My Welcome Back Foyles Book Haul

Soooooo…since I lasted posted in August about my sailing course, a number of things have happened: I went to Scotland and avoided spontaneously combusting (read the last post if you don't get that), started school again, realised that despite the hype Year 8 is really not that different to Year 7, turned thirteen and went up the Shard (for all you non-Londoners, this is a skyscraper and one of the tallest buildings in Europe) to celebrate, also went to India in October (and unfortunately had to do holiday homework there so couldn't blog) to revel in tuk-tuks and ancient forts, and also spent a lot of potential blogging time on either Instagram or writing/practising songs for my YouTube channel (I don't mean to be a billboard in disguise of a blog but do take the time to look at that.). Sorry about that, I'll try to divide time more equally in the future. But anyway, those are all tales I'll probably fondly recap in the future because they'll bear an inch or two of relevance to the post I'll be writing. Now though, I'll celebrate my return with a post theme we all love in the blogging circles: a book haul.

My mum and I were Christmas shopping in the Covent Garden/Tottenham Court Road area today, a place which automatically drags me to the Foyles book store. Handy, especially when you have nearly £50 worth of book tokens like me. And no, I'm not a book hoarder who actually buys book tokens FOR THEIR OWN USE. I actually acquired that many as prizes for being in the winning team of the UK National Final of the Kids' Lit Quiz. Those of you who've followed my blog for a long time will also know that my school and I did this international quiz on childrens' books last year, were North London champions but failed at the national hurdle. 

But enough rambling, onto the books I bought…

More Than This by Patrick Ness

Yay, I got a signed first edition! When and if this book becomes famous in fifty years time, I can show off that I have a first edition! But about the actual book, Ness's award-winning last book A Monster Calls about a boy haunted by a monster while his mother dies of cancer, was both haunting and moving without being overloaded on either, not to mention the equally amazing, roughly sketched illustrations, so I don't need to spell out why I wanted to read this one. Also, this book is based around a recently dead boy exploring life after death, and seems as I enjoy similarly themed books such as White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick, this appealed.

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

As with Patrick Ness, I'd previously been slightly obsessed by Rebecca Stead's previous book When You Reach Me, so much that just the author's name now jumps out to me as an essential buy. And with the unique premise of a spy organisation made up of two twelve-year-olds, and if it weren't for my school's Christmas reading challenge of five dull books of the school's choosing, this would be high on my holiday reading list.

A World Between Us by Lydia Syson

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but this vintage-style cover is beautiful and will draw any book store browser immediately in. Aside from that, while I haven't heardof this book or author before, and while the love-in-wartime theme seems clichéd, the Spanish Civil War is a period relatively undocumented in YA literature, so I'd be willing to give this a go.

Ink by Amanda Sun

Another beautiful cover here. As the style of the cover might suggest, this book is set in Japan, more specifically about a girl moving there and befriending a tough and aloof artist. All sounds fairly unoriginal, until his drawings come to life. A premise which I think could make a very visually attractive film, but I suppose all those thoughts depend on whether I like the book…

Dash & Lily's Book Of Dares by Rachael Cohn & David Levithan

I know what you're thinking. More than one author = trashy. And quite possibly this book is, but again I was hopelessly intrigued by a premise. Girl leaves notebook full of dares in a book store, boy finds it and participates in the dares, each time he does one the girl refreshes the notebook with a new one, they fall in love in this bizarre, old-fashioned form of communication. The kind of flukey situation everyone dreams of, and I'm sure I'll soon be looking in every book store for a dare notebook.

Every Day by David Levithan

Another book by one half of the above writing duo, and I bet you also assume this book will be trashy too. But I still think looks can be deceiving, and this in fact seems to have quite a unique premise: a boy wakes up as a different person every morning, an arrangement he is fine with, until he falls in love with a girl he will never see again from the next morning on. One of those bizarre ideas us normal people would never think up, but I'm interested to see how the author writes this without it seeming fantastical.

Once I read these (which probably won't be for a while thanks to that irritating reading challenge), I'll review them as soon as I can. It should be interesting comparing what I think when I read them to what I thought when I wrote this post. But for now, sorry for the long posting break, and thanks to all of you for not giving up on me returning! 

-DP :)

Tales Of A Bookworm (And The Bookworm Isn't Me)

It's an unusual time to post, at 8 o'clock in the morning, in my world anyway. And I guess Eurovision isn't really a good enough excuse to justify not blogging last night and having to finish it off in the morning. Really not, especially when the Dutch girl singing about birds not flying was dull enough to move anyone away from the telly and make them blog.

But this post's sole purpose in life is not to broadcast conventional opinions about Eurovision. Oh no. Then, my blog's slogan would not be "mentally reframing the commonplace". I steer away from posting about things the whole of Europe have seen (and if I do, I form unique, not repetitive opinions about them). Instead, I post about hidden theatrical gems like this.

*this image isn't mine

A real Potterhead would recognise this as the actress behind Lavender Brown in the final three movies. But now Jessie Cave's taken a step away from the Divination-loving Hogwarts student, and reincarnated herself as a slightly obsessive bookworm in her debut comedy act, Bookworms United. The title refers to a new book club our enthusiastic host has created, that apparently "could spend a whole meeting discussing the use of colons". Thankfully the show, structured around the group's "first meeting", is themed around books rather than the aforementioned punctuation mark, and is a plethora of Jessie's literary inspirations and memories, described with the passion and slight goofiness of a real bookworm.

It's the simple, non-professional style staging that really reinforces the book club theme. We see easy-to-handle props that might be used in a real group if the leader was feeling theatrical: simple shadow puppet shows depicting stories (including a literal interpretation of the metaphor "a bear following a star"), handmade posters decorating the set and blankets covering figures, the figures revealed to be Jessie's favourite book heroines (Celeste from the Babar books, Mrs Beaver from Narnia and Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo). There was nothing particularly technical about the set and props, which made you really believe Jessie when she asked for requests to be the "future host of our group!", and that this was a regularly meeting book group.

Another aspect of the show that really made it personal was the use of Jessie's family in the supporting roles. Her (real life) younger sister Bebe was her shy assistant (and her brother Boris an erratic sound and lighting technician), with only "it was adequate" as a compliment for her puppet show and constant refusal from Jessie to perform her Hunger Games routine (Bebe was always seen with a bow and arrow slung around her shoulder), making for a genuine sister-sister relationship that unfortunately may have been not too separated from real life. This made Jessie less an actress and more a real person with real passion for books, as did the truthful, if a little exaggerated anecdotes about her childhood, chiefly her national youth tennis successes: "I was groomed to be the next Venus Williams, but an injury made me come back to books". These reminiscences, or what she called "my back-of-the-book blurb" made Jessie an actual person, a friend to the audience, not just someone standing up there and telling jokes about books. 

However, it was Jessie's delivery and the general atmosphere of the show that actually made us laugh, not the actual content. While the jokes obviously were present, it was more Jessie's references to her personal and family life, her awkward-in-a-good-way delivery, her interaction with Bebe and her exaggerated enthusiasm and book obsession (all the bits that weren't the main focus of the show) that made it into a comedy act, not her anecdotes about Babar and Narnia. While there were decent one-liners like "Celeste giving birth to three elephants in 11 minutes wasn't fun", they were few and far between, and were usually preceded by self-indulgent tangents about her mother reading them to her as a child or her remembering all seven Narnia books. These just seemed a bit more for her than the audience, like when a friend talks about their old friends or weird habits they had when they were five: they know you won't be interested, so they talk for purely their own enjoyment. Everyone knows the plot of Narnia, so cut down on the irrevelant tangents and get on to the bit people will actually find funny.

The first thing my Dad said when we got out of the show was "it's a bit like Dramatis Persona doing a comedy show". I'm not sure whether to be flattered by that or not.

-DP :)

PS I've not forgotten about the 10 Day Photo Challenge, I have photographed for the Book theme, and can't wait to do a post about it!

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making

Can I just note that I didn't call this post as weird a thing as I did for no reason. Nor did I make up this seemingly random sling of words. In fact, an American author called Catherynne M. Valente did, and it was in fact the title of a surreal and Dramatis Personaish yet gripping and exciting 2011 novel by her. I've been reading the fore-mentioned book for around two weeks now and I'm almost finished (I have a busy life – naturally it takes me a while to read books), and I'm really enjoying it, so I thought it might be nice to share it with you. So enjoy my review-in-chatty-style-so-it-doesn't-seem-like-it's-for-school!

Anyway, enough long and boring hyphenated parentheses. Now I'll actually start talking about the book. It's a traditional fairyland yarn but taken to a new level, notably with its more poetic and flexible language. While it isn't in the first person, the main character, a 12-year-old girl named September's thoughts are emphasised more than in old-fashioned fantasies, if her general manner is a bit naive for a 12-year-old (and I sure know!). September basically gets whisked away on a leopard to the world of fairies, which sounds stereotypical for a fantasy novel, but turns out this Fairyland has a lot of human-style laws. These include forbidding of flying for most creatures (which causes them to have their wings bound back in sorrow), and have been in place since a supercilious child known as the Marquess came to the throne. The plot mostly revolves around September having to retrieve a magic spoon stolen by the Marquess from two witches named Hello and Goodbye, and their husband Manythanks, and subsequently having to go to the supposedly forbidden Worsted Wood to receive a mysterious casket. Oops...maybe I've revealed too much...anyway I won't spoil it any more!

Possibly the best thing about this quirky little tale is the wonderful visual quality, which is why when reading I constantly imagined it as a film. First there's the places; the Fairyland capital of Pandemonium, entirely woven from wool, and the baked-from-bread land of the spriggans (exempt from every law), among others, full of colourful settings and features. And, of course, as in every Fairyland story, there are fantastic characters, like September's companions, A-through-L, the Wyvern (basically a dragon) son of a library, who only knows subjects from the first half of the alphabet, and Saturday, a blue boy part of a race born out of rain clouds. And my personal favourite, Calpurnia Farthing, passionate about riding velocipedes, or bicycles migrating to the Autumn Provinces. Yes, you read me correctly.

This whole book, the positivity, quirkiness, slight naivety and unprecedented darkness when September reaches the Worsted Wood lightens everyone up a bit, particularly me this weekend, when I read a huge chunk as I was ill with a headachey/sore throaty thing DURING HALF TERM (soooo irritating!), and had some time to rest. Fortunately, I feel better now, and can post this accompanied with cover artwork and a link to Amazon here! (NB this image isn't mine) 

I hope you guys enjoy this book if you happen to read it, if you're doubting it in any way I strongly urge to go on your positive instincts! Hope you enjoy it!

-DP :)

Remember That Story?

It's a long while ago now, but back in June-Julyish last year I posted about my conversion to reading on my new Kindle. On a similar literary theme, the PS of the post mentioned a 500-word story competition I entered at a similar time with the first line "Dad was flabbergasted when he heard the news", which was run by the children's books section of the Guardian newspaper. However, I couldn't publish for reasons concerning the story being elsewhere on that pesky ol' web. But I was quite proud of my entry, even though its theme, the possible end of the world, was not as topical back then!

So anyway, while I was in Sri Lanka, I read a very curious and helpful follower's comment on that post. They said, "so give us the story then!!". I had completely forgotten about the contest  (which I sadly lost to a very annoying, in my opinion, story about a girl stealing jewellery from a beach or something), but I vowed to tell you guys the story when I got back home and didn't have any elephants, monasteries or New Years to blog about. But now the results have been announced and my yarn is free to be published on this site. So here it is. And it is 500 words, I promise, count if you want. And I made a conscious decision to change the colour to differentiate between it and my normal blogging.

Dad was flabbergasted when I told him the news. And, to be absolutely honest, you can’t blame him really. I felt exactly the same way when the morning radio was cruelly interrupted by the strange voice. It was a beautiful yet supercilious female tone, reminiscent of the authoritative commands aliens hear through hi-tech communication devices in sci-fi movies. But all thought of heavenly cinema afternoons was thwarted when I heard what this mysterious woman had to say:

“People of the Universe, I, representing the official masters of fate, announce that, after many conferences with the supreme masters of every aspect of life, a unanimous decision has been made to return the Earth to how it naturally was. All life forms will end life in approximately 24 hours 46 minutes. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Dad’s immediate reaction when we heard the rerun was to blame me. Typical.

“Cassandra Perry, what were you thinking? Recording ridiculous speeches like this and wasting your father’s time! I should never have got you that voice recorder!”

“Dad, no. There really was a weird lady talking about the world ending. Honest.” I said unconvincingly. 

“Fine, then,” Dad replied, slightly sarcastically. “What d’you suppose we do, Miss-I-Live-In-Fantasy-World-So-Trust-Me-On-This-One-Perry?”

"Run away.” I said, as persuasively as possible. “Far away. Major disasters happen in thriving metropolises, and nowhere else.” I must point out that although I said that so cleverly, the core facts were mostly gleaned from alien movies. Given the situation, they seemed the best thing to trust.

“Alright. But don’t blame me if it all turns out to be a waste of time.”

News spreads like wildfire, and soon the extended family was coming on our Great Expedition. Mum’s Notorious Panics were in full swing, and Dad was hastily assuring her that “It was all Cassandra’s idea”. My little sister Naomi was shouting from upstairs:

“Cass, can I take the television?” 

“Don’t be silly, Naomi! Where would we plug it in?” I replied. 

And there was still trekking through the woods to come. The packing was calm in comparison. Naomi was constantly complaining of feet “literally falling off”, non-outdoorsy aunts stumbled over pinecones, my fashion-crazy cousin had torn her best jeans and Dad was sighing with dramatic discontent. I seemed to be the only one who got anything out of it. But the revelation I did eventually have benefited everyone:

“Dad, none of us is really having a great time. We’ll all die in a matter of hours, we must enjoy life while we can.”

Dad stared in disbelief, but the moment was short-lived. Soon everyone around us had heard the new edition of my Brilliant Idea and was nodding vigorously.

So here we are, with 23 minutes left. But it’s been a great five hours. We’ve relaxed, chatted to one another, had a last visit to our favourite places and, best of all, haven’t had to suffer Naomi’s pestering. Maybe it’s sunk in now. Would you rather exert yourself or enjoy yourself for your final hours?

Oh, and by the way, here's a funny cartoon I found while randomly searching the end of the world on Google Images (note: This image is not mine). 

-DP :)

When Is A Club Not A Club?

I am someone who definitely loves all extracurricular activities and practices, and throughout my time in primary and secondary school I've always been the one who goes up to teachers to complain about why some debating or film-making club has decided to shut down on me. But there was one incident that happened today that got me asking the question that serves as the title of this post. 

I was at my book club (which is usually very fun, my fellow blogger and friend The Human Guide also is a member, we have a book for 10-15 year olds to read every month on one of many themes, and we discuss and do fun quizzes and other activities based on it at the next month's meeting. Great for book fans like me!), and before I went I knew that two school friends weren't attending because of school trips and sports practices, but I wasn't expecting what was going to happen! Basically, I arrived in the library and saw that the table we usually use was empty, so naturally I asked the group leader if the club was happening. She replied in the affirmative, and I waited for a few minutes before realising to my horror that no one else would arrive!

I thought this might be a way to get home early (book club goes on to 5:30) so I could start work on the despised DT novelty cake project, but no. Our overly energetic group leader marched over to me, and starting bombarding me with questions about practically everything under the sun, from Sri Lanka at Christmas to iPads and from Chinese characters (my chosen language at school) to freedom of thought (I'm not sure how that one came up...). She even gave me the general knowledge quiz and the drink she'd planned to give us at that meeting! Seems as I was the only one there, shouldn't she have just let me browse books or maybe go home like I was intending?! It's really not much fun on your own with an overly energetic group leader.

Anyway, so this posed a question for me: when is a club not a club? Well, in addition to the awful waste of time that was January's book group, we had a school German club when I was about 8 or 9 that got reduced to about 2 or 3 members, and that wasn't much fun either. 4 or 5 is about the starting number, but 10 is a bit many, because not everyone can have a go at activities or have a voice. In fact, my sub-group in the gymnastics club I used to go to had about 6 members and there was perfect equality and fairness. So anyone who's starting a club soon, that is the perfect number!

-DP :)

PS Today marks a milestone in The Dramatis Persona history; it's the first non-illustrated post! I hope you like my writing without the pics as well as with!