My week in books (#10)

My week in books is a feature where I share things I've found interesting from the past week that concern books, literature and all things book blogging.

Last time I did one of these I mentioned Roald Dahl Day, which was earlier this month. There's a great Pinterest page here, with pictures of the Dahl inspired lunches people made to celebrate Roald Dahl Day. Brilliant.

One of my favourite authors is Neil Gaiman, who recently released Fortunately, The Milk... (great book with lovely illustrations, go read it if you haven't already). To celebrate, his publishers Bloomsbury asked people to put together videos raising a glass of milk, which you can find here. There are some inventive and funny ones in there.

This next one is technically not to do with books, but it is to do with writing, so I figured I could include it. Huffington Post did a round up of punctuation marks we no longer use, which you can find here. I'm a geek, so this really fascinated me.

I saw a trailer for The Book Thief recently, and it looks amazing. Here's a piece from Hollywood about how the book was turned into a film. And here's the trailer if you haven't seen it...

Here's a piece from The Guardian about a previously unknown Ian McEwan short story being discovered.

It may have been a week since news that the Man Booker Prize was going international was released, but people are still talking about. Here's a piece from The Atlantic about how the decision is a good thing.

And finally, I know nothing about Tone Almhjell's The Twistrose Key, apart from that it has a beautiful website, here.

What have you found over the past week that you've enjoyed?

The Sunday Post (#23) and Showcase Sunday (#9)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea and inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren. They're a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, highlight our newest books and see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, or bought.

Book stuff this week on Girl!Reporter
Review: Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson
Top 10 Tuesday (#14) - from page to screen
Literary London - Hampstead and Highgate Literary Festival
Review: The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
Top five favourite moments from Roald Dahl's work
My week in books (#9) - Roald Dahl Day, types of readers illustrated by cats and dogs (so cute!), Model Misfit and more

Apart from the above, I've had a quiet week - no book shopping, no trips to the library. Which is actually a good thing, because I've been concentrating on reading some of the many unread books on my shelves, which means I've got three on the go at the moment!

Let me know what you've been up to.

My week in books (#9)

My week in books is a feature where I share things I've found interesting from the past week that concern books, literature and all things book blogging.

Roald Dahl Day was this week, celebrating the work of one of the best children's authors ever. Here, Huffington Post put together a list of 10 fantastic quotes from his work (and you can read my favourite moment from Dahl's work here). And you can test your Roald Dahl knowledge in this quiz from The Guardian. Let me know how many you get (I got nine out of 10).

Another one from the Huffington Post, here's a list of the nine most sympathetic villains from literature.

This collection of images by Simon and Schuester on Buzzfeed is one of the cutest things I've seen recently. It's 15 types of reader, as told by cats and dogs.

To celebrate the end of New York Fashion Week, Flavorwire compiled a list of the most stylish people in literature, which you can find here.

Geek Girl by Holly Smale is on my list to read. For those of you who have already read it, here's an extract from the next novel, Model Misfit.

The League of Extraordinary Writers had a post from Marissa Meyer this week on her top 10 cyborg upgrades, which you can find here.

What have you seen this week that's caught your attention? Let me know in the comments.

Top five favourite moments from Roald Dahl's work

I grew up with Roald Dahl's work. A genius storyteller, his books weren't afraid to challenge children, and that's why they're so successful. To mark Roald Dahl Day (okay, I'm a day late), here, in no particular order, are my top five favourite moments from the works of Dahl.

1. Bruce Bogtrotter, Matilda
There's nothing about this chapter that isn't great. We all had ambitions of eating an entire chocolate cake when we were younger (I still do), but Bruce did it. And in doing so, he got one over on Miss Trunchbull.

2. Witch reveal, The Witches
Still one of the things that scares me most, the bit where the boy sees the witches unveiling their true selves at the hotel convention is terrifying.

3. Stretching Mrs Twit, The Twits
There are so many good tricks the Twits play on each other that it's difficult to pick one, but probably my favourite is when Mr Twit makes Mrs Twit thinks she's shrinking by adding length to her walking stick, and then persuading her to use a stretching machine to make herself taller. Still, she did make him eat worm spaghetti.

4. Red Riding Hood, Revolting Rhymes
I will forever remember reading about Red Riding Hood and how she 'whips a pistol from her knickers/She aims it at the creature's head/And bang bang bang she shoots him dead'. Dahl's Red Riding Hood kicked butt.

5. Difficulty, Matilda
I knew how to spell difficulty before reading Matilda, but Miss Honey's method was so much fun, I learnt it all over again. All together now: "Mrs D, Mrs I, Mrs F F I, Mrs C, Mrs U, Mrs L T Y."

What do you love from Roald Dahl's work?

My week in books (#8)

My week in books is a feature where I share things I've found interesting from the past week that concern books, literature and all things book blogging.

Firs up, I saw a new trailer and a clip from the upcoming film about American poet Allen Ginsberg, Kill Your Darlings. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Ginsberg. You can see the trailer here, and the first clip here.

A lot of people are heading back to school this week, and to mark the occasion Penguin have done a list of literary teacher and pupil mash-ups, which is here.

Penguin was inspired to do its list by Roald Dahl Day, which is on September 13. You can find out more here about a live webcast hosted by Michael Rosen to celebrate the occasion.

If you're looking for a literary inspired/pop culture gift for someone, then there's an artist on Etsy, Karen Hallion, who has done some gorgeous notecards where she puts the TARDIS from Doctor Who into various fairytale scenarios. Here's the Snow White one, and you can see the full collection here.

Who best to give advice on how to write than a group of professional writers? Instead of asking writers to give a lecture, Wolford College asked a bunch of authors to write their advice on their hands. I adore this, and you can see all the images here.

The February 2014 Quick Reads list has been announced, and you can find it here. Quick Reads is a project to reach adults who don't usually read by introducing them to short, sharp fiction.

And finally, this Vine shows how anitcipated Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam has been. It made me laugh. Don't worry, no one was hurt in the making of the video.

What have you found this week? Let me know in the comments.

The Sunday Post (#20) and Showcase Sunday (#6)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea and inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren. They're a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, highlight our newest books and see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, or bought.

Book stuff this week on Girl!Reporter
Review - Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich
Top 10 Tuesday (#12) - things that make life as a reader/blogger easier
Elmore Leonard's 10 rules of writing
Review - Noble Conflict by Malorie Blackman
My week in books (#6) - a Roald Dahl competition, Margaret Atwood and how to get children reading

Books I added to my shelves

It's been a quiet week, which is no bad thing considering the amount of unread books I already own.

I won a copy of Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson from Random House (thanks!) through a Goodreads competition. This will be the first Wilson book I'll ever read - I think I was a bit too old for her novels so missed the boat, and have never got into them. I will say that I know how popular she is from when I worked at Cheltenham Festival of Literature - the queue for her book signing was longer than anyone else's!







My brother lent me A Fort of Nine Towers by Qais Akbar Omar, which is a true story. It looks pretty good.














What have you been up to this week?

My week in books (#6)

My week in books is a feature where I share things I've found interesting from the past week that concern books, literature and all things book blogging.

It's a bank holiday weekend here in England, and for once the weather's going to be good apparently. At the moment, it's a bit grey and drizzly (although not cold), which is great reading weather, so I'll be immersing myself in some good books this weekend. What's your preferred reading weather?

If you want to test yourself a bit over the next few days, Buzzfeed has a quiz here on opening lines from books. Some are very obvious, others not so much. Let me know how you get on.

I'm a massive advocate for getting children reading as early as possible, since I read lots as a child and firmly believe it helped me academically, as well as just expanded my world and gave me an escape. Schoolrun.com has a piece here on how to get children to read.

For those who love Roald Dahl, TruffleShuffleBlog has teamed up with the Roald Dahl Literary Estate for a fantastic competition here. You've only got until August 28 to enter, so get going!

A couple of things to help you get inside the minds of authors:

• I meant to link to this ages ago, but New York Magazine did a good piece on Samantha Shannon a while back, which you can find here.
• There's a great interview on Goodreads here with Matthew Quick, who answers questions from members of the site.
• MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood is released soon. To tide you over until it's out you can buy a t-shirt here, or watch this video interview with Atwood.
  

Kirsty Gunn at The Guardian has done a piece here about ultra long books coming back, and what that says about us as readers.

And finally, an amusing little amusing gossip piece here from Axegrinder about Harper Collins future office move.

Have you found anything interesting you want to share? Let me know in the comments.

Top Ten Tuesday (#11) - books I wish could have had sequels

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish, where the writers, like me, are particularly fond of lists.   

This week's topic is...top 10 books I wish could have had sequels (they were complete stories but you just could have read more and more about these characters or set in that world).

This is a tough one, because lately I've been speaking out about how every book nowadays seems to be part of a trilogy or series. I think a lot of great books stand on their own, and don't need sequels. Therefore, none of the below are books I really, really want to read a full sequel to, but ones where I sometimes wish I'd been able to get a definitive answer on what happened next.

1. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
We'll start with I Capture the Castle. When I first read it (as a young teenager) I was saddened to find there was no sequel. I felt like I'd been shown a slice of Cassandra Mortmain's life, and I really wanted to know exactly what happened next. Now, I see why Smith worked that way, but I still want to know more.

2. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
This is one of my favourite books, and ends on such a perfect melancholy note. Still, I'd love to ask Shriver what she thought happened next, and how Kevin and his mum dealt with each other.

3. Matilda by Roald Dahl
I'd love to find out what a grown-up Matilda was like. I imagine she set up a school for clever girls, and spent her life making sure all women got an education.

4. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Okay, I don't want a full sequel but five minutes with John Green to find out his headcanon for Hazel would be great.

5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Lord of the Rings series has a huge number of appendices which expand on the history of Middle Earth and events outside the books. I'd like something similar (on a much, much, much smaller scale) for The Hunger Games, where Collins tells us more about the world and how it copes after the Games finish. We get a small glimpse, but since it's through Katniss's point of view and she's out of it, we don't get much.

6. After Tomorrow by Gillian Cross
I read this recently (review here), and I'm quite happy that there's not a sequel, because I think the characters I met are just fine. I would like to know from Cross, though, how (if) the world recovers and what's ahead for Britain in her universe.

7. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
A beautiful, haunting novel, Never Let Me Go (review here) is pretty much perfect. Sometimes a small part of me wants to know exactly what happened to Kathy though, rather than me being the one to figure it out. I think it would be easier to come to terms with if Ishiguro spelt it out.

8. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
I'm a huge fan of Gaiman, and could read more of his worlds anytime. It was a toss up between Neverwhere and Stardust as to what went on this list, and I went for Neverwhere.

9. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
There is actually a sequel to this, called Scarlett, and written by someone who's not Mitchell. I don't need a full book, I just need to know whether Rhett ever forgives Scarlet and the two get together.

10. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Another book I recently read (review here), Gone Girl's ending is jawdropping. I won't spoil anything, but I'd love to know how the lives of the characters panned out. If you've read it, you'll know what I'm talking about.

What books would you like to see sequels to?

Theatre review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Douglas Hodge as Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Picture: Helen Maybanks

I love Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - I love Roald Dahl's book, I love the 1971 film adaptation (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) with Gene Wilder, and I even sort of love the more recent film starring Johnny Depp.

So it was with great anticipation I went along to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The musical, building on the critical and commercial success of Tim Minchin's musical version of Matilda, has been directed by Oscar winner Sam Mendes, and tells the story of Charlie Bucket, who wins one of five golden tickets to visit Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

And let me tell you, this version's not half bad.

You can tell a film director has put this together, because visually it's stunning. The sets are incredible, from the opening scene in a dank, polluted town, through Charlie's poky but loved home, via all the houses belonging to the other kids lucky enough to have won golden tickets, and right through to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. The production uses a mix of physical sets and projections to create the world within.

Also stunning is the opening - the story of how the cacao bean becomes chocolate. It's voiced by Willy Wonka (Douglas Hodge) and shown on a projection, with the story illustrated by Quentin Blake, who collaborated with Dahl to illustrate his many books. This beginning was for lovers of Dahl, and it made me feel at home.

The aforementioned Hodge is a delight as Willy Wonka, straddling the line between crazy, sincere and damaged with perfect precision. And Hodge's voice is wonderful to listen to, especially when he sings one of the show's final songs, Pure Imagination, which is from the Wilder film.

Hodge is easily the strongest of the actors on stage. While the other adults (Charlie's parents and grandparents, and the parents of the other kids touring the factory) round out the show, they're not really compelling enough or on stage long enough to become so. That's even the case with Charlie's grandfather, Grandpa Joe (Nigel Planer) who accompanies him to the factory.

Tom Klenerman as Charlie Bucket. Picture: Helen Maybanks

Tom Klenerman as Charlie was sweet to watch, and easy to like. The other child actors will surely grow into their performances as the show continues (I was watching the second performance) but the cast I saw do have some things to work on - mainly their diction. I don't think I understood a single word that came out of Mike Teevee's (Adam Mitchell) mouth, and although this appeared to be a joke of the production, it didn't work for me. On the other hand, I thought Veruca Salt (played by Ellie Simons) was just the right kind of annoying, and Harrison Slater as Augustus Gloop was hilarious and sweet despite his greed.

The Oompa Loompas are interestingly done - played by adults using a combination of puppets and clever costumes, and while they're amusing, they're not that impressive.

Musically, the show is adequate. The only number I've remembered is Violet Beauregarde's theme tune - Double Bubble Duchess. Everything else was pretty forgettable, including the numbers by the Oompa Loompas, which were great while they lasted but which I can't for the life of me remember now.

Despite its faults, I left Charlie and the Chocolate Factory feeling pretty upbeat and with a huge smile on my face. It may not be perfect, but Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a feel-good show, powerful enough to beat any high a bar of chocolate may give you.