Sorry Nigel Farage – Talking Books loved ‘Talking France’…

Well, my holidays are over for 2013. Unless we win the lottery in the next few weeks I will now spend the rest of the year wishing all my friends ‘Bon Voyage’ and envying them their breaks from the daily routine (or what passes for routine in this house.) We had three nights in Paris to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary, followed after just five days by a week in the Lake District. Very different trips, but equally enjoyable. Paris is a wonderful city to stroll around and in three days I walked as far as I ultimately did in the Lakes – around eighteen miles. I enjoyed delicious food on both sides of the channel and now have to adopt a strict low-fat, caffeine free diet in order to unclog all my vital organs.

All this time off has meant that work has been, largely, left behind resulting in my need to quickly shake off post-holiday blues and get back to writing. I also have tons of admin to do, but that never ends and to get it done is just a matter of avoiding distractions. Ha!

One thing that I did have to miss was my radio show ‘Talking Books’. I should have been ‘on’ the day we set off for Cumbria but was given leave and others stepped in. I would like to think I was missed, but with just three programmes to my name I doubt it. Luckily, I have the fabulous Fire River Poets in the studio this week (Friday 24th) which will make sure we get people listening again quickly.

However – back to the 26th April and the ‘Talking Books Talks France’ show. I deliberately chose the subject matter to get me in the mood for Paris, and to pick up a few hints from my guest, Trevor Snow, who organises walking tours of France and has written a book – Best of France - detailing some of his favourites.

We talked of many things, Trevor and I, on the show. He was a wonderful and very knowledgeable guest; a true Francophile. He offered some of his favourite authors who write about France, or who use it as a backdrop for their writing (most notably the novels written by Peter Mayle). As usual we looked at those suggested by my social media pals, who enjoy classics by Camus or Dumas for example or contemporary fiction by Joanne Harris, or the detective novels written by Fred Vargas. We also talked about French literature and why so many of us read authors such as Balzac, Gide and Maupassant in our angst-ridden teens. My favourite is Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier and thanks to Trevor I can pronounce the title correctly for the first time. Of course, I know some who can read French literature in the original language. Sadly with Grade E O Level French I could barely read Spot Goes to France….

I also got a mention in for The Chase by Lorna Fergusson, which I started before my holidays and finished really quickly on the plane home, gripped as I was by the thrilling story, very different from the usual tale of ex-pats in the Dordogne. I heartily recommend it.

What preparing for this programme really brought into focus is how many people adore all things French. I know I do and Paris was very welcoming. Yet we came home to all the fuss and bother about Europe and the ghastly, greasy Nigel Farage suggesting that Europe is some kind of threat to the very soul of Britain and Britishness. Frankly, I don’t think those Mr Farage finds so threatening care about Britain as much as politicians, full of pomp and pompousness, would like to think. The French get on with their own lives, experience their own problems and enjoy all the lovely things French culture can offer. Standing around in tweeds without a chin rubbing people up the wrong way will get us nowhere Nige. Not an image of Britain I would want to promote.

As always I give you the chance to ‘catch up’ so here is the link to the show:

Do listen in to this edition of ‘Talking Books’ if you have a chance. It was great fun to do, although I still get a few nerves, especially when asked to read out a question for a French quiz. Thanks for stepping in Trevor!

Talking crime – on why we love a good murder mystery….

At last I post the second of my Talking Books radio shows. I mean to post these relatively quickly after the show goes out, but a) have not yet learned how to edit and record the show myself so must rely on the good nature of others and b) I want to write a post that adds something to the show and takes the ideas a little further. I have done three shows now and each one could have gone on for hours, so interesting was the subject and the studio guest associated with it.

On 12th April I was talking crime writing with author Jane McLoughlin. Before the show I canvassed by Twitter and Facebook chums as usual  Who are your favourite crime writers? Who is the greatest fictional detective in your view? Which crime series has transferred best to small and big screens? I managed to get a few of the ideas into the show but I had such a good response I thought I would go into just a little more detail here.

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes

So – the greatest fictional detective award goes to…who else? Sherlock Holmes. (Overwhelmingly the most popular portrayal of the great man was by Jeremy Brett). Robin Vanags, 10Radio’s voice over specialist read a short extract from A Study in Scarlet on the show,  in which we experience Holmes’ deductive powers for the first time, to Watson’s general bewilderment.  There is little to match it and such wit and originality has inspired so many subsequent writers that the respect is well-earned. However, the ‘boom’ in crime fiction started in the 1920s and 1930s and as I mention on the show there are interesting theories as to why.

Ask yourself the question (if, that is, you enjoy crime fiction) ‘why do I enjoy reading about dark mysteries and gory murders?’ For many of us it is the enjoyment gained from trying to work out ‘who dunnit’ or ‘why dunnit’. We want to engage with the detective, attempting to beat them to the solution. It is a challenge. But it is also a thrill – a safe one. In reality we would shun the criminals, hate to read about the crimes and find detectives threatening.

The work I have been doing for Shell Shocked Britain threw up an interesting theory that offers an unexpected perspective on the aftermath of the Great War. The work of Agatha Christie, Marjorie Allingham and particularly Dorothy L. Sayers were a direct response to the war. The environment all three women created was a relatively ‘safe’ old England, but underneath the cracked surfaces of the ploughed fields and old church floors horror and death lurked. Women were particularly adept at evoking this sense of domesticity threatened. They played with the role of women in society and class tensions. This is a direct response to the horrors of the Great War, during which anxiety and fear, death and loss were never out of mind. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey is a shell shocked Great War veteran.

After the war ended, was there a continuing need for that sense of danger, of the unexpected and of the randomness of death? I find it a convincing argument. Many of those who enjoy reading crime fiction now love the cosy domestic settings of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, or more recently the Cotswolds that are home to M. C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin. Others wish to raise their adrenaline levels higher, travelling to  Sweden to follow Wallander, or across America with Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta. I am enjoying crime novels set in the 19th Century at them moment and got in a mention for Lynn Shepherd and D.E. Meredith, both of whom had me riveted to their books in the past year. (Neither of whom hold back when it comes to the blood and guts.)

So is there a part of the human psyche that wants to face death; to see a dead body, understand the mind of a killer and to bring him or her to justice? Or are we all potential detectives, or even killers, eager to see how it is done?

Jane McLoughlin (who writes quite dark crime fiction herself  - I shall review  the book she gave me A Nice Place to Die on here soon) and I didn’t come to any firm conclusions on the radio show, but it was a fascinating discussion which could have gone on for hours. Once again I am not sure I have got the knack of staying close enough to the microphone but I get so enthusiastic I find it hard to sit still….

Anyway, do listen if you have a moment. You can skip bits if I am waffling. I will post the next show – talking books about or set in France – later this week. Do let me know what you think, or have any hints for improving the way it is structured or how I sound. I really do want to learn. I may not make the BBC but now I know why they hold on to their jobs for as long as possible….

Let’s focus on the words: Peter, Tony, and a Portrait of Keats

The ‘new’ portrait of John Keats

Two weeks ago (yes, I am a little slow getting this blog post written) the papers offered some interesting headlines for those, like me, who are fascinated by the life and writing of the poet John Keats. A ‘rare lifetime portrait’ of Keats has been found by Bonhams in America and alongside five drawings by Constable will go on sale in the summer.

One of the early posts I wrote on this blog was entitled ‘Picturing John Keats: Image or Imagination?’, and it has been one of my most-read pieces over the last two and a half years. I was curious to know, particularly in light of Ben Wishaw’s portrayal of Keats in the wonderful 2009 film ‘Bright Star’ , how important it is to us to have an ‘image’ of the physical Keats in our mind as we read his poems and letters. There are so many portraits, both contemporary and posthumous, of him that the ‘real’ John eludes us; the sensitive, frail romantic poet, dying young and eulogised by the likes of Shelley so unlike the written descriptions of the man. So when this apparently ’unique’ new image appeared it was more than intriguing.

Bonhams believe the painting was acquired by the owner, recently deceased, in the 1950s, but other than that its journey to auction is unclear. It was reproduced as a frontispiece to a biography, published by Stanford University Press, in 1933 but the artist is not known. It has been attributed, loosely, to a circle of painters around Charles Hayter, an artist of miniatures famous in the early years of the 19th century but this is by no means certain. In fact, it seems we know little about it at all, other than the ‘technique and framing’ are contemporary with the final years of Keats life.

In ‘Picturing John Keats’ I concluded that for me, the very best way to form a true and lasting ‘picture’ of Keats is to read his poetry and, most particularly, his letters. As a teenager I adopted the Hilton portrait ‘after’ a miniature by Joseph Severn as my ‘photo’ of the poet I literally adored, but as I grew older I understood more about the context behind such work, and other portraits that often spoke more of the artist than the poet himself.

Having discussed this latest portrait with many others who know something of the poet and his life, it seems I am not alone in thinking it rather feeble. Some writers have suggested he is ‘young’ and that perhaps it is an image of him whilst he was studying medicine. There are two points to consider when considering that possibility: a) he was only 25 when he died so any portrait would show him as ‘young’ and b) why would such a miniature have been taken of him, Byronic collar and all, at that stage in his life? If one examines it alongside the Severn Miniature (reproduced to the right), painted in 1818, it looks like rather a poor copy. As my Facebook friend, artist Amanda White, noticed, the parting on the hair, the collar and jacket, all show marked similarities to Severn’s work, which WAS painted from life.

In fact, it was most noted that in this portrait he has a resemblance to correspondent of the Right, Peter Hitchens, or to ex-PM Tony Blair. Neither comparison deeply flattering to Keats, in my opinion anyway.

As with the recent sale of a fragment of Keats writing, it is a testament to Keats that his life and work can still create a media stir – more so probably than many of his fellow Romantics – but I for one hope this chubby image, lacking any of the fiery passion Keats was known for, is not one that becomes a commonly used or lasting one.

It is interesting to me to try and understand why we are so keen to have an image of writers before our eyes as we read. I often flick to the back inside cover of a book to see if there is a photo of the author; I love to examine the difference between portraits, thinking about what aspect of the subject’s personality the artist was looking to convey. Am I the only person to feel this curiosity?

But going back to this portrait, and ignoring that inner voice that wants to visualise the ‘real’ Keats writing, or reading with one foot resting on his other leg, I go back to my original plea to anyone who wants to ‘know’ Keats: focus on the words, his work. Not on the imagination of others…

Why Mrs T should have left the room quietly, closing the door behind her….

Ok, I give in. I have to write something on the subject. The media are not going to shut up, as I had hoped. Days after Margaret Thatcher died we are still getting quotes, anecdotes  tributes, vitriol and all manner of unnecessary and prurient detail coming at us from all sides. It will undoubtedly continue until after the funeral next Wednesday when, once again, my daily dose of Bargain Hunt will probably be cancelled to make way for something I don’t want to be part of.

The debate in Parliament yesterday was full of sycophantic hypocrisy from all sides. Her gender was to the fore but the fact that she was born a woman has very little relevance to her legacy in my opinion – she didn’t exhibit any of those traits that make me proud to be female. It was likely that only those Labour members of Parliament who stayed away were expressing their true feelings and to many the gesture just looked disrespectful. But if you do feel as strongly as they do and believe someone destroyed your community it would have been impossible to sit and listen to all that tosh without a fit of apoplexy. They were looking after their health, if nothing else.

I was born and brought up in Margaret Thatcher’s constituency of Finchley in North London. When I was first able to vote, there was simply no point – she always won by a mile. However, my family did vote – Labour and more recently Lib Dem – and I distinctly remember my Mum saying that when Mrs T walked down our street she would have liked to throw a bottle of ink at her. No love lost there then. But Mum was no flag waving socialist; and my father had views I suspect would chime well with UKIP now. We lived in a relatively comfortable suburb, largely unaffected by her brand of conviction politics. Even if you weren’t a direct victim of her divisive policies there was something about her that just rubbed people up the wrong way.

And now we discover that she died at The Ritz. She is to have a ceremonial funeral that will cost millions and apparently this is being justified, financially, on the basis that she ‘saved us billions on our EU rebate’. Pardon me, but you can’t pick and choose on our austerity measures. If we are truly all in this together she should have been holding court in a Costa Coffee. Her ‘remains’ as they were frequently referred to by the ghastly Nick Witchell should be in cheap pine; the handles unscrewed and recycled before she goes through the curtain in the crem. There are many people in struggling communities quietly making this world a better place to live in who aren’t being paraded through the streets of London and eulogized before 2,000 people – including the Queen- in St Pauls. Even some of the most right-wing voices in the press are suggesting this is not appropriate. She may be an historic figure, but she was not a saint. By the end of her tenure at 10 Downing Street, even her friends knew she had become a liability.

So shouldn’t it be ‘Margaret Thatcher exits, quietly and with dignity, stage left‘?

The funeral will happen; we can’t stop it. But there has already been a backlash against the Conservatives in opinion polls as people are reminded of those years in which social cohesion was sacrificed in the name of opportunist greed. If only we could stand here and say that Tony Blair was not her direct descendant…..

But there is a tiny crumb of comfort. Let the last line of her obituary read:

“Jeremy Clarkson came to her funeral….”

‘In relation to’ what? On ‘Talking Books’ and chewing words….

Lots of people have asked me how my new radio show is going and how they might listen to it again or online. That is very good of you, my friends but I thought I ought to listen to it myself first…. What a scary experience!

After a little bit of intro, where I was myself interviewed about the programme and what I hope it will offer, I was lucky enough to have author Beth Webb as my first guest, a storyteller by trade and writer of books for children and young adults (see my previous post). Listening to it again I am very conscious that I a) waffle a bit b) sat further back from the microphone than my guest, who has the mellow tones I want to cultivate and c) giggle quite a lot and say ‘in relation to’ a little too often. It was nerves – those erudite sentences just slipped away from me. I will try and ensure I sound a little more ‘serious’ in future and will also make sure the producer of the day knows of my propensity to forget I have to talk into the mic….

So here is the link. Remember – you can listen to this live online at 10Radio.org every other Friday morning at 11am, repeated following Monday at 6pm. The next show – which will include a discussion about crime writing is on Friday 12th April. Any requests for poems, themes or discussions gratefully received. As are broadcasting tips….

Perhaps I am being a little hard on myself as I have had some really positive feedback. I certainly enjoyed it and that at least, I think, comes across. Fingers crossed people want to hear me enjoying myself every other week for the foreseeable future.

Even if you can’t listen to the whole programme, just catch the first few minutes to hear what I will be up to on the show. I will be asking for your input via Facebook, Twitter and this blog  - so please do let me know who your favourite fictional detectives are; the crime writers you most enjoy and the adaptations for large and small screen that you think work best.

Thanks for listening!

‘Talking Books’…On trying to become Somerset’s answer to Mariella Frostrup

…I wish!

But I do have my own book show on local radio -10Radio based at the heart of a Somerset community  – and the first programme  is looming large. I go on air at 11am tomorrow (Friday 29th March 2013) to start the series of fortnightly programmes which will offer book reviews, news and interviews with writers, poets, photographers – in fact anyone with a book out that I think will interest listeners on 105.3fm in Somerset or anywhere in the world online at www.10Radio.org. I will also be recording each show and putting links up on my blog so you can listen anytime anywhere. Aren’t you lucky?!!

I am nervous, but very excited. As a writer I am also a keen reader (and think you have to be) but I also love to talk about books and think about what they mean to me. I want to focus on a different genre each time and find an author willing to come on for a chat to talk about their work and their writing life. I also want to encourage a bit of audience interaction so would love to have requests for favourite poems – there is someone with a wonderful voice at the station who does readings and voice overs professionally so I am keen to take advantage of his skills.

The show came about purely by accident. I was being interviewed at 10Radio to plug the TAP conference and had talked about my book Dandelions and Bad Hair Days when I happened to ask whether they had a book programme in the schedule. ‘No! Do you want to do one?’ came the reply. I am in the mood for new challenges at the moment and after much discussion over a title for the show, ‘Talking Books’ was commissioned. On a voluntary basis of course. The station is held together by a committed band of Directors and a lot of willing volunteers but it is really well-respected and I am keen to ensure I don’t mess up.

Beth Webb

The first show – as it is Easter hols – is on the children and young adults market. I am lucky enough to have Beth Webb as my first guest. She is a first rate storyteller and writer of books for children and teens, including the Star Dancer quartet (loved by teens and adults alike) and The Junkyard Dragon. I am hoping she will be kind – I suspect I will get so involved in our conversation I will be cut off unceremoniously at 11.30am as I overrun. Timing might be something I can only learn by experience.

So listen out for me. I would love to know what you think. Most of my readers here will have to listen online I suspect but feedback would be good (although not the kind you get from having the phone too near the radio of course…) and as each programme approaches I might be asking for your favourites in the ‘genre of the week’. So keep your fingers crossed for me. I would love a long career in radio and the chance to talk to you directly about the writing we all love.

Make a cup of tea and listen with a hob nob. Books and biscuits - what could be better?

British? Moi?

This is a tough one. I have been nominated by the lovely writer Vivienne Tuffnell over at zen and the art of tightropewalking (whose novel Away With the Fairies I am currently reading and enjoying very much) for A Very British Blog Tour something I would not normally get involved in.

There are three reasons for this:

1) I always find it hard to nominate people to continue the tour – it feels like sending someone a chain letter, albeit  a benign one.

2) I rarely think of myself as British, or of any nationality, unless I am filling in an official form of some kind. I like the idea of being ‘European’ and embrace the possibility of one day having the time and money to travel across the continent. Being ‘British’ at the moment sometimes seems parochial and occasionally I feel as if I am being knitted together with people who have a very different and potentially less inclusive view of Britishness than I do. It is hypocritical I realise. But then so is shouting for many of our Olympic medalists if you vote for UKIP…

3) Why would anyone want to know this stuff about me? For the same reason I want to know about them, I suppose.

So why this one? Well it is one that involves a discussion of my writing life (via the terrific Roz Morris at Nail your Novel )  and I am, now, a writer. I earn money by it and am published so it would be good to let people know I am here and what I am all about. A couple of the questions seem to directly refer to my current non-fiction writing on something I consider an important topic, and I also thought it would do me good to enjoy my ‘Britishness’ for a moment. In a house full of people who consider themselves (rightly) to be a little bit Irish, I have no such claim. If I am not British, then what am I? Embrace it girl – even with the government we have it isn’t all bad…

So here goes…..

Q: Where were you born and where do you live now?

A: I was born and brought up in North London and always considered myself a Londoner through and through. My family tree shows decades of poverty-stricken existence in Clerkenwell on both stems. However, others have done more detailed research and it seems that on both sides I have ancestors from the South West, which is where I live now (on the Somerset/Devon border). Perhaps I have been heading home all my life…

Given the chance though I would be up in the Lake District. No question.

Q Have you always lived and worked in Britain or are you based elsewhere?

A: Always Britain. I do wish I had traveled and worked abroad when I was younger though. I don’t think you can really understand your own nationality until you have lived away from it.

Q Have you highlighted or showcased any particular part of Britain in your books, a town, a city, a county, a monument, well-known place or event?

A: I write about The Lake District in my poetry, and my non-fiction is set wherever the research takes me. However, I feel drawn to use London as a backdrop to my fiction. I love the city and feel really ‘alive’ when I go back.

Q: There is an illusion – or myth if you wish - about British people that I would like to discuss. Many see Brits as ‘stiff upper lip’. Is this correct?

A: I am currently writing a social history book entitled Shell-Shocked Britain about the impact of WW1 on the mental and emotional health of the nation. My great uncle was deeply affected about one of the air raids on London in 1917 but could never talk about it. In 1922 he murdered his ex-girlfriend and then turned the cut-throat razor on himself. That event too was hushed up, only to be discovered when I was undertaking some family history research. Decades of repressed emotion explain the mental health issues many of the family experienced over the century. It was a shocking time, and I think people need to discuss pain in order to deal with it. It comes out in ways we don’t expect.

Q: Do any of the characters in your book carry the ‘stiff upper lip’ or are they all British Bulldog and unique in their own way?

A: I don’t really like either the ‘stiff upper lip’ or ‘British Bulldog’ attitudes. But in my jolly crime novel Lavender Larceny (to be published this year) the characters are two elderly ladies, one of whom shows a very feisty and undoubtedly British character!

Q: Tell us about one of your recent books

A: Dandelions and Bad Hair Days is very important to me as it is an anthology of pieces written by people who have experienced mental health issues. There is poetry and prose and some wonderfully lyrical writing which is inspiring and often full of hope. All profits go to mental health charities.

Q: What are you currently working on?

A: Shell Shocked Britain for Pen and Sword Social History mentioned above and an anthology of ghost stories that I have written over the years. They are traditional ’round the fire on a stormy night’ M.R. James inspired creepies. I hope! And Lavender Larceny, which is on the third edit. One day it will be ready…

Q: How do you spend your leisure time?

A: I muddle about a lot and the time just goes. Beating my brother at Bejewelled Blitz and my son at Scrabble on Facebook….. Seriously, I read a great deal. I have loved the poet John Keats since my early teens and read and re-read his work as a source of inspiration and to calm me when times are tough. I also read LOTS of fiction; I find it is a great way to improve my own writing.

Q Do you write for a local audience or a global audience?

A: I write because I love it and I hope others will enjoy it. I hope it is accessible to anyone, anywhere and I do have readers coming to my blog from all over the world, which is really gratifying. Thanks everyone

Q: Can you provide links to your works?

A: Dandelions and Bad Hair Days has its own website at www.dandelionsandbadhairdays.wordpress.com and is available through Amazon and all good bookshops. For details of all my current projects I have my own website at www.suziegrogan.co.uk.

Q: Who’s next?

This is the toughie. I don’t know if this is their kind of thing but I do know they are all a terrific read and have very different approaches to ‘British’ writing…. Give them a look.

Rivenrod

Sarah Cruickshank at A life more lived

Essie Fox at The Virtual Victorian

Madame Guillotine

Lorna Fergusson over at Literascribe