The Bride’s Birthday

January 31, 2010 in Book buys, Stuff, Theatre | Tags: , , | 4 comments

So here we are, another birthday; I am 48 today, and can remember when that seemed impossibly old! No matter, I’m still 17 inside my head and have had a lovely birthday weekend, only slightly spoiled by Andy Murray’s failure to won the Australian Open.

I always try to do something special around my birthday, and this year it was a trip to the theatre to see War Horse, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, and recommended by my good friend the Silvery Dude. It’s a simple story of a farm horse sold to the army and sent to serve in World War One; what makes it exceptional is the puppetry used to bring the horses (and other animals –  I became particualrly fond of the goose) to life on stage. Really enormously clever and so convincing in movement that I pretty much forgot they weren’t real. There is a DVD about the making of the production which is apparently well worth watching. 

And of course with birthdays go presents and the Book God was generous as always and gave me several books:

And now that the major project that I’ve been working so hard on since last February looks like its nearing fruition, I think 2010  might turn out to be quite a good year…..

Grandville

January 30, 2010 in Challenges, Reviews | Tags: , , , | 2 comments

So I was trying to think how best to describe Bryan Talbot’s Grandville; hummed and hawed about steampunk, alternative history, anthropomorphic animals, played about with a few sentences but couldn’t get it quite right.

And then I thought “wonder what it say on the back of the book?” And that sort of solved my problem for me, cos what the blurb says is:

Inspired by the work of the nineteenth-century French illustrator Gerard, who worked under the nom-de-plume JJ Grandville, and the seminal science fiction illustrator Robida – not to mention Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Rupert the Bear and Quentin Tarantino – Grandville is a steampunk masterpiece in which Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard stalks a gang of ruthless killers through the streets of belle époque Paris.

And you know it would be very difficult to improve on that as a description; the only thing I can add is how wonderful the artwork is, how convincing the animals as characters are, what an interesting perspective it takes on terrorism, and that it’really is quite enjoyably violent in places. There’s a reference to a “hairless breed of chimpanzee that evolved in the town of Angouleme,” menial workers known as “doughfaces” , obviously humans, which adds a little bit of depth to the world Talbt has invented.

I absolutely loved this, devoured it in a sitting as you do, and can recommend it to anyone interested in Bryan Talbot’s work.

This is my first read for the Graphic Novel Challenge 2010.

Divorced, Beheaded, Survived

January 24, 2010 in Challenges, Reviews | Tags: | 2 comments

img001So I had such great plans for reviewing this fascinating book. There are pencilled notes and pages turned down because of quotes or references that I didn’t want to have to go looking for later. And I’ve been pondering what I want to say since I finished the book at the end of last year.

And that’s turned out to be my problem – there is just so much that could be said about this book that I don’t actually know where to start.

Divorced, Beheaded, Survived is Karen Lindsey’s feminist reinterpretation of  Henry VIII’s wives, but it also takes into account the lives of his mother, sisters, daughters and some of the other significant women at court to paint a picture of what it was like to be a woman in the Tudor era.

And as you might expect it wasn’t easy, even for those in the privileged position that many of these women held.

In her introduction, Lindsey talks about what drew her to the subject, and the realisation that the modern topic of sexual harassment in the workplace could be relevant here. After all, if you consider being lady-in-waiting to the Queen as a job, then the unwelcome attentions of the King were very much in the harassment mould. And certainly over time the focus of largely male historians has been on poor old Henry having all these wanton young women thrust at him, and under those circumstances what’s a man to do?

 The fact that most of these women were positioned at court by their ambitious families hoping that their girl would catch Henry’s eye and attract a good marriage as a former mistress of the King has been, if not overlooked, then certainly not given the prominence by earlier historians that it perhaps should have. But one of the great benefits of women’s studies is that their voices are heard, however faintly.

Those of you who visit here regularly will know that the sixteenth century is the period of history that holds my attention the most, and that is largely because of the women who were prominent in the period – Mary, Queen of Scots, Catherine de Medici, Mary Tudor and my great heroine Elizabeth I. So I found this book totally captivating and thought-provoking. It has given me a new insight inot the life of Catherine of Aragon, and made me want to find out more about Anne of Cleves, who really was the survivor of the bunch.

And lord, if I didn’t know before what a monster Henry was, I certainly do now!

I can’t recommend this too highly if you are at all interested in this period, or court politics, or women’s lives in general. There is much to think about.

And this is my first read for the Women Unbound Challenge.

Third blogiversary

January 20, 2010 in Stuff | 6 comments

Yes, unbelievable as it may seem, Bride of the Book God is three years old today.

Who would have thunk it?

And I celebrate by adding yet another book to the review backlog (the Gorey-reprint-from-1965-provided-by-Bloomsbury one)

Ho hum

But I will catch up soon…..

A Bit Behind

January 16, 2010 in Stuff | 4 comments

I have actually been reading and watching stuff, but for all sorts of reasons I haven’t been organised enough to write up my reviews.

I absolutely must, though, because I want to share my thoughts about:

Movies

  1. The film variously referred to as Dances With Smurfs or Smurfahontas but which I think of as a great big moving Roger Dean poster
  2. The very last episodes of Dr Who with David Tennant, and the preview of the new series

Books:

  1. The feminist reinterpretation of the six wives of Henry VIII one
  2. The steampunk thriller graphic novel with the lead character who is a badger one
  3. The what-the-seventies-were-really-like one
  4. The what-happened-in-the-zombie-world-war one
  5. The great-big-shiny-hard-SF-exploding-suns-sci-fi one

Because they are all really good in very different ways.

Art History Reading Challenge

January 3, 2010 in Challenges | Tags: | 3 comments

So I signed up for this last year, read one book that wasn’t even on my reading list, and then it all fell to pieces. However, I’m determined to have another punt at a subject I’m really interested in (and nearly studied after I left university). And it’s the same reading list as last time…

  • Duncan Grant: A Biography by Frances Spalding
  • The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart
  • Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Painter and Poet by Jan Marsh
  • Aubrey Beardsley: A Biography by Matthew Sturgis
  • William and Lucy: The Other Rossettis by Angela Thirlwell
  • The Holland Park Circle: Artists and Victorian Society by Caroline Dakers

Which puts me in the Fascinated category, so let’s see how that works out.

Challenges for 2010

December 28, 2009 in Challenges | Tags: , | 1 comment

So once again I find myself signing up to more challenges despite last year’s poor showing, but I am nothing if not optimistic and willing to have a go at the following:

The Graphic Novel Challenge 2010

An excuse to read comics (as if I needed one), an excuse to frequent Forbidden Planet even more than I do now (as if I needed one of those either), and excuse to re-read The Sandman (and to persuade Silvery Dude to have a go at volume 2). Sounds like a plan to me..

 42 Challenge

42 sci-fi things in 42 weeks.

Irresistible, did quite well last year, one of the few that I managed to finish, lots to read and watch so hopeful of an equally good result this year. Not making a list, far too much to ponder on, but at the very least Dr Who: The End of Time will be near the top….

And last but my no means least, a companion to The 42 is Carl’s Sci-Fi Experience 2010, an excuse to wallow in all things sc-fi for a couple of months. Again, not planning to make a list but I’ll just see what takes my fancy….

Christmas Round-up

December 28, 2009 in Book buys, Stuff, TV & Film | Tags: , , , , , , | 5 comments

So Christmas 2009 – not quite what I had expected. Stinking cold from 19 December onwards meant that I had little or no voice for significant parts of the holiday season (cheers all round from family, friends and co-workers as you might imagine) and I was also working most of the time (including part of Christmas Eve though I did give in to my cold around lunchtime). Christmas Day itself – opened presents, fell asleep for most of the day, dinner wonderful but late. That’s the advantage of just the two of us on the day, we can play it by ear and only have ourselves to please.

Main highlights so far:

  • The Gruffalo on Christmas Day was the surprising TV highlight for me – really sweet and very nicely done
  • Dr Who – well, a bit disappointing but I’m reserving my judgement until I’ve seen part two as this was so obviously a first-part-setting-up-the-big-denoument episode; but David Tennant was as lovely as ever, especially when he looked like he was going to cry….
  • Sherlock Holmes – the big Christmas movie outing – great fun, will review over on Screen God shortly

But what of the presents? Well, bookwise I did quite well:

  • Vintage Handbags by Marnie Fogg – almost obscene in its wonderfulness, a big glossy history of handbags from the 1920s, I am going to be dipping into this one a lot
  • The Crimson Rooms by Katharine McMahon – asked for this simply because I loved the cover
  • Under the Dome by Stephen King – well, couldn’t resist asking for this one then completely forgot about it; when given the package to unwrap I thought “don’t remember asking for anything this big” – should have known!
  • Martyrs and Murderers: the Guise Family and the Making of Europe by Stuart Carroll – sixteenth century, what can I say?
  • Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Discarded bride by Elizabeth Norton – ditto
  • The Great Silence 1918-1920 by Juliet Nicolson – the period just after the end of WWI and its impact on the social fabric, looks fascinating
  • Strange Days Indeed by Francis Wheen – a history of the 1970s which I am really looking forward to reading, given that it covers the decade when I was a teenager
  • Alice in Wonderland, illustrated by Rodney Matthews – when I was a student I was much more of a Roger Dean fan but I’ve come to appreciate Matthews more over the years and this is a beautiful volume
  • The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, illustrated by Hunt Emerson – a graphic novel version of one of my favourite poems
  • Amphigorey: fifteen books by Edward Gorey – huge Gorey fan, ’nuff said
  • Angel With Two Faces by Nicola Upson – sequel to her earlier Josephine Tey crime story
  • Tamsin by Peter S Beagle – picked up from other blogs
  • The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor – ditto
  • Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge – just loved the cover
  • Lovecraft Unbound, edited by Ellen Datlow – Joyce Carol Oates does Lovecraft, worth it for that alone
  • Boneshaker by Cherie Priest – steampunk, really been looking forward to this one
  • Vanessa and Virginia by Susan Sellars – and a bit of Bloomsbury to round things off

So that lot should keep me busy for a while……

Busy Busy Busy and Fall into Reading Wash-up post

December 20, 2009 in Challenges, Stuff | 1 comment

What can I say? The past fortnight has been absolutely hectic at work and at home, with big projects hitting important milestones, crazy working hours, preparations for Christmas and hardly any reading time to speak of.

But, hopefully, with the holidays coming up I can catch my breath a tiny wee bit, actually read some books, wallow in the David-Tennant-obsessed BBC for the rest of the year, and resume something resembling a decent blogging schedule.

Or not.

And the first thing to do is to report back on Fall into Reading 2009. In my original post I set myself the following goals; progress noted alongside:

  • read the six books I took on holiday with me (managed three, the others are still firmly on my list)
  • read Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates (nope, and no chance between now and 31 December)
  • finish the 42 Challenge on time (done – hurrah!)
  • finish Carl’s RIP IV challenge on time (not done but read three which, as kind readers reminded me, wasn’t bad)
  • restart the Reading Muriel Spark project (nope again)

At the time I thought it was quite a bit to do, and I was right, but it was certainly worth a try and some of these will spread into 2010 I’m sure (looking at you, Joyce and Muriel…)

What’s new on Bride of the Screen God?

December 6, 2009 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Mostly reporting back on TV watching this month:

Bride of the Book God

Follow brideofthebook on Twitter

Scottish, in my fifties, love books but not always able to find the time to read them as much as I would like. I’m based in London and happily married to the Book God.

I also blog at Bride of the Screen God (all about movies and TV) and The Dowager Bride, if you are interested in ramblings about stuff of little consequence

If you would like to get in touch you can contact me at brideofthebookgod (at) btinternet (dot) com.

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