Books and being busy

Firstly a big thank you to blog friend Becky Povich. Becky kindly mailed me a copy of Not Your Mother's Book... On Dogs, after I won a giveaway contest on her blog. I have really enjoyed dipping into this book of dog stories. It was especially exciting to read Becky's own story and see the photo of her dog Rocky.

Other books I've enjoyed lately include The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. It's a retelling of an old Russian folk tale, which the author has set in Alaska. I loved the descriptions of the setting, and found the first half of the book quite magical. Sadly the magic seemed to wear off a little in the second half. I would be interested to hear the opinions of anyone else who has read this book.

I've also just finished Excellent Women by Barbara Pym. For only a pound, I bought a nice hardback edition of this from the charity shop. The plot is fairly thin, but the characters are as excellent as the title. I can see this becoming one of the comfort books that I return to every so often, along with the Miss Read novels and the earlier books of Maeve Binchy.

Life is busy, and I have neglected blogland again recently. I am doing a short writing course, on top of my regular writers' group. More on that next time. It's clearly beneficial, because I am feeling very upbeat and motivated about the writing, which isn't always the case.

I don't know whether it was down to the fact that we did 'stream of consciousness' in the writers' group this morning, but I came home and wrote the entire first draft of a new story. I am normally more of a plodder, and it's just wonderful to have that sudden burst of writing energy. At those times a story almost seems to write itself, with my pen struggling to keep up. Tomorrow I am at the day job, but I can't wait to be off again on Wednesday, when I can type up that story and begin editing.

I also have another story on Alfie Dog, by the way. It's called Spooky Strolls, and it was previously published in Writing Magazine, 2007, when it won the summer ghost story competition.

That's it from me for today. Hope all my blog readers are well and enjoying the signs of spring.

Jo's new desk

I wanted to show you my new desk, but you know how a certain dog pops up everywhere. Harvey's rather full of himself at present, as he is to appear in a Christmas story later this year. He doesn't mind that I changed his name for the purposes of the story, since he has already had friend requests on Facebook from people he doesn't know. How do these people find you? It's a mystery. Of course if genuine friends of mine wish to befriend Harvey, that's fine. He's a pretty friendly dog.

My desk cost twenty pounds in a charity shop. Maybe my grandparents had a similar one when I was small. There feels something very familiar about all the neat compartments inside the fold-down front.

Apparently the young folk refer to a charity shop as a 'chazza'. Does anyone else know this expression? It was a word I'd never heard before, but now I'm using it all the time, being such a chazza addict.

Nostalgia seems the theme of my life lately. I've been re-reading a childhood favourite, 'The Secret Garden' by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It's a lovely escapist book. I think you can read it at any age and still be uplifted by it.

And two other nice books I bought from the chazza recently for a couple of pounds: H.E. Bates' 'The Darling Buds of May' and 'A Breath of French Air'. The latter seemed particularly appropriate after my little excursion this summer. I love the 1950s style of the covers, and have enjoyed reading them both, although it is hard not to picture David Jason as Pop Larkin.

That's it for now. The desk awaits!

Fiona Joseph and Beatrice Cadbury

This week at our local writers' group we spent a lovely morning in the company of Fiona Joseph. Fiona is the author of a recent biography, titled 'Beatrice: The Cadbury Heiress Who Gave Away Her Fortune'.

If I say Cadbury, I guess most of you will think of chocolate. Maybe you will be aware that the Cadbury chocolate firm was founded by a Quaker family, who built a village for their factory workers, at Bournville, Birmingham. But did you know that in 1920 Beatrice Cadbury decided her wealth was incompatible with her social conscience, and so gave all her shares in the company to Cadbury employees? Well, I certainly didn't know that, despite my addiction to everything chocolatey.

During the morning, Fiona read extracts from the book, and spoke about how her first glimmer of interest in Beatrice Cadbury grew to something of an obsession. Research took Fiona to The Netherlands, where Beatrice spent much of her later life, raising eight children in circumstances very much poorer than she had known as a child. Fiona talked about the process of publishing the book, which she did under her own imprint of Foxwell Press, and shared lot of useful advice with members of the group.

I really enjoyed hearing about Beatrice's unconventional life, and how she dedicated herself to working for peace and social justice. For further information, Fiona's website is here.

Rolling

Wuff! Harvey here again. You can't beat a good roll in the cool grass on a hot day. Cheese roll, turkey roll, plain roll with butter. Great stuff.

Mrs Boss says she's on a roll too, but I don't think it's the edible kind. She finally got round to sending her Pocket Novel off to Ulverscroft and they have accepted it for a large print book. When that book arrives, she won't get any work done at all. She'll be too busy gazing at it in disbelief. But she seems pretty happy anyway, if more lackadaisical than usual.

We've been in the garden a lot lately. Last summer we had builders next door and had to hide inside. Mrs Boss said if we sat outside, she couldn't get one sentence written without a voice yelling "Ow - my head" or "Two sugars, mate."

This year it's been nice and peaceful, except for when I have to frighten off the pigeons on the fence. Cheeky beggars. Don't they know that fence was built especially for me? Stops me escaping, you see. I do miss my impromptu visits to the neighbours. I keep trying to tunnel out instead, but Mrs Boss fills all the holes in as soon as she finds them. She says it's too hot for digging, and I'm to relax and enjoy the alliums.

Well, I've tried the alliums but they taste too oniony.

Have a lovely Jubilee weekend and may the sun forever shine on your street party.

Three questions

The honesty is in flower all around the garden. There's always far more purple than white. My first question to all of you knowledgeable people out in Blogland is, will it come true from seed if I save the seeds from the white plants?

I recently finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It's a book that manages to be entertainingly light, but has a serious heart. The subject is the German occupation of Guernsey during the second World War, and how it affected the islanders. Goodness - how we take our freedoms for granted. Apparently there's going to be a film of it too.

After that I read Joanne Harris' The Lollipop Shoes, for the second time. I enjoyed that very much as well, even more than her novel Chocolat which preceded it. It's set in Paris, you see, and in a few weeks I am off there myself. So my second question is, what other novels can I read which are also set in Paris? Classic or modern, I don't mind. Have already done A Tale of Two Cities and Les Miserables.

My third question is whether anyone can recommend vegetarian cafes in Paris. I have earmarked a couple that I've spotted on the Internet, but there's nothing like a personal tip from someone who's been. I am unlikely to go hungry in any event, with all that bread and cheese to sample. And maybe even some chocolat.

Not much writing news this week, although I was shortlisted for the spring Flash 500 competition. The judge was Margaret James, and if you go to the 'winning entries' page, she makes some helpful comments about what she was looking for. (Mine is the last one on the shortlist called 'When She Comes Home'.) The next closing date is at the end of June, if anyone wants to enter. There are very healthy cash prizes, results seem to be announced promptly, and it's a good place to try out your 500 worders.

Meanwhile, it's actually stopped raining and we are officially no longer in a drought zone. Just popping out to pull up some weeds...

The Great Book for Girls

Loving all things 30s, I could not resist this book in the local Oxfam shop. Yes it's old. Yes it leaves my fingers dusty each time I open the heavy pages. Yes it smells musty. But to me all these things are good!

Published in 1931, The Great Book for Girls is mainly short stories, with a few poems here and there. The black and white drawings have been lovingly coloured in with pencils by a previous owner. Neat job, girls!

As for the stories - well, what ripping yarns, as one of the characters might say! They have titles like 'Dimsie Wins Through' and 'The Fourth Form Entertainment'. The girls in the stories are all so busy and active, they almost wear me out. They go sailing, camping, trekking and have lots of adventures in the jolly-hockeysticks type of fashion. Several of the stories are set in boarding schools. I used to adore boarding school stories when I was young, though I don't know why as I would probably have hated it if I had ever had to go.

And yes, the writing style is a little dated, or 'politically incorrect' to our modern ears. I mean, we wouldn't refer to someone as a 'village idiot', for instance, would we. We most likely wouldn't call somebody 'a brick' either, even in a nice way. But for traditional stories, with a beginning, middle and end, this eighty year old book has given me a lot of entertainment this past week. I shall be looking out for more!

Some books

Q. Where's that Joanne Fox gone? Has she deserted her blog again?

A. No! I've been reading and writing lots, yesterday attended a hundredth birthday party (not mine, obviously) and today a writing workshop with Sue Johnson, who always fills me with inspiration.

I've read so many good books this spring that I wanted to mention a few of my favourites. Firstly 'The Fantastic Book of Everybody's Secrets' by Sophie Hannah. This is a collection of short stories, opening with 'The Octopus Nest' which won the Daphne du Maurier Festival Short Story Competition in 2004. Although I'd read 'The Octopus Nest' before, I still admired the way Sophie Hannah drew me in and led me down a path I thought I knew, until she hit me with the ending. Every story in this collection focuses on a character who is obsessed with something. And though they may behave bizarrely, I like that I always understand why.

For some reason I'd put off reading Rose Tremain's 'The Road Home' because I thought I wouldn't enjoy it. This was despite already being seriously impressed by her previous novels, and her wonderful short story collection 'The Darkness of Wallis Simpson'. But at long last I borrowed 'The Road Home' from the library and absolutely loved it.

As you may be sick of hearing, I am a big fan of Helen Dunmore. However I'd put off reading one of her books too - 'Mourning Ruby'. It centres on the death of a child and I thought it would be too depressing. But d'you know what? When I finally read it I loved this one as well!

Another book I borrowed from the library recently (thank God libraries still exist because I couldn't afford to buy all these) was 'Dead Ernest' by fellow blogger Frances Garrood. I could really identify with all three of the main characters and so wanted them to have a happy ending, especially the central one, Annie. As the truth about Annie's life with her late husband (Ernest) is revealed, there are many reminders that in the not-too-distant past both men and women were more constrained by social attitudes than they are in the present day, and often shockingly ignorant about sex besides. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it made me very glad to be living in the here and now. Modern life may not be perfect but generally we do benefit from freedoms and opportunities that previous generations did not have. I look forward to reading more of Frances's work.


Finally (and to prove I do read books by male authors) I must mention Patrick Gale's 'Notes from an Exhibition'. I read this book a couple of years ago, but I knew it was one that deserved a second reading. I don't always take to books that have unusual structures. Sometimes the structure dominates the story rather than complementing it. However I do love this one, in which each chapter begins with notes on an object that might appear in a posthumous exhibition from the life of the central character. This character was an artist, so many of the notes describe pieces of her work. There are also notes about her fisherman's smock, her nightdress and a hair clasp. The story unfolds around these objects, not chronologically, but in a way that makes me feel I am delving through layers of a family, learning a bit here, a bit there. I find this book really interesting on the subject of the relationship between art and mental health. I learnt a lot about the Quakers too.

So that's my round-up. Now I have to get back to reading, writing, and catching up with everyone else's blogs.

Read any good books lately?

Have you heard? It's in the stars!

Are you a financially flexible Gemini, or a cash conscious Cancerian?

This week, my 20p bargain from the library's sale shelf was 'Money Signs: A Beginner's Guide', by Christeen Skinner. This little book examines each of the astrological signs in relation to how they handle money. I've had an entertaining couple of evenings reading through it, trying to identify traits of my friends and family.

I tend to be sceptical about astrology - until I read something that is so uncannily accurate that I think 'wow'. And I have to say that reading the chapter about my own star sign of Aries made me laugh.

Apparently we Aries folk travel between extremes of having plenty of money, and having none. Yes, my lifestyle does tend to lurch between famine and feast. And Christeen Skinner says that as a result of these fluctuations in our finances, people born under Aries develop a laissez-faire attitude to money. Yes, I have to agree with that too. In fact there are so many things in the Aries chapter that I recognise in myself that I am unable to quote them all for fear of infringing copyright!

At the end of each chapter are some suggestions for how people of each star sign can improve their ability to handle money. Again, more cause for laughter from me. One of the things I am advised to do is to save one type of coin in a jar. I did this for quite a while with twenty pence pieces. Once I even saved £10 and put it in my building society. But I've never managed to repeat my great achievement, because these days I have to keep raiding the jar to pay my tea money at work. See? Hopeless! Must try harder.

Now where did I put that piggy bank?

50 Stories for Pakistan

After the success of '100 Stories for Haiti', Greg McQueen is putting together another fundraising anthology. This time it is in response to the floods that devastated the lives of so many people in Pakistan this summer.

My story, 'A Little Bit of Heaven', is one of those accepted for inclusion in the latest book. I feel incredibly lucky to be picked again, and will of course keep you updated with progress on '50 Stories for Pakistan'.

Meg Rosoff and a plethora of parrots

On Thursday night I finished 'How I Live Now'. I can't tell you what Meg Rosoff did to my mind and my emotions during the course of that book. I felt as if I'd been put through a mangle. It was startling, addictive, and disturbing, and made me wonder how on earth the writer found the initial ideas.

When I was away from the book I found myself thinking wasn't it sad that such and such happened, but then I would remember it was 'just' a story. It was one of those books that became so real to me while I was reading it, that it was almost more real than the world around. I love books that do that to me - totally absorb me and take me to an entirely different place. I'm not going to tell you anything else about it, in case you haven't read it yet. You may love it or you may hate it, but either way I bet you won't forget it.

When I reached the end of 'How I Live Now', I was tempted to go right back to the beginning and start again. But I decided I should let it all settle in my mind, and so I decided to re-read Meg Rosoff's most recent novel 'What I Was'. Another terrific book. I often find I read books too quickly the first time as I want to know what happens, but the second time I slow down and notice the quality of the writing more. I've also been enjoying reading Meg Rosoff's blog here.

Regular visitors to Zigzag Road will know we've had a stray parrot-type bird in the area. It seems stray parrots are like buses, arriving in threes after a lengthy spell with none to speak of at all. Letters to the local newspaper report various sightings of our parrot, with suggestions that it may be a Crimson Rosella as I suspected. A second parrot has been seen a few streets away, but this one is green. And now a third parrot is on the loose. He is allegedly called Dylan and escaped while his owner was staying with friends in the area. My parrot (right) was 99p in a charity shop. He has no name. Perhaps you would like to suggest one.

'How I Live Now'

One of my Sunday boot sale bargains was Meg Rosoff's first novel 'How I Live Now'. I sped through half of it last night, and woke up this morning just desperate to continue. Unless I'm on holiday, reading is my evening pleasure, so I am holding off until later before I pick up the book again. Much as I'm dying to know the ending, part of me doesn't want to get there! Awesome is not a word I often use but today I'm going to use it. Awesome!

Blossom blooming beautifully!

Not much to report this week. Oh yes, there was some voting going on. However at the time of writing, it is still unclear which merry band of pixies, elves, goblins and changelings will end up on the Top Toadstool.

Last night I finished 'A Spell of Winter' by the fabulous Helen Dunmore, whose every sentence is pure magic. I am looking forward to seeing her at the Birmingham Book Festival's 'Spring Thing' later this month.

And hasn't the blossom been wonderful?

My camellias and Monty's roots

I know I've already shown you a picture of my camellia, but I couldn't resist posting another. It's never been as full of flowers as it has this spring.

A friend gave me this plant for my birthday a few years ago, and what a wonderful present it has proved to be. Sorry I've lost the label and can't tell you exactly what variety it is, but the flowers are double ones as I hope you can see.

For more about camellias, their history and care I just found a good article by Monty Don here. By co-incidence this week I've been reading Monty Don's book 'My Roots'. It came out in 2005 and is a selection of Monty's articles for The Observer newspaper from 1997 onwards. (A previous collection 'Gardening Mad' covered his earlier pieces.)

I've always seen Monty Don as one of those gardeners who has soil in their blood, rather like the late (and still missed) Geoff Hamilton. So, I was surprised to find out from 'My Roots' that originally Monty wanted to be a writer. As a child he wrote stories, plays, poetry and a journal.

Maybe this is why he always communicates his passion for gardening so well. Several of the pieces in 'My Roots' are ones I cut out of The Observer because they were just so interesting or poignant that I knew I'd want to read them again.

One of those moves me every time I read it. It's about Monty's elderly farmer friend. One year he planted daffodil bulbs with his granddaughter, telling her when he was up in heaven she would be reminded of him looking down on her at daffodil time. Tragically the granddaughter died at nineteen, and it was the grandfather left looking at the daffodils, thinking of her up in heaven.

Another really sad piece is about Monty burying his dog. But I don't want you to think it's all doom and gloom as there is so much joy and humour too. Monty's chickens constantly seem to be escaping and ruining precious plants. He describes so beautifully those fleeting moments when everything in the garden is peaceful and right. I get the sense that Monty's wife and children are at the heart of everything he does. His son's sheds, his daughter's sweet peas, and the trampoline they all bounce on are as much part of Monty's garden as his hundreds of tulips or his box topiary.

His footnotes often poke fun at himself, when, with the benefit of hindsight, he disagrees with whatever he said in his articles. "Pure pontification" is how he now sees one point he made, and another is "terribly O.T.T.". At the time Monty was writing for The Observer, garden makeover shows like Ground Force were all the rage. Monty was pretty scathing about those, and quite a few other things. Again his footnotes add perspective, recalling how he upset lots of people including the B.B.C, the National Trust, the R.H.S, garden centres and bat lovers.

I discovered Monty and I share a favourite gardening book, 'Derek Jarman's Garden', and I also learnt some new things, especially about fruit trees.

Monty's slot at The Observer is now occupied by the equally excellent Dan Pearson, but it's great to have so many of Monty's articles gathered together in 'My Roots'.

Ooooh, I'm so looking forward to Gardeners' World Live!

The book cover!

100 Stories for Haiti

In common with many other people, I felt helpless watching the news reports about the earthquake in Haiti last month. What is it like to lose everything you have - not just home and possessions, but family, friends and neighbours? How do you go from living your normal everyday life one minute, to scratching about for the basic means of survival the next? Most of us probably cannot begin to imagine that. And what can we do, except drop a few coins into a collecting tin if we can afford it? Somehow this just doesn't feel enough.


But faced with any disaster, there are always those who respond using their own talents to raise money. Singers sing. Artists draw. Writers write. And one writer who saw a way to help was Greg McQueen.


In the past few weeks Greg and his fantastic team have put together a book project in aid of the Red Cross relief effort. 100 Stories for Haiti will be published on March 4th, but is now available to pre-order from the website below. A diverse range of writers contributed short stories (myself included). None of the stories is over 1,000 words long, which makes the book ideal reading in our fast paced world. You can read a story on the train. You can read one in your lunchbreak. You can give the book as a gift to someone else. You can tell your friends about it. Whatever you do you will have played your own small part in supporting a truly worthwhile cause.


http://100storiesforhaiti.org/