Love For Books

Orange Prize for fiction

This year is the 15th Orange Prize for Fiction and Waterstones are celebrating by deciding which book from the last 14 years’ winners lists is the top of the crop.

The shortlist includes some massive hits, from Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche’s Half of A Yellow Sun to Carol Shields’ Larry’s Party.

There are prizes up for grabs for voters too, including an HTC Desire Black smartphone and a pair of tickets to the Orange Prize for Fiction Awards Ceremony.

Check online and register a vote for your chance to win, and make sure you keep up to date with this year’s shortlist too, as Waterstones are offering a massive 40% off their RRP!

Austen – Chick Lit for snobs

Chick Lit is widely criticised by people in the writing world. English, Editing and Proofreading graduates are generally sure of one thing: the lack of substance in a Chick Lit novel.

There will be a central character who is probably doing pretty well for herself. Then something happens with her guy-friend, her sister is heartbroken and she doesn’t know who she can trust about what. She will probably end up getting together with a guy she never even considered, in fact, she probably started out hating him.

Sound familiar? Yep, hundreds of books a year are based on this and thousands and thousands of people read it. There are so many literary snobs who would rather burn it than read it as they can predict what is going to happen from the first couple of pages.

Many people like that believe in real women authors: Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, Jane Austen.
But – hang on – haven’t I just described Pride and Prejudice? The plots of Jane Austen are about as Chick-Lit as you can get, but it is the writing which makes it stand a huge way above the tripe. Austen’s characters are three-dimensional, the dialogue is believable and her witty descriptions and original ideas are a wonder to read.

But just remember next time you get on your high horse about someone reading Wendy Holden; if you have Austen in your hand, you should really think about what kind of criticism you’re going to give.

Relax in the garden with a good book

It may be a cliché, but that doesn’t really bother me. When it’s sunny, and the air is warm, I like nothing more than sitting outside with my sunglasses on, an ice-cold glass of rose and a good book. Whether it’s Tolkein, Fforde, Twain or Carter, immersing myself into another world with the comfort of the sun on my skin is like nothing else.

If you enjoy reading and you enjoy the sun, but rarely combine the two – make some time for them this summer. Treat yourself to an afternoon off with a glass of wine (or juice) and a good read.

But don’t forget – protect your pins with sun cream or you’ll look like a one-sided lobster by the end of the day!

Poetry is a wonderful thing

Is it not? Plenty of people ‘don’t get poetry’ or remember too much how it is taught in schools, and just the idea makes them shudder.

However, it is at this that I beg to differ. I adore poetry, and I always have. I trained to be an English teacher and I am still disgusted at the way it is taught in schools.

Schools teach people to destroy them, to tear them apart word by word until it is not even looked at as a whole piece any more. They are told that poets always choose every singe word intentionally, and that there are always at least three or four meanings to everything.

This is not the case. Yes, poets choose their words very carefully, but a poem can be a bit of fun, it can be a laugh, or a tongue-in-cheek comment. It doesn’t have to be about flowers, and sexuality, and innocence and growth and new life all at the same time. It may be, but that doesn’t mean it definitely is.

I remember once being told about what Shakespeare was thinking when he wrote one of his sonnets, and questioning the teacher about it. She said that we know that from studies and hundreds of years of learning about it. Rubbish! We don’t know what he was thinking, we don’t know how intentional every word was, and we don’t know what he thought of his social messages.

So, after a long-winded rant, my moral is this: ignore all the teaching you’ve had, and just read poetry for the poems. Read Philip Larkin, Paul Durcan, Vicki Feaver and Jo Shapcott if you want poetry that isn’t stuffy, overly worded tripe.

Go on, give it a go. Poetry rocks.

Austen – still relevant, still funny, still Colin Firth

I was pretty horrified with myself when I got sent an email of the 100 books you have to read before you die and I could admit to having read 28. That’s only just over a quarter and I’ve had at least one book on the go since I was about 8. I read Sophie’s World after my 10th birthday (and that’s some pretty heavy philosophy) and pride myself on being a pretty well read person.

Now – most of the books on that list I already owned before reading the list, so at least that’s something. So I started with Austen. I had seen Colin Firth’s white shirt plenty of times, so knew that I’d probably enjoy Pride and Prejudice but I had no idea just how much. Austen’s sense of humour is wicked, and fits in so well in a modern world. And once you’ve got through the first few pages, you’re immersed in the writing style so you don’t even notice it. I can only now really understand why so many women the world over are happily married, but still, secretly, in love with a certain Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Voucher codes for cheaper books

This article is detracting from the usual posts you tend to see here at loveforbooks.co.uk. This article isn’t a book or author review, instead it is an article written to give everyone interested in books some advice.

We are in a time where our money is becoming harder and harder to keep hold of. This can affect our pastimes and hobbies, especially ones such as reading.

Sure we could simply utilise the many local libraries available to almost everyone. But for some that is either:

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Many people, including myself, would prefer to purchase a book. That way we own a piece of literature, we can build up collections and access what we want and when we want to.

Unfortunately, the costs of producing books are rising and as an effect, so are the prices of the books themselves. However, it isn’t all doom and gloom in the world of books; online retailers are offering increasingly attractive prices. Add to that the huge wealth of voucher codes that can be used to obtain discounts for websites such as Amazon. You could be saving 50% or more off the retail price, even for newly released books.