Herbert George Wells

I’m reading ‘The Door in the Wall and other stories” at the moment. He really is a brilliant story teller and considering the book was written in 1911 had an almost prophetic view of the future.

Looking at his biography on Wikipedia is equally fascinating – He even predicted the second world war within a few months! When I was at school we read ‘The History of Mr. Polly’ which is completely different to the more scientific stories. I remember it as a really good read and will be looking it out to read again soon.

I write like...

I found this on Micah Charlson’s blog, I thought the result was pretty good!

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I tried it with several different pieces that I’ve written and got several answers, this was the one that came up twice.

George and fork

On Saturday evening I watched the first half of a television film about George Sand. It was beautifully done, filmed on location, costumes, Chopin’s music (she lived with him for 10 years) and all the best from a costume drama. It is about George bringing a peasant girl into the house and teaching her to read and write (something that she did do in real life was teach local children to read). Poor George, she had so much to cope with, a nasty daughter , a dreadful money grabbing son-in-law, Chopin, who was pathetic and childish and then bad tempered servants. I don’t know where she found the time to write. I must confess that I was having difficulty with the name of the peasant girl. I though that her name was Fourchette (fork) but in fact it was Fanchette. I haven’t been able to find out if she really existed as searches on Google just bring information about trhe TV Film – and a picture. The first part ended with George dressed as a man dragging Fanchette off to Paris away from the temptation of her son

J.D. Salinger

To be honest until yesterday evening I didn’t know whether he was still alive or not.

I’m reading 'Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction' at the moment. I’m about half way through 'Seymour an Introduction' to be precise. I’ve been carrying it in my bag for waiting room moments and to annoy Rob when he starts texting on his iPhone when we go for a coffee. A lot of waiting room people probably thought that I was slightly mad as I read and laughed out loud. I love the way he talks to me, his reader, in person. The part that really speaks to me is that he lived in close proximity (in the book) to someone who was a genius. Since Christian was ill and his IQ confirmed I’ve been drawn to people writing about this subject. Trying to get more clues, I suppose. That’s why I read very carefully every single word written by Bomarzo and André.

Dom lent me 'Raise High…', - in English - and I’ve asked her to bring 'Franny and Zooey' when she visits again (I haven’t been able to find it in her room). When I was at college we read 'The Catcher in the Rye'. I can’t remember the ending, but I remember lots of silly details and how I felt when I was reading it. I want to re-read it – just to see how it grabs me now I’m a lot older.

I didn’t’ know much about J.D. Salenger, but it doesn’t surprise me at all that he was a recluse. I wonder if he was a blogger. I think it would have suited him.

I’d always hoped for Colette

Rob gets annoyed with me sometimes as I become involved in reading the backs of our postcards. In order to keep up with the higher and higher costs of eBay we have to present as many postcards as we can for auction – a lot of work. This postcard was easy to read and I recognised the signature at once; Pierre Loti, a French writer who lived very close to where I live now. I checked and double checked. I can’t prove that he was on that particular cruise ship but he did return from that direction at that time. The signature and the writing are his.

“For Mademoiselle Manuelle Chiappa, In memory of our crossing in the Ionie. – Sept 1913”

The young lady he dedicated the postcard to seems to have had a few admirers – I know because I’ve been reading the backs of her postcards….

One day I will find one written by Colette I am sure.

Added 12.08.12 - here is more

A couple of quotes

I’m a great fan of the Daily Literary Quote which I have on the first page of my iGoogle. Everyday there are wonderful, quotable quotes from writers of all nationalities. A little while ago there was a quote from Yevgeny Yevtushenko, a Russian poet:

“Translation is like a woman, if she is beautiful, she is not faithful; if she is faithful, she is not beautiful.”

Having struggled with translations myself, I know how painfully true that can be. A few days later another quote, this time by the French poet Paul Verlaine:

“Baiser ! Rose trémière au jardin des caresses. - To kiss ! Hollyhock in the garden of caresses”

See what I mean? A rose trémière sounds so much more romantic than a hollyhock!

Allan Ahlberg is 70

I was so pleased to hear the Allan Ahlberg interview on BBC radio 4 earlier today. I loved reading his and Janet’s books to my children when they were small. I even read Funnybones in English to my French pupils and they loved it. You don’t need to translate some things!

The interview will be up for a week so don’t miss it. He sounds like a lovely man and is really funny