Word Shower

 

I’m recommending this time Word Shower produced by poets Mary Bevan, Lesley Cooke, Jane Cope, Bec Macleod Turner, Anne Peterson, Julie Sharpe and Christine Storey. They were introduced to prose poetry by Anne Caldwell, who runs Prose-Poetry UK, when she ran a day’s workshop with the group.

Inspired by the workshop, the eight began to meet on a monthly basis and this project was born from those meetings.   

We are encouraged to read the pieces aloud. Yes, that does indeed work.

This is a genre I’m rather fond of. My own first writing was in this form when I made contributions to the school magazine. Back then nobody talked about prose poetry.

Each piece transports you to a moment in time and each of these moments each have a gentle emotional overlay.

It’s a tricky book to find. You really need to make contact with one of the contributors. I know Penny Rogers and was delighted to receive this book from her.     

The Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris

                                             

 

Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris introduce us to some strong images of nature.  As we turn the pages we can hear the wind swirling in the trees, we can feel the cold softness of the snow and we can hear the cry of the birds.

The verses make an extraordinary use of language.

The book is very tactile and is one anyone would be proud to have on their bookshelf.

It is longer than standard picture book though is divided into “chapters” with a few pages being dedicated to a particular animal or plant.

The illustrations are superb and would provide a good talking point. 

Absolutely gorgeous. 

Salt by Catrin Kean

                                       

 

I’m recommending this month Salt by Catrin Kean. This starts off in Cardiff in the late 1800s. The story is based on Catrin’s great- grandparents who married in 1878. This was a mixed-race marriage.

Ellen goes to sea with Samuel and they lead a pleasant romantic life as they make their way across the world.  However, when they return to Wales they encounter prejudice.

It’s quite a topical read.

It is beautifully written and the language reads like poetry.

There are big gaps between paragraphs and this feels odd at first but this layout actually enhances the rhythm of the words.

Interestingly I read this book because I know Catrin. She also made it easy for me to buy it by providing a link. Soon I’ll be blogging about how I buy books and how we might examine our book-buying habits when we market our own work.

Rilla of Ingleside by L.M Montgomery

                                               

 

  

Alas, I have now finished all of the Anne Shirley books and what wonderful escapism they’ve been. Yet they’re not without their shadows: Matthew Cuthbert dies suddenly at the end of the first book, Anne’s first baby dies as a very young infant, and this final book is impacted by the Great War.  

Rilla of Ingleside is for Rilla, Anne’s youngest daughter, a coming of age story. At the beginning she is a girl of fifteen and by the end a young woman of nineteen. Her brothers and fiancé have gone to fight in the Great War.  The ending is upbeat and makes us feel good. Yet there are ups and downs throughout the story and we get much detail about what is happening on the war front.

L. M Montgomery was way ahead of her time.  Yes, she has a shifting point of view and very occasionally she takes on an authorial role and lectures the reader but only a little compared with other writers of her time. She achieves as well if not better than many 21^st century writers a strong sense of time and place.  Her characters are rounded and believable. We are close to them and have empathy for them. There is plenty of story as well.

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

                                               

  

I’m still making my way through the full series of the Anne Shirley and the Alex Rider books and also the 2019 short list for the Man Booker prize. 

This month’s choice therefore has to be The Testaments by Margaret Atwood . 

These accounts by three individual witnesses are beautifully written. Margaret Atwood has created a unique voice for each of the narrators. We have the accounts of two young women, both of whom are training to be Aunts in the Gilead system. We also have the voice of the feared and revered Aunt Lydia. 

All is not well in or outside Gilead. 

It would be difficult to understand these accounts if you are not familiar with The Handmaid’s Tale. You really need to have read that first book or have seen the TV productions. The story in this volume contradicts a little what we have seen in the TV series. 

It is the story of what happens after Baby Nicole is smuggled out of Gilead. Certainly the events described here happen when Nicole is a teenager. However, we still don’t have the full story. Will there be one? Or must we use our imaginations? 

I gave this a five star review on both Amazon and Good Reads.  It was interesting reading other reviews including some one and two star ones.  Yes, even the literary greats get those! 

For me this remains one of those rare books that I’d gladly read again. Perhaps this is partly because I feel I may have missed something. It is also in part because I find the prose so enchanting and not as one reviewer said: “dull and lifeless with no linguistic subtleties that Atwood is so very good at.” So, take heart if you’re a writer and get some one or two star reviews. It’s all so subjective after all.              

 

Bernadine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other

I’m making my way through the full series of the Anne Shirley and the Alex Rider books and also the 2019 short list for the Man Booker prize. I bought these three collections at a very reasonable price ass par to The Book People’s closing down sale. Some of my writing friends may be relieved at the demise of this company who sold books very cheaply.  I have mixed feelings. Yes, I believe that writers should be paid properly.  But you could also argue that The Book People sold many more books than other retailers so writers got the same royalty in the end as from other sellers. Also, they did encourage some people to read who otherwise wouldn’t. They delivered books to people’s places of work and so made buying books easy. And it was a company that loved books anyway. So, I remain ambivalent.  

I’m really enjoying the books for younger readers but thought I should offer something more for adults.

My favourite to date form the Man-Booker list is Bernadine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other.    

Bernadine Evaristo uses a type of prose poetry to introduce us to a variety of women whose stories interweave and who come together at the after party of a play written by one of the women. Evaristo presents us with a multitude of concerns that these women face. They are all black or mixed race except one who nevertheless finds she has mixed ethnicity when she takes a DNA test. The women are from diverse backgrounds. We get to know them really well and Evaristo has given each one her unique voice.