tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80361787160512273482024-03-05T02:40:22.406-06:00Oxford ErinAdventures in doctoral studies in English lit, tales from the city of dreaming spires, ramblings on novel-writing, book-reading, &c.Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-20645334168168434172014-12-30T09:01:00.001-06:002014-12-30T12:29:25.622-06:00Favourite Reads of 2013 - Much BelatedAs 2014 draws to a close and I guiltily take up the blogging mantle once more (I last posted in March, eek!), I give you my favourite books of 2013. Wait, what? Yes, I've been so negligent about blogging that I never shared my favourite books last year. Alas. But, the beauty of books is that a good book will continue to be a good book even as time passes, so all those below are still heartily recommended by me.<br />
<br />
(PS. I will try to blog more regularly in 2015! I will post my list of favourite 2014 books very soon.)<br />
<br />
<b>Books Published in 2013</b><br />
<br />
I didn't read as many new books in 2013 as I did in 2012, but here are two fantastic YA reads.<br />
<b> </b><br />
<br />
<i><b>Rose Under Fire</b></i><b>, Elizabeth Wein</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNywZVrmz_XpSqlswIe17xsa8rXuTc1-3xsMO3mTYUBC5smCVQubjFkrSa4CIUsAmnRJGZDen3h8skA69BkYxpgJFbFFYBDs91iOf-YJxIeDmz76vJl_D_i6H9IlFYK06o5vhOLHB0uo/s1600/roseunderfire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNywZVrmz_XpSqlswIe17xsa8rXuTc1-3xsMO3mTYUBC5smCVQubjFkrSa4CIUsAmnRJGZDen3h8skA69BkYxpgJFbFFYBDs91iOf-YJxIeDmz76vJl_D_i6H9IlFYK06o5vhOLHB0uo/s1600/roseunderfire.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a>You may recall that I loved Wein's 2012 novel <i>Code Name Verity</i> to bits (<a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/review-code-name-verity-by-elizabeth.html" target="_blank">review</a>). I also loved <i>Rose Under Fire</i>, which I read most of over the course of one evening and the wee hours of the morning in a steadily cooling bath. This novel is also set during World War II and features Rose Justice, a young American pilot who works for the British Air Transport Auxiliary. On her return from a mission in France, she finds herself forced into German airspace by the Luftwaffe and is interned at Ravensbrück, the most famous women's concentration camp, home to political prisoners, Poles, and spies. Ravensbrück, horrifyingly, was also the site of Nazi medical experimentation on Polish women, who identified as test "Rabbits". Due to the clever structure of the novel, you learn quite quickly that Rose survives Ravensbrück. Mostly, I found myself anxious about the plight of the other women in the camp, who become Rose's friends and family-of-choice. Their fates are unknown, and they have already suffered so much. Despite these experiences, these women support each other, teach each other, share art with each other. I did not want any more horror to be visited upon them. <i>Code Name Verity</i> made me sob buckets of tears; <i>Rose Under Fire</i> didn't, but at the very end, I cried just a little bit out of heartbreaking hope.<br />
<br />
You find out about the fates of some of the characters from <i>Code Name Verity</i> in this stand-alone novel. You don't need to read <i>CNV</i> first, but I would recommend it.<br />
<br />
(On a personal note, last year I had the opportunity to meet Elizabeth Wein in person at the annual SCBWI British Isles conference in Winchester, which was a dream come true!)<br />
<br />
<i><b>Vango: Between Earth and Sky</b></i><b>, Timoth</b><b>ée de Fombelle</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmqK3MeY4JT3DQd8cRWoWS8ve2a9dVpJuQBGQOk9aQRDGUVk8vOES45r3vObkV02s2aS1WyF2dRxF6d8ySJsKHzWj6L_2ElINVj5aT6If2AjYwz1ZY1y21r52c_b8s0OPM7aSf2-xMK24/s1600/vango.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmqK3MeY4JT3DQd8cRWoWS8ve2a9dVpJuQBGQOk9aQRDGUVk8vOES45r3vObkV02s2aS1WyF2dRxF6d8ySJsKHzWj6L_2ElINVj5aT6If2AjYwz1ZY1y21r52c_b8s0OPM7aSf2-xMK24/s1600/vango.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a>This novel was first published in English in 2013<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview710655639"></span></span>. I was first drawn to the novel by its fantastic cover (carried over from the original French edition). How could you not want to read a book with this cover? A young man on the run, Paris, a zeppelin? Here's what I said about the novel in my Goodreads review:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview710655639">Amazing! Just about the
best inter-war international caper you could imagine. Vango is on the
run, accused of a crime he didn't commit, being chased down by French
police and Soviet hitmen. Part of the book takes place on the Graf
Zeppelin and there's a heroine who lives in a Scottish castle, drives a
race car, and wear slacks Katherine Hepburn style. Plus, somehow Stalin
is connected to all of this.</span></span><b> </b></blockquote>
I read much of this book curled up in front of the fire in a cottage in Penzance. This past June, I had was able to hear the author and translator discuss the portrayal of war in young adult fiction at the offices of Walker Books in London, at an event put on by IBBY.<br />
<br />
<b>Books Published Pre-2013</b><br />
<br />
<b>Young Adult</b><br />
<br />
<i><b>Long Lankin</b></i><b>, Lindsey Barraclough</b><b> </b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaHFyRGCn5V8jH_6-FVOgHHli0lfsIoXUZ9uyM6r0P50SHvy8dCt8f9Kj6tdNQFu7vYfzAf8AdnwR_qJ0reOEgqqA4FfZ96JQIdoXgsEe3R5HGZ_Z8Kq9_AAagQGLJnygKi53-WjHjuEc/s1600/longlankin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaHFyRGCn5V8jH_6-FVOgHHli0lfsIoXUZ9uyM6r0P50SHvy8dCt8f9Kj6tdNQFu7vYfzAf8AdnwR_qJ0reOEgqqA4FfZ96JQIdoXgsEe3R5HGZ_Z8Kq9_AAagQGLJnygKi53-WjHjuEc/s1600/longlankin.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div>
<i>Long Lankin</i> is a fantastic, post-war Britain ghost story, with undercurrents of M.R. James-style horror. Cora and her younger sister Mimi are sent from
their East London flat in 1958 to stay with their Aunt Ida in her
crumbling ancestral home in the Essex marshes. While there, they
befriend Roger and his family and set out to solve the mystery of why
strange ghostly children appear in the nearby churchyard and why all the
windows and doors of Guerdon Hall must be kept shut and locked at all
times. It soon becomes clear that Mimi, Cora's little sister, is in
grave danger. This is a novel based on the ballad "Long Lankin", which is printed at
the beginning of the book. Knowing the ballad makes the novel more
chilling but doesn't give the plot away. (My full review<a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/review-long-lankin-by-lindsey.html" target="_blank"> here.</a>)<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>The Fault in Our Stars</i>, John Green</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOTtD5lFusBXdInjvZhPwPec1gAJem1JRM8tYEZdHWeUwJwwbF0ZGMUft3D7t9FJyTis9XU5A-1USE642pkzAwS0V3tA005r5-sr1y2Ir2NhERZX74hedzvtc7jct0o86KT7Lmxie9L10/s1600/thefaultinourstars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOTtD5lFusBXdInjvZhPwPec1gAJem1JRM8tYEZdHWeUwJwwbF0ZGMUft3D7t9FJyTis9XU5A-1USE642pkzAwS0V3tA005r5-sr1y2Ir2NhERZX74hedzvtc7jct0o86KT7Lmxie9L10/s1600/thefaultinourstars.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a>This enormously popularly novel (and now film adaptation) perhaps doesn't need any more recommending. However, I still urge you to read it, if you haven't already, because it is a wonderful novel. It is narrated by Hazel, a teenager with metastatic, terminal cancer, who falls in love with Augustus Waters, an amputee and cancer survivor. You will need tissues. But you will also laugh (a lot). This is a smart novel about what matters in life, and what it is like to refuse to be defined by an illness.<br />
<b> </b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i> Eleanor and Park</i>, Rainbow Rowell</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2Ln4f6IkH4Mbv2Kktv4WyMRkpgQn5b36vs-zuAmgZtowc8sNenF9sL2h4_EMU7WBprIqpmSZ8MN1HZGsH_YXjHqTZBeaa6k3S7-tCKy5ScOtRdCKPHxTtVqhyphenhyphene9A7AU3DG1FVHbis2I/s1600/eleanorandpark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2Ln4f6IkH4Mbv2Kktv4WyMRkpgQn5b36vs-zuAmgZtowc8sNenF9sL2h4_EMU7WBprIqpmSZ8MN1HZGsH_YXjHqTZBeaa6k3S7-tCKy5ScOtRdCKPHxTtVqhyphenhyphene9A7AU3DG1FVHbis2I/s1600/eleanorandpark.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
You will also need tissues for <i>Eleanor and Park</i>, which is also wonderfully funny and sad. It takes place in 1986 (the year I was born), and tells the story the teenage outsiders who fall in love trading comics and mix tapes back and forth. It is delightful.<b> </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The novel has an ambiguous ending, which I have decided is hopeful, based on the reference in the last chapter to Park and Eleanor both having finished the <i>Watchmen</i> series.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Middle Grade</b><br />
<br />
<b><i>A Face Like Glass</i>, Frances Hardinge</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJO_AJXWmsvl6YNUVxMlF30JCnQmljUaKSGl2JKdotw52tZsGAEbWMJI9SqsctWvgLKWuXmNlgaZfnot1rufGh17g_aMFpVg35DfdjF4Cn2YuRJBZgGL5FWsK4WeO4IWaLVLvi0At2Pz4/s1600/facelikeglass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJO_AJXWmsvl6YNUVxMlF30JCnQmljUaKSGl2JKdotw52tZsGAEbWMJI9SqsctWvgLKWuXmNlgaZfnot1rufGh17g_aMFpVg35DfdjF4Cn2YuRJBZgGL5FWsK4WeO4IWaLVLvi0At2Pz4/s1600/facelikeglass.jpg" height="200" width="126" /></a>In the cave city of Caverna, everyone lies because no one shows their real emotions upon their faces. The richer you are, the more mask-like expressions you can be taught, and the better able you are to deceive. Until Neverfell arrives, who wears her heart on her face, as it were. A wonderful novel about cheese, family, and friendship, with wonderful twists. <span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextContainerreview522296875">
I kept thinking to myself, "This is brilliant, brilliant, brilliant",
through the last 60 or so pages of this book. It's as if Dickens had
run wild with a fantasy world.</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Best Victorian Novel</b><br />
<br />
<b><i>Bleak House</i>, Charles Dickens</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaTlVGi4IDAsmJ1yD8UP737DhIguo0EnvzBMf9vHBr_UJmRpsGL8pCafCOyWuIOeBofVCHldGAhy6IpPXnuIWflKNFXHbizfmauE1ma3owT6MoATAujh499Y0qlzNtzb1TS_JArySFV3g/s1600/bleakhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaTlVGi4IDAsmJ1yD8UP737DhIguo0EnvzBMf9vHBr_UJmRpsGL8pCafCOyWuIOeBofVCHldGAhy6IpPXnuIWflKNFXHbizfmauE1ma3owT6MoATAujh499Y0qlzNtzb1TS_JArySFV3g/s1600/bleakhouse.jpg" height="200" width="123" /></a></div>
I finally got around to reading through <i>Bleak House </i>in 2013, having been a fan of the BBC adaptation for years. Reading this novel is a time commitment, but a most fulfilling one. I think <i>Bleak House</i> is my new favourite Dickens novel (though perhaps it's tied with <i>Great Expectations...</i>).<b> </b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Non-Fiction</b><br />
<br />
<b><i>The Victorian House</i> and <i>The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London</i></b><i>, </i><b>Judith Flanders</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE6yN9_-vHbRK1n0JtzS3Xm1WA0dh15NNhyphenhyphenwNa9KSKyH0nBlwf2wr9sllmA0AXSK0FJno6IqPFm3lZttcPUIP_Jw9G8kn5iOEKNLQ89lJ_h6-0Vj2TLOlouhz3tY7xPtK-9615RWpX-4o/s1600/victoriancity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE6yN9_-vHbRK1n0JtzS3Xm1WA0dh15NNhyphenhyphenwNa9KSKyH0nBlwf2wr9sllmA0AXSK0FJno6IqPFm3lZttcPUIP_Jw9G8kn5iOEKNLQ89lJ_h6-0Vj2TLOlouhz3tY7xPtK-9615RWpX-4o/s1600/victoriancity.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCA3pTa90rVpXWm7Nm6jaEU9uljlsTpEIdj_mRDdqCVX0aJ3Z5inhCwmKIqAh365ts1sRIfyF_HwX4JsOApPb2idLcc_o0oCBGTJIdUpQKfo_KsoKyafmkA8LzSafQ6V-W6St5X8uhs6M/s1600/victorianhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCA3pTa90rVpXWm7Nm6jaEU9uljlsTpEIdj_mRDdqCVX0aJ3Z5inhCwmKIqAh365ts1sRIfyF_HwX4JsOApPb2idLcc_o0oCBGTJIdUpQKfo_KsoKyafmkA8LzSafQ6V-W6St5X8uhs6M/s1600/victorianhouse.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div>
Here is a pair of books about the Victorians - both at home and out and about in London - that is wonderfully informative and entertaining. I learned the significance of so many throwaway comments and descriptions I had come across while reading Victorian novels. I learned that the Victorians didn't have bedside tables (!), that in a middle-class household like Thomas and Jane Carlyle's, a woman had to pitch in with her maid of all work just to keep the house running. I learned that one of the jobs of an omnibus driver in the age of crinolines was to make sure a woman's skirt didn't flip up as she entered the bus, that the street was an incredibly noisy place in Victorian London, and that fires were major public events.<br />
<br />
<b><i>The Emperor of All Maladies</i>, Siddhartha Mukherjee</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghTdN7yKCixWiuYXbkKSfqKT4iR3sWyK8mtO_E1zicLoAallnUns-WNJKd51jXYub5Ncg_3UQQujfvBXiZ_pV8biXF3iG1UVkTdEuX302hj479rLl7_0dA8ugrp9eo5TwH0BeILt5yRjQ/s1600/emperorofallmaladies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghTdN7yKCixWiuYXbkKSfqKT4iR3sWyK8mtO_E1zicLoAallnUns-WNJKd51jXYub5Ncg_3UQQujfvBXiZ_pV8biXF3iG1UVkTdEuX302hj479rLl7_0dA8ugrp9eo5TwH0BeILt5yRjQ/s1600/emperorofallmaladies.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
This is a fascinating, horrifying, and ultimately hopeful "biography" of cancer. It makes for absolutely riveting reading<b> </b>as Mukherjee tracks the history of cancer and the various ways humans have learned to treat it. I know now that cancer is not one, monolithic disease, but rather a multitude of individual diseases, each with its own behaviour and treatment. The most horrifying chapter is the one on the craze for radical mastectomy; the most hopeful one discusses the genetic treatments for cancers that should be developed in the coming years, as the genetic profiles of various cancers are mapped.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World</i>, Mark Williams and Danny Penman</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBkudYffpeUzXSkkdroOgDJACwd3r5AZr-1CcxDXxRo2fxUJHFYDJqpCGKqAzkvQnTjRhGhXexYHOXXaHfGlj6ooh8Y0DtkyShpQIOQTVse_aZTrgm6PPJi-GImvB-3x8mvMjvgfCm_24/s1600/mindfulness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBkudYffpeUzXSkkdroOgDJACwd3r5AZr-1CcxDXxRo2fxUJHFYDJqpCGKqAzkvQnTjRhGhXexYHOXXaHfGlj6ooh8Y0DtkyShpQIOQTVse_aZTrgm6PPJi-GImvB-3x8mvMjvgfCm_24/s1600/mindfulness.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a>I don't want to fall into clichés, but this was perhaps the most life-changing book I read in 2013. Because of this book, I have a much better sense of the relationship between the brain, thoughts, emotions, and the body and how stress impacts on the connections between them. Because of this book, I try to (emphasis on <i>try</i>) meditate twice daily and can sometimes interrupt the cycle of negative, unhelpful thoughts<b> </b>we all deal with from time to time. I'll talk more about mindfulness in another post, and why I love it, but this would be a helpful book for anyone in a graduate programme. (There's a reason this book was one of the top ten bestsellers at Blackwell's flagship Oxford store<br />
this past year).<br />
<br />
<b>Re-Reads</b><br />
<br />
<b><i>Villette</i>, Charlotte Brontë</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLnLyuGo7Rrb_g_fK_-5tfzITyCMOCQUTfqaDAnI2YzKGxayA0oiB5HpAu0FxHqRktUwweHAIUbNTmPddqNfkSR8ibnBOoAEtZ7Yx0j1zg2NMHHzAhQgDGMsRAF3Ta6YGli9MFUEzbuo/s1600/villette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLnLyuGo7Rrb_g_fK_-5tfzITyCMOCQUTfqaDAnI2YzKGxayA0oiB5HpAu0FxHqRktUwweHAIUbNTmPddqNfkSR8ibnBOoAEtZ7Yx0j1zg2NMHHzAhQgDGMsRAF3Ta6YGli9MFUEzbuo/s1600/villette.jpg" height="200" width="126" /></a>I first read Charlotte Brontë's final novel back in 2008, when I realised I wanted to write a Brontë-related Master's thesis. On first reading, I found narrator Lucy Snowe's narration rather opaque, and really depressing. Since then, I've read a lot of criticism on the novel, pointing out its unreliable narration, its gaps and disruptions. On rereading the novel in 2013, so that I could write on it for my DPhil thesis, I enjoyed the novel much more. Below the surface of Lucy's hypochondriac, traumatised narrating voice are depths of humour and passion that hadn't been evident to me before.<b> </b><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>Daughter of Smoke and Bone</i>, Laini Taylor</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUTQNKqOlJ_7shXlqI1Eqeva9yZchEGT6yEtRu8gAuCfQWXZmLse1KzxqwsEbiQIuHooDAAo7udlwQxa_DqxrnbIEcSJAfHIiJXH5adkCmur3301a0cj-PnGfFEm_haRQaNcaQHKycijo/s1600/daughter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUTQNKqOlJ_7shXlqI1Eqeva9yZchEGT6yEtRu8gAuCfQWXZmLse1KzxqwsEbiQIuHooDAAo7udlwQxa_DqxrnbIEcSJAfHIiJXH5adkCmur3301a0cj-PnGfFEm_haRQaNcaQHKycijo/s1600/daughter.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a>Having very much enjoyed this novel on first reading in 2011, one day in 2013 I was seized with a craving to read it again. I read a bit more slowly, soaking in the beautiful language, not quite as compelled to rush through the cleverly structured plot. I basked in the history of the world Taylor created and marvelled at her star-crossed lovers' love and hope. Well worth reading a second (or third, or fourth) time.<b> </b>Here's a <a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/review-days-of-blood-and-starlight-by.html" target="_blank">link</a> to my VERY SPOILERY review of the first two volumes in the trilogy.<br />
<b> <i> </i></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>The Golden Compass/Northern Lights</i>, Philip Pullman </b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf2dd0H9NvLqS3wJEY16WuSqs6dhsW0U_8weBgjHwWecsFKcNqShIS-Gq5v-Ao8SBtueexBD__cGgi6fcz9JA9lvg-SnVYOIDWGeLbTn8_T7gttpZTyeiaWHKp4rszx0d8WLhZwklj7xQ/s1600/goldencompass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf2dd0H9NvLqS3wJEY16WuSqs6dhsW0U_8weBgjHwWecsFKcNqShIS-Gq5v-Ao8SBtueexBD__cGgi6fcz9JA9lvg-SnVYOIDWGeLbTn8_T7gttpZTyeiaWHKp4rszx0d8WLhZwklj7xQ/s1600/goldencompass.jpg" height="200" width="134" /></a></div>
I reread <i>The Golden Compass</i> for an undergraduate dissertation I supervised last year. I had such an enjoyable time going back through the whole <i>His Dark Materials</i> trilogy. When I first read it as a 14-year-old prairie girl, I could only imagine Oxford as a rather old city. I had never read Blake or Milton. Having now lived in Oxford, and read more, the trilogy felt richer to me as a literary text and what had been geographically marvellous on first reading, was now both familiar and defamiliarised by Pullman's clever tweaks to real-world Oxford. I found one particular moment of high stakes danger more horrifying as an adult than I had as a teenager (you may be able to guess which bit I'm referring to if you've read the book - it involves a guillotine-like structure).<br />
<br />
Past Favourite Reads lists: <a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/favourite-books-of-2011.html" target="_blank">2011</a>; <a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/favourite-reads-of-2012.html" target="_blank">2012</a>.Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-47902696227437207532014-03-19T14:15:00.003-06:002014-03-19T14:15:21.413-06:00A Break in Cornwall<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In October, we took a long weekend trip to Penzance in Cornwall. We had a lovely rail journey, as part of the track runs right along the shore (we almost certainly traversed the portion of the track which has since been destroyed at Dawlish in the recent late-winter storms). We stayed in a Grade II-listed eighteenth-century town house on historic Chapel Street. The house was much bigger than our flat, with three floors and two separate living areas. We had to shout to each other to figure out who was where. We made great use of the fireplace and the two cozy armchairs in the living room and one night watched <i>The Big Lebowski</i>, which was in the DVD collection.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The first two things we noticed about Penzance were 1) that it smelled of sea salt (which reminded me of a family trip to the Canadian Maritimes) and 2) there were palm trees! (because Penzance is in a sub-tropical zone).</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGYBQeDs2i3AVdDGih6hmdXTmv2iM9SSaf7GmDMk3ddL6HrG7kG4LmFli9tsDct_FFy5DjRLeNjFF07DUxASMMvnlqlkeFmXqzHx2yU4XGJ2tZZL1NdHqBl4Xc_mJScMSmqNkPZWsGo2I/s1600/2013-10-18+16.42.43.jpg" height="480" width="640" /> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We were also just steps away from the house Maria Branwell, the mother of the Brontes, grew up in. Further up the street was the old Wesleyan Methodist chapel, which I suppose they must have attended (the Branwell were Methodists before the sect split off from the Church of England). </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYd6POP_NUg6sY623pHg7Dy_Hm9a9qHfMxsr5HxIm-amj6Cn-VozTu4Q0FYfcLWKwaba-nd_ro4AqbVeldToccW6w2kFZOvpNhCsVL5ji_MXc9nxNDO5qwAMDUTyL9mQkdK486b5TNqDc/s1600/20131019_120720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYd6POP_NUg6sY623pHg7Dy_Hm9a9qHfMxsr5HxIm-amj6Cn-VozTu4Q0FYfcLWKwaba-nd_ro4AqbVeldToccW6w2kFZOvpNhCsVL5ji_MXc9nxNDO5qwAMDUTyL9mQkdK486b5TNqDc/s1600/20131019_120720.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
Other than relaxing by the fire with books, Tim and I did two awesome seaside walks. First we set out to the east for Mousehole (pronounced Mow-zel, I don't know why) via Newlyn. Here we go along the promenade at low tide.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyY0Vemy0fIKSuQGelrrQk0XSeDMrngIBPV9EY9p3eHfn-qkxqz67OjO_EhSYOOqiHt8Ia3U0cySfb3o-SXBiz8CFo0st1NF1IM75g5iYv4D1wtvu33oX0QvHWmNyZPcLC83DBU5ji9U4/s1600/20131019_120725.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyY0Vemy0fIKSuQGelrrQk0XSeDMrngIBPV9EY9p3eHfn-qkxqz67OjO_EhSYOOqiHt8Ia3U0cySfb3o-SXBiz8CFo0st1NF1IM75g5iYv4D1wtvu33oX0QvHWmNyZPcLC83DBU5ji9U4/s1600/20131019_120725.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYtX-RxVPRanNO9Hj4K4dFkscG-l9vdmEsAhcUixNR4kt2FZvOBogsJeH1TJ2P9owa9hdFHtouOYb6DYyJ82AmnATOb9wlIoiPzqhBiJx-w0v5Tbw1dQ5sE9ihlgRmqy90ARyWA9_FIqA/s1600/20131019_125018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYtX-RxVPRanNO9Hj4K4dFkscG-l9vdmEsAhcUixNR4kt2FZvOBogsJeH1TJ2P9owa9hdFHtouOYb6DYyJ82AmnATOb9wlIoiPzqhBiJx-w0v5Tbw1dQ5sE9ihlgRmqy90ARyWA9_FIqA/s1600/20131019_125018.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
Mousehole was delightful, set on a hill and surrounding a harbour. Tim stopped at a pub and had the catch of the day. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYWdLToLaDbryIBtHqz0E69Wz6WDSt0UXQxvx-XC3hGewdG1PEkhHbeE65PrQbHKAuDYGkX9D23kv2faOVmVZ4qsXqN-2zss7SOrUjS0ZhxIbzzM11z5SeF35Mc99Ub8deaJ3UNcAQbVk/s1600/20131020_125838.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYWdLToLaDbryIBtHqz0E69Wz6WDSt0UXQxvx-XC3hGewdG1PEkhHbeE65PrQbHKAuDYGkX9D23kv2faOVmVZ4qsXqN-2zss7SOrUjS0ZhxIbzzM11z5SeF35Mc99Ub8deaJ3UNcAQbVk/s1600/20131020_125838.jpg" height="360" width="640" /> </a>The next day, we headed out in the other direction, for St Michael's Mount, just off the coast at Marazion. You can see town and castle/island in this picture. It was quite breezy that day, so we also got to enjoy watching the kitesurfers as we walked along. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPQQDfbpsG9Xx78K17noUMTCkIWjZOzpNkXFfu_xQIyH71hCpeTj2keO9gieYVM6cXzY99ySb3XbQZs34QoidZmx1JuIieVThSbfzIZfThJ-73h4_5K7x7YAPzqH_H0_jOw36s3VJwGbo/s1600/20131020_133537.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPQQDfbpsG9Xx78K17noUMTCkIWjZOzpNkXFfu_xQIyH71hCpeTj2keO9gieYVM6cXzY99ySb3XbQZs34QoidZmx1JuIieVThSbfzIZfThJ-73h4_5K7x7YAPzqH_H0_jOw36s3VJwGbo/s1600/20131020_133537.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
We had checked the low tide time the day before to make sure we could walk across the causeway to the island. Usually, you can take a boat back to the mainland at high tide, but for whatever reason, it wasn't in operation on the day of our visit and the castle closed early that day, so we mostly just walked around the grounds for a bit, and then headed back across the causeway without seeing the castle itself. Alas. We'll just need to visit again someday.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkuILstCMR5vL5iD4xrZo2gg0TorBePGzqoa1P0-l0Vpqa71Yz4V0OA0z9YsVmCNj04z3ojBwrjys1hDlePiynkRqYkHPRPF3gl65OW_u26xZjoxTsinNaSjpVYMqcqSjPVcBr0w8w78/s1600/20131020_140242.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkuILstCMR5vL5iD4xrZo2gg0TorBePGzqoa1P0-l0Vpqa71Yz4V0OA0z9YsVmCNj04z3ojBwrjys1hDlePiynkRqYkHPRPF3gl65OW_u26xZjoxTsinNaSjpVYMqcqSjPVcBr0w8w78/s1600/20131020_140242.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
In Marazion, heading back to Penzance, with palm trees! If you find yourself with the opportunity to visit Cornwall, I'd certainly recommend it. It was a lovely place for a seaside break, even in October.Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-70101630714711803752014-03-12T15:36:00.000-06:002014-03-12T15:36:33.621-06:00Coming Out of Hibernation<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi68k1XJX8Mrs_6Irphf7fbMnTQIXm2pobJ7D0DnRSDtc56Lp6XErcV3I4BHVvHSVb2vTUyteosGCNKPUnwH0TCBnMSa_hbeJ9sH7Fjh9o26CWsXxUccxVLIiZxy-X-jXLQhiOzEdInVHA/s1600/DSCN2670.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi68k1XJX8Mrs_6Irphf7fbMnTQIXm2pobJ7D0DnRSDtc56Lp6XErcV3I4BHVvHSVb2vTUyteosGCNKPUnwH0TCBnMSa_hbeJ9sH7Fjh9o26CWsXxUccxVLIiZxy-X-jXLQhiOzEdInVHA/s1600/DSCN2670.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daffodils and blossoming tree in the churchyard of St Leonard's, Eynsham</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Well, hello, hello, hasn't it been a long time since I updated? A scandalously long time, in fact. I have decided my best excuse is that I was hibernating and now that it is spring (or, at least, it was very springy on Sunday), I had better get back to it.<br />
<br />
I suppose the real reasons for lack of posting were partly born out of busy-ness, as this term I have prepared and submitted all my materials for the Confirmation of my DPhil status, and I am currently racing towards the completion of a full draft (!) of my thesis. I'm also still submitting my YA fantasy novel to literary agents, and should be pushing ahead on the first draft of a new novel.<br />
<br />
In the coming days and weeks, I plan to post on<br />
<ul>
<li>my experiences on the third year of the DPhil and the work/writing/life strategies that are currently working for me</li>
<li>2013, the year that was (including the best books I read last year)</li>
<li>our recent travels to Cornwall, Munich, Vienna, and Prague</li>
</ul>
Until then, a few more pictures from our walk up the Thames Path to the deliciously cute village of Eynsham.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhceFJm6qymj2GbLOnO0kXrNdzHRuArTVrXe3yaDXqi7q3cbkNgIfuKBF19VOMfuHl-zTKSgjXzBpVOkItFQ8vcjBG_vwyRGxs8oSDKm4_gAkizIdVR8q2Ky8GMDLTKnhVk1OSI5grRKQ/s1600/DSCN2657.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhceFJm6qymj2GbLOnO0kXrNdzHRuArTVrXe3yaDXqi7q3cbkNgIfuKBF19VOMfuHl-zTKSgjXzBpVOkItFQ8vcjBG_vwyRGxs8oSDKm4_gAkizIdVR8q2Ky8GMDLTKnhVk1OSI5grRKQ/s1600/DSCN2657.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Thames path, rather muddy in places, but dry here.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyc2BComihZl358wxbuq03pY4lYSUmhMuZeHJzLgr56fRNHXJcuYraLjaYUCVFu20SX5wZQceFbALLeocl1JtI_3_ixDUdErCzLnwqDyupvn7oIc0Yy78qoNgDOSfnTjCbBsfAlMt7pAU/s1600/DSCN2662.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyc2BComihZl358wxbuq03pY4lYSUmhMuZeHJzLgr56fRNHXJcuYraLjaYUCVFu20SX5wZQceFbALLeocl1JtI_3_ixDUdErCzLnwqDyupvn7oIc0Yy78qoNgDOSfnTjCbBsfAlMt7pAU/s1600/DSCN2662.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 18th-century toll bridge at Swinford. Still charges a measly 5 p per car at the bottom. Free for pedestrians and cyclists, however.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjscWPAr5X_DU4rZT3rhcoS0_spdsE-5sZsbwPwRQSqSuLAxGe2Dqw1e7oUgpPjM9jjeWpI2c1ibcW6Ys05ti6Q1AyoYfgw3FqcJECrfZkkWcbQ4h-PVZ73IyB4Q6logvGkx8nPRylwNWY/s1600/DSCN2666.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjscWPAr5X_DU4rZT3rhcoS0_spdsE-5sZsbwPwRQSqSuLAxGe2Dqw1e7oUgpPjM9jjeWpI2c1ibcW6Ys05ti6Q1AyoYfgw3FqcJECrfZkkWcbQ4h-PVZ73IyB4Q6logvGkx8nPRylwNWY/s1600/DSCN2666.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tower of St Leonard's church in Eynsham</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-13050092133316022312013-12-23T06:25:00.000-06:002013-12-23T06:25:24.230-06:00Bristol Day-TripHello, hello, poor neglected blog! Three months is a long time between posts, so now that I'm sort of on Christmas vacation, I will try to catch you up on my Michaelmas adventures - DPhil strategies that mostly seemed to work and trip pictures - as well as the standard end-of-the-year "Best Books" post (which I can't write yet because I'm still reading!) and goals for 2014 (namely: Submit Thesis).<br />
<br />
The best way to slide back into blog posting is to share some pretty pictures, so I'll start with shots from our November anniversary day-trip to Bristol, which was great fun.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7h97PTJqBodspfVogldO2qd-gHdRZEvDgjx1h2V9a5pUPHHOF5LDQBhwevQzNqkq5-UIa1VnsWEA7zbTfqHgFOuCEiYiTkDa760Kq9X1ZYOH9RR8uDPNEvrYm-5owAPXf4j0DKZRtWDI/s1600/DSCN2547.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7h97PTJqBodspfVogldO2qd-gHdRZEvDgjx1h2V9a5pUPHHOF5LDQBhwevQzNqkq5-UIa1VnsWEA7zbTfqHgFOuCEiYiTkDa760Kq9X1ZYOH9RR8uDPNEvrYm-5owAPXf4j0DKZRtWDI/s640/DSCN2547.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Upon arriving in Bristol, we headed to the furthest afield site we were interested in: the suspension bridge at Clifton, designed by good old Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. (Actually, there's a bit of a Brunel theme to the whole trip.) We walked across half the bridge. Apparently there are great trails on the other side of the Avon gorge but we didn't have enough time to explore them. Next time, perhaps.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLc16z248kzD6qTyhsSbil-hFMaTuVguiGlHDq5Mx6BZIi639gqV7QQOyOGdLaDS8BuoDm3ZHw6_MWNp7-eq7gfF-5hQynK-KxLiQqcxCDqNLBHRHCbPTGfgbLXv6qP8OjeeLYtmaP19Q/s1600/DSCN2548.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLc16z248kzD6qTyhsSbil-hFMaTuVguiGlHDq5Mx6BZIi639gqV7QQOyOGdLaDS8BuoDm3ZHw6_MWNp7-eq7gfF-5hQynK-KxLiQqcxCDqNLBHRHCbPTGfgbLXv6qP8OjeeLYtmaP19Q/s640/DSCN2548.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
We checked out the bridge from the hill the Clifton Observatory sits on. As you can see, the observatory was all fenced off, so we couldn't explore inside. Alas.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwRoRhUeRSNrfgGw7Mxzh3RQ1tAJwrbUdEwQ-v2sfKDMPcIfXGz8LApbcxTKci4UaAh_0cqQaODlf2HFDyTe37QMTfAlkD5rVns1bT94sJeMM-w5NLzQehVVkBu9YfA2-r-Y_2-0ijJjw/s1600/DSCN2554.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwRoRhUeRSNrfgGw7Mxzh3RQ1tAJwrbUdEwQ-v2sfKDMPcIfXGz8LApbcxTKci4UaAh_0cqQaODlf2HFDyTe37QMTfAlkD5rVns1bT94sJeMM-w5NLzQehVVkBu9YfA2-r-Y_2-0ijJjw/s640/DSCN2554.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjgz6suERVcVmUQ2bW0PcCaubeDHUhDJbYoSeu_SqZxYXWyr4gACOpeNlhh3d3fezGrTZI3qv5VAPpAbFCI5Ak3FfmncxtydXSb_PwlmAFIGmemR4zrzckIwFOvyxzEtw7sWrjVHvs_oI/s1600/DSCN2557.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjgz6suERVcVmUQ2bW0PcCaubeDHUhDJbYoSeu_SqZxYXWyr4gACOpeNlhh3d3fezGrTZI3qv5VAPpAbFCI5Ak3FfmncxtydXSb_PwlmAFIGmemR4zrzckIwFOvyxzEtw7sWrjVHvs_oI/s640/DSCN2557.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Then we headed down through Clifton to the harbour, passing delightful (and very expensive) row houses along the way.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJFuG-XtPsksPRL_yW0-kjUPCVfvYF8_rgR9tjIdlmi_jUVOhY1hkxm4d48lZ0maWe3Q_Q3hFS-urGG8xbLC_804guc-wu2yXMKWbVnWcNpU7Nawt9PGDtuGnVfS7oP9V3paD16XAXiQ/s1600/DSCN2559.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJFuG-XtPsksPRL_yW0-kjUPCVfvYF8_rgR9tjIdlmi_jUVOhY1hkxm4d48lZ0maWe3Q_Q3hFS-urGG8xbLC_804guc-wu2yXMKWbVnWcNpU7Nawt9PGDtuGnVfS7oP9V3paD16XAXiQ/s640/DSCN2559.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
We made a point of popping into one particular courtyard to see the blue plaque on the building where Thomas Beddoes had his Pneumatic Institute in the late eighteenth century. Tim wrote his MA thesis on Beddoes, who was also a Clifton doctor.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVsKvZ3c3Hg_DknCvfCYbYJveSAS0BWW1nHqm4ujuGGKPF7_ZKZMlGiupjYncrKdm4dyeDRJBR-CFmb32vgTAl_nmQXNm-Wia6Q-Pifjl3PigayaoNlleDEtU4hER0W-vz14PZ-HyLpt4/s1600/DSCN2573.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVsKvZ3c3Hg_DknCvfCYbYJveSAS0BWW1nHqm4ujuGGKPF7_ZKZMlGiupjYncrKdm4dyeDRJBR-CFmb32vgTAl_nmQXNm-Wia6Q-Pifjl3PigayaoNlleDEtU4hER0W-vz14PZ-HyLpt4/s640/DSCN2573.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu-h32d1lEl0rKYYB6WWEagWYgI1zcAohoCW0-x6v1p0-K2biJ5tTvYoPcroJTNZpBQtVUxJqRSjryjjAG7uH9pw6_rRU6pIX0FGtQkgkTa_hAyIeXAbPbyimfvCBRiYUPz_ScUiaKSms/s1600/DSCN2575.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu-h32d1lEl0rKYYB6WWEagWYgI1zcAohoCW0-x6v1p0-K2biJ5tTvYoPcroJTNZpBQtVUxJqRSjryjjAG7uH9pw6_rRU6pIX0FGtQkgkTa_hAyIeXAbPbyimfvCBRiYUPz_ScUiaKSms/s640/DSCN2575.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Q_ytI6GGgKZUURUm5DV96mGKe6dKMIxiwVNWZ1SFZSndEYL_yEfBvEQVA4NBInjph0-BBO_qDFvRDIdSisspw6bfnIUtlJltE0VWopM4yCM-N0I-GSj7qVI5boOne5VKtKf1bHb9xdM/s1600/DSCN2579.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Q_ytI6GGgKZUURUm5DV96mGKe6dKMIxiwVNWZ1SFZSndEYL_yEfBvEQVA4NBInjph0-BBO_qDFvRDIdSisspw6bfnIUtlJltE0VWopM4yCM-N0I-GSj7qVI5boOne5VKtKf1bHb9xdM/s640/DSCN2579.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Bristol's harbour was rather lovely and housed, in permanent dry dock, Brunel's S.S. Great Britain, which you can tour inside and out after a great deal of restoration work. The ship was the first to combine an iron hull with a screw-driven propellor. In the 1930s, it was scuttled off the coast of the Falkland islands, but in 1970 the ship was raised and floated back to Bristol, where it had originally been built and launched. As you can see, the hull has taken quite a beating from being immersed in salt water for decades, so it is now kept in very dry conditions to keep the iron from rusting any quicker than it needs to. The interior is set up to resemble the ship's days as an immigrant ship to Australia.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YwsZXRWevyDmyOVI3FtgGhNqpAf32tlYtOMgRGCTP0mcVn_l6vHoarrKrNWsi91CBbIFhbYnkwvYYP_kp2HPLbiZgUZqNoG3yBtW9mjYmEilP19LI1DxTHbelHM_IFcstH4Go9S4BD4/s1600/DSCN2585.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YwsZXRWevyDmyOVI3FtgGhNqpAf32tlYtOMgRGCTP0mcVn_l6vHoarrKrNWsi91CBbIFhbYnkwvYYP_kp2HPLbiZgUZqNoG3yBtW9mjYmEilP19LI1DxTHbelHM_IFcstH4Go9S4BD4/s640/DSCN2585.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Bristol Cathedral. We met a very friendly verger on the way in, whose wife was Canadian. We knew he must be connected to Canada because it was Remembrance Day and he was wearing a Canadian poppy, rather than a British one, and had secured it using a little Canada flag label pin.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8beQdRx3Q_86TaB7LbWbiRSBNCpvVjzXUbdnnI3O4_Km-wvP4a8-VZY5p1nku7bfDbuD3PLn-lJkRwry3Ex4Z6QUVbvTUG4PPrqgxkcd8nHPm3emVeMp4eRaVFo-bM2gifavNXtfcfx8/s1600/DSCN2586.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8beQdRx3Q_86TaB7LbWbiRSBNCpvVjzXUbdnnI3O4_Km-wvP4a8-VZY5p1nku7bfDbuD3PLn-lJkRwry3Ex4Z6QUVbvTUG4PPrqgxkcd8nHPm3emVeMp4eRaVFo-bM2gifavNXtfcfx8/s640/DSCN2586.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
This is Cabot Tower, a lovely Victorian folly, built to honour John Cabot, who set out to explore what is know Canada from Bristol. We got a lovely, misty view of the city from the first viewing platform. I'm glad we didn't go to the top of the tower, because the stairs we did climb made my knees rather unhappy as it was.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlyPyD7PrUHAanRKcjT97uNLpETELIU-9TKDLVAO_HV4CVPjc0-qlS-Zf6sxMWkqevDKbfY3RTY-ZxvQuvEL0J96qirsydqZHjPQpp31CvAdfBetx0M3dHc2z-t4KkLn9H1DwvgpMKYnM/s1600/DSCN2595.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlyPyD7PrUHAanRKcjT97uNLpETELIU-9TKDLVAO_HV4CVPjc0-qlS-Zf6sxMWkqevDKbfY3RTY-ZxvQuvEL0J96qirsydqZHjPQpp31CvAdfBetx0M3dHc2z-t4KkLn9H1DwvgpMKYnM/s640/DSCN2595.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Then we followed that up by going down the Christmas Steps, a nice shopping street, and came upon this medieval almshouse.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkitEFk2y_lAQM4WtIsA3-HBXK8OwzcMLqM8ahjm-n2G1LvdEpE763r34gxaJhjSPOmGqzNvN0iVo6c755GAP9tHs-_cb1grZXkstnROvqB3nuqUXPD59UpPplK2bqKJHnOgZy5h_qp7w/s1600/DSCN2598.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkitEFk2y_lAQM4WtIsA3-HBXK8OwzcMLqM8ahjm-n2G1LvdEpE763r34gxaJhjSPOmGqzNvN0iVo6c755GAP9tHs-_cb1grZXkstnROvqB3nuqUXPD59UpPplK2bqKJHnOgZy5h_qp7w/s640/DSCN2598.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
We saw this bomb-damaged church on the way back to the train station. Because of its harbour, Bristol was a prime target for Nazi bombs during the Second World War, making the fifth most heavily bombed city in the country.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_YgqQ2ATrvNq3LbnLIji1q9rtofgI4ziUhAa_qQJ78Hi8ksFhhCmL8xVNP5H6hfG0IE4jeZ6QdOgxdxmKzuVmrb6SbCHBGV5JM_lP0EuRSG1wXVOeukx6cvmk2yDk0SS7zPNVHDgmto/s1600/DSCN2600.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_YgqQ2ATrvNq3LbnLIji1q9rtofgI4ziUhAa_qQJ78Hi8ksFhhCmL8xVNP5H6hfG0IE4jeZ6QdOgxdxmKzuVmrb6SbCHBGV5JM_lP0EuRSG1wXVOeukx6cvmk2yDk0SS7zPNVHDgmto/s640/DSCN2600.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
And to end our Brunel-themed trip, here is the Brunel-designed train station.<br />
<br />
We also very quickly popped into John Wesley's first-ever Methodist chapel, but I don't have a picture of it! I will check with Tim to see if he took a photo on his phone.Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-40348928848574421712013-09-21T07:10:00.000-06:002013-09-27T14:28:55.678-06:00Music of Hilary, Trinity, and Long Vac 2013Well, it's been ages since I've done a music post, which is a bit of a shame, because I've discovered a number of new bands I quite like since my last post.<br />
<br />
A friend of mine recommended Fleet Foxes and Bat for Lashes to me, both of which I quite like. Fleet Foxes has a nice, throwback thing going and reminds me of classic rock, while Bat for Lashes has an indie/Florence + the Machine thing going on.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/DT-dxG4WWf4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/EXK0Ejzin4c?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
I might like 'Daniel' best of the Bat for Lashes catalogue, but 'All My Gold' is the one I get stuck in my head most often. The Fleet Foxes song is 'Myknonos', which is great. <br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
When we went to France, Florence + and the Machine released their song for <i>The Great Gatsby</i> soundtrack, 'Over the Love', so now I associate it with Amboise and the nice, modern kitchen in the top-floor apartment we stayed in in Avignon. I sent Tim down to the grocery store for a bottle of very cheap Rhone wine and sang along (not too loudly, for the sake of the neighbours) until he came back.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/fSPOCVjla_4/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/fSPOCVjla_4&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/fSPOCVjla_4&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/2b9BpunsVmo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
Earlier this year, Fleetwood Mac rereleased <i>Rumours</i> with a bunch of live tracks from 1977. This video is a 1976 live performance of 'Rhiannon', possibly my favourite song ever. Mostly it was just nice to hear the song live again, but in a slightly different version to the one of the 1980 live album. The bit at the end, with Stevie Nicks wailing/screaming and the guitars going, is one of the most viscerally powerful musical passages I know. I have fond, fond memories of putting on Dad's double-LP of the 1980 live album and playing the live 'Rhiannon' with the volume on the amp turned way up.<br />
<br />
(I also owned my own double-CD version, but that's not nearly as romantic as a double-LP in slightly worn cardboard sleeves, with the added bonus of the arcane ritual of switching the amp to the phonograph input, lifting the lid of the turntable, laying the record on, finding out the right track, and finally, carefully dropping the needle into the groove.)<br />
<br />
More Lana del Rey. This time, 'Ride' from the Paradise Edition of <i>Born to Die</i>. I have to be careful though; sometimes this leaves me in a slightly sentimental mood.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/nvb8wdBglpw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
I discovered London Grammar just as their debut album was about to be released, which is pretty good timing, if I do say so. Hannah Reid's vocals are amazing and well-complemented by the generally pretty stripped back instrumentals. It's tricky to pick a favourite song, but starting with 'Wasting My Young Years' isn't a bad idea.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/pkeDBwsIaZw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
And finally, a song that isn't actually out yet (but will be in less than a week!), 'Paradise (What About Us?', by Within Temptation and featuring Tarja Turunen, the former lead singer for Nightwish - two of my favourite vocalists on one song! This is the first single off Within Temptation's next album and their first new song for quite awhile. I'm mostly just really excited about the album, the upcoming single (which will be an EP with 3 album demos), and about seeing them at Wembley next April. The only thing I'm sad about is that they delayed the album release by a few months - alas.<br />
<br />
Here is a preview of the song on Dutch radio (will replace with music video next week).<br />
<br />
Edited 27/09/2013: New video below! The EP is fantastic. I very much love the single 'Paradise', but I think my favourite song is 'Silver Moonlight', which is very heavy but rather dance-y at the same time, sort of like 'Sinead.' It also sees the returns of Robert growling, which reminds me of <i>Enter</i>. A very interesting return to roots, perhaps? Cant' wait for the entire album to be released!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dy6MpsDPKts?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-28343159195905766072013-09-10T11:11:00.000-06:002013-09-10T11:11:09.420-06:00A Day-Trip to Birmingham<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixiFbj_LzPfRganmVHTbsNe9frl0Pi3DtuSkxbSxn_CmHPFq2ydcSvvrE0l_hsfR_ZDICV06_2TwUP6_OxqWjekoBgEFOm5zF-Zau1vaRQOSgv27esAQJRN3gYLCahJ7LpY-Kqek95lI4/s1600/DSCN2512.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixiFbj_LzPfRganmVHTbsNe9frl0Pi3DtuSkxbSxn_CmHPFq2ydcSvvrE0l_hsfR_ZDICV06_2TwUP6_OxqWjekoBgEFOm5zF-Zau1vaRQOSgv27esAQJRN3gYLCahJ7LpY-Kqek95lI4/s640/DSCN2512.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Back in August, basically on a whim, Tim and I took a day-trip up to Birmingham, a city neither of us had been much interested in previously, but we ended up having a fantastic time and will almost certainly need to go back again. What I discovered almost immediately upon arrival is that Birmingham is filled with treasures for a Victorianist, filled with lovely red-brick buildings and, for instance, the above-pictured Great Western Arcade, built in 1875-76.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNJxqVoL6jv9ntMkVTnK0g7IasKUWeXiA3Ub91xCzHnDCMGJcm5pJ4uiqXr6k-wK2i0B4a-xXLhgbq7yOR4bP4CQGU0zogRfMLx95WI8VsFvB8O-6sHNdf9q_ArnbrV-XS0pd1Nl1cqfU/s1600/DSCN2513.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNJxqVoL6jv9ntMkVTnK0g7IasKUWeXiA3Ub91xCzHnDCMGJcm5pJ4uiqXr6k-wK2i0B4a-xXLhgbq7yOR4bP4CQGU0zogRfMLx95WI8VsFvB8O-6sHNdf9q_ArnbrV-XS0pd1Nl1cqfU/s640/DSCN2513.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
The lovely interior.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYnyrE4pe3nArFiKRxeq8bPLCMDl-7WGydz9p02a_ard6mSfgv5wqeAsSv4qMv6-rucCzJcJsPDrmvW3LzpTsHLI06Ju-nSVW0pqzoEzddODZBm4V9o7BVoDU80_OQQwwKVGN57PAMcvw/s1600/DSCN2516.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYnyrE4pe3nArFiKRxeq8bPLCMDl-7WGydz9p02a_ard6mSfgv5wqeAsSv4qMv6-rucCzJcJsPDrmvW3LzpTsHLI06Ju-nSVW0pqzoEzddODZBm4V9o7BVoDU80_OQQwwKVGN57PAMcvw/s640/DSCN2516.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
Then we went to Birmingham's cathedral, one of the smallest in England, but lovely to visit, especially because it features four huge stained glass windows by Edward Burne-Jones, the pre-Raphaelite painter.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhshyahhzy6Lqa1ggnZvgGXoQB76z0CLZNYsGX4qRZZ-FCCFQ-OAKdapdLjIqntDxMqvBznC1t-s_Dgpn7BBy95TfB7GTWEiHK7IMMEPUc-8bXZIbFA_plmODXrjyKQUEe_-xmjWhzFr3A/s1600/DSCN2520.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhshyahhzy6Lqa1ggnZvgGXoQB76z0CLZNYsGX4qRZZ-FCCFQ-OAKdapdLjIqntDxMqvBznC1t-s_Dgpn7BBy95TfB7GTWEiHK7IMMEPUc-8bXZIbFA_plmODXrjyKQUEe_-xmjWhzFr3A/s640/DSCN2520.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here you can see two of the windows. They all featured a surprising amount of red, making them seem rather lurid.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggjyb_keAf3Z_vEKwdlnYLTcV1akboxc87uS2hkWdbIKnx2qnK3ilLjuXjAGPc9Lnh0fJjrjKinEAQazPizGWe9FAHuCcHNzcvKWbrdjf4Xw67GK5bq_PvVs00BJuYbw8Td45yX7A4Qlg/s1600/DSCN2526.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggjyb_keAf3Z_vEKwdlnYLTcV1akboxc87uS2hkWdbIKnx2qnK3ilLjuXjAGPc9Lnh0fJjrjKinEAQazPizGWe9FAHuCcHNzcvKWbrdjf4Xw67GK5bq_PvVs00BJuYbw8Td45yX7A4Qlg/s640/DSCN2526.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa4Y550KcDDpKuNpR2DBV6bJSyre20i4u3OkSf7Wa44UpZCaaAfFbs1CwZX_4Ro4rDxxw0S4rtWx6ZH-byb0i8Gh4N8-nqVJIWn41eZZvZMRag2Zu_Brp_xYYAFS-jy0i9kUa59eFNVQ/s1600/DSCN2527.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfa4Y550KcDDpKuNpR2DBV6bJSyre20i4u3OkSf7Wa44UpZCaaAfFbs1CwZX_4Ro4rDxxw0S4rtWx6ZH-byb0i8Gh4N8-nqVJIWn41eZZvZMRag2Zu_Brp_xYYAFS-jy0i9kUa59eFNVQ/s640/DSCN2527.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
We were very impressed with the civic spaces and buildings surrounding the Town Hall, which looks like a classical temple and which we apparently didn't take a picture of (tsk, tsk). I've forgotten what the first building pictured was, but the lower one is the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The museum is free and wonderful - sort of a smaller mix of the Victora & Albert Museum (furniture, ceramics, etc.) and the Tate Britain (many pre-Raphaelite paintings, which we somehow missed), plus some great local history. The history of the city did a great job of covering the Enlightenment figures who lived in Birmingham (many of whom Tim studied for his MA) and the city's abolitionists.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilaEWHuAxjPdReVfycloWQnzIm5_DvKr2xCMHpjp94XEFWPTuF1kmqKAxgOZIqy0Ek_OpbYZtiJRenWWTfrCv6TeOVz2qD9zTli5po9fEwV_5SgtK0bsSwf2niuv55s3nIBdJo2w6xn6E/s1600/DSCN2528.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilaEWHuAxjPdReVfycloWQnzIm5_DvKr2xCMHpjp94XEFWPTuF1kmqKAxgOZIqy0Ek_OpbYZtiJRenWWTfrCv6TeOVz2qD9zTli5po9fEwV_5SgtK0bsSwf2niuv55s3nIBdJo2w6xn6E/s640/DSCN2528.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
A statue of Joseph Priestly, who discovered oxygen and was a Unitarian minister. He was unfortunately run out of town when a mob burned his house down. He ended up in the United States. Tim considered writing his thesis on him.<br />
<br />
After the museum, we went to the Pen Museum in the Jewellery Quarter. For quite awhile, Birmingham was the centre of both the jewellery trade and the steel pen trade. The Pen Museum housed tons and tons of metal pen nibs (including giant ones for use on posters!), pen nib boxes, and the machinery used to punch and shape pen nibs, plus fountain pens and typewriters of varying vintages, which you could actually test out. For years we kept Mom's old university typewriter in the basement and when I was little, I remember playing with it was fair bit, and getting frustrated with the keys would all jam together. This was the first time I'd used a typewriter since Mom's ribbon ran out of ink - they even had ribbons with black and RED ink! It was all very fun, but I came away very grateful for computers. I can't imagine typing an essay - a thesis - a novel - on a typewriter!<br />
<br />
If we'd had more time, we would have booked a tour of the Jewellery Quarter Museum as well, but instead we set off through the quarter on a hike up to Matthew Boulton's house, Soho House, where the Lunar Society met. One the way, we passed buildings that were (are?) jewellery workshops.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI2By8wJPljzUXtjn_Vj2xCrbH-nj01U5uRfpe824iDjT3QtuTf2j5rM_OWpJMjrgDIN-clVSiEnrYV4xnUWQ_GfTg-AkhW3mltIMyXlNQss-E7VQpCO8Q7OLI-_7taTwMPZyDA1fvDyI/s1600/DSCN2534.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI2By8wJPljzUXtjn_Vj2xCrbH-nj01U5uRfpe824iDjT3QtuTf2j5rM_OWpJMjrgDIN-clVSiEnrYV4xnUWQ_GfTg-AkhW3mltIMyXlNQss-E7VQpCO8Q7OLI-_7taTwMPZyDA1fvDyI/s640/DSCN2534.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTWcmxpb-5d3Lvjt8A9Cjv90x8CzkHWpDHvuiVcwEQs6Dt_hXGojs5vTkBTGIG1ScOGxkgKYuhvL_zqs3L0McVdsRpQtBtZgKree3qREghYYYAejQhblA9fxw5EAQQQrM690s3k-qu0dI/s1600/DSCN2540.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTWcmxpb-5d3Lvjt8A9Cjv90x8CzkHWpDHvuiVcwEQs6Dt_hXGojs5vTkBTGIG1ScOGxkgKYuhvL_zqs3L0McVdsRpQtBtZgKree3qREghYYYAejQhblA9fxw5EAQQQrM690s3k-qu0dI/s640/DSCN2540.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
This is Soho House. I have to say, it seemed very liveable to me for an eighteenth-century house. They've even uncovered the remains of a hot air heating system Boulton rigged up for the house.<br />
<br />
Boulton was quite the man. The house originally abutted the land taken up by Boulton's ground-breaking Soho Manufactory (sadly, it's all suburbs now). With James Watt, Boulton came up with a new version of the steam engine, which ended up in factories all over the country. He also minted coins and lobbied for an assay office in Birmingham, which allowed for the growth of the silver trade in the city. Plus, how can you not love a man who had a Fossilry in his house - that is, a room for storing fossils!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcu51s3sRaRdePc6jAyOjUszcpyWH3gQLj8Ml-COfA-3egDH-oMbCF8HV4kmEvh0PMFBoCzQQeGOQ6Wb-HwdUU51epudOVTyCripuvSDz9MoVMJG5fguVk7Sak40GIwfZ7-JhTwPACM3g/s1600/DSCN2542.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcu51s3sRaRdePc6jAyOjUszcpyWH3gQLj8Ml-COfA-3egDH-oMbCF8HV4kmEvh0PMFBoCzQQeGOQ6Wb-HwdUU51epudOVTyCripuvSDz9MoVMJG5fguVk7Sak40GIwfZ7-JhTwPACM3g/s640/DSCN2542.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
At the end of our day in Birmingham, we went down to Gas Street, a span of the Birmingham canal charmingly lined with restaurants and pubs.<br />
<br />
If we ever go back to Birmingham, we'd also like to see the university campus, Winterbourne House and garden, Aston Hall, and the Birmingham back-to-backs, the last surviving court of houses in the city, but you have to book ahead, as they only allow tours of eight through at a time.Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-81552265940184915962013-08-02T02:22:00.001-06:002013-08-02T02:22:29.920-06:00Avignon, Pont du Gard, and a Miserable Day in ArlesI did promise my mother I would finish posting the highlights of our France trip. For the last few days, we were based in the old town of Avignon, where popes (and then anti-popes) set up shop for about a hundred years in the 14th century (Rome was thought to be too dangerous). The entire old city is surrounded by an intact medieval city wall and is very walkable, with quirky little side streets and squares. We also liked Avignon because we could hop on the TGV to go back to Paris, or go by train or bus to other places in Provence.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyjnAW-z1A-7QPzZqBeGo5siaSDI004itSBRMjwKTs4WFUZWS5dLGTfRUV4WZgIiLyiFrqv5_udpr5eRTTq3h0WG_jjqnJ8TzzdY_sysBDm967AilB6I34YtcphC1ABJ71aGg8eSYqy8E/s1600/DSCN2367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyjnAW-z1A-7QPzZqBeGo5siaSDI004itSBRMjwKTs4WFUZWS5dLGTfRUV4WZgIiLyiFrqv5_udpr5eRTTq3h0WG_jjqnJ8TzzdY_sysBDm967AilB6I34YtcphC1ABJ71aGg8eSYqy8E/s640/DSCN2367.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Here is the Papal Palace by sunset, on the gloriously warm day of our arrival in Avignon.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkT7EPApgSAWghy-Ik8Rokyxnln_2GT1SdM-pwwcTvLn_Fdw_uU74UqYjigMR7ndmp1n9ytgWb9M5f-XjFPNsbOGbD4mEf2GwVsCkaHlubcNBgWALTMsRPQTJvAtl4M7zUXj4UsEh4WvI/s1600/DSCN2431.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkT7EPApgSAWghy-Ik8Rokyxnln_2GT1SdM-pwwcTvLn_Fdw_uU74UqYjigMR7ndmp1n9ytgWb9M5f-XjFPNsbOGbD4mEf2GwVsCkaHlubcNBgWALTMsRPQTJvAtl4M7zUXj4UsEh4WvI/s640/DSCN2431.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
The next day, it had become quite a bit cooler and rainier, alas. We took a very inexpensive bus up to the Pont du Gard, exclaiming over all the vineyards we passed and all the lovely hills. Provence felt much more sun-baked and Italian than we were expecting. This is the river itself, with great hills on either side for scampering up and down and taking in the view. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijPrsxqoELCzweBH5xrNLqET-NqlXUiuplUUsQcld1i25NMSmbKcpdnScqXZZYKT9VmI2CLo4ymUfJy4Dm3NQlvGTlEbzk_ws_036wSI1i9DVvgkv4pvEfpKtIXqk4UgRwtcOAJf8sj1o/s1600/DSCN2432.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijPrsxqoELCzweBH5xrNLqET-NqlXUiuplUUsQcld1i25NMSmbKcpdnScqXZZYKT9VmI2CLo4ymUfJy4Dm3NQlvGTlEbzk_ws_036wSI1i9DVvgkv4pvEfpKtIXqk4UgRwtcOAJf8sj1o/s640/DSCN2432.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
The famous bridge with the aqueduct just running along the very top (after the sun had come back out). The museum here had a really fascinating exhibition on the engineering and administration that went into building this aqueduct in the 1st century AD to supply water to nearby Nîmes. This is the second-tallest Roman ruin after the Coliseum and it was something to behold in person.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM5MvO0jEQE39QfKpAhONRi_QevPMO2hqinAJ19KQXGkFcTd6xlOSV943Nt86K0QZG-VBa7ioDJpVtmYBEIX8JyWCClsRwAfbQwWMJMRkha8KNg67VXSVTrVGrpNV4k4_EIqB9NVy-w2o/s1600/DSCN2466.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM5MvO0jEQE39QfKpAhONRi_QevPMO2hqinAJ19KQXGkFcTd6xlOSV943Nt86K0QZG-VBa7ioDJpVtmYBEIX8JyWCClsRwAfbQwWMJMRkha8KNg67VXSVTrVGrpNV4k4_EIqB9NVy-w2o/s640/DSCN2466.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
The next day, we took an ill-fated day trip to Arles. Sigh. The forecast for our visit to France promised us temperatures of 25 degrees each day we were in Provence. Alas, on this day, it poured rain and was windy and was about 8 (EIGHT) degrees! Since we had stupidly not brought our umbrellas with us and had only light jackets, we ended up rather soggy and sad.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6iRoqzr3iZbDILtI7BeBKOhLwSZyOYxzBFFGlVC8BCHfQb4XfiAe9wQWuFJ87_5l6aexW3jRBKIYVjvvCucLNxV4NNpmzwJTK0K7_A-b6LVAOyMk53rTXhed2LIa1V5uxAZaY0J3KsZ4/s1600/DSCN2479.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6iRoqzr3iZbDILtI7BeBKOhLwSZyOYxzBFFGlVC8BCHfQb4XfiAe9wQWuFJ87_5l6aexW3jRBKIYVjvvCucLNxV4NNpmzwJTK0K7_A-b6LVAOyMk53rTXhed2LIa1V5uxAZaY0J3KsZ4/s640/DSCN2479.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Here is Arles' Roman arena - still in use for rodeo-style events, with metal risers built over the old stone seating. I couldn't decide if I was really pleased the arena was still being used for something like its original purpose or slightly sad that it wasn't being carefully preserved as a Roman ruin. The tower you see towards the back is a medieval construction and at one point in the Middle Ages, an entire settlement was set up inside the arena.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhemEFOc37KFVUZ_6LgDCxyZ0j2BxMR2vXK8unlmXc40_xVIMUjYom3ynFtdDI5nANiCb4pGSDiCsXFN-id3EClX_70spg3POC_0cPZK4aK_NqnJnKjG8qOOYtjZGKvtPwjIO8nw9uxbFI/s1600/DSCN2482.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhemEFOc37KFVUZ_6LgDCxyZ0j2BxMR2vXK8unlmXc40_xVIMUjYom3ynFtdDI5nANiCb4pGSDiCsXFN-id3EClX_70spg3POC_0cPZK4aK_NqnJnKjG8qOOYtjZGKvtPwjIO8nw9uxbFI/s640/DSCN2482.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
We came to this church because the always-helpful Rick Steves promised it had one of the most beautiful and elaborate entrances of any Romanesque church. The church wasn't open when we happened by. We considered waiting awhile so we could see the inside, but we were soaked by this point and decided to cut short our visit to Arles. We dashed through the pouring rain to catch an earlier train, took a wrong turn, missed the train, and then ended up on a bus back to Avignon. I suspect we need to go back to Arles some day when the weather's nicer.Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-39109365673065513432013-07-08T12:52:00.000-06:002013-07-09T13:56:18.684-06:00The Loire Valley<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk4Zz8ajR_JxN5nKFsddR2Fl2TJsdR9ElRmLedALmgNPhZzEkrn9XGLzIdL5PbhVAdVKhh2ReeALj796v83fS1cjVy-vWzQVXp9YMTiUk3Uv1riZi21LQkGA4xVyVELOsJmjJmxXIyJ4c/s1600/DSCN2233.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk4Zz8ajR_JxN5nKFsddR2Fl2TJsdR9ElRmLedALmgNPhZzEkrn9XGLzIdL5PbhVAdVKhh2ReeALj796v83fS1cjVy-vWzQVXp9YMTiUk3Uv1riZi21LQkGA4xVyVELOsJmjJmxXIyJ4c/s640/DSCN2233.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
From Paris, we took the train to Amboise, on the banks of the Loire, whose valley is home to hundreds of chateaux. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNv4PLYs1G9Ji6CRE_MAThAZUM0vz9xniQnURdGRBB__ZMO7k8bxj440Bq79fl6P8qM9fsTs0QPccibgNE0h28Ba4bC2PbmHQDgcd9lW_vUtX93B1LRf0nkdfRqguMbW1VVcg7yLq0zE/s1600/DSCN2241.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNv4PLYs1G9Ji6CRE_MAThAZUM0vz9xniQnURdGRBB__ZMO7k8bxj440Bq79fl6P8qM9fsTs0QPccibgNE0h28Ba4bC2PbmHQDgcd9lW_vUtX93B1LRf0nkdfRqguMbW1VVcg7yLq0zE/s640/DSCN2241.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the chateau at Amboise</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvO8VHQRMvyJmcMlJwpK68Oeg8hjKD2JASnAKILHdi0JUyqHc3Yd0dPOVW9e8Z1ETiV-PtZhDLQgKkq0YswvuS9yDQTmYUOsP4H9k6kH2_SeTmDoZMt74f73AM0Nw3Ma1L3Jes79tNsk8/s1600/DSCN2248.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvO8VHQRMvyJmcMlJwpK68Oeg8hjKD2JASnAKILHdi0JUyqHc3Yd0dPOVW9e8Z1ETiV-PtZhDLQgKkq0YswvuS9yDQTmYUOsP4H9k6kH2_SeTmDoZMt74f73AM0Nw3Ma1L3Jes79tNsk8/s640/DSCN2248.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
This hall had a real, live fire to heat it. At first this seemed strange to us - an open flame in a historical building? But it does make a fair bit of sense - there have been fires in these buildings for hundreds of years, after all.<br />
<br />
While in Amboise, we also visited Clos Luce, a large house and walled garden where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years at the invitation of French king Francis I. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq43L5xKB_PjHoivo1rq05L44YLQeYN7KLIkvJXEYCPQ9MFK4bAkZbPoTOroMWz-8VB9jS1UwX0THGHNdtZZO1VOSOl7uFmJ0E3Ll-OUz9-Jzlt-NUCjMX3_Y1IbqvD3jh_AQw3HAXnwE/s1600/DSCN2268.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq43L5xKB_PjHoivo1rq05L44YLQeYN7KLIkvJXEYCPQ9MFK4bAkZbPoTOroMWz-8VB9jS1UwX0THGHNdtZZO1VOSOl7uFmJ0E3Ll-OUz9-Jzlt-NUCjMX3_Y1IbqvD3jh_AQw3HAXnwE/s640/DSCN2268.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
On our second day in the Loire Valley, we took a minibus tour to two of the biggest chateaux in the region. Above was our first stop, Chambord, the largest chateau of them all and the first (or one of the first) to be built purely for hunting parties and, well, entertaining, rather than defense. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgASxS0h5gA81uqUM9Lp2avK3L-cJqTvjjyEo0fJtphqsm2rnoKnqSKcu7peT3mpDtsa4nVwWl9szuXPposDOhGomxe0TxzmuJm4VTky1RtlRIxaRDbYwa1UPvrREcJLT79bckv6KDsEMk/s1600/DSCN2274.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgASxS0h5gA81uqUM9Lp2avK3L-cJqTvjjyEo0fJtphqsm2rnoKnqSKcu7peT3mpDtsa4nVwWl9szuXPposDOhGomxe0TxzmuJm4VTky1RtlRIxaRDbYwa1UPvrREcJLT79bckv6KDsEMk/s640/DSCN2274.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
One of the highlights was this double helix spiral staircase. There are two different sets of stairs which never meet. Tim and I had fun each taking a side and catching glimpses of each other across the central well from the windows set into the staircase. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGB4NVot256fTH5ysTRtRfNyBcQZVERaDB-82WVSURDzWOtG5Fzz2K0mh9cvsSbSG4TgBLgizM875Kgez9TamyxIy7ghk6tkyLidyOlEwCnSaNEtb1GlhTDBZca7eNIdaAArn5jFkegPc/s1600/DSCN2298.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGB4NVot256fTH5ysTRtRfNyBcQZVERaDB-82WVSURDzWOtG5Fzz2K0mh9cvsSbSG4TgBLgizM875Kgez9TamyxIy7ghk6tkyLidyOlEwCnSaNEtb1GlhTDBZca7eNIdaAArn5jFkegPc/s640/DSCN2298.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
The fantastical, fairy tale-ish towers and turrets up on the terrace are also wonderful. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYPMmkHZtu3XfA3Yp55qiKxgw9temMjKXrL5hgv6PTfPXBHTzYPHuo4sTOWHigbLeH7PyzuGnfwsopgJanHFVsP0nEC9pxPLBzU-IIhSGwhoHymGAoSTauJDnqIIbCNFQgTI5PCAfy7-M/s1600/DSCN2322.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYPMmkHZtu3XfA3Yp55qiKxgw9temMjKXrL5hgv6PTfPXBHTzYPHuo4sTOWHigbLeH7PyzuGnfwsopgJanHFVsP0nEC9pxPLBzU-IIhSGwhoHymGAoSTauJDnqIIbCNFQgTI5PCAfy7-M/s640/DSCN2322.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chenonceau was next. Looks smallish from the front, right?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1amCukNRWcbOz5zxo-9HbSVbYHstPOcmLpstKKukbBVucfONEvhL3u28dn1LV7_UXV17M_Rmrkn4w-SWQRRlJcJAM34G635J_YyNhzxySbhaHNvdVZkmKzAs42TXTuAIRuZ5kgksm38M/s1600/DSCN2346.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1amCukNRWcbOz5zxo-9HbSVbYHstPOcmLpstKKukbBVucfONEvhL3u28dn1LV7_UXV17M_Rmrkn4w-SWQRRlJcJAM34G635J_YyNhzxySbhaHNvdVZkmKzAs42TXTuAIRuZ5kgksm38M/s640/DSCN2346.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
The main chateau was given to a French king's wife for her use, but she was then replaced by the king's mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who had the chateau wing built across the river! <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3T-eFwncmnbX0zj8QSwKdTuNaruqoZSTRO9v0Eh5udhO5zl6kN485bY2y9akQS_O7fNE2I9BimGK5R2sUF52eG4Lz0ZOjumQ1b38Z10ajZ3TGgCs5iDD2vogZFUr99_kvL2TNIBjjBUc/s1600/DSCN2327.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3T-eFwncmnbX0zj8QSwKdTuNaruqoZSTRO9v0Eh5udhO5zl6kN485bY2y9akQS_O7fNE2I9BimGK5R2sUF52eG4Lz0ZOjumQ1b38Z10ajZ3TGgCs5iDD2vogZFUr99_kvL2TNIBjjBUc/s640/DSCN2327.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Here is the gallery which runs across the river. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqRMQgqQKtolCO9FNnLNSrG5b2AMecQaI-O36kbBEq5sJM17PGaFdjmDfyjyb14e3nPhQtmleR9TBGUb6WiJknWhLcALkJFJKx9qGSqA361xDPY795OFkguT_jgPb_74UJ4S3u4DINOPs/s1600/DSCN2332.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqRMQgqQKtolCO9FNnLNSrG5b2AMecQaI-O36kbBEq5sJM17PGaFdjmDfyjyb14e3nPhQtmleR9TBGUb6WiJknWhLcALkJFJKx9qGSqA361xDPY795OFkguT_jgPb_74UJ4S3u4DINOPs/s640/DSCN2332.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
And here is the kitchen, one of the best fitted out we've ever seen in a great house.<br />
<br />
Then it was back to Paris in order to get on the TGV to Avignon!Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-8062407744851246642013-06-21T03:35:00.000-06:002013-06-21T03:37:10.990-06:00Paris<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi610guERMgW9J67j4F19iCQ9RZiVwWCsXCjLkrBTJIfrHUOgwIHD3mKZ5Ea_kkTRqcDUpfbWil4t8pdFcWzfWMSkpDR1hD63faJYt7L9O4rZuvIW6MEj2BOeYIoV-IDZaKieYfUbhU7FY/s1600/DSCN2183.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi610guERMgW9J67j4F19iCQ9RZiVwWCsXCjLkrBTJIfrHUOgwIHD3mKZ5Ea_kkTRqcDUpfbWil4t8pdFcWzfWMSkpDR1hD63faJYt7L9O4rZuvIW6MEj2BOeYIoV-IDZaKieYfUbhU7FY/s640/DSCN2183.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
Our first stop on our Easter vacation was Paris, which we had both visited four years ago. So this trip was a good chance to visit new neighbourhoods and see sights we had missed the first time. We stayed in a rental apartment right on the corner of L'Esplanade des Invalides (last time we stayed in the Marais). Luckily for us, the first full day of our trip was the first nice day of spring (France apparently had a cold and rainy early spring, just like the UK). It was lovely to walk around in the glorious sun and to watch the leaves coming out. As we were right at Invalides, we visited Napoleon's Tomb (above), which is crazily grandiose, and also the military history museum attached, which is very good. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj75X_BvBz5RSeVLsmFjZjBh7qfcS07f8H7Kn4mCwosVf-PjNf50PNM3PvZCtgEKnwWxI4RNU5wBVOgUI8FW5XHMAzp7RmTksFYNYXWlsr5MmZnnIUDsPyYgUvkVAYIZ5BDyib5HDOsA8/s1600/DSCN2193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj75X_BvBz5RSeVLsmFjZjBh7qfcS07f8H7Kn4mCwosVf-PjNf50PNM3PvZCtgEKnwWxI4RNU5wBVOgUI8FW5XHMAzp7RmTksFYNYXWlsr5MmZnnIUDsPyYgUvkVAYIZ5BDyib5HDOsA8/s640/DSCN2193.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
We took the metro to Montmarte to finally visit Sacre Coeur. You can see the multitudes of people sitting on the hill, enjoying the sun. The bit of Monmartre we saw was unfortunately rather touristy, not very bohemian anymore, alas.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpUrCuUBhjzm5rBbn94lJLeN9gUr3vOarRosaViPz5a1FlPdqTaSReTG5dA7WAMjkEIzmvOHtbg1dEpShzxtqXKo9nUMYM0EvR5uJtJ-qxQVeQHNSIfu1plBIFxyyOp1Ucpkycu1DztQ/s1600/DSCN2201.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpUrCuUBhjzm5rBbn94lJLeN9gUr3vOarRosaViPz5a1FlPdqTaSReTG5dA7WAMjkEIzmvOHtbg1dEpShzxtqXKo9nUMYM0EvR5uJtJ-qxQVeQHNSIfu1plBIFxyyOp1Ucpkycu1DztQ/s640/DSCN2201.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Then, onto the metro again to Pere Lachaise cemetary. For some reason, I had been picturing a massive lawn covered with orderly tombstones, with a few monuments thrown in. Oh, no. Pere Lachaise is filled with family vaults of varying degrees of ornateness and delapidation. There are proper paths (like the one pictured), plus innumerable little alleys between vaults. Some vaults have lost their doors, or have had blocks fall out, or glass broken. Where there are holes, part of me seized up with horror-film fear of what I would see if I looked over the edge - garbage, unfortunately. The cemetary is huge, and well-treed, both peaceful and slightly eerie. We meandered through a good portion of it, and ended with a visit to Oscar Wilde's grave.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRT0nJL4fqCOR1kzwimcqAIx-zEAXlcs2UjVNwFgHhMRX1fddL54ATVz1r14l7em2u_gEM__u-KbheZXftwYhCEfn5PKLOnXB00_659pMhUeEqv4YzwxmxvA9cB5ikFRsdY0gOswtSlhY/s1600/DSCN2216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRT0nJL4fqCOR1kzwimcqAIx-zEAXlcs2UjVNwFgHhMRX1fddL54ATVz1r14l7em2u_gEM__u-KbheZXftwYhCEfn5PKLOnXB00_659pMhUeEqv4YzwxmxvA9cB5ikFRsdY0gOswtSlhY/s640/DSCN2216.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
Another day, we walked past the Palais Royale, to Place Vendome (pictured above), with its column made from melted down cannon from the Battle of Austerlitz (!). We saw the Opera Garnier, but couldn't go in as it was closed (alas). Then we revisited the Louvre.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzG6ZfBB1w85jue5FgwUNCWOLLOyW5FQUbca1Up6FNhNiE3h4z5OHBWOtejEmmv-4k3Wr6fNmsUQp2b6XL5qtZ00uHUU0qrEo1oHVb8_KxQ8l-WBwyVfqaH8VvIMW1vnctMmJuZz8EZrk/s1600/DSCN2222.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzG6ZfBB1w85jue5FgwUNCWOLLOyW5FQUbca1Up6FNhNiE3h4z5OHBWOtejEmmv-4k3Wr6fNmsUQp2b6XL5qtZ00uHUU0qrEo1oHVb8_KxQ8l-WBwyVfqaH8VvIMW1vnctMmJuZz8EZrk/s640/DSCN2222.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
One of my favourite parts was a courtyard that had been glassed over. It was lovely to see the statues in natural light. As I recall, we did a big loop home from the Louvre that day, crossing the two islands, visiting Notre Dame, winding through the Latin Quarter, taking a little break in Luxembourg Gardens, and then finally wending our way back to our apartment. My feet were sore by the end!Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-37314149697303309522013-06-20T15:50:00.000-06:002013-06-20T15:51:24.561-06:00Blog Apologies and General Life Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8w8s_XLrMPcrzQCiDiQJ0UsLXeH2dXLHU679g9EVildliO4nqeaFxnMybzRhxpxUeEhmLm9GlVp3fCAQSmqHV_tPFKKSxqbdRn1vaxuo4pUu9gPe339aRWZdJdEPGOdI3vE2dXMPq_l0/s1600/DSCN2171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8w8s_XLrMPcrzQCiDiQJ0UsLXeH2dXLHU679g9EVildliO4nqeaFxnMybzRhxpxUeEhmLm9GlVp3fCAQSmqHV_tPFKKSxqbdRn1vaxuo4pUu9gPe339aRWZdJdEPGOdI3vE2dXMPq_l0/s400/DSCN2171.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
Hello! I realised with some shame that it has been two months (ish) since I've updated this blog! Partly it's because I've been busy, and then because I wasn't sure I had anything to say. So, I've decided to break the ice with a quick update on the Easter vacation and Trinity Term have been like for me.<br />
<br />
In the last two months, I've...<br />
<ul>
<li>Gone to Paris, the Loire Valley, and Avignon on vacation (see obligatory Eiffel Tower photo above - with more pictures to come!)</li>
<li>Finished another section of my thesis, this time discussing domestic violence and other forms of male dominance in the Bronte novels. Next up is a short section on male relationships (primarily on how they can be damaging when they impinge on domestic/family life).</li>
<li>Read many books for fun, including some that I plan to review on the blog in the near future.</li>
<li>Given the Michael Mahoney Graduate Seminar at my college - a one-hour lecture on my research, which was actually really fun, especially as it was followed by a fancy dinner in the chapel (which is currently serving as our dining hall).</li>
<li>Completely rewrote the end of my novel for the first time. The ending is different from what I originally intended, but it fits better with my expectations for and conception of the book now. I hope to start submitting it really, really soon - after one more proofread and a couple small changes.</li>
<li>Helped to organise this year's Oxford English graduate conference, <a href="http://objectconference.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">"Object"</a>, which went really, really well. I chaired a fantastic panel on Victorian material culture; there was an fabulous panel discussion on the Book as Object, featuring <a href="http://www.whoatemybrain.com/" target="_blank">Nick Cross</a>, Digital Products Manager at the Oxford University Press and fellow SCWBI member, <a href="http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley/finding-resources/special/resources/printing_press" target="_blank">Paul Nash</a>, the University's printing tutor, and <a href="http://www.stephenwalter.co.uk/" target="_blank">Stephen Walter</a>, text/map artist. The day was capped off by a fantastic keynote address on the construction of the author as "object" by acclaimed children's author Frances Hardinge. (Her most recent novel, <i>A Face Like Glass</i> is amazing and Frances is absolutely lovely in person to boot!)</li>
<li>Went up to London to see <i>The Book of Mormon</i> (amazing, with brilliant music, and much blasphemy - not for the easily offended) and finally visit the Tate Modern (loved the first floor Surrealists, then became increasingly bored by the abstract art and installations - I am a bit of a traditionalist, I suppose)</li>
<li>More recently, went up to London to see Neil Gaiman talk about his most recent novel, <i>The Ocean at the End of the Lane</i>. Amazing. Also snagged a signed first edition, which is very good so far.</li>
<li>Plus, I attended the seminars for the Developing Teaching and Learning course run by the Humanities Division and am working on a teaching portfolio to submit in hopes it will gain me Associate Fellow status with the Higher Education Academy. As part of my teaching training, I ran revision classes and tutorials to prepare first-year Mansfielders for their exam on Victorian literature, which was a rewarding experience. It was great to really dig into the Victorians with friendly, enthusiastic, and hard-working students.</li>
</ul>
Okay, I think that's it. I will try to update more frequently, and will definitely post pictures from our France trip. The next big thing is that we're going home for two weeks on Saturday, which is shockingly only two sleeps away! Yikes. Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-35674037645425991962013-04-04T16:34:00.000-06:002013-04-04T16:34:07.391-06:00Tales from the DPhil, Part Two: Writing the Thesis Like a NovelWelcome to Part Two of this upstart series, Tales from the DPhil. Today is the juicy stuff - writing tips!<br />
<br />
Last term, I discovered that the single biggest stress- and anxiety-causing aspect of my doctoral experience was my approach to writing the darned thing.<br />
<br />
In undergrad and my Master's, I
did quite well writing essays by researching a lot up front, creating
detailed outlines, and then racing through a draft with a quick polish
at the end. Because I always had hard deadlines, I always made them,
even if this required some crazy writing days.<br />
<br />
This is
by no means an ideal writing strategy for a doctoral thesis. A term
paper can (but probably shouldn't) be a sprint. A thesis is a
marathon. A three-year marathon. A thesis also demands consideration, the evolution and testing of ideas and arguments, the honing of sentences. I was trying to write chapters in big
bursts (which didn't work) and then had no time for proper revision. I became anxious about writing and avoided it.<br />
<br />
So, I decided I had to make writing much less daunting. I decided to <b>write my thesis as if it were a novel</b><i>. </i>I'm quite proud of this revelation.<br />
<br />
I've been writing novelish fiction since I was fourteen. I know how to write a big, multi-part project and just needed to apply the same strategies to my thesis. I know from experience that I need to write every day, preferably to a very manageable word goal. <br />
<br />
<b>Principles that Have Vastly Improved My Thesis-Writing Experience</b><br />
<br />
1. <b>Come up with a manageable word count and stick to it every day</b>. I've chosen 500 words, which I think is approximately an hour's writing, but it varies a lot. It amounts to 2ish sides of A4 or about 3-4 pages in my Moleskine journal or 2-3 paragraphs. It is extremely doable and non-threatening because it seems like so little. Also, the more regularly you write, the more natural it becomes. As a bonus, on the days I force myself to write, I usually end up over-shooting this word goal and write closer to 600 words. But no matter what, something is better than nothing. Progress is better than standing still. And, if you write 500 words a day for one work week, you suddenly have 2500 words. That's almost a conference paper.<br />
<br />
2. <b>Write first thing every day.</b> Because I know that if I put off my writing, it probably won't get done and I likely will not get much research done either, out of a general sense of anxiety and procrastination. Also, writing is always the hardest part of my day. Everything after it seems easier and more enjoyable. And, once you've met your word count for the day, you've met a mini-goal, which feels great. Plus, you don't have to worry about writing any more until the next day.<br />
<br />
3. <b>Don't start with a blank page.</b> What I've been doing is writing longhand rough words one day and then revising while typing them the next. This allows me to a do a first pass of revision and gets my writing brain working before I have to tackle fresh writing, which in turns makes tackling the new words less frightening. In an ideal world, I would also take notes and write down ideas for the next day's rough words - that can be a big help to getting started.<br />
<br />
4. <b>Don't worry if the words are rough/awful.</b> Once you have words, you can fix them! If you don't have any words to play with, you can't do anything at all. It's taken me a long time to come around to revising my academic and creative writing and to find strategies to help me do it. Sometimes having a pile of messy, meandering words is a gift because it's often so easy to see how they could be improved. A nicely proofread piece of work can be harder to take apart and put back together again because of its shiny surface.<br />
<br />
5. <b>Realise that words/writing time are not an end but a process. </b>This is another realisation that made me feel better about my messy, daily words. I'm not writing just to meet a word count - I'm writing because writing allows me to think through the issues I'm dealing with in a way that research or even outlining can't. Sometimes I have little revelations while writing. I realise what my argument is, or discover something new about a text. I've realised that I need to spend a good portion of every day interacting with my words on the page, whether writing or revising. If you leave a project for a few days, it's much harder to get back into it and pick up the flow of ideas again. (Noveling is the exact same in this regard).<br />
<br />
I hope these principles might be helpful to any grad school brethren who may be reading this. Do you have any tips in turn? (They are always much appreciated - it's very easy to slack off when it comes to writing discipline.) Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-43245918611415979312013-04-03T14:01:00.000-06:002013-04-03T14:56:30.663-06:00Tales from the DPhil, Part One: Tips for Better Living and WorkingHello blog,<br />
<br />
Last term, I somehow made the leap from Second-Year Slump levels of motivation and high levels of procrastination, stress, and anxiety (chiefly centred on writing) to high levels of motivation and writing. Hence, I thought I'd write a bit about the life, working, and writing strategies that helped me out in the hope that perhaps they might help you, too.<br />
<br />
This is Part One: Living and Working. Tomorrow: Part Two: Writing the Thesis Like a Novel. <br />
<br />
<br />
1. <b>Get a good night's sleep.</b> I suffered from some terribly off-kilter sleeping patterns over the Christmas vacation. There were a few mornings I didn't get to sleep until 7 am. This was not good for my productivity.<br />
<br />
When I finally forced myself to wake up at 6:45 am, I discovered I was much more productive. The days seemed so full of possibilities and I really got excited about tackling my work. It's much better to find yourself at lunchtime with a few hours' of work under your belt than to have nothing at all. Also, I quite like working on my novel over breakfast and coffee for my first working hour of the day. This allows me to dedicate time to my novel revisions without feeling like I'm stealing time from my thesis. If I put the novel off, I know I probably won't work on it later in the day.<br />
<br />
2. <b>Find or create the conditions that will allow you to be productive.</b> I've realised over the past year or so that working at home isn't actually the best for me. There are so many possibilities for distraction. The internet. The dishes. A nap? Last term, I discovered three ways to make my working day much more productive.<br />
<br />
a) I solved the internet problem (mostly) by using the Firefox add-on Leechblock, in which you can list the URLs of sites that you know you waste time on and block yourself from accessing them at certain times. At the moment, I'm not allowing myself access to any social media, the Guardian website, YouTube, or my favourite blogs between 8:30 am and 5:30 pm on week days. I've also prevented myself from accessing the settings in a way which I don't (yet) know how to disable. (I could, of course, still go on Twitter on Tim's computer or my phone, but that would require more effort.)<br />
<br />
b) I found a great place at school to work. The English Faculty has a newish graduate work space which is perfect - just tables in a light, bright room and an almost non-existent wireless signal. Also, often other graduate students are working in there, which allows for much needed human interaction. And, because it is purely a space in which to do work, my perception of my work day is much different. At home, it can be a struggle to log the hours I'm aiming for, especially with the temptation to take breaks or a nap. At school, however, I can be happy working away for hours with minimal breaks because that's precisely what I'm there to do. I don't even watch the clock that much. I work until 5:30 or 6 and then I go home.<br />
<br />
c) I can do this because this is a space I can work in while snacking. I used to work at home more because I wanted access to food and drink (there is no eating in Oxford libraries). I can snack away or eat lunch in this work room, however, and it's changed my working experience hugely. Before, if I sat down to work in a library, I would often almost instantly become hungry, which was incredibly distracting. I've cut many a work day short in order to go home to eat something. Not a problem when I can eat while working. <br />
<br />
3. <b>Allow yourself guilt-free time off</b>. When I was struggling (and failing) to meet the hours quota I set myself each day/week, I felt like I was always potentially supposed to be working (unless I was on an actual vacation). This is stressful! You (and I) need breaks that don't involve the thesis perpetually nudging your subconscious. Since Tim has a regular, full-time job now, I also felt it would be really nice if I also had (mostly) work-free evenings and weekend. After a vacation slump (due to the disappearance of the term schedule), I'm back to full productivity levels, which means that I can actually have evenings to myself, guilt-free. (Confession: sometimes I'll have half an hour or hour of work to do, but since that often involves reading Victorian novels, that's fine). It's actually strange not to need to work. I find I don't quite know what to do with myself.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow, I will share with you the secret of Writing the Thesis Like a Novel. It involves word counts. And happier thesis writing and revision.<br />
<br />
Reader, if you are in a commenting mood, <b>how, when, and where do you best work</b>? Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-82412294095391483222013-03-19T05:40:00.000-06:002013-03-19T05:42:02.304-06:00Going to Liverpool!, or Neo-Victorian Cultures: The Victorians TodayHello, sad, neglected blog. Today I have a revivifying post full of good news.<br />
<br />
I found out a few days ago that I'll be giving a conference paper at the <a href="http://www.neovictoriancultures.org.uk/" target="_blank">Neo-Victorian Culture: The Victorians Today</a> conference running from 24-26 July at Liverpool John Moores University. This is exciting because 1) I've never been to Liverpool and 2) I'll get to talk all about Alison Croggon's novel <i>Black Spring</i>, <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, adaptation, fantasy, and feminism!<br />
<br />
I reviewed <i>Black Spring</i> <a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/review-black-spring-by-alison-croggon.html" target="_blank">here</a> - well worth a read for Bronte fans and fantasy lovers. <br />
<br />
In the draft programme, I see I've been placed on a panel called "Fantasizing the Victorians"; one of the other panelists is going to be talking about Terry Pratchett's <i>Discworld</i>. Clearly this is going to be a great experience.<br />
<br />
In other news, I had a really productive Hilary Term after a de-motivated and quite stressful Michaelmas and I think I'll write about some of the strategies I used that I found helpful in the next bit. Now that the vacation has hit, I'm struggling to get some of my research and writerly get-up-and-go back, but I hope to blog soon on academic matters. (PS - I also decided to completely restructure my thesis last term - very exciting!)<br />
<br />
And in other, other news, Tim and I are heading off to France for a bit over a week in April. I'm deep in the midst of booking places to stay and figuring out transport, but we're hoping to stay in Paris, Amboise (in the Loire Valley), and Avignon.Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-18854043402727098372013-02-04T03:09:00.000-06:002013-04-04T14:10:53.490-06:00Review: LONG LANKIN, by Lindsey Barraclough<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-uwWecLf7y3Hh8EX_gXUq3UkNTgx1f7SljOwoyULK75fxJukDCPx-sar8k2Dcdv2PWKvjUNmhT59PnBcVbTfwGjdAeOwRPPq1El__sUPF5jvl3j5HMiSZ2fO6O2lWtBb-T_Mj3Cj6Nz8/s1600/longlankin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-uwWecLf7y3Hh8EX_gXUq3UkNTgx1f7SljOwoyULK75fxJukDCPx-sar8k2Dcdv2PWKvjUNmhT59PnBcVbTfwGjdAeOwRPPq1El__sUPF5jvl3j5HMiSZ2fO6O2lWtBb-T_Mj3Cj6Nz8/s320/longlankin.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<i>Long Lankin</i> is a fantastic, post-war Britain ghost story, with undercurrents of M.R. James-style horror.<br />
<br />
Gosh, sounds a bit like description of wine. <br />
<br />
In some ways, <i>Long Lankin</i> in an atypical YA novel. First of all, two of the novel's narrators are twelve (maybe thirteen), which would suggest the novel is middle-grade (ie: for ages 9-12). However, the third narrator is probably somewhere near sixty, which suggests this isn't a novel for young people at all. Also, the narrative includes largeish sections of archaic documents, with suitably old-fashioned language and spelling and stories of adultery, etc. The novel is, however, an atmospheric, suspenseful YA read, driven by a great story. All these non-standard elements make it original and also, perhaps, appeal to readers of all ages.<br />
<br />
On to the story! Cora and her four-year-old sister Mimi are sent from their East London flat in 1958 to stay with their Aunt Ida in her crumbling ancestral home in the Essex marshes. While there, they befriend Roger and his family and set out to solve the mystery of why strange ghostly children appear in the nearby churchyard and why all the windows and doors of Guerdon Hall must be kept shut and locked at all times. It soon becomes clear that Mimi, Cora's little sister, is in grave danger.<br />
<br />
All three points of view are well drawn and Aunt Ida's is just as interesting as the children's because she knows much more than she wants to say about the history of Guerdon Hall and the nearby church.<br />
<br />
Interspersed with all this ghostliness are much less chilling elements of good old childhood fun - family life, making camps in the woods, riding bicycles, hanging out in an old pillar box left over from the war, running to the shop to get a sweet while one picks up Dettol or washing up powder for Mum. I've seen some readers complain that the novel begins slowly but I savoured all these details of childhood and post-war Britain. This is the era in which my parents were born and my grandparents lived, but I'm familiar with the narrative of boom and prosperity in North America. For that reason, it was fascinating to see a world in which bomb damage in London still hadn't been cleared and one might have to run over to the pub to make a telephone call. (It reminded me at times of BBC's <i>Call the Midwife</i>, which we are currently watching). Also, as in Sarah Waters's <i>The Little Stranger</i>, the post-war period offers a good opportunity for both ghost stories and discussions of class and social change.<br />
<br />
The slow build of atmosphere and the careful revelation of the story of Long Lankin are very effective in racheting up the suspense. At one point I felt viscerally, physically tense, waiting to find out what would happen to the characters I had grown to care for.<br />
<br />
This is a novel based on the ballad "Long Lankin", which is printed at the beginning of the book. Knowing the ballad makes the novel more chilling but doesn't give the plot away. Part of the fun of the novel is the way Barraclough works out elements of the ballad and places them in a sensible historical context. This method reminded me of Janet McNaughton's <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/711003.An_Earthly_Knight" target="_blank"><i>An Earthly Knight</i></a>, a YA retelling of the ballad of Tam Lin.<br />
<br />
P.S. I love the cover - the misty obscurity, the looming trees, and the girls who look like they're actually from the 1950s. One of my pet peeves in the covers of historical novels are models who look much too modern!Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-65216069864697590902013-02-02T07:22:00.001-06:002013-02-02T07:25:24.948-06:00Review: A WORLD BETWEEN US, by Lydia Syson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiepkwWePZSbxoZQPvAARC6n5yOiaKb7kR7_2RVVdxo_5iFiR4np09BMGBuIiGG0WiLsdygQtztL2tztWlgvYz8b1BxQBvtbsECzCJf2FXZXxfJbFLMCL8Tgj4qEm_OIFZIkmYgK2KcbOU/s1600/aworldbetweenus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiepkwWePZSbxoZQPvAARC6n5yOiaKb7kR7_2RVVdxo_5iFiR4np09BMGBuIiGG0WiLsdygQtztL2tztWlgvYz8b1BxQBvtbsECzCJf2FXZXxfJbFLMCL8Tgj4qEm_OIFZIkmYgK2KcbOU/s320/aworldbetweenus.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
In the last year, I've learned more about the Spanish Civil War from reading young adult novels than I ever learned in school. First, I read Michelle Cooper's fabulous The Journals of Montmaray trilogy, which worked in details about the civil war through the characters' links to Spain and friendship with a Basque captain (reviews <a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/review-books-one-and-two-of-montmaray.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/review-fitzosbornes-at-war-by-michelle.html" target="_blank">here</a>). Then, at the beginning of January I read - almost in one sitting - Lydia Syson's first novel for young adults, <i>A World Between Us</i>, which centres around a love triangle between a nurse, an International Brigades soldier, and a journalist, all fighting fascism in war-torn Spain.<br />
<br />
Felix (short for Felicity) is a London nurse who follows Nat, a Jewish communist and International Brigades soldier to Spain, out of a sudden, head-over-heels love for him and deep need to escape middle-class, patriarchal suburban life and expectations. George, a family friend who hopes to marry her, follows her when she disappears from the Gare du Nord in Paris and works as a journalist while he tries to discover information about her whereabouts.<br />
<br />
Introducing these three point-of-view characters, explaining their motivations, and getting them to Spain takes a very few chapters at the beginning of the book, a tricky manoeuvre that felt slightly unwieldy and rushed to me.<br />
<br />
But once they get to Spain, let me tell you, the novel really gets going. This is the second novel I've read from Hot Key Books's inaugural year. The clever wheel on the back of the book promises 50% epic romance, 25% history, and 25% drama. I was a bit worried that the focus of the novel would be on the love triangle, to the exclusion of the fascinating and frankly, really important historical details of the Spanish Civil War, which was in many ways a training ground for the strategies and techniques used in World War II. For instance, the bombing of civilian and not just military targets for the purposes of creating terror. It began with the destruction of Guernica, so terribly evoked in Picasso's famous painting, and repeated itself with terrible consequences in the East End of London, Coventry, Hamburg, Dresden, and many other cities.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4TFQK3Je_r1HnJzj-bqjdjxYB0-WItvwMa23uEoWA4NFdTv7Hp9RMQelrp1trAcxb4HrofKtdTSN6Y95TSdAzvSVvihyphenhyphenaF0ZsZvhBQj9Us3Gaqp0MGAsW561N5J5LBZJIRAJN-1_xddw/s1600/PicassoGuernica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4TFQK3Je_r1HnJzj-bqjdjxYB0-WItvwMa23uEoWA4NFdTv7Hp9RMQelrp1trAcxb4HrofKtdTSN6Y95TSdAzvSVvihyphenhyphenaF0ZsZvhBQj9Us3Gaqp0MGAsW561N5J5LBZJIRAJN-1_xddw/s1600/PicassoGuernica.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picasso - <i>Guernica</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
However, I need not have worried. Syson does a wonderful job of melding historical detail with the lives and loves of her characters. The brutality of the fighting, dealing with bombings, and tending the war-wounded are told compellingly, as is the psychological strain Felix, Nat, and George experience. In a setting like this, the memory of love becomes precious, a place to escape to in a world on fire. The lovers in this novel don't actually spend that much time together. Each character develops over the course of the war and comes to his or her own understanding of the importance of the conflict they are engaged in. These periods of separation also means that moments like the ones in which George sees Felix again or Felix is able to sit with Nat in war-weary Madrid carry heart-breaking significance. Syson deals well with the physicality of romantic relationships in wartime - why wait if you might die tomorrow? What do social expectations matter in world turned upside down?<br />
<br />
As the novel progresses through the various stages of the civil war, helpful maps at the beginning of each section show the advance of Franco's troops and the major centres where the action takes place, so that you can see just how far away the characters are from each other at any given time and how close they are to the front line.<br />
<br />
Felix's experiences as a nurse, sometimes in haphazard, ad hoc conditions, are especially well done. As a Canadian, I was so pleased to see that one of our national heroes, Dr. Norman Bethune, has a walk-on role. Shamefully, I had not realised that Bethune pioneered a system for blood transfusions at the front during the Spanish Civil War. The details of blood types, the importance of refridgeration, and the sacrifice of the doctors and nurses who gave their own blood to save their patients are all skillfully rendered.<br />
<br />
Syson also does an excellent job at hinting at the divisions and suspicions within the anti-fascist faction. George Orwell went to Spain to serve, only to flee with his wife when the communists accused him of being a Trotskyite. The author also illustrates the conflicts between the communists and the Catholic Church, showing the reader that the political, religious, and military situation in Spain was complex and multi-faceted.<br />
<br />
As the novel drew to a close, I became so engaged with the characters that I found myself throwing out any aesthetic expectations of a balanced ending, only hoping for the characters' happiness in the face of tragedy and barriers at every turn. I'm happy to say that the novel ends the right way (notice, I'm not saying how it ends, or what "right" means). Any personal happiness the characters win at the end comes at the cost of their experiences in Spain and also the inescapable fact of failure and impotence. If you know the history going in, you know that the Spanish communists and International Brigades were defeated and Franco governed Spain until his death in the 1970s. What I hadn't realised until the Afterword is that the international volunteers were actually sent home in 1938, unable to fight until the bitter end.<br />
<br />
And more problems waited for them at home. International volunteers were seen as suspect because of their relationship with communism and some were not allowed to volunteer as soldiers in the Second World War because Western governments were concerned about their loyalty. Some people had trouble gaining employment after returning from Spain. Volunteers also weren't recognised as veterans until long after the conflict as well.<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed Elizabeth Wein's <i>Code Name Verity</i> or Michelle Cooper's Montmaray books and are looking for another fabulous YA historical novel, I heartily recommend you pick up <i>A World Between Us</i>.<br />
<br />
P.S. Last year, a bunch of old interviews with Canadian volunteers in the Spanish Civil War were discovered in the basement of the CBC building in Toronto. Material from these interviews featured on three episodes of the program <i>Living Out Loud</i>. You can listen to them on CBC's player <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Living+Out+Loud/Spanish+Crucible/" target="_blank">here</a>. Fascinating stuff.Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-51044323894645509592013-02-02T05:03:00.000-06:002013-02-02T05:03:03.749-06:00Music of Michaelmas 2012: Within Temptation EditionBefore the end of last year, I promised a post on the music I listened to in Michaelmas Term. Seeing as we are now three weeks into Hilary, I thought I'd better get this music post up now before it becomes morbidly too late.<br />
<br />
Because I went to Within Temptation's fifteen-year anniversary concert in Antwerp, I spent some time listening to their back catalogue, <i>Enter</i> (1997), <i>The Dance</i> EP (1998), <i>Mother Earth</i> (2000), <i>The Silent Force</i> (2004), <i>The Heart of Everything</i> (2007), and <i>The Unforgiving</i> (2011). In honour of this re-listening to one of my favourite-ever bands, I give, you my favourite <strike>six</strike> seven songs. <br />
<br />
(Which were incredibly hard to choose!)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/fFEUzjB66uI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
"Candles", from <i>Enter</i>. My favourite from the era of the first album and EP, when the band did "Beauty and the Beast"-style singing. That is, pairing Sharon den Adel's lovely "clean" vocals with male, er, growling. If you don't listen much music with growling, it will come across as strange and Cookie Monster-ish, but I've developed a bit of a fondness for it (in moderation!) and I quite like the contrast it creates in songs like this one.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/reGlno9aUpw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<i>Mother Earth</i>, the titular song from Within Temptation's second studio album. This is one of the songs that first got me into the band back in 2005 (which seems like rather a long time ago now). Nature imagery, celtic influences - it's hard to beat.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/zQhIOs5yDJ4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
"Ice Queen", also from the <i>Mother Earth </i>album, a huge fan favourite, often played at the end of concerts.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/8lWOejASN0k?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
"Jillian", from <i>The Silent Force</i>. My favourite song off this album for the bombastic choirs and symphonic elements. My other favourite from this album is the single "Stand My Ground" which I am not including in this list, only because I'm attempting to be very restrained and selective. Also, it's a very strong album as a whole.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/yCxb8FwhzK8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
"Our Solemn Hour", from <i>The Heart of Everything</i>. Frankly, what's not to love? It features on introductory voiceover from one of Winston Churchill's most famous World War II speeches and has a guitar solo and a choir chanting in Latin (though I think that Latin may sadly be incorrect grammatically).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/ycSOn_Emn-Y/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ycSOn_Emn-Y&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ycSOn_Emn-Y&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
"The Cross", which I think is really interesting and original and thus tricky to describe.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/NUuInD9HLaE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
And finally, "Sinead", which has a neat dancy, 1980s feel to it, while still being a great rock song and talking about a doomed romance. From Within Temptation's last album, which was a concept album, <i>The Unforgiving</i>. Less symphonic than the previous two albums but still really, really good.<br />
<br />
So, that is my quick introduction to the awesomeness of Within Temptation. Tim hasn't been won over but I know a few of my internet friends are big fans. Perhaps you will like them too. :)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-40883921861095233572013-01-22T16:22:00.001-06:002013-04-04T14:23:45.224-06:00Favourite Reads of 2012I suppose this post is a bit belated, but at least it's still January. Without further ado, I give you my "best of" list for 2012. I've starred my five most favourite books in honour of their outstanding quality (Caveat: these were hard to pick and I may well change my mind in the future.)<br />
<br />
(For my favourite books of 2011, click <a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/favourite-books-of-2011.html" target="_blank">here</a>.) <br />
<br />
<b>Published in 2012</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0lcHVhfS3j1SctySh0nGwqP4Z9Jxc0n9g00AuShANitMFYFtR0yz-XiJtqJoVN7ZU_asqqHuA2sunlXSh0Ao4HU2siAY2oY-eGcLS4nDUNeIiC8VmomJ5jmhVPvQzVEbjz0di2GB2oH8/s1600/verity+uk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0lcHVhfS3j1SctySh0nGwqP4Z9Jxc0n9g00AuShANitMFYFtR0yz-XiJtqJoVN7ZU_asqqHuA2sunlXSh0Ao4HU2siAY2oY-eGcLS4nDUNeIiC8VmomJ5jmhVPvQzVEbjz0di2GB2oH8/s200/verity+uk.jpg" width="130" /></a><i>Code Name Verity</i>, Elizabeth Wein*<br />
<br />
I bought my copy in February, pretty soon after publication, because the cover had attracted my notice in Blackwell's. I think this may be my single favourite book of 2012 and perhaps the one I would most recommend. You should read it because it's a fantastic YA historical fiction novel about espionage, flying, and female friendship in World War II. This is an emotionally gripping, tighly written, and twisty turny novel that made me absolutely sob at the end. Also, in recent years, I've become much less of a re-reader, but I think I may need to read this one again soon. It's just that good. I reviewed it <a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/review-code-name-verity-by-elizabeth.html" target="_blank">here</a>. (YA historical fiction)<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Yx_WRg52FNYOVsiheGWM9TDlbhqZOv4mvgO11yV4-PiAbNE4WyYevnhPfRKHJ7jfCUPLqjce4QDy54QtbkrAkSVZHo5-95_PH7W8YoGRZlbov7I3BXV2p1gSkv0zy4pB2eatFMMSaRg/s1600/brides+of+rollrock+island.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Yx_WRg52FNYOVsiheGWM9TDlbhqZOv4mvgO11yV4-PiAbNE4WyYevnhPfRKHJ7jfCUPLqjce4QDy54QtbkrAkSVZHo5-95_PH7W8YoGRZlbov7I3BXV2p1gSkv0zy4pB2eatFMMSaRg/s200/brides+of+rollrock+island.jpg" width="140" /></a><i>The Brides of Rollrock Island</i>, Margo Lanagan<br />
<br />
This was the novel that introduced me to the magicalness that is Margo Lanagan's writing. Her prose is luscious and beautiful, but she does everything else well too. <i>Brides</i> takes place over several generations on Rollrock Island and encompasses the revenge the witch Miskaella takes against its inhabitants by introducing seal wives to the island's weak-willed men. A great take on the selkie story. I reviewed it <a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/review-brides-of-rollrock-island-by.html" target="_blank">here</a>. (YA fantasy)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBsms-KuV2xsobUzPIMDF0y2jUt0vGWi8XB1igNuTEGkn7IcjNEUR2YP3OAUIIU8_OATGhS8Zfq2RjUYtBgd6GckQSNc5kcDtOo8A9x6lJW-gef_YOEL6-wJuZdOg76eFDbaG1XCistaE/s1600/montmaray3aus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBsms-KuV2xsobUzPIMDF0y2jUt0vGWi8XB1igNuTEGkn7IcjNEUR2YP3OAUIIU8_OATGhS8Zfq2RjUYtBgd6GckQSNc5kcDtOo8A9x6lJW-gef_YOEL6-wJuZdOg76eFDbaG1XCistaE/s1600/montmaray3aus.jpg" /></a><i>The</i> <i>Montmaray Journals </i>(2008-2012), Michelle Cooper<br />
<br />
This trilogy comprises <i>A Brief History of Montmaray </i>(<a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/review-books-one-and-two-of-montmaray.html" target="_blank">review</a>), <i>The FitzOsbornes in Exile</i> (<a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/review-books-one-and-two-of-montmaray.html" target="_blank">review</a>), and <i>The FitzOsbornes at War</i> (<a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/review-fitzosbornes-at-war-by-michelle.html" target="_blank">review</a>). For some reason, my reviews for this trilogy have become some of the most visited pages on this blog. Go figure. But I'm more than happy to spread the word. This YA historical trilogy follows the royal family of the fictional island of Montmaray into exile in England, through the years leading up to the outbreak of war, and through the Second World War itself. The characters, including narrator Princess Sophia, are incredibly well-drawn, so much so that I had metaphorical fingers crossed for everyone during the final book in the series and, you guessed it, sobbed at the inevitable loss of a beloved character. The alternate history aspect of these books is incredibly well done, as Cooper weaves various historical figures through the books, including the Kennedys and the Mitfords, Also, I learned a great deal about the Spanish Civil War from these books. Great fun and highly recommended, especially to anyone who loves Dodie Smith's <i>I Capture the Castle</i>, which the first book in the series is delightfully reminiscent of. (YA historical)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidN3Hm500Cg2uN-ucNSQ5LJkkwVQ8BZCbdDV-3LUseoZnUSO_mDr86TH80-bdn6IRjrbL13DI7lDf-PoCOUh9otHKMtPjvPJIsxJmsSl5DvkHlg3Xqr7JxuvI4rvpsJp6udm1tVFJsAfY/s1600/blackspringaus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidN3Hm500Cg2uN-ucNSQ5LJkkwVQ8BZCbdDV-3LUseoZnUSO_mDr86TH80-bdn6IRjrbL13DI7lDf-PoCOUh9otHKMtPjvPJIsxJmsSl5DvkHlg3Xqr7JxuvI4rvpsJp6udm1tVFJsAfY/s200/blackspringaus.jpg" width="125" /></a><i>Black Spring</i>, Alison Croggonn<br />
<br />
I loved Alison Croggon's fantasy quartet The Books of Pellinor, so I was so, so excited to find out her next novel was a dark fantasy reworking of <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, possibly my favourite book ever. I reviewed the novel <a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/review-black-spring-by-alison-croggon.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Croggon follows the plot of the original quite closely but makes absolutely fascinating tweaks and changes, shifting the politics of the book, using magic and a vendetta code to externalize and embody aspects of the original novel. If you like <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, I think you probably need to read this novel. (YA fantasy)<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpBHIroO3XLJ1Gi5ABz9FM-7SCWb_vZU_wPopuDFMJF1xyafuHrkYEFgLHHQvW-jH29yiyXKAL6lfYT_YGjq9gc4P6RLMujO7qHfMB8DsqzfCLSH9NrclMNEcqOKH69Elcch0cKD3L9Hs/s1600/daysuk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpBHIroO3XLJ1Gi5ABz9FM-7SCWb_vZU_wPopuDFMJF1xyafuHrkYEFgLHHQvW-jH29yiyXKAL6lfYT_YGjq9gc4P6RLMujO7qHfMB8DsqzfCLSH9NrclMNEcqOKH69Elcch0cKD3L9Hs/s200/daysuk.jpg" width="130" /></a><i>Days of Blood and Starlight</i>, Laini Taylor<br />
<br />
Oh my goodness. <i>Days of Blood and Starlight</i> is the second book in what is fast becoming one of my favourite fantasy trilogies ever. I included its predecessor <i>Daughter of Smoke and Bone </i>on my list of favourite books from 2011, and I think <i>Days</i> may be even better - bigger, bolder, darker. There's a strong thread of romance running through these books, though <i>Days</i> focuses mainly on the pain of thwarted romantic love. The main character, Karou, is amazing, and she's backed by fabulous, hilarious friends from her Prague art school, while the angels and demons (or seraphim and chimaera) are fascinating and the love interest Akiva is properly smouldering, while also having his own story and challenges. A must-read series if you like YA fantasy. The third book is due to come out in 2014 and I can't wait, especially because Taylor finished the second book (and the first, for that matter) with a terrible cliffhanger! Review <a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/review-days-of-blood-and-starlight-by.html" target="_blank">here</a>. (YA fantasy)<br />
<br />
<i>Maggot Moon</i>, Sally Gardner*<br />
<br />
I was already a fan of Sally Gardner when I picked up this, her most recent novel, but now I love her even more. <i>Maggot Moon</i> is set in an alternative, dystopic 1950s England and narrated by Standish Treadwell, who is dyslexic and therefore at risk of being sent away for lacking "purity". His best friend Hector, as well as his parents, have already been disappeared. This novel is a wonderfully imagined story of friendship and bravery in spite of all odds. The ending also made me cry. (Crying seems to be a good indicator, as far as this "Best Of" list is concerned.) It's already won the Costa Children's Book prize and is well worth a read. Review <a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/review-maggot-moon-by-sally-gardner.html" target="_blank">here</a>. (Speculative YA? Hard to categorize)<br />
<br />
And here's some non-fiction to finish up the 2012 section of this post:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCMMyK_m9a4jXIc5sNot4VateR6NBZ1jahiCywIAmR9f7fW8AHKA096ow2FouD-oYhphkUxwh0Oebz-lBp10F1S4RYLfOMOv3nY3OAItRh5drUD8DZ3yv3Sa5op_x2X5VMJbKBNnwYgkc/s1600/mrsrobinson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCMMyK_m9a4jXIc5sNot4VateR6NBZ1jahiCywIAmR9f7fW8AHKA096ow2FouD-oYhphkUxwh0Oebz-lBp10F1S4RYLfOMOv3nY3OAItRh5drUD8DZ3yv3Sa5op_x2X5VMJbKBNnwYgkc/s200/mrsrobinson.jpg" width="135" /></a><i>Mrs. Robinson's Disgrace: The Private Diary of a Victorian Lady</i>, Kate Summerscale<br />
<br />
I loved Summerscale's previous book, <i>The Suspicions of Mr Whicher</i>, which told the story of an influential Victorian murder case which contributed to sensation and detective fiction (and made my best of list last year). This book was also fantastic, following Isabella Robinson, a middle-class woman trapped in a loveless marriage and the diary she kept, which detailed - or did it? - her adulterous affair with a younger doctor. The affair led to a much-publicized divorce trial and Summerscale is very good on the ins and outs of divorce law in the period, the history of diary-keeping, and the place of women in Victorian society. A great read. (Non-fiction; history; social history)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVINxgQBK5ftItOMFli482shUA2WMERpgMyRe-0mesE29vj2ybhvLHhUXpy25_CKW4ZEFTCQcbpi3N1bgM-Q45uahnXa92yzpRcQsO5EqTU2rpV9dLsklpb0f2RGvYKaCczVs7nAw5NUo/s1600/inconvenienpeople.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVINxgQBK5ftItOMFli482shUA2WMERpgMyRe-0mesE29vj2ybhvLHhUXpy25_CKW4ZEFTCQcbpi3N1bgM-Q45uahnXa92yzpRcQsO5EqTU2rpV9dLsklpb0f2RGvYKaCczVs7nAw5NUo/s200/inconvenienpeople.jpg" width="128" /></a><i>Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty, and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England</i>, Sarah Wise<br />
<br />
I read this lengthy-ish book in four days. It's absolutely gripping. In each chapter, Wise gives the case history, as it were, of a nineteenth-century man or woman incorrectly certified as insane, often because relatives wanted to gain control of said person's money. Wise deftly traces the evolution of the laws surrounding lunacy and gives the details of the various ways people could be incarcerated. I learned that in the first half of the century, men, who controlled more money, were probably more likely to be comitted to an asylum or doctor's private care than women. I also learned that if control of wealth was to be transferred to, say, a family member in the event of a relative being comitted, there had to be a Chancery trial to determine if the lunatic was capable of managing his or her own wealth. The whole book was fascinating and read really well and, perhaps most important to me personally, sparked off a train of thought that led (I think) to me figuring out the plot of my next novel. I owe Sarah Wise a lot for that. (Non-fiction; history; social history)<br />
<br />
<b>Books Published before 2012</b><br />
<br />
A few things irked me about many published "Best Books" lists for 2012. For one thing, it seems only capital "L" literary fiction and non-fiction titles were mentioned (no YA? Fantasy? Mystery?) and the lists were heavy on 2012 titles, which is strange seeing as how the great majority of fabulous books were published in the years leading up to 2012. Now, I'm a bit guilty of this myself, because I read a lot of books last year that were 2012 releases. But I'm more than happy to feature the pre-2012 titles I loved best here.<br />
<br />
<b>Young Adult</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI6KJqUNDJ6FNU61fGV28vKSkhDMwwW6X-odO_fUOMeg-ysUUr6NB98gboiClyJ9bk-Jj2UQopSVazc2_hND2DQo6JC0KpRebG_QIODmExCTcaUEymOG1ti7v7FMGJ4GbK8LauMJqJTHQ/s1600/tendermorsels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI6KJqUNDJ6FNU61fGV28vKSkhDMwwW6X-odO_fUOMeg-ysUUr6NB98gboiClyJ9bk-Jj2UQopSVazc2_hND2DQo6JC0KpRebG_QIODmExCTcaUEymOG1ti7v7FMGJ4GbK8LauMJqJTHQ/s200/tendermorsels.jpg" width="123" /></a><i>Tender Morsels</i>, Margo Lanagan*<br />
<b> </b><br />
Having read and loved <i>The Brides of Rollrock Island</i> early in the year, I made the very wise decision of try reading Lanagan's previous novel, <i>Tender Morsels</i>, again. I had tried to read this novel a couple years ago back home in Saskatoon, but couldn't get past the first fifty pages or so, because this novel includes terrible sexual violence right up front. Lanagan is very careful in her portrayal of such acts and really one's imagination fills in most of the blanks (perhaps that's why the first section is so powerful), but I just wasn't ready to read the novel then. This time I read all the way through and was bowled over by the heartbreaking power of it. The novel is a retelling of the Grimm's fairy tale "Snow White and Rose Red" and involves a young woman, Liga, who becomes the mother of two girls and raises them in her "heaven" because of the torment she has suffered. In her "heaven", men are kind and she and her daughters are safe. But it isn't <i>real</i> and soon enough, they all must face reality; however painful and flawed the real world is, that is where true beauty and love are to be found. I can't do it justice. It's an immensely sad and immensely beautiful novel and I'm so glad I read it. (YA fantasy)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE8nvRxN5s-jeuzpJqjn37bDG5u8KAMvGJG1Bdsu1rN9pcwIDIefpqgqtU-SmzEUwurygd1s5w3iCZQ2eh5p8lIxTxU-4KA4rLA6hZsf4TI3cWXiuVjI9vnbYLhg2_mGyZ_nkm208fvsU/s1600/howilivenow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE8nvRxN5s-jeuzpJqjn37bDG5u8KAMvGJG1Bdsu1rN9pcwIDIefpqgqtU-SmzEUwurygd1s5w3iCZQ2eh5p8lIxTxU-4KA4rLA6hZsf4TI3cWXiuVjI9vnbYLhg2_mGyZ_nkm208fvsU/s200/howilivenow.jpg" width="129" /></a><i>How I Live Now</i>, Meg Rosoff*<br />
<br />
This novel was strongly recommended to me by a fellow Oxford-area SCWBI member, Jo Wyton (who blogs at <a href="http://jowyton.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Let's Get Serious</a>). I had a really fabulous, intense reading experience with this novel. It's quite short - about 200 pages long, I think - and it was so good and so gripping that I read it over the course of one bath, one evening. And the ending made me sob. It's narrated by American Daisy who arrives in the UK to stay with her aunt, uncle, and cousins and to recover from her anorexia. However, she winds up alone on a farm with her cousins when war is declared and must escape with her younger cousin and seek safety, leaving behind her lover, Cousin Edmond. Her escape and her homecoming are brilliantly told in Daisy's distinctive, idiosyncratic voice. This novel also taught me that I really need to read more of Meg Rosoff's novels, something I can hopefully do in 2013. (YA - hard to characterize - just read it!)<br />
<br />
<b>Adult</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW9_83EN05cMdfG4GFKZ_xg8aRyF4jcBmWjgJCYCeIcvOiuqJfh-AU8VhTgRxieKqzx9vEtjGRSyzJEXLvT-sSuF8eFa73qwfjOdieZSto7Q6PAXlcfgXalfubPgctO24u3xBXCCwl_xA/s1600/fingersmith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW9_83EN05cMdfG4GFKZ_xg8aRyF4jcBmWjgJCYCeIcvOiuqJfh-AU8VhTgRxieKqzx9vEtjGRSyzJEXLvT-sSuF8eFa73qwfjOdieZSto7Q6PAXlcfgXalfubPgctO24u3xBXCCwl_xA/s200/fingersmith.jpg" width="123" /></a><i>Fingersmith</i>, Sarah Waters<br />
<b> </b><br />
It was with a degree of sadness that I read this novel, because it was the last of Sarah Waters's novels unread by me. Now I just have to hope she has a new book published really soon. It's been a long time since I raced through an author's entire <i>oevre</i> the way I raced through this body of novels. I can now say categorically that they're all fabulous! This one seemed especially formed to please me, riffing as it does off <i>Oliver Twist</i> and <i>The Woman in White</i>, encompassing madhouses and pickpockets. This novel features sudden reversals, revelations, romance, and crime. It's just great. (Though Water's most recent and the first I read, <i>The Little Stranger</i>, may still be my favourite, but it's really hard to say). (Historical fiction; neo-Victorian fiction)<br />
<br />
<b>Victorian</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-1tDINpJ-_g2YKx-OrGK0FVBT_LGDcuRG8K6Dekz9dcEvVmwnu4-duYwT_ZhkJIOwoFwIhlguR4k_4TEx-Yp0OIKjwFw8iKGX_MEg73q35gBtnPMr7Qp1LbfNoGQ5qDjKRN3SvpRgGmw/s1600/inaglassdarkly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-1tDINpJ-_g2YKx-OrGK0FVBT_LGDcuRG8K6Dekz9dcEvVmwnu4-duYwT_ZhkJIOwoFwIhlguR4k_4TEx-Yp0OIKjwFw8iKGX_MEg73q35gBtnPMr7Qp1LbfNoGQ5qDjKRN3SvpRgGmw/s200/inaglassdarkly.jpg" width="131" /></a><i>In a Glass Darkly</i>, Sheridan Le Fanu <br />
<br />
The best Victorian book I read last year was Sheridan Le Fanu's <i>In a Glass Darkly</i>, a collection of Victorian ghost stories connected by the frame narrative of Dr. Hesselius, who looks into psychical phenomena. The stories (though two could be considered novellas) are fabulous. Le Fanu really was among the very best Victorian ghost story writers, carefully constructing each so that it is ambiguous: real ghosts? psychological abnormality? Hard to say. Probably my favourite part of the collection was <i>Carmilla</i>, which features a female vampire and was written a good twenty or so years before <i>Dracula</i> (and, I think, was an influence on it). Just great stuff. (Victorian; ghost stories)<br />
<br />
<b>Non-Fiction</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZ0dcWXS5RlNvQ8V93gzJRD9h0vKHtCHxiqtFKKUMlHmlV5iyNR4budblk0p9PBfQ8bsfh7A7k5_hlW8QkeI12NrZ5rs8LuNOH0Jc9guI_gZ92-m0pNA8Mtl6RLrU1oe7KlQ2vZQcwrw/s1600/testament.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZ0dcWXS5RlNvQ8V93gzJRD9h0vKHtCHxiqtFKKUMlHmlV5iyNR4budblk0p9PBfQ8bsfh7A7k5_hlW8QkeI12NrZ5rs8LuNOH0Jc9guI_gZ92-m0pNA8Mtl6RLrU1oe7KlQ2vZQcwrw/s200/testament.jpg" width="131" /></a><i>Testament of Youth</i>, Vera Brittain*<br />
<b> </b><br />
I ended up reading this autobiography/memoir after reading some of <a href="http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/novelreadings/" target="_blank">Rohan Maitzen's</a> blog posts on planning her Dalhousie seminar on the Somerville Novelists. Somerville College was one of Oxford's women's colleges (they're all co-ed now) and bred an inordinate number of notable novelists in the post-war genration, notably Brittain, Winifred Holtby (of <i>South Riding </i>fame) and Dorothy L. Sayers. Having the great advantage of living in Oxford, it was easy enough to pop down to visit Somerville, which Tim and I thought resembled North American universities more than many of the other colleges (maybe it was all the brick architecture?). Anyway, I was so pleased I had visited the college shortly before I began reading Brittain's memoir, because I could picture her time at Somerville as an undergraduate reasonably accurately. It was quite a revelation, seeing how hard Brittain had to fight for the Oxford education that her brother was granted almost as a default. The narrative quickly shifts into her time as a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse during World War I, following her through postings in London, France, and Malta. The book shows the pain of the loss of her brother and fiance and her return to academia after the war. Brittain writes of making friends with Holtby after the war, her involvement in the pacifist movement and League of Nations, and falling in love with her eventual husband in the 1920s. It's just an amazing book in terms of its view of women's education and women's role in World War I. I'm so glad I read this. It made me realise (yet again) how lucky I am to have had a university education and to be at Oxford. (Memoir; autobiography; World War I)<br />
<br />Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-71887036018973465572013-01-18T16:06:00.000-06:002013-04-04T14:32:36.141-06:00Snow Day in Oxford!Well, for the first time since we moved to Oxford, we had a proper snowfall. It came down just about all day and it stuck and it was glorious. Sort of.<br />
<br />
(And now I'm going to wax poetic about snow.) <br />
<br />
I hadn't realized just how much I missed winter - and snow. My little prairie girl heart positively bursts with delight when it snows. I feel calm, serene. The world gets softer and quieter somehow.<br />
<br />
This was the kind of winter day we dreamt about at home. Lovely falling snow in just sub-zero temperatures. I walked home from school (about a 45 minute-trek) and didn't get cold at all.<br />
<br />
Also, I think Oxford really deserves more snowfalls. The city looks utterly lovely under a nice white blanket. Snow on spires - snow on ancient stone walls - snow falling peacefully over churchyards.<br />
<br />
I made sure to take pictures, because I don't know how often I'll see Oxford like this.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVwwMWQ0HwNRSnXDyv-nisTSgOrACVBPWm_rn-pI188v1XYuRr8hx2haF2S01INYMwwU22pwudzxOXV0qm9lhyphenhyphenNSj7mmokB0T3g6IcD_op_hA0XLP-S24U8XmnDuyMm0_ylZIRFUTJ_qc/s1600/2013-01-18+13.32.37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVwwMWQ0HwNRSnXDyv-nisTSgOrACVBPWm_rn-pI188v1XYuRr8hx2haF2S01INYMwwU22pwudzxOXV0qm9lhyphenhyphenNSj7mmokB0T3g6IcD_op_hA0XLP-S24U8XmnDuyMm0_ylZIRFUTJ_qc/s640/2013-01-18+13.32.37.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mansfield College</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCk_RTURzuwuYRLthZHDUrW1HWfBBknoCP-cFYcQuxWu2n-UlPhx0xgZfkWr2nVgkxEga7WEM4dqBoKZ-B86zIvQIhEL2VNUvpfVdZdGpsAzEWgrA-Cg22WrR5ozsEhH0wkjIPLqmFPNw/s1600/2013-01-18+13.39.54.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCk_RTURzuwuYRLthZHDUrW1HWfBBknoCP-cFYcQuxWu2n-UlPhx0xgZfkWr2nVgkxEga7WEM4dqBoKZ-B86zIvQIhEL2VNUvpfVdZdGpsAzEWgrA-Cg22WrR5ozsEhH0wkjIPLqmFPNw/s640/2013-01-18+13.39.54.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Holywell Cemetary, on the way to the English Faculty</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB4J7qdGvFAK2uc730dDv2X_FIwC4lLBlIVABZasCgA2r7Tp0xwqk6hnVgfIEp4Wn0aI6jz_f63dQXIvAytatUOt6y1Ew6CaoykO9vslwXg3BlCraiShBaAL8paOd4-Qa1AjRZHlex7nk/s1600/2013-01-18+13.58.29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB4J7qdGvFAK2uc730dDv2X_FIwC4lLBlIVABZasCgA2r7Tp0xwqk6hnVgfIEp4Wn0aI6jz_f63dQXIvAytatUOt6y1Ew6CaoykO9vslwXg3BlCraiShBaAL8paOd4-Qa1AjRZHlex7nk/s640/2013-01-18+13.58.29.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Icicles!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjejQdn6fA2hd2ZzUlrxn22iEN2GOiX-UuHsYsYfNtAlM6Jq2Fn0o7hTwfiZojivooSxFTOD7Jri_Gcg2k2yEIwZBO8mXlYRZ2uVG2vL7Y-BzCi5_R-XXJUWWredUf38wKzkH-ghWmRruk/s1600/2013-01-18+13.59.11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjejQdn6fA2hd2ZzUlrxn22iEN2GOiX-UuHsYsYfNtAlM6Jq2Fn0o7hTwfiZojivooSxFTOD7Jri_Gcg2k2yEIwZBO8mXlYRZ2uVG2vL7Y-BzCi5_R-XXJUWWredUf38wKzkH-ghWmRruk/s640/2013-01-18+13.59.11.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I quite liked how the snow settled on the busts of the old men in front of the Sheldonian Theatre.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrT2-DoyNvUwu-f5AkG6bR-Qa_LTlcJ11pHGnXRVlU_KZbtUguSgxHclVBi0LMoVojtGDRs3s5yRBs0mcBxgQsyqBH3AuK4srFPqizJ1IW0C7fgqAz0iHGFrXIPewAsoXJWfpKtxui5qs/s1600/2013-01-18+14.02.11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrT2-DoyNvUwu-f5AkG6bR-Qa_LTlcJ11pHGnXRVlU_KZbtUguSgxHclVBi0LMoVojtGDRs3s5yRBs0mcBxgQsyqBH3AuK4srFPqizJ1IW0C7fgqAz0iHGFrXIPewAsoXJWfpKtxui5qs/s640/2013-01-18+14.02.11.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Radcliffe Camera, with All Souls College in behind</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieJIk0jxRg5huH5yPJ7oh-pRRe8tUcUre0anjn3tBCnjfXoLTi7AzOJBHWIWFsY3moNj0Xe_DhFXyteTz3InQ9ByPEl1Lr1ccIwMzY6x2O2kltX10ZVkpuRWBmsutdpL95AsvyGT_7dzo/s1600/2013-01-18+14.03.14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieJIk0jxRg5huH5yPJ7oh-pRRe8tUcUre0anjn3tBCnjfXoLTi7AzOJBHWIWFsY3moNj0Xe_DhFXyteTz3InQ9ByPEl1Lr1ccIwMzY6x2O2kltX10ZVkpuRWBmsutdpL95AsvyGT_7dzo/s640/2013-01-18+14.03.14.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The University Church, recently out from under a bunch of scaffolding</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8PqloSduGSAfXi5Vzx4UidEhou056p-ZHk7QYN0l3enBIuMNfwlyMaQN7570MihyNfjdolMTSshtpvYBOmIRnO-QCd20UDFmPp9dAdTxvTvuc0kXJ-up3w0KCW8ZZK-R25Und5Gci33U/s1600/2013-01-18+14.19.53.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8PqloSduGSAfXi5Vzx4UidEhou056p-ZHk7QYN0l3enBIuMNfwlyMaQN7570MihyNfjdolMTSshtpvYBOmIRnO-QCd20UDFmPp9dAdTxvTvuc0kXJ-up3w0KCW8ZZK-R25Und5Gci33U/s640/2013-01-18+14.19.53.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And the cemetary at St. Giles, a great place to have lunch with Tim</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now. The negative part of the story. You see, the British don't get snow like this very often. Today 10 cm/4 inches were expected to accumulate across much of England. Schools closed. The Bodleian's library system closed at 3 pm. Trains and buses were cancelled and delayed. This is all rather annoying.<br />
<br />
Especially since at home everyone just drives slowly and it isn't really a big deal to have this much snow in a day. The only time parts of the University of Saskatchewan started shutting down during my undergraduate days was when Saskatoon had its worst blizzard in fifty years!<br />
<br />
I suppose it all depends on what you're used to. Thus, I cackle every time I read about how "very cold" it is in the British press. Cold? You ain't seen nothing! It was -2 for most of today in Oxford; tomorrow's high in Saskatoon tomorrow will be -21. (For comparison purposes, the coldest it has EVER gotten in Oxford is -17...)<br />
<br />
So, I hope the snow sticks around (though it does mean I can't cycle down to school while it lasts) and that the weather-related disruptions end soon. Also, perhaps the government and local councils should look into investing in more winter weather-related infrastructure?<br />
<br />Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-84112936749358056132012-12-31T10:00:00.000-06:002013-10-31T14:20:28.183-06:00Review: DAYS OF BLOOD AND STARLIGHT, by Laini Taylor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhtbghTukdqChdAg5kZSyq99A9TkmI9N3ahqYH-4Sk9xnJ-SnZ7OaK_w5wAL4qZJbl70erfsVUSqalvWI3PswUkcaFvPzB37acKDxRbnPRjL_dJ3Ic3JaOwB6K88Ew1Ehf1AneW9ZecNs/s1600/daysus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhtbghTukdqChdAg5kZSyq99A9TkmI9N3ahqYH-4Sk9xnJ-SnZ7OaK_w5wAL4qZJbl70erfsVUSqalvWI3PswUkcaFvPzB37acKDxRbnPRjL_dJ3Ic3JaOwB6K88Ew1Ehf1AneW9ZecNs/s320/daysus.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
This is a review of the second book in Laini Taylor's fabulous Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy, with thoughts on the first book (HERE BE SPOILERS!) and the construction of the trilogy as a whole, because I think Taylor is doing some really interesting series-crafting.<br />
<br />
I loved <i>Daughter of Smoke and Bone</i> when I read it last autumn and included it on my list of favourite books read in 2011 (<a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/favourite-books-of-2011.html" target="_blank">here</a>). I didn't review it at the time, however, because I felt I needed to think about it a bit more. The novel is a fantastic take on what I suppose would be considered the paranormal romance genre - as the main character, Karou, is apparently human, and enters into a passionate romance with an angel. Except that the novel also explodes that genre, leavening everything with a good deal of quirky humour and, ultimately, a tragedy of apocalyptic proportions, stretching across two lifetimes and two worlds.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX_KJAUnZIItvtsRUQ8e0N1gSTmC3fV5z5YcZYoQPSyX1GMb8l_WUA8_OS1hEBvtbJRAPXDiKO1VKgZWRt_H28DG4Khy5fslYXHXQoqpTTm36oFk-lKi-A3dYh4J2eay9l4gs3vOPhE2U/s1600/daysuk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX_KJAUnZIItvtsRUQ8e0N1gSTmC3fV5z5YcZYoQPSyX1GMb8l_WUA8_OS1hEBvtbJRAPXDiKO1VKgZWRt_H28DG4Khy5fslYXHXQoqpTTm36oFk-lKi-A3dYh4J2eay9l4gs3vOPhE2U/s320/daysuk.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
In the first installment, Karou discovers that she is, in fact, not human but a chimaera and that her life as a blue-haired art student in Prague, running errands for Brimstone - a collector of teeth, seller of wishes - is really a second chance. This is what Karou discovers when she and Akiva, the angel mentioned above, break the wishbone Brimstone always wore and Karou was never allowed to touch.<br />
<br />
And this is where my one quibble came in.<br />
<br />
Taylor makes a very bold move when that wishbone is broken. A large chunk of the novel's third act is an extended flashback, in which Karou re-experiences her former life as a chimaera in the world of Eretz, when she fell in love with Akiva for the first time, even though the seraphim and chimerae are sworn enemies and have been at war for centuries. It follows Madrigal (Karou's previous identity) through her capture and execution by the Warlord's son and then her salvation by Brimstone, who trades in teeth because he uses them to resurrect the dead.<br />
<br />
When I first read the novel, I raced through this section as quickly as possible, trying to put together the clues to Karou's old life and figure out her relationship with Akiva. It's very risky to introduce a flashback of this magnitude with new characters and, in this case, a brand new world. It can backfire, as most would argue backstory section in Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes novel, <i>A Study in Scarlet,</i> does. In that case, it bogs down the properly interesting detective story with much less interesting narrative of Mormons in Utah. Here, I think it works. I especially think it works because it allows the second novel in the series to get off to a proper start, since Taylor has already laid the groundwork for the characters and conflicts Karou must deal with in Eretz.<br />
<br />
But I felt and still feel that in both the backstory in Book One and the narrative proper in Book Two, Eretz is not drawn in as detailed a fashion as I might like it to be. I'm not the kind of fantasy reader who demands incredibly intricate world-building, but I do feel like I would like <i>more</i>. Eretz doesn't feel as real to me as Karou's life in Prague did or as the kasbah in <i>Days</i> does.<br />
<br />
<b>31/10/2013 Note: I recently reread <i>Daughter of Smoke and Bone</i> and enjoyed it possibly even more the second time. The writing is beautiful, the characters are magnificent, the fated nature of Karou and Akiva's love is hinted at in ways that I totally missed the first time. Also, I think I may have done a disservice in my little criticism of the world-building of Eretz - there is a fair bit of detail there, which I think I missed on my first read because the plot compelled me to read so quickly.</b> <br />
<br />
Now that my quibble is out of the way, I want to lavish some praise on Taylor's structuring of the trilogy. Once Karou's previous life has been revealed, Akiva then makes the astonishing revelation that, in revenge for the chimaerae's killing of Madrigal, he has just been responsible for their genocide and Brimstone, the only father Karou ever knew, is dead. Karou leaves Akiva and passes through a portal in the sky to Eretz, creating as jaw-dropping a cliffhanger as Lord Asriel walking into the sky at the end of <i>The Golden Compass</i>.<br />
<br />
The ending of Book One blows everything wide open. The mystery of the disappearing portals to Elsewhere that was such a big part of <i>Daughter</i> is nothing in relation to the much higher stakes of Book Two. Where <i>Daughter</i> was in large part a romance, <i>Days</i> sees Karou/Madrigal and Akiva perhaps forever sundered because of Akiva's destruction of Karou's people. As she puts it, it's as if Juliet had woken to find Romeo still alive - but learns that he has destroyed her family and city. How can they possibly be together after a breakage like that?<br />
<br />
<i>Days</i> follows Karou and Akiva as they separately deal with the politics within their own peoples and try desperately to find a way to end the neverending war between the angels and chimaerae, a war in which both sides are culpable and both sides have suffered greatly. Characters on both sides are revealed in all shades of grey; politics and stratagem are delineated with the subtlety of Megan Whalen Turner's <i>Thief</i> books; the prose is propulsive, while also being striking and often hilariously funny.<br />
<br />
An important sub-plot is the romance between Karou's Prague friends Zuzana (who resembles a "rabid fairy") and Mik, which gives the otherwise quite dark book a necessary shot of humour and humanity.<br />
<br />
The book has two separate and very big climaxes, one of which is especially brutal and visceral and had me tense with dread. Book Three, due out in 2014, looks set to play out a war in heaven that could have grave impact on the human world. I'm hoping that against all the odds, Karou and Akiva will somehow find their way back to each other.Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-59764643339209202582012-12-30T15:41:00.000-06:002012-12-30T16:01:34.285-06:00Review: BLACK SPRING, by Alison Croggon<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6obX4JQ7VBMV6EOb5sckD5IW83FwzPHXdXGdNkPBwSLyrqx-nUhsnAZZ70fC1_pYymcVDNNkQlC2gLwIGj1kP_tzXz-OrncmliWcZ7fnrpMKp2QutsUASOloFPZ0wWa8a4eX-4Q86vRY/s1600/blackspringaus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6obX4JQ7VBMV6EOb5sckD5IW83FwzPHXdXGdNkPBwSLyrqx-nUhsnAZZ70fC1_pYymcVDNNkQlC2gLwIGj1kP_tzXz-OrncmliWcZ7fnrpMKp2QutsUASOloFPZ0wWa8a4eX-4Q86vRY/s400/blackspringaus.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Alison Croggon is an author whose books I must own right after release, even though that usually means expensive shipping from Australia. But it's always worth it.<br />
<br />
I fondly remember the day I discovered Alison Croggon's first fantasy novel <i>The Naming</i> in the young adult section at McNally Robinson's Saskatoon store, one day in May or June 2005. I will always remember reading it while listening to the Within Temptation album <i>Mother Earth</i>. Strange how those associations stick with you. If you have a chance to read the Books of Pellinor (<i>The Naming/The Gift</i>, <i>The Riddle</i>, <i>The Crow</i>, and <i>The Singing</i>) and you are a high fantasy fan, do it! They're wonderful and work in some ways as a feminist, post-colonial corrective to Tolkien.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGBBC92B8mM5FHP6-gIzPZpabfzMGw8xjwgTLCjs14be1FDP0rdq-B-nhh-JATeRebxoet3Af_el9KyGEeNJ9bHltlwlUIkJqPwgNuBMhuRo9Cs62X6zsW_Gi6kS3p0RqsxjHUt1sOoOc/s1600/blackspringuk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGBBC92B8mM5FHP6-gIzPZpabfzMGw8xjwgTLCjs14be1FDP0rdq-B-nhh-JATeRebxoet3Af_el9KyGEeNJ9bHltlwlUIkJqPwgNuBMhuRo9Cs62X6zsW_Gi6kS3p0RqsxjHUt1sOoOc/s400/blackspringuk.jpg" width="261" /></a>So, when Croggon posted on her blog a few years back that her next novel was a gothic fantasy take on <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, I was sold. <i>Wuthering Heights</i> is, quite possibly, my favourite novel of all time and I figured that if anyone could do it justice, Alison Croggon could, especially since she, like Emily Bronte, is both a poet and novelist.<br />
<br />
However, because this book has a complex relationship with Bronte's, it's a bit difficult for me to write about - because I love the source text so much, because I also have literary critical opinions about the novel and how its works, and because Croggon's take probably fits into the Neo-Victorian genre (think A.S. Byatt's <i>Possession</i>), a genre which often creates complex intertextual links with Victorian novels and which I have researched and written on in the past year.<br />
<br />
That said, there are two important things you can take away from this review.<br />
<br />
1) This is a fantastic book.<br />
2) In my opinion, it is also a respectful, critical, fascinating reworking of <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. If you like Bronte's novel, I suspect you will enjoy Croggon's too.<br />
<br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
(As a sidenote, I would be curious to see how people who are decidedly not lovers of <i>Wuthering Heights</i> feel about <i>Black Spring</i>, as it is quite faithful to the source text and reproduces the love story that isn't really a love story, as well as the unsympathetic characters and violence and capital "R" Romanticism of the original.)<br />
<br />
Alison Croggon’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black
Spring</i> follows the layered narrative structure and overall plot of the original novel very closely, so that
any deviation is significant. The novel begins with an urbane, self-absorbed Lockwood figure readying to leave the city for a spell in the wild, brutal plain society to the north. There, he stays over in the house of his landlord, Damek (Heathcliff) and sees a vision of a beautiful, desperate woman in a mirror (Cathy Earnshaw). From Anna (Nelly), he learns the mysterious history of Lina, born a witch in a society where women cannot practice magic, her foster brother Damek and their love, and the unforgiving laws of vendetta that structure their world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">I could go on and on about the really interesting changes and tweaks Croggon makes to Bronte's novel, the ways in which vendetta externalises the very personal revenge carried out by Bronte's Heathcliff, how making Lina a witch allows her very real power in a patriarchal society and allows her agency Cathy cannot have, the way Anna and Lina's relationship as women and "milk sisters" shifts the core of the story away from Heathcliff/Damek or the "romance" that readers sometimes mistakenly see as central to <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. Also, because I knew the plot of <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, I was expecting certain events going in (especially a particular death) and was pleasantly surprised when they did not occur. Neo-Victorian novels sometimes play on this familiarity with the source text and defamiliarize the story by twisting the "knowledgeable" reader's expectations, thus making the narrative new. Croggon's novel does just that. But I'll leave it there. The book is a brilliant gothic fantasy all on its own but it gains in complexity and depth through its relationship to its source text.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">I eagerly await Croggon's next novel, a prequel to the Pellinor series about Cadvan's earlier life.</span></div>
Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-88911740284534497562012-12-30T14:07:00.002-06:002013-04-04T14:41:41.156-06:00Review: THE DIVINERS, by Libba Bray<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkpQnPiENqGbRwI9IANG8V8zZkfPef8OobPEQYJ4ef3bUL8FS51gLTchVARO0RagDVaFbpDLD1GdRciiZ6uP91CuftVT9OjPWIYK19H8ebM_wEImW04zNOnqQZ5ofSbOhCdfAR9QJiP1Q/s1600/The+Diviners+UK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkpQnPiENqGbRwI9IANG8V8zZkfPef8OobPEQYJ4ef3bUL8FS51gLTchVARO0RagDVaFbpDLD1GdRciiZ6uP91CuftVT9OjPWIYK19H8ebM_wEImW04zNOnqQZ5ofSbOhCdfAR9QJiP1Q/s320/The+Diviners+UK.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">North American edition</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've been a fan of Libba Bray's since discovering and devouring her Victorian boarding school/secret society/alternate world Gemma Trilogy during my undergraduate degree. Since then, she's written two standalones, Printz award-winning <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6512140-going-bovine" target="_blank"><i>Going Bovine</i></a> and <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9464733-beauty-queens" target="_blank"><i>Beauty Queens</i></a>, neither of which I have read yet (though I may need to rectify this soon)<i>.</i><br />
<br />
I was really pleased when I found out Libba Bray was returning to the realm of historical fantasy and doubly pleased that she was setting her new trilogy in the 1920s. The Roaring Twenties seem to be making quite a comeback, what with <i>Boardwalk Empire</i> and the upcoming Baz Luhrman adaption of <i>The Great Gatsby</i>. In an <a href="http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/teenagers/interviews/187" target="_blank">interview with the UK group Booktrust</a>, Bray explains the sometimes disturbing parallels between the America of today and the 1920s: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"xenophobia, anti-immigration fervor coupled with a nasty nativist
streak, fears of terrorism/anarchism, a backlash against labor, a rise
in evangelicalism, the creation and worship of a youth culture, and the
lionizing of American business and businessmen as sort of the standard
bearers of ‘Americanism.’ And, of course, there’s the run up to
financial collapse."</i></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMObvVNCTogaCExubKa-sYZsBVhZdPeHEcQhdYT8K0lKpeMxOj02gp5jHbp7gsiH_N-cQaxSdCnoW7rcIi3vPmkNyxZpa888xrruH1mMzne-fcYlfQtZfOlN0Q-WNvGY7lszEHIumxnm4/s1600/thedivinersaus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMObvVNCTogaCExubKa-sYZsBVhZdPeHEcQhdYT8K0lKpeMxOj02gp5jHbp7gsiH_N-cQaxSdCnoW7rcIi3vPmkNyxZpa888xrruH1mMzne-fcYlfQtZfOlN0Q-WNvGY7lszEHIumxnm4/s1600/thedivinersaus.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Also gorgeous Australian edition.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So, there are many reasons to write about the 1920s today. Plus, all the fun stuff: flappers, speakeasies, Art Deco stylings, etc. (The era also makes for lovely book cover design, I must say).<br />
<br />
The novel begins with flapper Evie, stuck in the back of beyond in Ohio, who is sent to stay with her uncle in New York City after she causes a scandal after doing an object-reading, a talent she must keep hidden. Her uncle is the curator of the <span id="freeText2650095376930174269">The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, which seems dull, until Evie, Uncle Will, and friends attempt to solve a series of occult-based killings by a mysterious figure named Naughty John.</span><br />
<span id="freeText2650095376930174269"><br /></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0N09r9wqCPzlUSJFK_01E_gyG930onGpAwDp54uD2vA4TKvWfFJfxlsBxM79JzFr0Lr3pyOzi9y23owg9auFUaC1uoyduszWUDHENekJByols8nfWHRjKleTEvkJTKqZLKOPSEnVDavM/s1600/thedivinersuk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0N09r9wqCPzlUSJFK_01E_gyG930onGpAwDp54uD2vA4TKvWfFJfxlsBxM79JzFr0Lr3pyOzi9y23owg9auFUaC1uoyduszWUDHENekJByols8nfWHRjKleTEvkJTKqZLKOPSEnVDavM/s320/thedivinersuk.jpg" width="189" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">British edition (which I own)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span id="freeText2650095376930174269">The novel sets up a great cast of characters: Evie (whom I didn't especially like for a chunk of the book, as she seeks the limelight and rushes from one excitement to the next, never thinking much about other people, but she developed wonderfully), her much more staid friend Mabel, daughter of Socialist campaigners, Jericho, who has a secret and is Uncle Will's ward, Theta and Henry, who live in the same building as Uncle Will and are part of the Ziegfield follies, Sam, a pickpocket searching for his mother, and finally, Memphis, a Harlem numbers runner and poet, who once had healing powers. </span><br />
<br />
Most of these teenaged characters have visions of a storm gathering over empty fields and a man in a stovepipe hat. The are Diviners, people with special abilities who are making a comeback. Not all of them are centrally concerned with the Naughty John killings, a plot which is wrapped up in this first installment, but I'm sure they will come into their own in future volumes.<br />
<br />
<span id="freeText2650095376930174269"></span>
<i>The Diviners</i> is intricately plotted and historically detailed, with some quite scary horror sequences, great characters, and a real sense of American history, especially in terms of religion and superstition. I am very much looking forward to the next two books.<br />
<span id="freeText2650095376930174269"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-18960509626693049952012-12-30T13:30:00.000-06:002012-12-30T13:30:09.374-06:00Coming (Very) SoonI'm going to make up for not blogging for most of December by posting a bunch of year-end (and year-beginning) stuff in the next few days, including:<br />
<br />
1) Book reviews! I've read a bunch of fabulous YA novels in the last two months and I want to share them with you (Libba Bray's <i>The Diviners</i>, Laini Taylor's <i>Days of Blood and Starlight</i>, Alison Croggon's <i>Black Spring</i>, and Rachel Hartman's <i>Seraphina</i>)<br />
<br />
2) The now unavoidable Music of Michaelmas 2012 post, which will feature a retrospective of my favourite Within Temptation songs, as I spent a lot of time listening to their back catalogue in the lead up to their anniversary concert in Antwerp.<br />
<br />
3) An annotated list of my favourite books of 2012.<br />
<br />
4) And finally, a 2012 retrospective with, possibly, goals/resolutions, etc. for 2013.<br />
<br />
Hold onto your hats!Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-32432948556940547992012-12-12T15:42:00.001-06:002012-12-12T15:42:45.112-06:00Fun December Things: A List<ol>
<li>Mulled wine, my new favourite hot drink</li>
<li>Seeing Florence + The Machine live in London</li>
<li>Visiting Dr Johnson's house</li>
<li>Seeing the new digital restoration of <i>Lawrence of Arabia</i> at the BFI (with an actual and much-needed intermission)</li>
<li>Scottish country dancing at Tim's work Christmas party. Very Jane Austen, while simultaneously being very Scottish.</li>
<li>Snow <i>before</i> Christmas (unlike last year's snow in February)</li>
<li>This morning's hoar frost-covered spider's web</li>
</ol>
Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-14380940498274179462012-12-02T13:28:00.000-06:002012-12-03T06:14:45.409-06:00The Next Big ThingRight, so I'm a bit slow to join this meme. The lovely <a href="http://sallypoyton.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-next-big-thing.html" target="_blank">Sally Poyton</a> (who is responsible for my joining SCBWI) tagged me for The Next Big Thing ages ago and I, being slightly suspicious of internet memes, foolishly declined. Having read a bunch of other writers' excellent posts on what they're writing (and learned more about some great upcoming titles), I decided to hop on the bandwagon and tell you a bit about my work-in-progress. <br />
<br />
1. What is the working title of your book?<br />
<br />
The working title is <i>Belladonna</i>, referencing a poisonous flower in the nightshade family, the translation from the Italian: beautiful lady, and (extremely tangentially) Stevie Nicks's 1981 solo album <i>Bella Donna</i>.<br />
<br />
2. Where did the idea come from for the book?<br />
<br />
I was riding the bus home from university on my 20th birthday and I thought of a witch and of a spoiled girl who had to be the witch's servant. I knew that I wanted it to have fairytale elements; I knew that the spoiled girl (Hazel) and a boy had broken the witch's window in the woods (Hansel and Gretel-style) and that it was set in the nineteenth-century and that my heroine wore white. It all came to me quite quickly on that bus ride home. I knew the ending by the time I got off the bus and I think I also knew that the heroine's father was an important part of the story.<br />
<br />
So, the answer is sort of "out of the ether". But it also relates back to the fact that a teenage boy on the bus behind me was chatting away very courteously and kindly with an elderly woman. And I thought to myself how awkward and shy I would be in the same situation, because I was quite shy with strangers then (I think I'm better now). Hazel and the witch build their relationship through conversation, some of which is very awkward, and some which of allows for growth on both sides.<br />
<br />
3. What genre does your book fall under?<br />
<br />
Young adult fantasy. More specifically, young adult historical fantasy with fairytale elements.<br />
<br />
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters for a movie rendition?<br />
<br />
Gah! This is the hardest question ever. I have visuals of the characters in my head but I've never tried to match them to anyone before, with one exception. Also, because the novel is narrated in the first-person, I spend an awful lot of time in Hazel's head but haven't bothered to try to picture her facial features, for instance.<br />
<br />
The exception to the rule is Melicent, one of the fairies in the novel, who I picture as a young Christina Ricci or Catherine Zeta Jones.<br />
<br />
There's a Puritan preacher Tim and I have decided could be played by Benedict Cumberbatch, becasue I describe him as having a really powerful, distinctive voice.<br />
<br />
Other than that, I'm drawing a blank. Maybe someone who's read the book could help me out with suggestions? <br />
<br />
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis for your book?<br />
<br />
One day late in Queen Victoria’s reign, spoiled
Hazel Linwood escapes from her governess, raids an apple orchard, kisses the
stable boy, and breaks a witch's window; for her thoughtlessness,
the witch curses Hazel: she must be the witch’s servant and cannot return home
until she speaks the witch’s one True Name.<br />
<br />
6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?<br />
<br />
I hope to be represented by a literary agent. Not sure I would attempt self-publication at this point. <br />
<br />
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?<br />
<br />
About ten months. I had the idea for the novel in March and collected bits and pieces of ideas for a few months. I started writing the first draft on 17 August 2006 (after being inspired while reading <i>Wuthering Heights</i> one afternoon) and finished the draft in late June of the next year. I've been revising on and (quite a lot) off ever since. <br />
<br />
8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?<br />
<br />
Books that feel similar to me include <i>Chime</i> by Franny Billingsly, <i>Keturah and Lord Death</i> by Martine Leavitt, <i>I, Coriander</i> by Sally Gardener, <i>The Merrybegot</i> by Julie Hearn, and <i>A Curse Dark as Gold</i> by Elizabeth C. Bunce. They are all YA fantasies in historical settings and draw on fairytale and/or folklore. I think they all have quite strong narrative voices as well.<br />
<br />
9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?<br />
<br />
See above. Also, see the books I've just listed. I read most of those either before or during the composition of my novel and I'm sure they've left creative imprints on my work in one form or another. Also, <i>Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince</i> had a big impact on me in the months leading up to writing this book.<br />
<br />
10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?<br />
<br />
Let's see. Witch hunts. Incredibly dangerous fairies. Love. Revenge. Victorians. A flawed heroine. A dreamy (but also considerate and sweet) stable boy.<br />
<br />
I'm not tagging anyone (as I'm afraid many of my writerly friends seem to have been tagged already), but please check out these other Next Big Things for upcoming books that look great!<br />
<br />
Elizabeth Wein on <a href="http://eegatland.livejournal.com/98072.html" target="_blank">the companion book</a> to <i>Code Name Verity</i>, happily due for release next fall!<br />
<br />
Erin Bow on her second novel, <a href="http://erinbow.com/blog/2012/11/the-next-big-thing.shtml" target="_blank"><i>Sorrow's Knot</i></a>.Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8036178716051227348.post-64221704225962382652012-11-28T15:05:00.000-06:002012-11-28T15:05:37.773-06:00Review: MAGGOT MOON, by Sally Gardner<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO9TYcSKG7PnK_YdR9L3A62y_XjKh8Oatfs8ptlcWads7xKdnNFWn2bXs6hkPJVlkyYKWRAWY3EYgE0inSDVllWTymHgTwSiF1cU37VdL2JcEATbai7nxspwzoKNwgwioYYDPKHAIhUfo/s1600/maggotmoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO9TYcSKG7PnK_YdR9L3A62y_XjKh8Oatfs8ptlcWads7xKdnNFWn2bXs6hkPJVlkyYKWRAWY3EYgE0inSDVllWTymHgTwSiF1cU37VdL2JcEATbai7nxspwzoKNwgwioYYDPKHAIhUfo/s400/maggotmoon.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I've just finished reading Sally Gardner's new novel <i>Maggot Moon</i> (Sept. 2012 Hot Key Books (UK)/Feb. 2013 Candlewick Press (US)) and I need to tell you about it. If you like young adult fiction, you should do yourself a favour and read this novel as soon as you can. It's amazing.</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I figured it would be very good, because I really loved Gardner's first novel, <i>I, Coriander</i> (2005), set after the English Civil War and complete with evil step-mothers, fairy worlds, and witch hunts. (You can see how this became an influence on my own work-in-progress novel). Plus, Gardner writes beautiful, rich, original prose.</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
She has also written three other YA novels, two of which I own but shamefully haven't read yet: <i>The Red Necklace </i>(2007) and <i>The Silver Blade</i> (2009) (both set around the French Revolution, with automata!) and <i>The Double Shadow </i>(2011), in which a teenage girl is placed in an alternate world created by her father for her safety in the lead up to World War Two. She's also writing a mystery series for young children called Wings & Co.</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So, there's a great backlist for you to dig into if you get hooked on Gardner's writing.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
My second inkling that <i>Maggot Moon</i> was going to be amazing came when Meg Rosoff tweeted that she thought this book would win next year's Carnegie Medal. High praise indeed. (And the novel has indeed been long-listed for the prize; it has also been short-listed for the Costa Children's Book Award).</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Onto the book itself. I'll quote the flap copy because I don't want to give away too much of the plot, as this book is structured in large part on flashbacks and the carefully paced revelations Gardner allows the reader.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText13848499373176425609">When his best friend
Hector is suddenly taken away, Standish Treadwell realises that it is up
to him, his grandfather and a small band of rebels to confront and
defeat the ever present oppressive forces of The Motherland. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span id="freeText13848499373176425609">Friendship
and trust inspire Standish to rise up against an oppressive regime and
expose the truth about a planned moon landing in this original and
spellbinding book.</span></div>
</blockquote>
This novel reminded me, at different times, of <i>Nineteen Eighty-Four</i> (in terms of the people who are disappeared, the constant surveillance, the dictatorial government), <i>The Hunger Games</i> (Zone 7, where undesirables seem to live reminded me of Katniss's District 12), <i>The Book Thief</i> (as Standish's Motherland in 1956 looks a lot like a possible alternate history, if the Nazis had indeed taken over Britain - plus another important element that I won't mention for fear of spoilers), and <i>Code Name Verity</i>, which I blogged about <a href="http://oxforderin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/review-code-name-verity-by-elizabeth.html" target="_blank">earlier this year</a> (because the book is focused on the joy that Hector brings to Standish's life, giving him self-esteem, helping him to dream of a better life, standing up to his bullies, and also because Standish will do anything to help his best friend). <br />
<br />
Despite these comparisons, the book very much stands out as an original, especially if you compare it to other YA dystopian novels out there at the moment. It takes place in 1956, as the authoritarian Motherland plans to make a moon landing in order to prove its superiority to the Enemy Nations. It involves a secret, friendship, family, bravery, and sacrifice. Our extremely likeable narrator Standish is dyslexic and has eyes of two different colours. He is an outcast and under threat in this society which values "purity" but he will dare all for his best friend. Standish and Hector together imagine a world like the one they see on their illegal television - something like a version of the 1950s American dream - Cadillacs, ice cream, croca cola, Technicolor. All the things they are denied in Zone 7. They also dream of space travel, of escape to the imaginary planet Juniper and the better world it represents.<br />
<br />
One slightly spoilery thing that broke my heart: the Motherland has created a twisted version of Blake's hymn "Jerusalem" for propaganda purposes. Watch for a <i>Casablanca</i> moment involving this song. (Some of you will get the reference, I hope).<br />
<br />
And keep tissues handy!<br />
<br />
Some notes on the book as a physical object:<br />
<br />
Hot Key Books has produced a lovely hardback, with illustrations in each chapter of a fly, a rat, and many maggots. See if you can figure out the significance behind this (rather macabre) progression of illustrations. I have my own theory. But, hurrah for illustrations, above all else! I'm so happy to see illustration becoming an element of more books, at all age levels.<br />
<br />
Hot Key Books also characterises the content of each of its novels. On a wheel on the back of the book jacket, the reader learns that this book contains 50% friendship, plus danger, rebellion, and a conspiracy theory (making up the other 50%). What a clever way to communicate themes and content!<br />
<br />
One other indicator of content had me slightly more concerned, however. There is also a warning: "Contains some strong language". This is true. I suppose I can also see why this warning might be useful to parents in selecting books for their children to read. But to me it also smacks of the controversy surrounding the option of age-banding books for children, which has been recurring issue in the news in the UK. Authors have consistently come out against this, because it seems to dogmatise what is appropriate for readers based solely on their age, a dodgy business at best.<br />
<br />
Standish swear a lot. Sometimes rather imaginatively. But I suspect if you were a teenager living under these circumstances, you'd probably find a lot to swear about as well. And it's an integral part of his narrating voice. Is it necessary to warn parents about this? My theory has been a) that words are just words and b) that if teenagers swear/have sex/drink,etc., there isn't much point in protecting teens from things that already occur within their age group. So that's my take on the language warning. You may well disagree with me.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />Erin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07725433348670928421noreply@blogger.com0