Through the Garden Gate by Susan Hill

After being totally enchanted with The Magic Apple Tree last year, by the author who is otherwise known for her ghost stories, I managed to buy second hand copies of her other similar books, about living in the countryside. Through the Garden Gate is the first of the 2 titles.

The illustrations by Angela Barrett draw you into this lovely book, where Susan Hills voice describes the various gardens throughout her life. Starting with The Gardens of my Childhood, and on to other chapters covering Herb Gardens, Rose Gardens, Wilderness, Winter Gardens, Vegetable Gardens, Potted Gardens, and Night Gardens, among others, you get a little burst of pictures and musings in each chapter. This book is about sharing a love of gardens rather than a tome of practical information. It is an indulgence, for writer and reader.

I loved the reference to Alice in Wonderland at the beginning, and the Ten Delights of a Garden which included such carefree thoughts of 'Rhubarb plants left to spread, tower and run all to seed...The smell of tomato plants inside a conservatory...Pincushion moss growing in the crevices of a stone wall'. Susan Hills gardens are not the ordered kind of exotic blooms, tamed into submission and planned to the last detail. They are places to get lost in, marvel at how they do their own thing, a little bit wild, but always beautiful, surprising and full of wonderful things. A partnership between gardener and garden with an adventure around every corner. Exactly the kind of garden I would love to have, but try to emulate with my modest bit of ground at the front and back of the house.

Although not quite as amazing as The Magic Apple Tree, it is certainly a book to dip into if, like me, you enjoy listening to Susan Hills voice, taking you around gardens of the imagination, that you would love to visit for real. A book to get lost in, very sensory, and a short read that some of you could polish off in one go.

The nearest places I have seen that come close to the ideal gardens of my imagination are The Forbidden Corner in Yorkshire (like visiting every childrens story you read when you were a child) and Newby Hall near Ripon, for a beautiful historic garden with quirky details, including a gate that was taken from Newgate prison in London when it was closed down in 1902.

I would love any recommendations for beautiful or interesting gardens that you know of.

The English Novel in History 1895 - 1920

A train journey to and from Hull during one day last week provided an excellent opportunity to read and make notes for this months installment from this literary theory book.

Last month we covered chapters 2 and 3, about Labour and Gold Standards. Here are another 2 chapters for this months installment...

Chapter 4 - Thresholds

Earlier in the 19th century novels had been available in 'three-decker' form, that is in 3 volumes. This made novels expensive and out of the range of many peoples income. However, with the advent of serialisation in popular journals, there was a new format for writers to make use of. With the new one-volume novels at the end of the 1880's, at 6 shillings, the demise of the 3 volume novel came in 1895. Circulating and public libraries remained the main buyers of fiction, but to secure individual sales meant more profits for the publishers. The desires of the reader -consumer were now key, leading to the rise of the modern bestseller. This also led to a new diversity in writing.

To acheive bestseller status and the mass market, there needed to be recognition of the smaller groups of people within that mass market. W D Howells, Henry James's American mentor and friend, identified 2 markets for the novel. There was one type of fiction 'which was the equivalent of the circus or the variety theatre' which was 'essential to the spiritual health of the masses' (p66). The 'cultivated classes' demanded a different type of writing, one that was determined by fashion. This impacted on the way authors wrote. Modernism became 'the literary equivalent of the theory of marginal utility' (p67).

A new purpose drove the writing style of the Modernist period. The metaphor became the mode of choice when representing the world in fiction. It was argued that the Modernist writer did not want to experiment with the 'free-play' of language, so much as 'test our powers of inference', how a reader processes the text, making us dig deeply into our own emotions and experiences of the world, challenging our assumptions and generating rich contextual effects. Relevance theory 'analyses communication in terms of effort and effect'. Previous works had kept attention, memory and reasoning to a minimal effort. However the writers of the Modernist period could not be put into this category, that is James, Conrad, Lawrence, Joyce or Woolf could not be described as writers whose work required little effort in the reader. Many writers, especially James, stretched their readers by their use of syntax. 'Disturbances of linguistic structure alert us to the possibility that we may have to work very hard indeed in order to understand what the writer might mean us to infer' (p70). Lawrence employs a loose sentence structure devoid of any anticipatory devices. In Sons and Lovers and The Rainbow the awakening of the characters as they develop in the novel is portrayed as a negative experience, 'an awakening from an old life, rather than to a new life.' (p78). These new stylistic devices illustrate a new kind of change where the change remains unexplained.

Chapter 5 - Interiors

Expanding the theory of Modernist writers using established styles and then disrupting them, to stretch the experience of the reader by making them work for the meaning in the writing, we examine descriptions of rooms in various fiction to define relevance in the work.

In the popular fiction of Arthur Conan Doyle, we can compare Holmes and Watsons descriptions of a room as a crime scene to illustrate relevance and irrelevance. Watson describes the room using stereotype to convey meaning, whereas Holmes describes the seemingly irrelevant details with his superior obsevant eye to deduce the rooms secrets. 'Holmes embodies the Principle of Relevance, the guarantee that effort will be adjusted to effect.', (p82). Richard Hannay from The Thirty Nine Steps was the same, ignoring stereotypes to arrive at alternative scenarios.

Many authors set out to examine the 'condition of England' in their writing. Rooms represent the people who own them, providing excellent material to examine the condition of England. Rooms, houses, dwellings and establishments were endlessly used to represent the wider society within them. H G Wells in In the Days of the Comet uses description sparingly, using seemingly irrelevant items to provide an absence of relevance to enhance a world governed by irrelevance. Wells is at his best when forcing us 'to confront a surplus of information we cannot make sense of,' thus commenting on the condition of England'.

Galsworthy, Forster and Walpole all gave us houses with descriptions of relevant details to convey the owners character. Woolf and Lawrence identified the limitations of this. Wells invites new possibilites by using irrelevance, demonstrating the need for change in writing. Conrad destabilises characters identities by describing interiors from the outside, shattering their own illusions of themselves. Woolf also plays with expectations of narrative in Jacob's Room by describing the contents of Jacob's Cambridge University room being devoid of anything informative within. Jacob is simply not present in his possessions. His only presence is ghostly, and this is only in the minds of those who search his room after his death.

Contemporary works that illustrate the above points include...

Ulysses by James Joyce

Sons and Lovers by D H Lawrence

The Rainbow by D H Lawrence

The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan

In the Days of the Comet by H G Wells

Howards End by E M Forster

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Victory by Joseph Conrad

Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf

Look out for the next installment from this literary theory book which will be posted on this blog some time in May.

Caught by the river: A Collection of Words on Water by various authors

This lovely book was bought for me as a Christmas present from a friend in 2009 and was a perfect bedside table book to dip in and out of.

Evolving from the website about angling, music and culture, caughtbytheriver.net, this is a collection of stories, essays and musings about the varied rivers of Britain. Covering many of the usual suspects, The Severn, The Ouse, The Irvine and The Thames, and quite a few lesser known treasures, this book allows us to while away the hours in the countryside with the authors. Sharing a passion for rivers the authors too are an interesting array of journalists, known writers and musicians. Frank Cottrell Boyce and Irvine Welsh sit alongside Jarvis Cocker and Edwyn Collins, Roger Deakin alongside Lord Peregrine St Germans, at home describing currents, Kingfishers and shopping trolleys.

The subjects are as varied as the writers. There are a fair amount of remembered fishing tales, but also canoeing adventures, childhood wanderings of legendary proportions, as well as rivers as personalities that we live with and provide a sense of place and stability, or a little known peaceful retreat. Among my favourites were The River Cary with author and journalist Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Tickling Fish by Lord Peregrine St Germans, or Way Across the River by punk historian Jon savage. To be truthful though there was not a single chapter I did not find enjoyable.

As I said, this was perfect to read before sleep because it was so relaxing and each chapter was reasonably short. The words are peppered with illustrations by Robert Gibbings and John Richardson making this book very special. You can buy some of the maps as prints from the caughtbytheriver website.

The blurb on the back describes the book as 'a uniquely modern take on an age old writing tradition -a rock 'n' roll nature book even'. Highly recommended for not just anglers, but lovers of the British countryside, and for those who appreciate the quiet moments we enjoy by our waterways.

March Roundup

I have been a huge fan of Sophie Ryder's sculptures since I saw her big bronze hare hugging a greyhound in the city of Bath in 1999. I had to find out who the artist was because it stirred such emotion in me. If you google image her name you can see lots of examples of her work, which is mainly huge bronze hares, and so appropriate to the month of March. The drawing to the left is by Ryder too. Take a look at this wonderful artist by using the link above.

Anyway, on to the books...

Read - 2 and a half books

Completed -

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

Caught by the River: A Collection of Words on Water by various authors

Currently Reading -

Tinkers by Paul Harding

Through the Garden Gate by Susan Hill

The English Novel in History 1895 - 1920 by David Trotter

TBR Pile - Currently at 96 (according to GoodReads) with 4 books added...

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Notes from Walnut Tree Cottage by Roger Deakin

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

Challenges -

Finished The Great Gatsby, one of the titles I have from AR, a work colleague for a personal challenge to read at least one of three books recommended.

Summarised Chapters 2 and 3 of The English Novel in History 1895 - 1920, that I am serialising each month. Will soon be on page 90 and ready for the April bulletin.

Wishlist Additions -

Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe

Nightwood by Djuna Barnes

Corag by Susan Fletcher

Discoveries - the website Literature-Map is a fun site where you can type in your favourite authors and it conjours up a cloud of other authors that you may also like. Give it a go.

Events -

World Book Night on the 3rd of March was an interesting and successful night with lots of books given and received.

I also went to see one of my favourite theatre companys, Propeller, doing Shakespeares Richard III at The Lowry in Salford. Totally brilliant. A cross between Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween. Great fun!

It's April showers all day here in Liverpool. A rainy sunday, good for reading books!

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

What a lovely cover to this book! It is the Oxford's World Classics range. I read this famous book because a friend in work and I have issued each other a challenge, of 3 titles, to each other. We only need to have read one of the three by the end of the year, and this was one of the titles he chose for me, being one of his favourites. It was my first Fitzgerald novel. I have no idea why, but I have always thought this story was about a car, or a racing driver. Bizarre, but anyway...

Narrated by Nick Carraway just after WWI, in the early 1920's, we follow his observations of some of his wealthy neighbours living around Long Island, near New York city. Nick starts with his old college acquantance Tom Buchanan, an egotistical bully, now married to Nick's distant cousin Daisy, and their terminally bored and unimpressed golfing friend Jordan Baker. Nick is invited to their fashionable gatherings, and becomes privy to the knowledge of Tom's extra marital affair, along with how low Tom's behaviour can go. Nick then also becomes fascinated by the mysterious Gatsby who lives next door, throwing lavish parties for the rich and famous elite of Long Island and New York. Many stories and rumours abound about Jay Gatsby, his background and the legitimacy of his fortune. When Nick does meet him, he finds a complicated but generous man who has courted hopes for a lost love affair with a woman from 5 years before. As the story progresses, all of these characters lives become entwined, unforgettably for Nick.

The most compelling element in this book for me, was the passion that Nick Carraway has in telling this story. He is constantly attracted and repelled by the people he describes. The sense of place, the 'Jazz Age' in America between the wars, is so palpably created, even for a Brit like me, that you fall into this novel and into another age with ease. I was as fascinated and also repelled by the characters with Nick, while enjoying being enveloped by the era. Possibility, privilege and feigned boredom.

The descriptions throughout are wonderful, and one of the most enjoyable aspects of the novel. Rich descriptions of the great and the good...

' "Perhaps you know that lady," Gatsby indicated a gorgeous, scarcely human orchid of a woman who sat in state under a white plum tree.'

The writing was a total pleasure and I will read another of Fitzgerald's books on this alone. The last few paragraphs are some of the saddest and meaningful that I have come across.

I think that non-Americans will approach the book much differently, as I did, as a romp through a definable era, written with skillfully beautiful prose. I think a lot of Americans have the added personal exploration of American identity, the American dream, its definition and disputable loss. Wherever we come from, this is a quality piece of writing. Fully realised you can see why it is considered to be the writers masterpiece.

I totally recommend this book, generally because it is a skillful comment on an American post WWI state of mind, and for book groups because there is loads to talk about.

LitLovers do a guide, including discussion questions for The Great Gatsby. Just use the link.

For those of you interested in visiting the F Scott Fitzgerald Society website, use the link.

I now want to see the film with Robert Redford.

The English Novel in History 1895 - 1920

It is the middle of March (already, I know), and time for this months summary of the Literary Theory book that I found earlier in the year, and challenged myself to read and blog about it. Following on from last months summary about the rise in consumerism during 1895 - 1920, and its influence on writing at the time, I am covering another 2 chapters today.

Chapter 2 - Labour

With the rise in consumerist tendancies there had to be a work force producing the items fantasised about and desired by the buying public. Hand in hand with production lines was the need for electoral reform addressing injustices in the conditions of the working classes. Socialist fiction found a voice during this time. Political representation for working people came to the fore in fiction, as a huge advance in trade union membership took place during the period. The 2 main political parties of the day spent a lot of effort courting the working class vote. Socialism was on the rise with many organisations springing up to fight the workers cause, and although their memberships were not huge, their rallies, pamphlets and journals prompted new thought and consideration.

Writers were now promoting anti-bourgeois theories using the literary field which was mainly regarded as bourgeois. The working classes had little or no time for the leisurely pursuit of reading, that is if they could read at all.

Did the largely middle-class writers have the resources to represent accurately the working classes? Many writers chose to get around this by not highlighting the work so much as the anxieties that came with casual and unstable employment. This is famously addressed in Robert Tressle's novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

Authors needed to recognise the anxiety in the working classes caused by the conflict between earning and working to provide, and desiring the things advertised in shop windows and the media, and how this affected identity.

In contrast, working class writers, who had gained an education and moved up the social scale, tended to use their writing to justify their social mobility, concentrating on 'voyages of self-discovery', or the Bildungsroman (novel of development). This category of writing is typified by Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure, where Jude longs for the University Spires and the aspirations of learning to take him from the labours of being a journeyman Mason. Freedom through knowledge was a widespread ambition. Hardy also uses descriptions of the workers and the toll that this has on their bodies and physical appearance in The Woodlanders. Work affects identity, 'To live and work is to deteriorate, until you are your deteriorations.' (p35). Likewise, Arabella in Jude is entirely defined by her work.

During the late 19th century there was an increase in the number of working middle-class women. This was not only a means of survival, but also identity, 'paid public work would give them dignity and independence' (Vicinus 1985, p.6), p39. New opportunities included journalism and literature. This lead the way for female pioneers such as the Suffragettes and the Land Girls.

The First World War managed to dilute any bitterness regarding politically active women because they had to take on a wide variety of jobs while the men were fighting, proving their ability beyond the home. There are many novels that take on the subject of womens work during this period.

By the end of the war, writing was exploring individual consciousness instead of work and community, now explored using stream-of-consciousness techniques.

Chapter 3 - Gold Standards

During this historical period the English Sovereign had a talismanic symbolism equating to solidity, being made of solid gold. Solidity was seen as a virtue, the English hero being its embodiment. Descriptions of 'solid', or 'mint' as a compliment were rooted in the reputation of the British Sovereign being the same. The shilling however is seen as a mere 'token' and the banknote as completely unreliable.

Imaginary money, bank notes, cheques, exchange bills etc., although used more and more, were eyed with suspicion. The gold standard was 'a defence against irresponsible expansions of credit' (p51). This monetary hierarchy was used to describe reliability and this imagery was widely used in writing. 'Mint' equalled quality and everything that was perceived of in the English Gentleman. Hallmarks guarantee origin and purity. When Tarzan meets Jane, he kisses her hand and betrays the 'hallmark' of good breeding, despite living years in the jungle.

Likewise, the same imagery is used when exposing a fake and dubious character, 'He looked as genuine as a new sovereign, but there was some infernal alloy in his metal', from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad.

Contemporary works that illustrate the above points include...

Workers in the Dawn by George Gissing

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressle

A City Girl by Margaret Harkness

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

The 39 Steps by John Buchan

Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

Look out for the next installment from this Literary Theory book, exploring the age of Modernism and its influence on writing, in April.

Whit by Iain Banks

I have had this book for so long I can't remember where I got it from. I suspect I may have bought it, about 15 years ago, as a book by an author I had heard a lot about but never read. I have finally got around to reading it.

This is the story of Isis Whit, a teenager who has lived all of her life on a self sufficient farm near Stirling. Isis narrates her story, but she is no ordinary girl, because Isis is an Elect of God, a position held by those born on the 29th February in the Luskentarian sect, founded by her grandfather. Isis is devout, following all of the teachings to the letter, living simply without adornment or any technological labour saving devices, in the community at High Easter Ofference, their farm.

An important 4 yearly event is coming up for the Saved at the farm, the Festival of Love, a free loving event to begat new Elect of God the following year, God willing. There is a problem though. Morag, Isis's cousin and guest of honour as an accomplished musician at the festival, has renounced her faith and gone awol. Isis is sent forth amongst the Unsaved to find Morag and return her to the community.

This book is a satirical look at the world through the eyes of someone who has lived apart from it, by a different set of codes. An observation of modern Britain by someone naive to its workings and ways. When Isis finally catches up with Morag, it seems that she has embraced the ways of the Unsaved with gusto, and Isis has a lot to learn about herself, life outside the farm, and also some truths about her own faith.

Although very easy to read, I found this book difficult to get into. I liked the sound of it, the fish out of water themes, the kooky sect, the impending comedy. I found little of it tickled my funny bone though (other than a plane ride and a cup of tea), and the over stereotyped characters got on my nerves (the hippies were like Neil from The Young Ones, the wayward grandmother like Joan Rivers). Isis herself had little potential for development, and I knew I was plodding on out of a determination to finish it. It did however get going about 2/3 into the book, in a surprising way, when Isis returns to the farm, and the plot took off and became interesting for almost the first time. It was then that I steamed through the rest of the book.

I don't think this book was the best Iain Banks for me to start with, and I have read mixed reviews about it on the web. I do have another by this author and I will give it a go, maybe in a while. It hasn't put me off, I didn't hate this one, I just found the first chunk of it laborious and it was a shame that it didn't hold you until near the end.

You can read more about Iain Banks and his work by using the link.

I read this to complete #6 of the 2011 Octogon challenges, to read a book by Iain Banks.