Black Book humour!

Feeling a little under the weather and disgruntled with life, this sign I spotted in a tiny book shop in Keswick really appealed to my pessimistic side! I particularly love the slightly threatening/possibly suicidal tone.

Cheered me up a treat.

We need to talk about Kevin

No. 5

We need to talk about Kevin

by Lionel Shriver

Read or re read?

A much loved re read. I recently got the chance to meet Lionel Shriver in person and that, and this article I found in the Guardian, prompted me to pick it up again.

Fascinating Fact

A film is set to hit our screens either this year or the next, with Tilda Swinton playing the lead and narrator, Eva Khatchadourian.

The Blurb

Published in 2003, Shriver's novel about a fictional high school massacre seemed to be on everybody's bedside table that summer. Narrated through letters to her estranged husband Franklin, Eva Khatchadourian reflects on events before and after the 'Thursday' their sixteen year old son Kevin commits mass murder in his high school gym.

Now living alone in a rickety flat, she traces their marriage and family life from the beginning. She examines their happy marriage pre Kevin, and tries to explain her seemingly hot and cold desire for having him. When Franklin doesn't come home one night, Eva imagines her future without him, and this fear of losing the love of her life, seems to spur her final decision. They start trying to conceive.

From the very moment of his conception, Eva and Kevin fight. She resents her pregnancy, he is a fractious unattractive child, nannies won't stay and Eva, the founder of a successful travel guide, is forced to stay at home and become a full time mum. As Kevin gets older, Eva finds it impossible to not draw conclusions when things start to go wrong at his preschool. She sees him as a malevolent force, a calculating clever child who is determined to drive a wedge between his doting father and mistrusting mother. Even so, she tries and it is in these flashes of her earnestly trying to Be A Good Mother that redeem Eva as a character.

Time goes by and Eva continues to see her former life and her marriage drift disappear. They have another child, Celia. The sides even out. Eva and daughter. Franklin and Kevin. But things don't improve and Kevin is increasingly implicated in more worrying incidents.

But even Eva is unprepared when, one Thursday Kevin walks into his high school and murders a select group pupils and teacher in cold blood.

Is it a keeper?

Bit of a no brainer as I have had this for a good 5 years and still enjoy re reading it. I know that many people feel that Eva is a unappealing and self indulgent narrator but I can only commend Shriver for writing such an honest account of motherhood. We seem to have this invisible line of what we can and can't say when it comes to family life and Shriver bulldozes through it, exposing the very fabric of family life and the complex, painful relationships that hold us all together. Ultimately Eva loses everything, yet she still seems to love her son. To say this book gives you food for thought is an understatement; its a feast.

More like this

A Perfectly Good Family - Lionel Shriver

Bowling for Columbine - Michael Moore (film)

Technical hitch..

So... as some of you may have noticed the link to the map wasn't exactly working. I have resolved the problem, but if not apologies and let me know!

I have also put up my favourite of your suggestions so far, along with a link to their blog. Hopefully you'll be able to see if it was yours when you click on the map icon to the right.

Hopefully.

Anyway, hope your all enjoying the sunshine and happy Friday!

The First Literary Locations!

Hello folks, hope you all had egg-cellent Easters. (Don't blame me, I'm a bit scrambled..hahah!)

Well after my little hiatus (work blah blah blah...) I have been biting at the bit as they say to get back to my lovely little corner of blog world and start Literary Locations properly.

And as luck would have it I have just returned from a hasty mini break to the wilds of the Lake District. Specifically, the oh-so-quaint town of Grasmere. (Along with half the world and their Land rovers - not me I had the pleasure of Mr Branson's trains. Not. Nice)

Anyhoo, the bright eyed of you will have already made the connection but here is a little clue.

Then just click here and then on 'The Book Shelf ' on the left to take you through to the interactive map and find out who the bloody hell I'm talking about.

The Debut of Literary Locations..da daaaa!

Following a chat I had a few weeks ago with A Bookish Space, I have been nursing a germ of an idea.

Living and working in central London, I am extremely lucky to walk past places with bookish associations on a daily basis. But a lot of the time, us busy bees just walk straight past.

So I thought I’d embark on a bit of literary location sleuthing.

Then I’ll post up my latest discoveries and we can start to build up a bit of an interactive map. Interactive map I hear you cry? Worry not. I have a nifty solution up my voluminous sleeves.

So, before my first post do you have any favourite bookish spots? The map is international so think BIG! I’ll pick my favourite and post it on the map along with a link to your blog.

Louisa May Alcott on iPlayer

Happy Monday folks!

Well it might not be the most favourite of all my days but the BBC seem to have sensed that and put up Louisa May Alcott's Good Wives on iPlayer. Isn't the tinterweb marvelous?

I have seen quite a few posts about Little Women recently so I thought I'd share the brilliant sequel with you.

Find them all here. The first episode is available till this Wednesday so be quick!

Plus, keep an eye for an exciting new project I'm working on. It involves maps, and drawing pins and books...

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher

No. 4

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher

or The Murder at Road Hill House

by Kate Summerscale

Read or Re-read?

Read. Intrigued by it's cover I picked this up in a charity shop about a year ago. And there it has stayed...

A Fascinating Fact

To be honest picking just one is tricky - the whole book is packed full of them.

The Blurb

The non fictional plot follows one of London's first proper detectives Jack Whicher as he attempts to unravel the shocking and completely perplexing murder of three year old Saville Kent in the Somerset town of Road.

Snatched from his cot in his Nurse's room, his body is found in the grounds of his wealthy families' home, Road Hill House. The shocking savagery of the murder and the fact that it's perpetrator must have been a member of the household sets the Victorian society of 1860 in a frenzy and Mr Whicher is sent from London to get to the bottom of the truth. (The local police having proved disastrously inept.)

Summerscale follows his investigation, and his frustration, as he battles against the locals, the Kent's bizarre family history and the social class divisions of the age. After all only poor people are violent?

Simultaneously she refers regularly to the history of detection (here's where the good facts are) and how Whicher and his colleagues inspired a new genre of novel and a new character; the detective. Both Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins were contemporaries.

Like Sergeant Cuff in The Moonstone, Whicher is led (by way of a stained nightdress - same as Cuff!) to the person he thinks is responsible - Saville's older sister, 16 year old Constance.

He has her arrested, but she is later acquitted and Whicher returns to London in disgrace.

Summerscale then traces his and the Kent family's progress in the years after until a shocking confession and surprising discovery lead to the murderer, five years after the crime.

So whodunnit? Well you'll have to read it to find out...

Is it a keeper?

Mmmmmm. I have to admit as much as I found Summerscale's writing style and evident knowledge fascinating, I can't say I love loved this. I think part of the problem was I was expecting a fiction novel, and although the real life story is gripping I found this a little fact heavy, and at times a bit dry.

That said I am a huge fan of the detective novel so it was interesting to read about someone who inspired some of my favourite authors. And much like the Victorians, I also share their morbid curiosity in all things murder mystery. I guess some things don't change!

More like this

The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins

Bleak House - Charles Dickens