I was delighted to be asked by Carcanet Press to write a short piece about Summer Reads. The following appeared first at www.carcanetblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/sam-ruddock-bibliodiversity.html where it is accompanied by the largest picture of me I've ever seen.Apologies for that!
Bibliodiversity. What a mouthful of a word.
‘…a Maroon / of a word and a word so silent / it is the opposite of song.’ So Kei Miller describes another word in ‘Twelve Notes for a Light Song of Light’, the title poem in his third collection A Light Song of Light. If there is a central focus of that book, it is that poetry should communicate with the directness and universality of a song, and carry a similar emotional resonance.
And yet when I first heard this word used last month – unwieldy as it is - it had the feel of poetry. It was one of those moments where all of my beliefs about reading fell into place.
Say it with me: Bibliodiversity.
Reading is more than a hobby; it is active participation in the art of literature and should be supported as such. I believe that reading broadly is more important than the specific books we actually read. That by reading across forms and genres we expand our horizons, break down the barriers that constrain our thinking, and avoid the supermarket ‘pile ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap’ sort of bookselling that increasingly determines how readers discover new books. In its own way, I think bibliodiversity is as important to a healthy literature as biodiversity is to a healthy environment. And I’m fascinated by the idea that a reading revolution centred around bibliodiversity could have as much of an impact on the way we write, publish, sell, buy, read, and talk about books, as Fairtrade has on how we shop.
Readers love discovery and readers deserve as much support in developing the craft of reading as writers have to develop their writing. Given a little support readers – me included! – regularly surprise ourselves with the sorts of books we enjoy. Tearing down the barriers that make us uncertain about our capacity to engage with a particular book or genre can be a wonderfully enabling process.
It is these thoughts that led Writers’ Centre Norwich – a literature development organisation interested in both the artistic and social impact of creative reading and writing – to launch Summer Reads. Each year we gather a group of keen readers together to work through a longlist of over 100 titles and select 6 books to feature in a reading campaign throughout the summer. Summer Reads acts as a guide to some of the most exhilarating writing and storytelling from around the world and a focal point around which to create networks of bold, confident, and adventurous readers.
This year the six books we are promoting include A Light Song of Light by Kei Miller as well as works of fiction, non-fiction, short stories, novellas, work in translation, and uncategorisable mash-ups of all the above. It is a veritable feast! Whatever your usual fare, why not head over to www.summerreads.org.uk and discover something new.
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Friday, 14 June 2013
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Book Lovers Quiz
Last week I teamed up with fellow blogger and all round bibliophilic good egg Norfolk Bookworm to host the first of what we hope will be a long running series of successful book quizzes at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library.
The event sold out well in advance, and the twelve teams we could cram in seemed to enjoy themselves. We certainly enjoyed hosting it. So much so that we've already set a date for the next one (Thursday 5th May) and sold more than half the tables! If you'd like to book a table (£5 per team, maximum of 5 per team), you can do so by visiting the Millennium library, or calling 01603 774707.
So for those who couldn't be there on Thursday, those who just like testing their quizzing acumen, and those wanting to test the water before booking, here are the questions. (Answers are in white below the question: highlight the - apparently - blank space to see them)
Enjoy! And Good Luck!
Round 1: Dragons
1) Which Scandinavian born author wrote the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?
A: Stieg Larsson
2) Which best selling science fiction author went komodo dragon hunting with naturalist Mark Carwardine for the 1989 BBC documentary series Last Chance to See?
A: Douglas Adams
3) In Greek mythology what is the name of the multiple headed dragon that grew two heads to replace each one it lost?
A: Hydra
4) Which character in C S Lewis’ Voyage of the Dawn Treader is turned into a dragon?
A: Eustace Scrubbs
5) Which celebrated nonsense poem, from Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking Glass tells of a fearsome dragonliike beast with “jaws that bite,” “claws that catch,” and “eyes of flame”?
A: Jabberwocky
6) What breed of dragon was Norbert in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone?
A: Norwegian Ridgeback
7) Which character, created by Christopher Marlowe, summons a dragon to prove his strength?
A: Dr Faustus
8) If Glaurung was the first, what name did Tolkein give to the last dragon?
A: Smaug
9) In which Discworld novel does a marauding dragon appear to attacking Ankh-Morpork?
A: Guards! Guards!
10) Where does Puff the Magic Dragon live?
Puff the Magic Dragon by Peter Yarrow and Jenny Lipton
A: Honalee
A: Honalee
Round 2: Weather
1) Which author wrote the Richard and Judy Book Club favourite Notes From an Exhibition?
A: Patrick Gale
2) What is the fourth book in Charlie Higson’s Young Bond series?
A: Hurricane Gold
3) Which American poet wrote ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ and ‘Fire and Ice’?
A: Robert Frost
4) David Mitchell was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2004 for which novel?
A: Cloud Atlas
5) The Gathering Storm, completed posthumously by Brian Sanderson following Robert Jordan’s death, is the 12th book in which fantasy series?
A: The Wheel of Time
6) Which Haruki Murakami novel, often considered his best, opens with the disappearance of Toru Okada’s wife and cat?
A: Wind-up Bird Chronicle
7) What did Miss Smilla have a feeling for in the novel by Peter Hoeg?
A: Snow
8) Which Shakespeare play, written in 1610-11, is thought to be the last one he wrote alone?
A: The Tempest
9) What are there a thousand of in the title of Khaled Hosseini’s second novel?
A: Splendid Suns
10) What is the title of Don Paterson’s 2009 Forward Poetry Prize winning collection?
A: Rain
Round 3: Norfolk, A Literary County
1 - Charles Dickens used Great Yarmouth as a key location for which of his novels?
A: David Copperfield
A: David Copperfield
2 – Which 17th century polymath is celebrated with a statue and piece of contemporary art on Hay Hill in Norwich?
A: Sir Thomas Browne
3 - In 1395 who wrote Revelations of Divine Love, the first book published in English by a woman?
A: Julian of Norwich
4 - Which three UEA Creative Writing MA graduates have won the Booker Prize?
A: Kazuo Ishiguro: The Remains of the Day, Ian McEwan: Amsterdam and Anne Enright: The Gathering.
5 – Norwich was the first municipality to adopt the Library Act. In which decade did this happen?
A: 1850s
6 - Thomas Erpingham, whose name adorns a set of Gates to the Norwich Cathedral, features in which Shakespeare play?
A: Henry V
7 - Thomas Paine, author of the enlightenment treatise The Rights of Man, was born in which Norfolk town?
A: Thetford
8 – "There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to other animals as well as humans, it is all a shame."
This is from the last paragraph of which seminal 19th century children’s novel?
A: Black Beauty
9 – Stephen Fry attended which Norwich College?
A: City College Norwich (also Norfolk College of Arts and Technology)
10 – WG Sebald, who founded the British Centre for Literary Translation in 1989, recounted his journeys around East Anglia in which of his critically acclaimed works?
A: The Rings of Saturn
Round 4: Numbers
1) Which author published an amazing 37 books in 1955?
A: Enid Blyton
2) In the 1819 short story by Washington Irving, for how long does Rip van Winkle sleep?
A: 20 years
3) Captain John Joseph Yossarian is the central figure of which 1961 novel?
A: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
4) Published in 1900 and about a cycling tour in Germany, to which celebrated book is Three Men on a Bummel the sequel?
A: Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome
5) How many sisters are there in the title of the play by Chekov?
A: Three
6) In which century was Shakespeare born?
A: 16th Century
7) Which detective features in the book The Nine Tailors?
A: Lord Peter Wimsey
8) Which British soldier and writer wrote the Seven Pillars of Wisdom?
A: T E Lawrence
9) The Starlight Barking is the sequel to which book, later made into a Disney movie?
A: 101 Dalmatians
10) How many do you get if you add together Dumas’s Musketeers, Hornby’s Songs and John Buchan’s Steps?
A: 73 (3 Musketeers, 31 Songs, 39 Steps
Table Round 1
Anagrams
The following are anagrams of famous works of literature. ½ point for each you can unscramble and ½ point for their authors.
1) ANNOY THE GRABBER
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
2) THELMA
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
3) FLOWN FLATTENED NILL HEALTH
The Tennant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
4) WIN THUGGISH THREE
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
5) SMALL FONDLER
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
6) CASTIGATE ON EXPERT
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
7) THE TASTY BEGGAR
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
8) FILTH DESERVES TROUBLES
Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
9) NAUSEATE NOW STYLED THE SANE RUDE THUG
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
10) JEER YEAN
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Missing Vowels
Vowels have been removed and consonants squished together. ½ point for each title you can identify and ½ point for their authors.
1) FM CND MN
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
2) THDV NC CD
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
3) THLN THWT CHNDTHWR DRB
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
4) GNW THWND
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
5) THHB BT
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
6) THCTC HRNT HRY
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
7) THGR LWHKCK DTHHRN TSNST
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson
8) WRN DPC
War and Peace by Tolstoy
9) NT SFRMSML LSLND
Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson
10) CP TNCRLLSM NDL N
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Table Round 2
On-Screen Romance
Name the work and author the movie was based on. (1 point for each)
1)
1)
A: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
2)
A: Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
3)
A: Chocolat by Joanne Harris
4)
A: Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
5)
A: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
6)
A: Les Liaisons Dangereuse by Choderlos de Laclos
7)
A: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
8)
A: A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
9)
A: The Princess Bride by William Goldman
10)
A: Q&A (also published as Slumdog Millionaire) by Vikas Swarup
Monday, 1 November 2010
Nanowrimo (or should that be Borewrimo?)
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I first took part in Nanowrimo back in 2005 when Megan woke me one morning to say that she had heard of it and that I should stop talking about writing a novel and do it. So I did, plucking ideas and characters and scenes from my head with abandon and careering off without any clear idea where I was going. It was one of the best things I have ever done.
I didn't manage the 50,000 words that year (my computer died at 35,000 words leaving me to re-write it all from scratch) and although I continued to work on it during Nanowrimo 2006, 07, and 08, the novel turned out to be riddled with problems, but the intensive experience was invaluable. Nanowrimo encourages you to learn by doing and, ultimately, by failing. One doesn't write great prose at a speed of 1650 words per day but one can start the process of doing so. The writing of a novel has always seemed akin to those vast geological pressures which result in the creation of rocks. It is about amassing, rather than delicately composing. This is what Nanowrimo is good for.
The process of editing a novel - akin to the master artist who takes this rock and sculpts it just as he wishes - is left until afterwards.
Today, I am not going to start a new novel. I have neither the inspiration or inclination to do so. But I am going to use this month to do something different.
Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce you to the Books Time and Silence Review writing month. BOREWRIMO for short. Over the next 30 days I aim to write 50,000 words of book reviews in an effort to catch-up with all those that I have failed to write in the last year.
But more than that, I am going to do so in a way that converses with the creative aspirations of other Nanowrimo participants. I will be attempting to incorporate the reviews into short pieces of narrative writing. The reviews will feature just as prominently, but the idea is that the reader will be taken on a creative journey while getting the gist of what I have to say about the book in question. Think of it as Jim Crace's Digested Read meets Jackanory.
It is an idea I've had for a while.The initial point of this blog was to blend creative biography writing with book reviews, and to do so in a way that would neither alienate the new reader, nor bore those who were generous enough to stop by more regularly. I have never made the time to fulfil this. Until now.
This November, I will:
- Try to write 50000 words of book reviews
- Attempt to tell stories - both biographical and fictional - through these reviews.
- Probably fail in both of the above. But, then, it is in the trying that life is lived.
Friday, 23 July 2010
What I want for my Birthday...
It is beautiful. I wanted to live there. I wanted to take a few books from the shelves and quietly slip them into my bag. I wanted to count how many copies of The Time Traveller's Wife I could find. There's a good article about it in The Guardian.
But The Guardian doesn't have enough pictures, so here are some of those we took. Enjoy!
And here are a few of the other pieces you can see there.
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