Book shadows

 

How Should One Read a Book by Virginia Woolf (and also Windsong Summer by Patricia Cecil Hass)

I wrote recently about how I was rediscovering old favourite books recently and it was a weird feeling when I read Sheila Heti's introduction to Woolf's essay around the same time.

Heti is talking about the 'shadow-shape' of books that we read and the lines that stood out were:

"A book is a watery sculpture that lives on in the mind once the reading is done. When I think back on the books I have loved, I rarely remember the names of characters, the plot, or most of the scenes. It is not even the tone or mood I remember, but some residue remains - and that unlikely word is appropriate here - of unique shape.

Sometimes the shape of an entire book will be compacted into the memory of a single scene: something simple - a room that was conjured in the mind, in which two characters sat, speaking." (p7)

Heti and then Woolf go on to talk about how to read and evaluate books but it was this initial sentiment that struck and then stayed with me.

Windsong Summer was another book I remember buying from the school book sale. Even though 30+ years have gone since I last read the book it definitely left a shadow shape with me. I remembered that it was set in the summer in a tropical location, that boats were involved and that there was a hurricane but very little else. Except that at some point in the book they eat chowder...

I had no idea what chowder was as a child but I know that as soon as I saw it on the menu on a trip to San Francisco a few years ago I had to try it and that it instantly took me back to this book. 

That feeling passed but earlier this year (before lockdowns and travel bans) Mr Norfolkbookworm and I were in the Florida Keys I instantly started thinking about this book again...the seas were the colour I imagined as a child and we even saw some yachts that had been damaged in past hurricanes.

I have now read the book, and I quite enjoyed it. Again it was an experience where I felt like I was reading a new book and at the same time reading a book I knew word for word... as an adult I can see more flaws in the book and I can see why it hasn't made it as a modern classic but I'm not going to focus on them as right now we all need nice things and I am going to take myself back to a world of clear blue seas, warm weather and summer adventures!

Many thanks to Net Galley for the advance copy of How One Should Read a Book.

Rediscovering old (book) friends

 

Earthstar Magic by Ruth Chew (Scholastic)

In the UK it has just been National Libraries Week and several threads on social media have been about favourite books from childhood, which set me thinking about books that stand out in my memory.

I loved the Garden Gang books, and then there was the dreadfully didactic Learning Tree that I was very attached to but the first books to really stick in my mind are ones that I got from the book catalogue leaflets that came home from school. I don't recall if I was bought them, or if I saved up pocket money for them but there are four titles that have always stayed with me.

Two are standard children's classics being The Little House on the Prairie and We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea. These books helped spark my love of series fiction and I still have my copies of these books (and all the other books by Ingalls Wilder & Ransome - plus a lot of books about them!) I often reread them, and with Ransome visit the locations he wrote about.

The other two books were more obscure and I don't think I've ever met anyone else who's read them. Idle online browsing recently led me to discover that both of them were currently in stock with a 2nd hand bookseller and I decided to treat myself.

The first book I decided to read was Earthstar Magic by Ruth Chew. In my mind I could see the cover really clearly and I knew that it was about a flying mushroom.

My mind had made it far more salacious than it actually was - I thought that the mushroom was more like the food Alice tries in Wonderland and that the children ate portions of it to grow/shrink/fly!

Instead the mushroom, an earthstar, belongs to a discredited witch and when Ben and Ellen first save and then befriend Trudy they learn the secrets of the earthstar's magic and have several adventures over a couple of days of summer.

The book is in fact very reminiscent of Jill Murphy's Worst Witch or even James Nichol's stories about Arianwyn and just a very sweet early reader about families, holidays and friendship.

Reading the books was a funny mix of familiarity and discovery and unlike so often when you go down memory lane very much not a disappointment, however a little research into the author shows that she wrote many books in a similar vein but I don't think I will tarnish my nostalgia by trying any more of them!

True Magic

Book review: The Apprentice Witch by James Nicol

Huge disclaimer as James is a friend, but he hasn't asked me to review this book.

As a child I loved the Worst Witch books by Jill Murphy and as I wrote about recently I still enjoy the Harry Potter books now.  This book seemed to take bits from all the fantasy titles I love and make them better.

Arianwyn is an appealing character from the start, and as soon as I started reading I felt I knew her and that I wanted to be her friend. For the hero of a book she is neither too good, too perfect nor too hard done by.  Her nemesis and her friends are also well defined and her witches familiar is adorable. Possibly the resolution comes about a little too quickly but that might be due to the intended audience.

The book is aimed at a younger market than Potter, and slightly older than Mildred Hubble, but I think it has the potential to become a huge hit and a modern classic.  The book is complete in itself which is great but books 2 and 3 have already been commissioned which is brilliant news, I already can't wait.

I do have a few questions about Arianwyn's world that I want to ask James when I next see him but I will be buying a physical copy* ASAP and getting it signed for my nephew (he's a bit young yet but my sister or brother-in-law can read it to him) as I want him to be part of this world from the very start!

*I was in Greece for publication day of the book and so had to make sure I was on a wifi network to download the book as soon as possible!