next day, a visiting academic comes in search of papers belonging to...you guessed it - the same Dr Vogel!

And it's scary. At least I found it so - all build up, and evil and hated and despair - even the ghosts struggle in this one!

Finally, the sixth book takes us back in time, to the first generation of Oldknow family occuping the house. In this, all the strands are tied together in this amazing lovely little way, as Roger finds the magic that allows him to visit with Linnet, Susan, and even Tolly!

Of this book, I won't say anything at all! Written after the rest, it fits with the series so well, but obviously from a very different standpoint, with none of the implied history that steeps each page in the earlier books!

If I could, I would donate a set of these books to every library, school and family in the country! They're like Narnia - only less divisive. Even if you don't love them, they are intereting, and I've found every re-read to be as satisfying as the last!

Anyhoo, time to stop writing about books, and get stuck into one!

Viewing issues

So, it's been brought to my attention that if you view the blog in old IE, all the empty boxes get weird nonsense typed into them - like '<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->'.

Me either, though I get the sense that they don't like empty boxes.

And I have thought long and hard about setting aside some time to sit down and think long and hard about this, and try to find a fix.
But then again...
It's annoying, and its a geek fail on my behalf, but it isn't actually preventing any reading of the blog, and of course, no matter what tweeking I do, somebody will have a browser that hasn't passed the acid test, and will find something else has gone wonky in return.

So...what to do what to do, itz a dilemma...for the time being, I'm going to leave the blog as is, fill the empty boxes with something like 'TBA' and hope that sorts out that problem.

If it doesn't and you are a faithful reader, driven to the end of your tether, then email, or tweet me and I'll...do...something heroic.

Alternatively, try viewing the site via firefox - it's what I use to edit it.

TTFN