Love For Books

Waterstones Petition Call

I am calling for a petition. To stop the Poetry and Classics section from getting any smaller, and to bring it back to the front of the shop – where the DVDs are. DVDs?! In a bookshop?! Really.

I used to love browsing the poetry section in Waterstones, and eventually choosing a title that I hadn’t heard of, from a poet who I didn’t know existed, to be either delightfully impressed, or expensively disappointed. But it didn’t matter. It was nice to read something new and fresh.

Now, though, I have to ask a member of staff where to find the poetry, because it is usually one tiny column, split between Poetry, Classics and Drama (including Shakespeare, no less) and it’s hidden away around the corner in the back of the third floor somewhere.

When I eventually get there, there is nothing new to be found. Although the poets there are fantastic, famous, and very certainly worth reading, I find no pleasure in looking through the section. I want to find something new, something I haven’t read before, something unexpected.

Is that just me?

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.

Stephen Fry in America

I know quite a few people who don’t much care for Stephen Fry, but I think he’s fantastic. I do think that playing Scrabble whilst having QI on in the background should officially be called cheating.

However, for those who like him as I do, reading the Literary counterpart to his hit Stephen Fry in America series, was quite an eye opener. With phrases like “I already look seven shades of twat, what else can they possibly do?” it is Stephen, through and through.

I learned plenty about the good old U S of A, and facts about states and cities that I had never comprehended.

If you have seen the TV series, and quite liked it – or haven’t seen the series – read the book. Sectioned into relatively small chapters, one on each state, it is an easy to get through, light hearted, tongue in cheek account of different peoples, cultures and traditions, all of which seem strikingly familiar, and yet so alien. It is quite bizarre.

Mslexia – one for the ladies

Unfortunately, if you’re male, this article won’t mean much to you as it is about the writing magazine Mslexia. Its tag line is ‘For women who write’, so that should give you an idea why.
For the ladies out there who love to write, for pleasure, for money, for fun, for friends – for whatever reason – this magazine is bound to be a good read.

It has interviews with well known authors in almost every issue, from Jodie Picoult, to U A Fanthorpe and Margaret Atwood and also runs regular competitions for both published and unpublished writers in poetry and fiction.

There are tips on successful writing, by published writers themselves, and examples of authors’ drafting processes. There are competition winners, new poetry and prose, flash fiction and a comprehensive list of writing groups and events all over the country.

So, if you’re female and you enjoy both reading and writing, pick up a copy, check out the website or head to the library for back issues.

Is the Apple iPad killing off other eBook readers?

As with most things Apple, the iPad has already caused quite a stir. It is stylish, slim, sophisticated and has gallons of memory, so should be pretty up there as a way to read eBooks. There is, however, a big downside: the iPad has a glossy 9.7inch colour screen, great for watching films and looking at photos. This, though, isn’t so great for reading. Our eyes suffer far more eye strain when looking at any kind of computer screen, as test upon test upon test has shown.

Most eBook readers come with the e-Ink screen, whereby it is proven to cause your eyes no more harm than reading a real book, in any light. This will be a major drawback for any avid eBook reader thinking of the iPad. Also a downside is the battery life. Standard eBook readers have a battery life of about 18 hours, allowing you to read a couple of hours a day for over a week. The iPad’s battery lasts only 3 hours. Not so great if you’re travelling in the car from Scotland to Cornwall.

There are other positives and negatives for the iPad, but these alone sway me to think that it’s not going to be pushing the other eBook readers off the shelves just yet.

Election books: the cure for insomnia?

Insomnia is a very serious condition. It can completely disrupt day-to-day life and in extreme cases ruin lives, so it is incredibly important that some kind of cure be found for the affliction. I think I’ve found it – election related books.

Yes, election fever has kicked off in the UK (well, for a month – not a patch on those 18 month marathons in the USA) and as a result, the shelves are being hastily rearranged to show off the books produced by and about our illustrious political leaders. Of course these books have been out for months, as they knew it was election season soon enough, but now you will have them rammed down your throat at every turn.

If you don’t believe me – just check out your nearest book shop. You’ll find all sorts of immensely boring material, ranging from diatribes against everything establishment (expenses, the closed-shop of public schoolboys in politics), histories of the candidates (Cameron being the favourite here) all the way through to a collection of speeches from Gordon Brown himself.

Yes, try to contain your enthusiasm.

I can barely stay awake when Gordon Brown is on the TV, never mind condensed into speech form and stuffed into a book. Do I really care what he said to the Pottery Enameler’s Union in 2008? Is it really that awesome a prospect to read about how he promised that Britain wouldn’t be hit by recession? No, it bloody isn’t.

If there was ever an award for ‘Driest Topic in a Book’, the book of speeches from a hapless Prime Minister would be getting out of its seat already to pick the damn thing up.

There are, as always, a few gems out there which will make the topic of politics as much fun as jetskiing with Mr T. However, weeding out the dross may well cause you to give up all hope. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.