Philip Pullman on the borderlands of reading

Philip Pullman, author of the fantastic ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy (Lyra? Daemons? Need I say more?) gave a talk for The Open University 40th anniversary lectures on a) the nature of reading, and b) the relationship between the story and its illustration. And guess what? I attended. I’ve interviewed this fantastic writer a few times and always found him to be passionate, fiery, resolute and charming all at the same time and this was exactly how he was when I saw him talk.

The borderlands of reading

Opening his talk, he told the packed audience: “When we read, we enter a borderland – the space that opens up between the private mind of the reader and the book. Parts of the borderland belong to the book, parts are made up by the reader – of their memories of other books, of real people, what they associate with particular words, the reader’s temperament and so on. In other words, no reader will read the same way.” I found this fascinating – and spot on.

He likened it to what is known as ‘liminal states’, the ambiguous conscious state of being on the threshold between two different existential planes. He also referred to John Keats’ notion of negative capability, ‘when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason’ (from a letter written to his brothers George and Thomas on the 21 December, 1817).

Pullman then went on to show the audience a series of paintings, for example Gwen John’s ‘Precious Moment With Book’ which demonstrates how the world around you dissolves when reading, the only clear space left between your eyes and the book you’re holding. He also highlighted how the painting shows the unique mixture of relaxation and attentiveness that comes from reading. Another painting he looked at was Casper David Friedrich’s ‘The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog’, comparing the way the man depicted in the painting surveys the landscape before him to the way a reader surveys their borderland.

Illustrations in children’s literature

He then went on to focus on illustrations found in children’s literature, expressing his sadness at how it has become unfashionable to illustrate children’s novels because “pictures in book are like a windowsill.” He used examples from Fritz Wegner’s work, admiring the “romantic atmosphere” he created. Pullman also illustrated the charm of more amateurish drawings, such as those by Arthur Ransome and Tove Jansson (Moomins), and recalled how the “scratchy, swift and confident” drawings of Richard Kennedy swept him into foreign lands such as the working class Parisian scenes in Paul Berna’s A Hundred million francs. Away from urban settings, Pullman highlighted how ‘BB’ Denys Watkins-Pitchford depicts the countryside in Brendon Chase who Pullman with an “honesty and passion”. He also praised Rupert the Bear illustrator Alfred Bestall, especially the end pages of each Rupert manual which depict a landscape, which Pullman described as “full of fancy, lightness, delicacy and charm.”

On the other scale, Pullman went on to focus on illustrators where there is no interest in landscape and more a focus on people. For example, the Thomas Henry illustrations in Richard Crompton’s William books, that “scruffy muddy-kneed schoolboy” as Pullman described him where the focus was very much on the people and not on the “generic middle class England.” Same goes for Walter Trier’s illustrations in Emil and the Detectives – “wonderfully fluid and expressive lines but no background.”

In Pullman’s own books, the Folio Society editions of Northern Lights gave Pullman great pleasure. With illustrations by Peter Bailey, the main character in his trilogy, Lyra, is depicted beautifully (pictured). Pullman also gave an insight into his own illustrations. Before Northern Lights, the first in ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy came out, he illustrated the decorative devices at the top of each chapter and had to illustrate them using heavy black and whites to the size of a postage stamp.

Philip Pullman’s website

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Beautiful. That’s how I’d describe this book. Beautifully written, beautiful characterization, beautiful story.

I really, really enjoyed this one and really admire Maggie Stiefvater as a writer. She’s up there with Meg Rosoff etc and if you loved Twilight but want something a little more grown up, realistic and more beautifully written, I’d strongly recommend this one.

It’s about a girl who falls in love with a werewolf. Okay, it’s about a lot more then that and I would give a more detailed review but I’m discovering lots of new and amazing YA reviewers out there on the web and from now on, am going to find my best review of a book, give my own opinion then link. So here’s the link for this book from the wonderful The Crooked Shelf blogger. I’ve been following Carla (who writes this blog) on Twitter for a while and read a lot of her excited Tweets about Shiver, all proving to be 100 % correct. So, to read her spot-on review, go to her blog.

Enjoy!

Useful links:

Maggie Stiefvater website

The Crooked Shelf blog

‘Thirteen Reasons Why’ by Jay Asher

I just finished reading Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and I am just kinda speechless.So before writing about how I feel about it, I’ll give you some background.

The first time I really heard about this book was when I attended a talk by Sarah Davies of the Greenhouse Literary Agency. She used it as an example of a book with an amazing hook. And I think the reason is that you can sum it up in one paragraph and that one paragraph makes you wanna read it. Like, now.

Clay finds a bunch of tapes leaning against his front door. Excited, he tears them open and pops them in his dad’s old stereo. But when he listens to them, he discovers they’ve been recorded by Hannah, a girl who committed suicide a few weeks before and each tape represents 13 reasons – and 13 people – why she chose to take her own life.

Do you want to read it now?

Then I read about Jay Asher, the author. In fact, I read a post by him in the SCBWI forums from three years back with the title ‘Ready to quit’. That says it all, right? He’d been writing for years, getting rejections for years and they’ve preserved that post just to show talented writers out there that you can’t give up.

And this kinda ties into Thirteen Reasons Why because Hannah simply gives up. She gives up on life and for the reader, this is heart-breaking and Clay’s frustration and anger at her for just-giving-up is one of the factors that makes you feel so much when reading this book.

There are many reasons why I love this book. Here’s Thirteen Reasons Why (sorry, it has to be done)…

1. The teenage experiences – the ones that snowball to create one big ball of fury and fear and hurt? The ones that, in this book, drove Hannah to suicide – felt very real for me. I’d been through a few of those, for sure! Jay Asher says he asked his wife and female friends about experiences that had an impact on their lives and you can tell. This kinda stuff happens.

2. Which leads me onto the way Jay Asher manages to delve inside a girl’s head, despite being a boy! Really works.

3. I like the way Hannah’s story is interweaved with the few hours Clay spends listening to it. I think, without Clay’s ‘present life’ interjecting, it could be too much, too emotional. It gives the reader a break, like Clay sometimes needs to take a break.

4. As you follow Clay around, you really feel like you’re on a journey with him – and her.

5. Hannah’s voice is strong. It’s bitter and it’s sad and it’s fun and it’s cute.

6. The setting is vivid. You can really picture the areas Clay visits.

7. The characters Hannah describes match the kind of characters we mould ourselves into when we’re teens

8. The writing style. It’s subtle, beautiful, moving.

9.The depiction of Jay’s mum is good. She’s not controlling, she seems to understand what he’s going through without him having to tell her.

10. It made me angry. I wanted to shake Hannah and scream in her face and tell her to snap out of it. Not just Hannah, the fools who led her to commit suicide.

11. Clay’s anger matches the reader’s anger – shown through small actions like him clenching a fence near the end of the book. Clever.

12. It made me cry. This is always a good thing. Before I Die had the same affect on me and that book has stayed with me for a long time after I read it. I know this one will too.

13. It made me want to write on a weekend when I have major writer’s block!

So go read it. Because this one’s special. And if you’re a writer, be inspired – Jay Asher didn’t give up. You shouldn’t too…

Buy Thirteen Reasons Why

Jay Asher’s Blog

Tithe by Holly Black

Yep, another book involving an uber hot fairy prince. Doncha just love these fairy princes?! They’re up there with the vamps as far as I’m concerned.

I’m a tad embarrassed cos it’s taken so long to get around to reading Tithe. I mean, it’s one of the first (maybe the first?) urban fantasy YA novel that gets all messed up fairytale on our butts! But hey, I finally got around to it and I realllllllly enjoyed it.

It’s about 16-year-old Kaye who returns to her childhood town after trailing around after her mum’s rock band for a few years. Here, she re-acquaints with her old fairy friends and saves a hot fairy prince (

What I LOVED about this book was the strong female lead, the tight clear plot and the dark, crumbling setting – the rotting seaside town where her grandma lives. The whole setting really rams home the ’fairies gone bad’ thing .

At first, I found her writing style a bit awkward but as the novel moved on, I started to really appreciate it, especially her use of similes (eg. her description of the sunset looking like it’s ’slit its wrists and is bleeding orange all over the ocean’ is an oft-quoted example).

The male characters are hot, including Kenny, the (mortal) boyf of her best friend, who I found strangely alluring. And Roiben, the fairy knight, is typical of this genre’s ‘heroes’ – wicked, violent but alluring. The plot was intricately mapped out, you could tell that with the writing. Every scene had a purpose and the endgame was well in sight from the start.

My only issues were that I wasn’t convinced by Kaye and Roiben’s ‘connection’. I felt this was a classic case of ‘I fancy you cos you’re hot’. I didn’t understand why else there was this connection between them? The love element wasn’t delved into as much as I’d like though I’m a romantic at heart and have often found fault with novels cos of this so maybe I’m asking too much? I also felt the end kinda whispered instead of screamed, which is fine for some but I like a little more oomph in that last scene.

The book also declared itself as being a ‘modern faerie tale’ and you certainly get this feel – a quick, clever, witty read. Maybe I’d liked a bit more depth though?

But overall, a great read. Holly Black is no doubt a really accomplished writer and is totally in touch with her dark side. I still prefer Melissa Marr (specifically Wicked Lovely), mainly cos it has more ‘depth’ but definitely one I’d recommend.

And writing-wise, when I started reading the de-fairy-lightful Tithe, I wondered if I’d read it before in some fairydust-induced haze. Not cos it was dull, oh no, but mainly because it was doing  just what I wanted to do to ‘grit up’ my writing. The kooky, funky, messed up main character; the derelict settings; the dark, violent scenes, the kind I saw in my mind’s eye a few months back when I was thinking about how to make my writing a bit more ‘real’. But I have never read it, not in this mortal world anyway

Useful links:

Holly Black website

Buy Tithe

What I Was by Meg Rosoff

I finished reading What I Was last night. If it were scratch and sniff, it would smell of sea air, seaweed, and bangers and mash (a delish British meal for my friends across the pond).

I absolutely loved Rosoff’s crunchily fabulous How I Live Now (as you can see from this review) and finally got around to reading this little gem about a boy who’s carted off to a boarding school on the south coast and comes across the mysterious Finn, a boy with no past and a stroppy cat. It’s about friendship, love, a real coming of age treat with a fab ending.

What I adore about this book is the voice. We writers always hear agents and publishers talk about an author needing to have a standout voice. Rosoff is the author that comes instantly to mind when I think about this. Her writing style is a dream – I wanna wrap myself up in it and sail away! She’s funny, ironic – the main character throbs off the page, dry wit and all. To give you an example of voice (not the best example – I’m a very naughty reviewer and haven’t bought a copy in with me today but found some extracts online) here’s a passage to whet your appetite.

‘Did I mention that St. Oswald’s was my third school? The first two asked me (not entirely politely) to leave, owing to the deplorable nature of my behaviour and grades. In my defence, I’d like to point out that my behaviour was not deplorable if by deplorable you mean rude, belligerent, violent and antisocial—setting fire to the library, stabbing or raping a teacher. By deplorable they meant “less than dedicated to study,” “less that competent at writing essays,” “less than interesting to the head and the board of governors.” Given my gentle failings, their assessment strikes me now as unnecessarily cruel, and makes me wonder how they labelled the student who opened fire with an AK-47 in the middle of chapel.’

This is by no means the best example, there’s many more. Anyway, as is the case with my reviews, I end now, very quickly, offering you just a teensy morsel of this utterly wonderful book. Go buy it! Now!!!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I just finished this raw lump of a book and believe the hype, it’s a real page-turner. Action-packed, gritty, violent – I’ve walked away from it feeling like I need a good old clean (any streams around so I can scrape the blood and dirt off me; wipe the horrid images from my mind?)

As always, I’m not gonna go into detail, google is your friend.

Now, what I really loved about this book was the idea itself. 12 kids thrown into a battle against each other, a modern Running Man… just awesome and damn it, why didn’t I think of it first? The main character, Katniss, is great, Kickass. Real strong. An inspiration. The little details Collins brings in of a future world – the creatures she invents, the dystopian nuances – work very well. The little ideas and surprises, and twists and turns here and there – awesome. It will make a fabulous film.

BUT (isn’t there always a ‘but’?) the use of present tense was a bit jarring. I actually like present tense but it got a bit ‘listy’. And you know how us writers are always told to ’show, don’t tell’, Collins does a helluva LOT of telling when showing a scene with actions and dialogue would’ve worked so much better. And though Katniss is strong, she turns into a pathetic doe-eyed thing when it comes to ‘acting out’ the love stuff. She’s also dispassionate too and it takes a while to warm to her. The start is very very slow – a lot of people would be turned off by the first few pages where, literally, hardly anything happens. There were moments of great writing (as in, beautiful to read) but these were sparse. The writing was as gritty and tough as the subject-matter.

But really enjoyed this book and a definite must-read for aspiring YA writers purely because of the massive hype around it.

Melissa Marr ‘Wicked Lovely’ Series

I’ve just put down an unrpoofed copy of Marr’s Fragile Eternity  so thought it was about time I darn well shared my thoughts on this truly scrumptious, utterly dark and fabulously crafted set of young adult novels.

There’s a zillion reviews of Marr’s work on the interwebs and outline of plot – remember, my beauties, Google is your friend. So I wanna make this short and sweet.

If I was in the Summer Court and was all positive and happy and stuff, this is what I’d say…

• The yummy imagery. In particular, the way she manages to evoke the very essence of the fairy courts in her character descriptions. Eg. the eyes of Keenan, the Summer King, are described as having oceans waves lapping in them; suns rising and setting. Really quite fabulous. The description of the tattoo in Ink Exchange (the second book) is ultra cool too. The settings are to die for – the train carriage, the loft.
• It’s dark. Yeah baby, dark. Tattoos, piercings, pool tables (ha!), snakes. Other than the odd spark of colour when Marr’s highlighting the court  quirks, in my head, it’s all dark and rock ‘n’ rolla when I’m reading her stuff. And I like that.
• It’s dirty. Really urban. Dirty city setting, quirky industrial homes (eg. Seth’s train carriage home). And yet the ‘fantasy’ world – Keenan’s loft, the park, the winter court… they’re just o so beautiful and vibrant.
• Strong characters. There’s not enough of these out there, especially strong female characters. But Ash, Donia, Leslie , – tough girls with endearing qualities.
• Cute guys. All for different reasons. Seth for his intelligent, patient, rocky gorgeousness. Keenan for his wicked loveliness. Niall for his big, strong ‘I will protect you’ vibe, Irial for his dark and dirty ‘I will unravel you’ essence. Hmmmmmm…. Niall is my fave, who’s yours?

If I was in the Dark Court and was all cynical and, urm, dark, I’d say…

• Plots a teensy bit samey (okay, grasping at straws here cos books are truly close to perfection). From one book to the next, you kinda see the same battles taking place. ‘Please love me’, ‘No, no, I shan’t’. ‘You shall change into a fairy and be mine’. ‘No, no, I shan’t.’ You get what I mean? But I think us gals like that, right? And there are some fab sub-plots. *Slaps face and forces oneself to return to cynical Dark Court self* But yeah, could’ve done with mixing it up a bit but why fix what ain’t broke *Slaps face again*
• Intensity of relationships: I know some people hate Twilight but for those of us who enjoyed the series, it’s difficult to forget the sheer intensity of Bella and Edward’s relationship and that same level intensity isn’t there in the ’Wicked Lovely’ series. The main ‘relationship’ is between Ash and Seth and it’s great, it’s real, it’s ‘healthy’ and mebbe for that reason I was a teensy bit like ’whatever’ about it. Yeah, they’re cute together. Yeah, sure, you want them to get together but deep down, you SO want Ash and Keenan to get it on! I think it might be cos I preferred Keenan to Seth so mebbe those who prefer seth will think totally differently. Mebbe Marr meant it to be like this cos she wants to keep the Ash / Keenan dynamic on the simmer setting? Plus her stuff is grittier, stronger, more real than Meyer’s stuff (eg. in real life, not all relationships are so intense) so mebbe this is why there aren’t so many brooding looks etc. Hey, it’s down to personal taste really.
• Urm, that’s all I can think of (I am SO for the Summer Court but I am SO gonna be cannoodling with a Dark Court boy

Anyways, out of ALL the books I have reviewed here (including Before I Die), I totally and utterly recommend the luscious ‘Wicked Lovely’ series for readers and writers (of YA stuff particularly) as it’s to DIE FOR!!!! In terms of reading material and inspiration for writing. Go Marr!

x

Noughts and Crosses (Malorie Blackman)

Just because a book has been critically acclaimed and praised to high heaven doesn’t mean you’re gonna like it.

Noughts and Crosses is one of those books. I can see why it’s been praised: the premise is original. It’s about a world where white people (known as noughts) are perceived as second-class citizens in a world dominated by black people (Crosses). I think Malorie Blackman is a wonderful woman – I’ve read interviews with her and she’s very inspiring. So many people have urged me to read this book, including two teachers I know mainly because it delivers some very strong messages and has a rock-solid moral core to it.

But the novel – I just can’t get through it. Sorry! I really want to but I just can’t. I think I’m struggling with the writing style, it’s just not for me. And certain elements – for example, one of the main characters, a 14-year-old girl, develops a drink problem – just aren’t convincing enough. There are strange naive turns of phrase too but maybe this is an attempt to deliver copy in a teenage voice? O my, I so wanted to like it but, hands up, I’ve given up.

Ha ha, you can SO tell I don’t wanna criticise it, don’t you? But there you go, it just hasn’t worked for me so am putting it down and I’ve picked up The Luxe by Anna Godbersen which is madness because it’s the total opposite to Noughts and Crosses. But my gosh, it’s beautifully written. The characters are convincing (if a little stereotypical). I feel like I’m sitting down to a lovely garden party feast as I read it. I’m not sure it has any deep moral issues to explore, like Noughts and Crosses but it’s pure entertainment. Mebbe that’s what I need right now.

Ooooooh, what I need to add is that I’m rather excited about a book that’s coming out next year: Sarwat Chadda’s The Devil’s Kiss about 15-year-old Billi, the first-ever girl to (reluctantly) join the Knights Templar Order.  It sounds sooooooo fab and can’t wait to read it. Sarwat writes a cool blog, check it out here.

x

A very crunchy ‘How I Live Now’ (Meg Rosoff)

Have you ever read the opening of a book and thought ‘ergh, not sure about this one?’

I had that last night with ‘How I Live Now’ which has won a zillion awards and been praised by all and sundry. It starts just how you’re told not to start a book: ‘My name is Elizabeth but no-one’s ever called me that.’

 

 

But am now a third of the way through and it’s a beautiful, shiny little gem. Or, as the Guardian put it, ‘A crunchily perfect knock-out of a debut novel’.

It’s written in a very strange way – almost stream of consciousness. A rat-a-tat of words where most full stops and paragraphs and speech marks are thrown to the side. Clever because you do very much feel that you’re reading something from the (teen) horse’s mouth. The love story is wonderfully written too (and you know I’m a sucker for love stories), very pure, bittersweet and urgent.

So it got me thinking about two things in relation to my novel. First, openings (again!) and second, narrative voice.

As I said earlier, the opening isn’t as wonderful as the rest of the book. It isn’t as ‘crunchy’. But this is just my humble opinion, many millions may disagree. In fact, if this is the first page Rosoff sent to agents / publishers, then a very important person disagrees with me. Which makes me wonder: is my idea of a good opening the wrong idea? I know it’s a matter of opinion but I so desperately need to get it right. I’m happy with the majority of my book but still, the opening mocks me!

Now narrative voice. Some of my novel is delivered as blog entries from the main character, Tori. Sometimes, I’ve written it in a quirky teen kinda way. Other times, it slips into mainstream (bland?) first person narrative. But this is the girl’s blog! It’s supposed to be her voice, right? Reading ‘How I Live Now’ has made me realise I need to re-look at the narrative voice, make it more personal – more crunchy. I don’t mean as quirky as Daisy’s voice in ‘How I Live Now’ but just more personal.

I was actually (stupidly?) thinking about sending my synopsis and first few pages to an agent I have my eye on. I really like what she’s doing for other writers and I feel a sense of urgency. But I know how important it is to get my book as perfect as I can before sending it out. I mean, I could send it as is, I’ve read it through as has my writing buddy Bertie but it still needs some fine-tuning. Mebbe I’ll fine-tune it in two weeks, who knows?

BTW, I do realise it took me a month to write my book, which might scare many people. Especially as some people takes months, even years. But I’m a damn fast writer and editor (it’s my trade!). And you gotta remember I worked on it non-stop out of office hours (plus I took three days off to focus solely on it) and didn’t get much sleep. If I had a job that allowed me to write it during work hours (I wish!), I would’ve finished it even earlier! The fact that I write for a living helps too as it means words tumble from my mind to my fingertips like autumn leaves from a tree. It’s part of what I am, this writing lark.

Anyway, will blog on this a bit more in a future post but keep this in mind: Stephenie Meyer spent about one to two months writing her first draft of ‘Twilight’ …

x

Before I Die (Jenny Downham)

I cried for ten solid minutes last night. One of those all-consuming, gasping, heart-clutching sobs. And all because of one astoundingly beautiful book.

It’s called ‘Before I Die’ by Jenny Downham and it’s truly amazing. Exquisite. It’s about a young girl who’s dying of cancer and it covers all the things she wants to do before she dies.

The main reason I loved it was the way it was written. The use of imagery was inspiring.

Go buy it! NOW!