Inspiration for writing...almost!

So I returned to Linghams to collect my book order (which took only 24 hours to arrive) and duly checked out their coffee shop.  How can I describe the experience? It felt a little like entering a time warp which didn't take you back in time but instead to a parallel world in which time stood still for a little while!

There was live piano music, gorgeous puddings and a relaxed atmosphere.  Sat on one side of me there was a group of ladies "at lunch", tucking into their paninis.  On the other was my inspiration. The sweetest little old couple who were themselves trying to find a word to fit the atmosphere.  Their suggestions were "cosmopolitan" and "continental".  They had been surprised to discover they could indulge in a couple of teeny bottles of red wine with their meal and were clearly loving their lunch trip. The waitress was very attentive, taking their orders and checking they were okay but shortly after, Mrs A as I will call her, disappeared for a few minutes and returned to tell her husband "I've ordered...well I can't remember what I've ordered now...but I've ordered something".  I couldn't help but laugh.  

Seeing this couple together was simply gorgeous: the way they spoke to each other; appeared to be living each minute; enjoying themselves and laughing freely.  I think for me, it was the best example I have ever seen of romance and true love.  I hope my life is like that when I am their age!

However, they were so compelling and the atmosphere so unusual that I am sure there is a story to be written in there somewhere.  It has been a long while since I felt the urge to write.  Normally for me, it is an emotional response, a way of healing deep wounds.   But I do feel the urge to pick up a pen and write thanks to one elderly and unknown couple. 

Lingham's - A Personal Service

Today I ventured up the Wirral to visit this local independent book shop with a big reputation.  I was not disappointed! One of my personal favourites was the classic books section in which I spotted some contenders for my shelves of bookporn!

            

I didn't get chance to try out the coffee shop within today but hope it will be part of my next visit in a couple of days time.  The leather seats dotted around will also require testing!

It was unfortunately more of a business trip today, preparing for my lessons over the coming months.  A found a couple of great guides and the staff were incredibly supportive when I ordered another, even pulling up the picture of the front cover so I could check it was the right one.

The bookshop also has a book club that I hope to be able to occasionally attend and seem to have regular author visits.  In fact there was one this evening which sadly I was unable to attend.  To add to the community hub feel within the shop there was a notice board letting shoppers know what is on in the area.  An excellent idea!

To top off the first class experience, I returned to find a reply to a tweet I had sent them a couple of days ago.  They hoped I had enjoyed my visit and they remember ordering my book today :-)  Yes Lingham's I have thoroughly enjoyed my visit and will now be a regular customer!

Bookporn

I suffer badly with bookshelf envy.  Everyone else's always appears to look better than mine. I have been accused at times of being a little OCD about the arrangement of books but still I never seem to get it right.  I make sure I put the matching sets together, in alphabetical order of course (really it makes life so much easier), with series of books together and then start using the size order method so the largest are on the outside working to the smallest in the middle.  Different shelves tend to be dedicated to different types of books whether it be children's, modern, possible teaching options, to read etc.  I even ensure all the books are pulled forward to the edge of the shelf so they appear to be of the same depth.

Okay, so the randomness of the children's books and the way they grab them and put them back does not help.  Or the way in which my daughter will use books as building blocks.  However, I want some bookporn in my own house rather than just admiring other people's pictures, particularly when a search on this topic can pull up some other "interesting" alternatives! 

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/179/414044007_4ab74cff21.jpg

What I want is something along these lines:

http://www.simoneleblancinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/books_pearson.jpg

 http://img3387.imagevenue.com/loc578/65689_booklover_6_122_578lo.jpg

So, in an attempt to achieve my slice of the porn world, I have decided: 

1. Children's books to be kept on their own separate shelving units.
2. Stop buying so many books and try using the library or my Kindle instead.
3. Spend the money I have available for books on those a little more special e.g. those I really enjoy, box sets, beautifully designed covers
4. Pick up second hand, oldy worldy books that are more quirky, hold character and that heavenly musty, dusty, old book smell!
5. Ensure a minimum of one book shelving unit is mine and mine alone and no little hands are allowed to touch!

How do you arrange your books?  Do you have a particular way or does any old way suit you?

Celebrating Charles Dickens

Here is one of the two delightful Charles Dickens collections currently available from Penguin. My bookshelves are extremely jealous! They have been produced as part of the celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens.  I personally think they are delicious!

My own celebrations


Teaching:
I have today, been composing my own little celebration in memory of Dickens.  With a few weeks to fill with my year 7 class, I felt it would be a great opportunity to share with them some classic literature as well as having some fun.  I remember learning about how Dickens novels were published whilst studying for my Literature degree.  This small piece of information had a dramatic effect on my feelings for the author.  I suddenly understood and appreciated his visual feast of caricatures and I saw his work afresh.  Great Expectations went on to become one of my all time favourite books.


So yes, this is exactly what my little year 7 class will be learning about!  They will be introduced to a few of the characters, become detectives to discover what makes a Dickensian character and then finally create their own modern version.


As well as learning a little history along the way, I hope they will also grasp the relevance to today's society.  Fingers crossed for some gruesome, dodgy bankers!


Personal:
I have been promising myself for sometime that I would read Dickens' collection of works.  No mean feat. With teaching and being a mother taking up all the waking hours and minutes, zilch progress has been made.  However, I feel the time is now ripe!  I know I certainly won't be alone.  For my time schedule, tackling a huge pile of them this year would be disastrous so I'm hoping to read three or so and I have Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist in front of me now.  Which to choose?!


You?
How do you feel about Charles Dickens as an author? Have you read many of his books? Have you joined the celebrations in anyway?  Please feel free to add your comments.

Lingham's Booksellers - Heaven Locally?

This year I have decided to move away from the giants such as Amazon, W H Smiths and Tescos and instead support my independent local book sellers, yes admittedly partly because I harbour a dream to own my own quirky, gorgeous little book heaven.


Trouble was, having only moved to the area recently, I have no clue who or where they are.  I have also been desperately searching for a book club that could fit in with mine and my partner's schedule.  So imagine my sheer delight when I stumbled on this article; an independent bookseller who takes on the Tesco's opposite and actually gains their support.  Not only that but they are only a few miles away from me.  I could hardly contain my excitement when upon further investigation, I discover it also runs a book club AND a coffee shop!  Okay so it's not the Nespresso I'm obsessed with but still, I can sit in a comfy chair and I can drink coffee whilst in a book shop!


Admittedly I may sound a little crazy at this point but I know other bibliophiles will understand this joy and the book club may not always fit with shifts but hey, it's got to be worth a look.  My only disappointment is that I am away for two days and will not be able to visit  until Thursday.


Linghams we are coming to get you on Thursday!  In the meantime, you can find them on Twitter.

Want to find out more about The Handmaid's Tale?

You can read more on Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, including the author's own reflections on the writing of her novel, here, or you may want to consider the new special illustrated edition. Although, I personally prefer the images I conjure up from the beautiful writing.

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale

This is a highly infectious and worthy read!


A dsytopian tale would not be my usual choice of novel. However, I had heard only passionate recommendations for Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. I spotted it in the local library and picked it up. I took it home, read the blurb and left it on the side, feeling it just wasn't for me. Meanwhile I continued battling with a book that was after a couple of chapters, highly predictable and boring. My usual approach to reading is don't worry about finishing a book; time is precious and there are too many excellent books waiting to be read. However, as this was frowned upon by so many around me, I had decided to make a more concerted effort to finish what I started. A third the way through a book, I couldn't stand it any more and abandoned this ridiculous new approach to reading.

Thank goodness! Just three lines. Three, short, Atwood style, succinct lines was all it took to affirm it was a very wise decision. Why waste time on words shoved on a page retelling the same old droll, repetitively, when you can have a carefully, crafted piece of art? Where you can read phrases such as:

“We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.”

“Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it.”

"There is more than one kind of freedom...Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don't underrate it."


Atwood's foresight to what may lay ahead for future generations are akin to Orwell's 1984. At times I gasped. A cashless society made the transition of control so easy and indeed, today we find ourselves almost there; bank cards, credit cards, school canteens run on a pin number or fingerprint and now the possibility of paying with a smartphone. The same page mentioned an attack on America and fear of Islamic fundamentalism. Sadly, I feel no further comment or justification is required there.

The novel centres on a possible future based on the contemporary concerns of crime, war, radiation, moral decline of man...or should I say women, and interpretations of religious, in particular, biblical passages. Published in 1985 it shamefully and scarily seems even more appropriate today.

Atwood deftly weaves all these themes for the future with a touch of the past to produce a compulsive read. Anyone who understands how Hitler rose to power having never received an even near majority vote will recognise this in the novel and how easily it could happen again.

It has certainly left me considering how easy it would be for me to lose all power, however independent and educated I feel. Now I begin to understand how present difficult economic circumstances seem to have such a grip on my life. The trouble is, I'm not sure there is anything we can do to stop it. So it remains to be answered, in whom do we trust?

Literary Light

Well teaching has proved to be much tougher this term in a new school.  Much, much tougher than expected.  I need to keep my love of literature alive and ensure I indulge in its delights however busy life may get. Times are  hard for many, including my family, and this blog will be my own personal light at the end of my tunnel.