The unknown narrator, escaping from a family funeral, returns to his childhood home, but not finding what he sought he carries on down the Lane, to the Hempstock Farm, home of his only childhood friend Lettie Hempstock, her mother and grandmother. While there he remembers the bizarre events that happened in the spring just after he turned seven, forty odd years before. Then, he forgets again.
The genius of Neil Gaiman’s storytelling is his ability to weave myth, memory and fantasy into original narratives. His unique take on stories that have been around forever makes them fresh and new, where a less inventive writer would be dull and repetitive.
The Ocean At The End Of The Lane is another fine example of his creativity, and is currently fighting with ‘American Gods’ for first place on my list of favourite Neil Gaiman books (Mr Wednesday and ‘Lo-key’ Lyesmith are such wonderfully devious bastards – I love them), and by the end of the book I was crying. I felt so sorry for the narrator, and Ginnie Hempstock. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Hempstock ladies are based on the weird sisters. Whoever they are based on though, they are archetypal characters – the wise old lady, the motherly farm-wife, the wild country girls – without being caricatures. The narration, with it’s changing perspective, is a seamless reflection on memory; what is real? Which of our childhood memories do we forget and why?
This is a thought-provoking, beautifully written book. At 243 pages it isn’t huge, but I read it in four and a half hours. I couldn’t put it down.
I found this collection of short stories in the library; I wish I’d left it there. Not because it’s bad but because the stories are so effectively creepy I’ve given myself a new set of nightmares. Which I don’t need, thanks a lot for asking.
If you like dark fiction and psychological stuff it’s a great collection but I’m a wuss and only managed to read four of the fifteen takes. The artwork throughout is sufficiently weird and is well drawn.
It’s 2004 and Thursday Next is in semi-retirement after a terrible accident which has left her unable to visit the BookWorld and means she has had to give up her Jurisfiction job. Her old mob SO-27 are back in business, but she’s not getting the job of leading them. Instead she becomes Wessex Chief Librarian.
Unfortunately, Swindon is due to be smote by a pillar of holy fire, unless Thursday’s daughter Tuesday can fin a way to get the anti-smiting shield to work. Then of course there is the additional problem that Friday Next is going to kill Tuesday’s boyfriend Gavin.
Jasper Fforde’s seventh Thursday Next novel is as surreal and entertaining as the first, with the additional bonus that it us internally consistent, so it makes marginally more sense, because I’ve been there before. Thursday as got older and wiser, the characters are developed further and the plot is as unique as ever.
Liz Jones is Fashion Editor at the Daily Mail and a columnist for the Mail on Sunday, having worked in the media for the last 30+ years.
Born in 1958 the youngest of seven children to an ex-army captain and a housewife, Liz Jones grew up in a variety of places around Essex wearing handmade and hand me down clothes, but dreaming of working for Vogue. She never quite managed it. Anorexic at 11 and still obsessed with food, having it all and losing it all because she never felt good enough, Ms Jones has considered herself a failure from a young age and has striven to be better.
I think I’ve occasionally read her column, for the simple reason that when I’m at my grandparents flat and I haven’t anything with me to read, it’s the only vaguely honest and interesting piece I can find in the paper. This autobiography is the same; the writing is fluid and moving. I read it in a single sitting.
One review described the book as ‘laugh out loud funny’. I disagree; it’s sad, with odd moments that are funny in hindsight, but must have been embarrassing or painful at the time. A vivid example of how a strong work ethic and success can mask low self-esteem, this is a powerful story.
This book was Jasper Fforde’s debut novel, and the first to feature Thursday Next as heroine. A surreal adventure set in a 1985 where literary theft has become a terrible problem, the Crimea is still being fought over by England and Russia, Wales is a secretive Socialist Republic, the mega-corporation Goliath bank roll the economy and the biggest controversy is who really wrote the plays of Shakespeare.
Thursday Next is a LiteraTec in Special Operations 27. Based in London, but originally from Swindon, a veteran of the Crimea and desperately seeking a way out of the Literary Detectives and into a more interesting Spec Op department, she takes a temporary assignment to Spec Op 5 and is thrown against an enemy more deadly than Russian Howitzers, Acheron Hades. Hades has stolen the original Martin Chuzzlewit manuscript but nobody can work out how.
Grievously injured in an operation that sees her losing all her colleagues, Thursday opts to take a job with Swindon’s LiteraTec department, on her own advice. Convinced that Hades is still alive despite everyone believing otherwise, Thursday is up against the Goliath Corporation and their representative Jack Schitt, who’s after a marvellous new weapon that will win the war in the Crimea, as well as Hades.
When Thursday’s eccentric but brilliant uncle Mycroft and her aunt Polly go missing, Hades is the first to be suspected. Thursday must rescue her aunt and uncle, defeat Hades, regain the Chuzzlewit and Jane Eyre manuscripts and outwit Jack Schitt. And all before her former-fiancé gets married at 3pm a week Saturday.
I’ve read one of the later Thursday Next books, and it definitely makes slightly more sense now. As much as anything makes sense in Jasper Fforde’s novels at least. This novel was highly praised when it was first published 12 years ago and it still stands as an excellent piece of literature; full of wit, bibliographic in-jokes, with unique characters and an incredibly inventive plot.
UlinkaRublack, Patrick Little, Christina Walkley, Lois Banner, Quentin Bell, Carol Dyhouse, Stella Mary Pearce and Eileen Ribeiro
£2.05 from Amazon.co.uk
This small e-book contains eight articles spanning 60 years of scholarship and publishing. They focus on fashion, not just what clothes were worn when, but attitudes to clothing, and the things they indicate about the wearer, and also how people viewed the clothing worn by their ancestors, and how it was depicted in art.
Ranging from the changing attitudes to the wearing of fur to how fourteenth century artists depicted classical subjects to the question of precisely how dull Cromwell’s clothes were, this is a fascinating collection of articles. There is nothing new here; in fact I recognised three of the articles as I’ve read History Today regularly for the past eight years. The older articles were interesting, though; sixty years is a long time in academia and the attitudes of the writers to their subject’s is as interesting as the subjects themselves.
I’ve never bought one of these collections before (although it would be more precise to say my oldest friend bought me it since I used the gift card she gave me for my birthday – thanks Fi!) but I think it’s well worth the price. They are great resources, containing the best articles History Today has published on a particular subject. I would have liked a new, original article to go with the collection though; I think it would have made a nice touch.
In July 1858 a cholera epidemic once again threatens an overheated London. Professor Hatton of St. Barts Hospital and his chief diener Albert Roumande spend their days cutting up cadavers in an effort to learn as much ad they can about the disease. At the same time they are also working in the new science of forensics and as London’s leading experts are called in to help when an Irish MP is murdered a few days before the anniversary of Drogheda, a green ribbon found in the dead man’s mouth.
A series of other murders follow. The victims all seemed to have known each other in Donegal, during the Potato Famine. What happened there and who would want revenge? As Hatton, and Inspector Grey of Scotland Yard, about whom Hatton has grave doubts, investigate they are interrupted by an explosion in a packed shopping arcade. The Inspector, and the widow of the first victim are seriously injured. Hatton has more questions than answers. Is the explosion connected to the murders or is one a cover tor the other? What has Donegal to do with it? Why does all the opium and fly papers keep disappearing? And is the mortuary budget really getting cut?
Using their new method of fingerprinting the Professor and his diener discover the murderers. Using torture Inspector Grey finds the bombers.
I do like a good murder mystery, and this is an excellent example. The characters are engaging even if the set up hasn’t been original since Conan Doyle wrote his Sherlock Holmes stories (skilled amateur investigators/useless professional policeman). The plot is strong, and conclusion unexpected and imaginative. Full of period detail which immerses the reader in the scenario without being overwhelming or too descriptive, and which adds to the plot. The premise, of an early forensic pathologist working in a world that doesn’t understand what he does, is interesting.
This is the second book in the series. I haven’t read the first but I probably will try to at done point. It isn’t necessary though as it is perfectly possible to read the novel as a stand alone story. Previous cases are hinted at throughout, drunken/drugged confessions about their pasts develop the characters, although some of the repeat characters need fleshing out a bit. How did they all end up in London? What secrets, because they all have secrets, do they hide, and why? Presumably we will find out in future novels although somethings can be guessed at.
I really did like this book; the audio book is available soon. It is a beautifully bound and presented article.
I might be easily pleased but I like a well presented hardback book.
I noticed a small number of typos but nothing that took away from the story significantly.
Definitely a must read if you like historical mysteries.
Well, I’m back on-line and trying to write this review while watching the series ‘Hannibal’ and being sociable. Look at me multi-tasking!
I saw a few more bands on Saturday than Friday. I saw a range of bands, some I hadn’t thought to see, and I missed some of the bands I wanted to see, for various reasons.
The first band I saw was:
Katatonia on the Zippo Encore Stage
In my notebook I’ve summed them up as ‘loud Scandinavians with long hair. They’ve been around for a while’.
I really enjoyed watching them. They are quite heavy, which I like, but I couldn’t actually discern the words.
Next I watched Lit play, again on the Zippo Encore Stage
One of my friends used to really like them when we were kids, back in the 90’s/00’s. According to Shelley, at some point they dropped off the face of the Earth. Their appearance at Download therefore made Shelley quite happy. I don’t know what I thought to them, some of the songs I liked, most of the set I found a little insipid. I only recognised one song; I must have heard it at some point.
After Lit I went to the Main Stage to see
Alice In Chains
I was looking forward to seeing them but was in the event actually quite disappointed, though they seemed popular in the Arena.
Next up Motorhead
Oh, I was looking forward to seeing these legends.
They were really fun to watch, although it did drag slightly. The two drum solos, while incredibly good, made the set seem unnecessarily long.
Returning to the Zippo Encore Stage to see Jimmy Eat World
By this point in the day I was tired and hungry, so I probably wasn’t listening as closely as I should have done, which is not great when you’re writing about bands and their music. Anyway, eventually I did manage to raise a bit of enthusiasm for the set.
I staggered on through to QOTSA back on the Main Stage
They were okay, I couldn’t really hear what was being sung, but I liked the music.
I had planned to stay to see Iron Maiden but all the cigarette smoke set off my asthma, and it was too much for me. I ended up going back to my tent. Due to the acoustics of the site I could hear Iron Maiden anyway. I could hear the crowd’s reaction as well; they went down very well with the people who managed to make it through the second day of Download.
And on to Sunday
Sunday was great.
I started off the day right down the front of the main stage singing along to Sacred Mother Tongue. They happen to be one of my favourite bands, so I was in heaven, just a little bit.
I first saw them at the Halestorm concert I went to in Nottingham in March this year and only saw half their set. Since then I’ve kept an eye on this Northamptonshire group. I waited impatiently for their new album and reviewed it (see https://rosemariecawkwell.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/review-sacred-mother-tongue-out-of-the-darkness).
They lived up to my expectations entirely. It was so good to see them on a larger stage and in front of an appreciative crowd. Clearly people had made the effort to drag themselves out of their tents, probably with a hangover. And they appreciated the bands efforts as much as I did.
Next up, because my friends wanted to see them, Cancer Bats, still on the Main Stage
As good a front man as Liam Cormier is, I can’t say I particularly like this band. The band have a devoted following but their style of music doesn’t appeal to me. Again, I prefer singing to shouting. I just don’t like that sort of punk, though I know it’s quite a common genre these days.
Next, another band I really couldn’t wait to see, Stone Sour, played their set in the evening. We sat up on the hillside and watched. I could just about hear. The problem was that someone over in the Pepsi Max Stage were rather loud and it was irritating. They acoustic set, which I would love to have heard properly was practically drowned out.
It was still enjoyable, Corey Taylor is an excellent singer and can write a good song. The crowd certainly liked him.
After Stone Sour came Gaslight Anthem
They’re okay, I’ve never seen or heard their music before but I quite enjoyed the set. It was easier, marginally, to hear them than Stone Sour. Mainly because the racket from the Pepsi Max stage had ended.
30 Seconds to Mars
After Gaslight Anthem came Jared, Shannon and Tomo. The Echelon were very excited, and I had a few friends down their. When Jared started getting people on to the stage one of them was feet from getting up there. Then there was an accidental crowd surfer and they refused to let any more people onto the stage.
The new songs were definitely tighter in performance than the older songs; Jared seemed to get bored of singing then and got the audience to do the work instead. Shannon is still a talented drummer, and evem Tomo had a go at drumming at the start.
They announced their UK tour in November. I’m going to the Nottingham gig.
Jared’s voice isn’t as strong as I thought it would be. To be fair, we got distracted.; I’ll tell you why later.
In between 30STM and Rammstein we took a trip to the Zippo Encore Stage to see a bit of Limp Bizkit.
They played their ‘classic’ Rollin’ – it was practically a sing-a-long. After listening to a couple more songs we got distracted by the arrival on the Main Stage of
Rammstein
I only saw the first half-hour or so – I was tired again – but impressed by the pyrotechnics. I’m not sure what I think of their music though.
And now for the most entertaining part of the evening.
During 30 Seconds to Mars’s set a person got stuck on the zipline. They cot bottled while they waited to be rescued. The a bottle fight started. There are videos somewhere on you tube. I shall go and find one.
——————————–
Disappears to YouTube to find said video.———————————-
Returns from YouTube
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Thanks to whoever recorded that and put it on youtube.
Right, it’s getting late and I have to be up for work in the morning (I’m doing overtime this week – expect random sleep-deprived blog posts). Sorry that this post is a bit disjointed and not as detailed as I would like or expect, but it was a busy weekend and I was trying to take it all in. Problem with that is I didn’t write as much down as I should have.
On Friday afternoon we finally got in to the Arena and had a look around before we started listening to a few bands. Mostly we wanted to see Papa Roach and HIM on Friday, everyone else was incidental.
The first band we heard, at least a little bit, was
Emperor Chungon the Pepsi Max stage
This band is a heavy rock five-piece from the Midlands.
I quite liked what I heard, although we didn’t stay long, because even outside the tent the bass made my chest hurt. They definitely lived up to their description ‘heavy rock’. They’re very heavy, but in a way I like.
Eventually we retreated to the main stage.
At the main stage we got ourselves comfortable on the grass under our ponchos, and settled down to listen.
And fell asleep.
And that is a mark of how unimpressed we were by the acts on the main stage on Friday.
About three in the afternoon we decided to join the queue for the HIM signing at the Kerrang! tent, and watched
Papa Roach on the Main Stage while we did.
Jacoby Shaddix gave a very good impression of an over-excited child, just to be at Download Festival. He kept calling everybody ‘Mother fuckers’ and bouncing around. The crowd didn’t seem to respond well to his attempts to get circle pits opening up. They played a mix of songs from their new album and some older songs that everyone recognised.
Later, after some wandering around, tea, collecting a further friend, we returned to the Arena to see
I’ll be honest, HIM were one of the main reasons I decided to go to Download this year. They packed out the tent, despite the competition of Slip Knot on the Main Stage. But then I suppose if a band disappears for three years then their appearances will be popular. It was only their second show in the UK since they came back with ‘Tears on Tape’, (the first was at the London Barfly on 26th April 2013). They performed a mix of songs from the new album and their classics, including ‘Wings of a Butterfly’ and the ever-popular ‘Funeral of Hearts’.
As ever, from what I’ve seen – I’ve never seen HIM live – HIM’s stage show is not showy but enjoyable. They looked like they were having fun; Ville made jokes with the audience, Linde, Mige and Gas had fun with each other on the stage.
Ville’s acoustic guitar has been making an appearance at recent gigs and Friday night was no exception. It was pretty much constantly in hand, and when it wasn’t he was clutching his mike stand. Something has to replace his old crutches of cigarettes and booze, now that he can’t smoke on stage and has had to cut down on the drinking. He was even sober, as far as I could tell from a distance.
One thing I did notice was that Ville couldn’t quite hit some of the notes these days. It was still a great set, and I wish it had been long.
They are touring here at the end of October. I’m going to see them at Rock City in Nottingham, I can’t wait.
I had a good time on Friday, especially in the evening, I soaked up a few bands though I didn’t exactly take in names. It was an experience, being surrounded by all the different bands, hearing bands I’ve heard of but never listened to. I now know what bands I don’t like, as well as the ones I do.
Back tomorrow with a review of Saturday and Sunday’s bands.
In the latest instalment of the ‘Star Trek’ franchise, ‘Into Darkness’, Jim Kirk (Chris Pine) and his crew are sent to observe a planet but not interfere. There’s a volcano, Spock (Zachary Quinto) has a plan. It works, but Kirk loses his ship and Spock is reassigned.
A terrorist attack changes everything; reunited, the crew of the Enterprise are sent to catch the terrorist, Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch). It’s not going to be as easy as they think and the weapons they have been given to do the job hold a terrible secret; there are much deeper game in play. However it turns out none of the characters nor the Federation will be the same again.
The film explores what it means to be human, the moralities of war and peace.
It is a great film, the acting is superb and the story entertaining. I saw it in 2D and it was an incredible experience. Go see it!
Rose
[Edit: I found an interview with Benedict Cumberbatch about the film on youtube
Everything Is Better With Dragons 