'Utterly Brilliant' by Timmy Mallett

For people of a certain age, Timmy Mallett on the telly was a fixture of childhood.  During the 1980s and early '90s, he hosted the Wide Awake Club on Saturday mornings and Wacaday during school holidays, bouncing around the studio in his fluorescent-coloured clothes and wacky spectacles, cheerfully striking everyone from pop princess Kylie to prime minister Margaret Thatcher over the head with Mallett's (foam) Mallet and delivering unashamedly dodgy puns and funny sketches.  Seeing his name on the book 'Utterly Brilliant: My Life's Journey' conjured up all sorts of memories, and I was intrigued enough to want to know what he'd been up to since last brightening our screens.

'The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey' by Rachel Joyce

I can't believe it's ten years since I read Rachel Joyce's debut novel, 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry'.  This was the unexpected hit that launched many imitations; for a while it felt like every book I was offered was mooted as 'the next Harold Fry'.  Regardless, this original novel had such an effect on me that it was only this year - a mere eight since publication - that I final felt able to tackle it's successor, 'The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey'.

Wilde by the Sea

I was walking along Cromer seafront recently and tripped over Oscar Wilde.  Literally.  

Inlaid into one of many stone hoops looping across the surface of the promenade like a time-travel special effect from 1960s TV, in gold lettering that shone even on a murky winter's day, the great wit declared:

"I find Cromer excellent for writing, golf better still."

Hmm.  Not his most thrilling bon mot, but the experience did remind me of an excursion to another British coastal town a few years ago in search of the site of one of his better known creations.  

Three Men on a Mountain

'Peaks and Bandits' by Alf Bonnevie Bryn

One of the best things about being a book blogger is that you never quite know what you'll end up reading next.  Until Vertebrate Publishing put a call out for reviewers, I would never have believed I'd end up reading about three young men going on a mountaineering trip to Corsica, but read one I did.  And I loved it.

Bromin' in the Gloamin

'Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure like No Other' by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish, with Charlotte Reather

Everyone has their favourite box set, and, if nothing else, lockdowns I, II, and III have given us plenty of opportunity to drink our fill of our favourite shows.  One of mine is the time-travel romance 'Outlander', and I've just finished 'Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure like No Other' by two of the show's stars, Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish.

Sleep Walking

'Walking Away' by Simon Armitage (Faber & Faber, 2015)

Being stuck inside, I thought that the logical thing to do was read something that took me to the great outdoors.  So I picked up 'Walking Away' by Simon Armitage, hiker, Yorkshireman and Poet Laureate.

'Walking Away' is the follow up to 'Walking Home', the story of Armitage's 2010 hike along the Pennine Way as an itinerant poet, performing recitals for bed, board and whatever audiences were willing to donate.  In late summer 2013, he repeated the exercise along the northern section of the South West Coast Path, starting at Butlins in Minehead and aiming for the Scilly Isles off the toe tip of Cornwall.  Along the way, he suffers the extremes of British weather, traverses tourist hotspots and rural idylls, and rhymes for his supper every step of the way.

Back to the Future

'The Time Machine' by HG Wells (Gollancz reprint, 2001)

So, as Old Father Time used his scythe to harvest 2018, I, rather appropriately, found myself reading the Science Fiction classic 'The Time Machine' by HG Wells.

In a middle class, Edwardian drawing room, a brilliant scientist and engineer demonstrates his latest invention; a Time Machine. His audience of intellectual friends include a Psychologist, a Provincial Mayor and a Doctor, who, despite what they see, remain unconvinced of his achievement.  Determined to prove his theories, the Time Traveller sets out on an adventure in time, intending to bring back future proof of humanity's advances from centuries to come.  But when he lands in 802,701, he's shocked by what he finds.  The docile Eloi and the crumbling structures they inhabit disappoint his ideals of curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge.  But disappointment turns to horror when he encounters a second branch of the Homo Sapien family tree - the sinister, darkness-dwelling Morlocks - and he begins to realise where the ills of his present could ultimately lead.  Is it too late for civilisation or has the Time Traveller arrived just in time to give these descendants a better future?

In Search of Wuthering Heights

It started with Tony Robinson.  Well, in truth it started with Emily Bronte, but it was Tony Robinson that made me spring into action!

Looking for literary ideas for a trip to Yorkshire, I watched an episode of Robinson's 'Walking through Britain' filmed in and around Haworth, home of the remarkable Brontë family.  Exercise and culture, the perfect combination!

Much to my surprise, I discovered that there was a ruined farm house sometimes linked to the fictional manor house and that it was possible to walk up to it.  Time to pack the walking boots!

Wuthering Heights

Now, you may be surprised (or not!) to learn that I have only read one Brontë novel; Emily's 'Wuthering Heights'.  It simply blew me away (on a moorland wind I suppose!).  It was chosen by the book group I was then part of and I was a bit worried about it when I started to read.  So much of what I'd heard about the novel hinged on the romance of the story that I was immediately dubious.  I'm a bit suspicious of romantic fiction.  After all, what one person finds terribly romantic another person can find cheesy and twee, so I always worry it will bring out my cynical side.  Fortunately, 'Wuthering Heights' is not about romance.  It's about passion.  Mad, blinkered, obsessive passion that ruins lives and twists morals.  Hard to believe it was written by the daughter of a country parson!

Emily Brontë's 'Wuthering Heights' in
the landscape that inspired it.

I was soon wrapped up in the story told by Mr Lockwood and Nelly Dean.  I was intrigued by the driven and single-minded Cathy, shocked by Heathcliff's acts of vengeance for childhood wrongs, on the edge of my seat as the Earnshaws and the Lintons got caught up in the emotional tempests stirred around them - and had no idea what Joseph was talking about most of the time.  Fortunately, I eventually worked out that if I read his dialogue out loud in a Yorkshire-ish accent, it started making sense. Although maybe not for the other passengers on my bus...

But above all, the thing that made the most impression on me was the landscape.  The wild, haunting, isolated moors, where nature triumphant ruled and class, manners and civility were useless in the face of roaring gales over barren peaks and the hidden dangers of obscured bogs.  Never mind Heathcliff as a romantic hero, this was a real character to fall in love with.

At Home with the Brontës

My trip to Haworth had to begin with the parsonage, where the Brontë family lived from 1821.  It was here that the famous sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, and their unfortunate brother, Branwell, grew up in the care of their father, Rev. Patrick Brontë and, following the death of their mother, aunt Elizabeth Branwell.  Their imaginations ran riot and storytelling was a key part of their lives from a very young age.  It was here that the foundations were laid for the writers they were to become.

The Brontë Parsonage is an excellent, informative and well laid out museum.  It doesn't overwhelm

The front of the Brontë Parsonage

the visitor with too much information and doesn't feel exploitative or commercialised, which is just as well given the sad ends met by Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell.  In 1848, Branwell, aged 31, and Emily, aged 30, both died of tuberculosis.  Anne was diagnosed with the same disease within weeks and passed away in Scarborough the following year, aged just 29.  This does, however, lead to some rather macabre exhibits.  In the dining room, where the Brontës wrote and discussed their work, is the sofa on which Emily died.  Upstairs in the exhibition room is her scorched comb, damaged when she dropped it in the final days of her illness and was too weak to pick it up.  In the same cabinet is a blood-stained handkerchief belonging to Anne.

But understanding the sad elements of the family's story just makes what they achieved all the more precious.  If the legions of fans are anything to go by, the Brontës' work is really special and has touched many people around the world.

Over the Hills and Far Away

My walk started at the Brontë Parsonage, passing along a very narrow stretch of pathway before returning to the main road into the village.  This was a bit disconcerting.  There are a number of paths criss-crossing this area and we nearly took the wrong one.  Fortunately, with the help of a leaflet bought from the Tourist Information Centre for a very reasonable 50p, we managed to re-orientate ourselves and get back on course.  The literature said that all walkers needed was to be reasonably fit, have strong footwear and suitable clothes.  Much to my surprise, this is true!  I'd expected a full on, mountainous hike, but the vast majority of the route is paved and relatively flat, just a bit uneven at times.  It's pretty impressive that the authorities managed to lay slabs all the way up to our destination, however, and I'm very grateful to them!

A nice sit down?

The first Brontë landmark on our walk was the Brontë Chair, which I walked past.  Twice.  Then I mistook another huge rock for it.  Just as well someone had taken the time to label it for idiots like me.  Legend has it that Emily herself used to sit on this oddly angular rock and muse upon 'Wuthering Heights'.  Sounds like absolute nonsense to me, but that doesn't stop it being a nice place to have a sit down, some water and an energy bar.

The Brontë Waterfalls

A few metres further down are the Brontë Waterfalls.  It's a charming spot, bubbling with energy thanks to the tumbling river.  This can be crossed via a stone bridge, but it still felt like we were just getting started.

Our guiding leaflet described the next part of our walk as a scramble up and it wasn't wrong.  The marked pathway temporarily disappears and walkers need to make their own way up to the hill top.  Fortunately, once you get to the top, the part-paved walkway reappears and it's easy to find your way from there.

Wuthering Heights?

Loosely translated, you've wasted
your time I'm afraid!

Our destination was the ruined Top, Middle and Lower Withins farm houses.  Top Withins has long been the rumoured inspiration for Wuthering Heights itself.  While a number of commentators think it probable that Emily knew the building and the surrounding area, the farmhouse was far from the building described in the book.  However, according to 'Walking through History', an early illustration for the novel seems to show the area as it appeared at the time, but with Top Withins redrawn to look more like the fictional home of Catherine and Heathcliff.  We'll probably never know for sure. but I have no doubt that this is the countryside Emily's words conjured when I read 'Wuthering Heights'.

  

 

 

 

 

These photos can't possibly do the area justice.  It's absolutely stunning, full of colour and life (not just the disgruntled sheep) and empty of both clumsy human noise and the harsh sounds of modern living.  The awe inspired by the place forces you to hold your breath and still your feet so not even the lightest footfall or slightest gasp can break the spell.  All I could hear was nature in its majesty; the birds that swooped and turned in the air, the creaking branches of the single tree neighbouring Top Withins and, of course, the unstoppable wind that swept constantly across the epic landscape, firm and authoritative, as though its sole purpose was to push interloping humans out of nature's kingdom.  There are some places that feel eternal, as though they could outlive whatever mighty apocalypse the human race may bring upon itself.  Top Withins is one of them.  I feel privileged to have experienced it and longed to return almost as soon as I left.

Back to Reality

Once the sense of anticipation was gone, the journey back seemed to take much longer.  The route remained well paved/gravelled, however, and was mostly down hill.  There was nearly a detour along the Penine Way (which would've been a long diversion!), but with the help of our trusty map and the friendly locals, who are probably used to people getting lost, we kept on track and eventually found where we needed to be.  After the peace of Top Withins, it felt strange meeting local cyclists and walkers and encountering cars again.  I had to look twice when I saw a local pub called Wuthering Heights.  To think we could've saved a lot of walking!

A walk through Stanbury and over the Lower Laithe Reservoir dam, along the road and past the cemetery and we were back where we started.  The whole walk had taken about three to four hours at normal pace and had been well worth it.  Visiting the Parsonage is just one part of the story.  Seeing the landscape is another.  Now I just have to complete the circle by reading the books!

Related Links

Walking through History - Brontë Country
The Brontë Parsonage Museum
Wuthering Heights
Top Withens
The Guardian's walking guide

Gag About

I love the comedy on Radio Four and Radio Four Extra.  From the wicked wordplay of 'Just a Minute' to the affectionate farce of 'Cabin Pressure', these stations have kept me entertained for hours at home and on my travels.  Two of my favourite programmes are Mark Steel's 'Lectures', which look at historical figures with awe, fascination and an eye for the human behind the name, and 'In Town', which kind of does the same thing for British towns and cities.  So I was delighted when I discovered that there was a book to go with 'Mark Steel's In Town'.

Mark Steel has criss-crossed the country performing stand up inspired by the many different and unique places he's visited.  But this is a travelogue with a difference.  Instead of despairing at the sameness of modern high streets and telling jokes which make audiences laugh at broad, shared experiences, he's been on the hunt for each place's passion and individuality.  From Penzance to Kent, Orkney to Portland and Merthyr Tydfil to Norwich, the comic and writer finds local stories of heroes and villains, explosive celebrations and historic eccentricity.  Above all, he discovers that all is not lost and that people and communities are defiantly idiosyncratic, despite the best efforts of big retail businesses and growing standardisation.

This is a great book to dip in and out of, but, to be honest, it was a bit tough to read as a whole.  Mr Steel often writes as he speaks, so some of the sentences ran over so many lines that I had to go back and read them again to make sure I'd not missed anything.  Fortunately, I could get around this by imagining him actually saying them, but this might be a bit hard for anyone who doesn't know what he sounds like!

It was also very tempting to just skip to the places I know.  Because there's no overarching structure as such, i.e. Mr Steel is not trying to win a bet or reach a specific destination, I suppose there was nothing to stop me doing this, but I always want to do each book justice.

Overall, this book was OK and I really feel that Mr Steel's hopeful message - that despite bland modern standardisation, many communities remain as defiantly different as ever - is an important one, but, really, it's the shows that make this come across best.  So, the next time Mark Steel's in town, why don't you pop along and see him for yourself?

Now, what next..?

Related Links

Back Catalogue of 'The Mark Steel Lectures'
Current Series of 'Mark Steel's In Town'

The Time-Traveller's Strife

A few years ago, I read the brilliant 'Little Boy Lost' by Marghanita Laski.  Ever since, I've wanted to read more by her and this month I finally got around to 'The Victorian Chaise-Longue'.

'The Victorian Chaise-Longue'
by Marghanita Laski
(Persephone Books, 1999)

In 1950s London, new mother Melanie is recovering from TB, supported by her husband Guy, the calm, firm Dr Gregory and the efficient childminder Sister Smith.  Following months confined to bed, the doctor decides Melanie can have a change of scene and rest in a room nearer her infant son.  After some consideration, a suitable place is chosen for her, a Victorian chaise-longue she bought just before she was diagnosed.  Thrilled by even this small freedom, Melanie is tucked up on the antique couch and soon falls asleep.  But when she wakes, everything is different.  Is it all just a vivid dream or has she really slipped through time to become a stranger?

It's clearly not a good month for me.  I saved reading PD James' introduction to 'The Victorian Chaise-Longue' until I'd read the novella itself.  If I hadn't, I wouldn't have realised it was a horror story.  I suppose that I'm so used to the time-traveller narrative that I never expected anything other than a happy ending.  I'm not saying that there is a happy ending, just that I always thought there would be, which affected my reading of this book.

The story plays on the themes of identity and appreciating what you have in the modern world, rather than longing for a rose-tinted view of the past.  The heroine becomes increasingly frustrated at being trapped in body of someone long dead, which other readers have found frightening.  I suppose it's a measure of how unimpressed I was with Melanie and how used I am to exploring lives real and imagined through books that I just didn't find this unnerving at all.  Perhaps as some people can happily watch the most gory of horror films with no concerns, I can read about irritating women being taught a lesson without getting scared.

Which is probably the basic issue I had.  'The Victorian Chaise-Longue' was an interesting and well written book, but ultimately I didn't give two hoots about Melanie.  She was clearly pampered and properly looked after and, though TB is a terrible disease, she was recovering from it.  Even when the metaphorical rug is whipped out from under her and she gets a taste of a very different time with morals and medical care that seem almost barbaric by today's standards, I'd pegged the book as a morality tale, little more than a fairy story for grown ups.

This hasn't put me off wanting to read more by Ms Laski and I understand that Persephone Books publish more of her work, but I was a bit disappointed by 'The Victorian Chaise-Longue'.  I hope that a second reading will allow me to pick up some hints that I missed the first time round, but I'm afraid that the best I can say about it is that it's alright. Still, I suppose I can't adore everything.

Fingers crossed that I'm a bit more excited by my next read! If you have any suggestions, don't forget that you can tweet them to me via @Girl_LovesBooks.

Now, what next...!

Journeys with the Dead

Yesterday, I finally finished 'How to Read a Graveyard' by Peter Stanford.  I've been reading it on and off for over a year, so it was about time really.  But don't get me started on books I began ages ago and haven't quite finished yet!

'How to Read a Graveyard' is a set of travel pieces which chart the development of attitudes to burial and death in western Europe, especially in Britain.  The author visits key sites, such as the Scavi in Rome, Greyfriar's Kirkyard in Edinburgh, Père-Lachaise in Paris and the Commonwealth War Graves in Northern France, using each to illustrate changing attitudes to death and how people publicly honour the deceased.

It may sound a bit macabre, but this was actually a very interesting book.  In places, it was fascinating, but, unfortunately, it was also a bit meandering at times.  It was at its best when written like a travel piece, when the reader was given a very vivid feel for the site visited, but some sections felt rather padded out, particularly the piece on St Margaret's Church in Burnham Norton.

Overall, this was an OK read and could be interesting for a range of people.  It covered a number of 'celebrity' graves, including Oscar Wilde and John Keats, Victorian attitudes to death and mourning, health crises caused by overflowing Paris cemeteries, the thinking behind the World War I graveyards and up-to-date eco-burials.  I learned a lot about many different aspects and it got me thinking, which I always like from a book.

So, although I found it a hard read at times, I would recommend this if you have the time and desire to persevere with it.  

Now, what next?

Wondering About

On the train back from the British Museum, I randomly started reading 'The Psychic Tourist' by journalist William Little.  Yesterday, I finished it.

The journey begins when Little buys an astrological birth chart for his sister and her daughter as a gift.  Unfortunately, they both predict a water-related death, something which terrifies his sibling and affects badly, making her avoid travelling on or over water at any cost and give up water-based hobbies.  Upset that his gift has caused so much distress, Little decides to start and investigation into the world of psychics and prediction to find a way to undo the damage he's done.

Having enjoyed 'Will Storr vs the Supernatural', I hoped that this too would be an interesting and thought provoking read.  It's also described as funny in a number of reviews, so I thought it would be entertaining too.  Unfortunately, although it does start off in a similar way as Storr's book, it meanders quite a lot and doesn't always seem to stick to it's destination of the truth about predicting the future, often straying into a more general look at psychics instead.  It's almost as if the author wanted to write a different book but couldn't control his own destiny.

By the end, the more lighthearted tone is all but out of sight.  While it's interesting that Little takes his investigation to a new level, interviewing a combination of Physicists, Nobel-prize winners and experts in Quantum Theory, it means he has to resort to including long quotes from books and people.  I can understand why.  Many of these ideas are hard to understand for non-academics and it's safer to quote directly rather than try to explain it in lay language and lose meaning.  Unfortunately, this style also gives the book an essay feel, and essays are not usually fun or amusing.  Although if anyone knows of a funny, understandable and accurate essay on Quantum Physics, I'd love to hear about it!

Overall, 'The Psychic Tourist' was a bit of a disappointment.  With a rewrite that tightens up the structure and maps out the science so it's easier to understand, it would be a better book.  It's a shame as there are a lot of great and interesting ideas in here, many of which need to be shared with people like Little's sister to free them from excessive worry.  Maybe in the future Little will have the opportunity to revisit this book and give it a polish.  Who knows..!

Now, back to Groucho Marx!

A Little Bit of R&R...

I picked Dara O'Briain's 'Tickling the English' up after 'Brave New World' because I felt a bit sorry for my brain and thought it could do with a bit of light relief!

'Tickling the English' by
Dara O'Briain (Penguin, 2009)

I don't know whether it's my imagination, but there seem to be a lot of books about by comics nowadays, which made me a bit sceptical before I started reading.  I hoped I wouldn't feel ripped off by a callous money grabbing venture of the 'Oh, he's been popular this year, let's give him a book contract in time for Christmas' variety.

This book is essentially a collection of musings comparing and contrasting the English/British character, structured around some of the more interesting shows Mr O'Briain did as part of his 'Talking Funny' tour in 2008/9.  It meanders a bit, encompassing the people he meets on tour, polls and statistics and the enduring appeal (and stamina) of Ken Dodd, but by the end manages to draw everything together into a logical conclusion.

The style of this book was quite nice and just right for what I wanted at that time.  It wasn't completely vacuous (as I'd feared), but certainly wasn't heavy going either.  In fact, it was just pleasant.  There were a few moments where I felt a bit lectured to and wished there were more anecdotes about the shows, but that wasn't what the book was about.  On the whole, it was a nice, easy read.

However, this was very much the result of timing.  I would recommend this as a relaxing holiday read for the kind of curious mind which can't read anything completely devoid of information, but if you're hoping for a laugh-a-minute page turner, this isn't really it.

Do I think it was a money grabbing exercise?  If it was, I get the feeling that Mr O'Briain was dubious about it and wanted to use the opportunity wisely to make a point of importance to him.  Whether that was what his agent had in mind is another matter!  I'm not going to complain about the commerce of creativity though.  If it wasn't for the bestsellers, there wouldn't be the niche literature, so I see no problem with a world where both exist side by side.  I only get annoyed when one pretends to be the other...but that's another story.

I'm glad I read 'Tickling the English'.  It's good to chill out once in a while and that's exactly what I've done!