Thursday, October 5, 2017

The 1968 club - 30 October to 5 November, 2017




I love the blog Stuck in a Book, and I recommend you put it on your regularly checked blog list.

They often list reading challenges, though I am always hopeless at such things.

Still, I have decided to do this year's 1968 Club - a pledge to read a book published in the year 1968, and to blog about it between the 30th of October and the 5th of November.

I was going to do Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep?, but I was worried that that might just be a little TOO trendy at the moment, with the new TV series and all. Anyway, I went downstairs to my fiction shelves and, while looking for Dick (yeah, they aren't in any kind of order), I stumbled upon one of my favourite childhood books: I Own the Racecourse! by Patricia Wrightson.



This is an Australian children's classic, and used to be a huge book, though it seems to have been forgotten. I recommend it to everyone, and even sent a copy of it to the wonderful author Vanessa Berry, who told me she loved it and read the whole thing in a day.

So, I will read it and see how it has dated. Patricia Wrightson is a fascinating writer, and I have been thinking about doing a talk on her for some time.



Maybe this will inspire me?

Oh, and one of my firm beliefs about creativity is that reading old books inspires you to be more creative. Even better is re-reading old books, especially books that meant something to you a long, long time ago.

What book would you select from your childhood reading to re-read today? What year was it published in?

Monday, July 24, 2017

Researching a new talk: Monsignor R. H. Benson

Sadly this subject DID prove too obscure - I have found out the talk is not going ahead :-(  But keep an eye out - I will attempt to resurrect it in some other form in the future. And I have become so absorbed I am seriously considering doing a book....


One of the ways I love best to explore my creativity, learn new things and force myself to work hard is to give public talks. On Friday I am giving a two hour talk on Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, an admittedly obscure subject, and it has been tough getting people to book in. But, as with most obscure subjects, it is absolutely fascinating, and I have been loving the research.

My research always begins at home, and not online. I have a substantial personal library which I have been building since I was 17 years old, so for almost any subject I could prepare a talk just using the resources I have on my own bookshelves. This morning I am looking up tidbits about R. H. Benson in Geoffrey Palmer and Noel Lloyd's E. F. Benson as He Was.




This is a charming book, with a smattering of facts about baby brother Hugh's life. I will see if they are sufficiently interesting to include in my presentation, or to flesh out a point I have already made in what I have written so far.

My next step is always the NSW State Library.



I love being there, for a start, and there is something about being stuck in the reading room that makes you work really hard.

My research notes from a gorgeous 70s biography of Monsignor Benson written by a nun. I didn't even know about this book until I visited the State Library of NSW


It's also handy because I can go off on a research tangent.


A list of new research directions I plan to follow up. I note these down as I discover them in other books. As you can see, I went in principally to research Monsignor Benson and ended up looking into upcoming talks about Dickens and Kenneth Grahame


I can also work on multiple projects while I am there, filling up pages in my daybook with notes and research for future projects as well as the one I am working on. I actually have to limit myself with my library visits, as I could easily spend my entire time there going down research rabbit holes.

And finally it's ebooks and the net, never my favourite place to research, though perfect for finding out essential last-minute information.

And it's also cheap and convenient. So, instead of going to abebooks and ordering an Edwardian hardcover and waiting 2-6 weeks for it to arrive from Maine or Ireland, I can get a free ebook of R. H. Benson's famous dystopia Lord of the World from Project Gutenberg and start reading and highlighting relevant sections.



I am also reading his book on Lourdes, and the brilliant and quite eccentric biography of Mary Benson, his mother, As Good as God, As Clever as the Devil.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Gay May Reading list

Seems I will be going gay for the month of May, my list being made up of books by, or about, gay men. It comes about because this month I did a talk about E. F. Benson, and I am in about the fourth month of a Denton Welch obsession, courtesy of a previous Barbara Pym obsession. So, here is my Queer Lit. reading list for May (from the top):




The Challoners by E. F. Benson - I don't think I have ever truly enjoyed Benson's non-Lucia fiction - it is all very much of its time. But I am going to give it another go and try this one, written in 1904.

Les Enfants Terribles by Jean Cocteau - Oh, I didn't mention my Jean Cocteau obsession as well. I am going to France in September so looking forward to visiting all of the Cocteau spots. I am also, slowly, piecing together a talk about him which I haven't pitched to anyone yet. If you want me to come and give it, let me know.

The Journals of Denton Welch - Enough said, really. And do listen to the podcast about Denton Welch on Backlisted.

Lucia Victrix and Lucia Rising by E. F. Benson - These are compendium editions which contain all six novels between them. Because I deserve it.

A Voice Through a Cloud and Maiden Voyage by Denton Welch

Cecil Beaton's Fair Lady - I have twice given a talk on Beaton in Sydney and it has been surprisingly very popular with big attendances each time. re-reading this diary of his time making the movie of My Fair Lady and considering doing the talk again somewhere else.

Three Extraordinary Ambassadors by Harold Acton - Acton is one of my favourite writers and should be better known. His books always enchant me.

Lucia in London by E. F. Benson - This means I will be reading this book twice in May, but why not? It's my favourite of the Lucia novels, and I read it at least once year. He lets Lucia get truly horrible in this one, and it's great.

As We Are by E. F. Benson, this work of memoir written late in his life is just beautiful, and at times very funny. Right up there with the Lucia books in terms of entertainment value.

Jean Cocteau by Claude Arnaud - Yep, I have to bite the bullet. I know I will love it, but gosh it's huge!

Saturday, January 21, 2017

My cultural 2017 in lists

This is a fabulous idea I have blatantly stolen from the fabulous Andy Quan.

I have long kept a record (in a special journal) of my reading, but I love Andy's idea of listing the other stuff I have seen. This list will be maintained throughout the year, as a record of how I found creative inspiration and where I went to find it.

Concerts

Theatre

Lectures and Author Talks

Neil McDonald talking about his Chester Wilmot book at both State Library of NSW and Ashfield Library Feb. 2017

Jo Henwood on the Icelandic Sagas at Ashfield Library  Feb 2017

Collins Hemingway on the Napoleonic wars in the time of Jane Austen at the Jane Austen society of Australia, Feb 2017


Exhibitions

Beyond Words - calligraphy exhibition at AGNSW, January 2017

Margaret Olley exhibition at S H Ervin Gallery, February 2017

Books

Ransacking Paris by  Patti Miller

Coffinman by Shinmon Aoki

Tales of Wonder by Huston Smith

The Way of the Traveler by Joseph Dispenza

55 Keys by Alana Fairchild 

The Memoir Book by Patti Miller 

Kali: the Mother by Sister Nivedita 

Movies

How Green Was My Valley

Television

Narcos Series 1 and 2

Real Housewives of Melbourne Seasons 1, 2 and 3