tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75176178506037361972024-02-07T12:59:47.956+00:00www.moiramcpartlin.comMoirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.comBlogger163125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-34579698470389090222017-07-04T12:03:00.003+01:002017-07-04T12:03:55.064+01:00Wants of The Silent - Part II Sun Song Trilogy<br />
Although this blog has been quiet since my <a href="https://moiramcpartlin.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/highland-one-island-book-tour.html" target="_blank">Highland One Island Tour</a>, like a computer, things have been running in the background.<br />
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I am delighted to announce the launch of Wants of the Silent - Part II of The Sun Song Trilogy.<br />
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<b>Event Dates:</b><br />
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<b>1st August Edinburgh, Blackwell Bookstore, South Bridge</b><br />
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<b>9th August Stirling, Central Library, Corn Exchange Road</b><br />
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<b>10th August Glasgow, Waterstones, Argyle Street</b><br />
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<b>6th September London, Blackwell Bookstore, High Holburn</b><br />
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There is also a fantastic new book trailer to accompany the launch.<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ING8qqE7TeM/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ING8qqE7TeM?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<br />Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-42500220669101191112016-09-22T10:34:00.003+01:002016-09-22T10:34:49.856+01:00Highland One Island Book Tour<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
visit the Highlands and Islands of Scotland regularly but, with the exception
of a series of workshops I delivered in Aberdeen last year, I have never taken my two
novels on tour with me. This August and September I remedied that. Travelling round with my husband in our campervan, Bessie, I visited bookstores, schools, libraries and writing groups throughout the Highlands and Argyll. This is a photo-blog of that tour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It started on a glorious late summer evening in Aberdeen with a visit to <a href="http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/acyc/ysp_acyc.asp" target="_blank">The Aberdeen Youth Council.</a></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bessie Van with Pittodrie Stadium in the background</td></tr>
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Afterwards we bombed up the A96 to spend the night in a campsite in Nairn. Dubbed the 'Friendly Caravan and Camping Club' we were greeted by the warden who grudgingly showed us to our late night pitch.<br />
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Next day I visited <a href="http://www.dingwallacademy.com/" target="_blank">Dingwall Academy and Community Library</a>. I presented <i>Ways of the Doomed</i> to a group of National Five students, had lunch with a youth book group and later met with a very enthusiastic adult book group. After three hours and three groups I was all talked out and looking forward to some rest days before the next event.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dingwall Academy in the sunshine</td></tr>
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We stopped off in <a href="http://www.contin.org.uk/" target="_blank">Contin</a> for a couple of days. The first day we climbed the hill <a href="http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/corbetts/little-wyvis" target="_blank">Little Wyvis</a> and I was astounded to see that the controlling future world I invented for <i>Ways of the Doomed</i> is not so far away. These signs are displayed all over the estate to scare walkers away. It didn't work. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Misleading all year sign with no mention of stalking</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI6LGHe92s3dU4ri3wGTKK8O6oE93FauBfR_FMX9YIDgGISVfwsFkXTJb7vZ6oYpnClWid83aGD-choZqBwuif4ZJ9xBqGtW3jgVbk-jtTSKMqg-g54VM6jl4TqUwWmO02Q4IxdwjJ/s1600/P1040072.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI6LGHe92s3dU4ri3wGTKK8O6oE93FauBfR_FMX9YIDgGISVfwsFkXTJb7vZ6oYpnClWid83aGD-choZqBwuif4ZJ9xBqGtW3jgVbk-jtTSKMqg-g54VM6jl4TqUwWmO02Q4IxdwjJ/s200/P1040072.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wave to the camera!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEOiclvnJOiS476hyMUzRCKEFzhkWE0BzceSC9C45G_QPkkkqLTjxxH9GcyATsLMN7ISPLZgsNf8gP-ExNtohWLz_WTKf5gWsLXmL0XelrfFzwp1UAaAD1KAlRY5I1zRMpIhHrsaxK/s1600/P1040075.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEOiclvnJOiS476hyMUzRCKEFzhkWE0BzceSC9C45G_QPkkkqLTjxxH9GcyATsLMN7ISPLZgsNf8gP-ExNtohWLz_WTKf5gWsLXmL0XelrfFzwp1UAaAD1KAlRY5I1zRMpIhHrsaxK/s200/P1040075.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another wave to the invisible camera</td></tr>
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These signs are to put walkers off but the <a href="http://www.mcofs.org.uk/access-law-and-soac.asp" target="_blank">Access Laws in Scotland </a>allow walkers to walk on these paths.</div>
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Next day Colin wanted a day fishing so we drove the van to <a href="http://www.cononfishing.com/loch-meig.asp" target="_blank">Loch Meig</a> and while he guddled about looking for fish I ran the length and back of the loch before settling down in the van to write some new short stories.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A fine road runs the length of the loch to the dam and back.</td></tr>
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Back to the tour and lunch in Inverness with a group of children's writers before the first of my open events - Saturday afternoon in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/waterstones.inverness" target="_blank">Waterstones, Inverness</a>. I was well looked after by the welcoming staff of this lovely bright store.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inverness children's writers<br />
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Saturday and Sunday night were spent in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evanton" target="_blank">Evanton</a> giving me the chance to have a lazy Sunday wandering the banks of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromarty_Firth" target="_blank">Cromarty Firth</a>.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking over the Cromarty Firth to the Black Isle<br />
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Monday started grey but brightened up by the time I reached Fortrose Academy. I was one of the many workshop leaders to take part in the <a href="http://www.fortroseacademy.co.uk/" target="_blank">Project Future Literacy Festival</a>. It was a treat to meet all the other leaders and to work with such willing and happy students.<br />
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From Fortrose we dashed up the A9 to Wick in time to see a stunning sunset and to experience Mexican Monday food in the local <a href="https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pubs/all-pubs/scotland/highland/the-alexander-bain-wick" target="_blank">Wetherspoons</a>. The Wick event was in the evening so we had plenty time to visit the famous <a href="http://www.oldpulteney.com/" target="_blank">Pulteney Distillery</a> before I delivered my Narrative Devices workshop to Caithness Writers.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi03EI1Xo1TCfXNh9pfsQT-6_LultUWXuweLOExPWvPrI_4d2_VPNjhvX1xobmnUZuQubJ3xUFw1ue0bRtGVVATc-V_ssCnMULuufOQjPFumtn3Vr2iicCVqEvrzqn51PgQZat-ggBe/s1600/Highland-20160906-00583.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi03EI1Xo1TCfXNh9pfsQT-6_LultUWXuweLOExPWvPrI_4d2_VPNjhvX1xobmnUZuQubJ3xUFw1ue0bRtGVVATc-V_ssCnMULuufOQjPFumtn3Vr2iicCVqEvrzqn51PgQZat-ggBe/s320/Highland-20160906-00583.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pulteney Distillery, Wick<br />
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Another road dash next day to another writers' group, this time southward to Huntly. <a href="https://www.huntly-writers.co.uk/" target="_blank">Huntly Writers'</a> meeting was informal and rather than deliver a talk or a workshop we all sat around, as writers, and talked about writing. It was very relaxed and great fun. Next day I had the opportunity to visit one of the Huntly creative initiatives, <a href="http://www.orbbookshop.org/" target="_blank">Orb's Bookshop</a>. And of course I couldn't resist buying a book there. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maureen Ross of Huntly Writers in Orb's Bookshop<br /></td></tr>
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So that was the sunny North Highlands, what about the other Highland areas and the ONE island?</div>
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The next part of the tour involved mixed weather, ferries and a few trips round the West Coast.</div>
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Publicity was important for the tour. Some local papers featured my tour and <a href="http://www.buteislandradio.com/" target="_blank">Bute Island Radio</a> invited me to speak on their community show. The show was the day before the Dunoon event so we sailed over the Clyde to Rothesay, and while the wind picked up and the rain battered down I spoke for an hour about books, libraries and writing. By the time I left the radio station the ferries were disrupted and we were very glad our ferry journey to the Cowal Peninsula was only five minutes long. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bookpoint's fine window display for my event</td></tr>
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The weather improved and next day Dunoon sparkled in the sunshine. <a href="http://www.bookpointdunoon.com/index.asp" target="_blank">Bookpoint Bookshop</a> was the venue for my talk and although the audience was small we had a long and lively Q & A session and the coffee shop setting was right up my street. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All aboard for the Rothesay Ferry!</td></tr>
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We headed home for a couple of days to celebrate a family birthday, then hit the road again for the last leg of the tour. Back to Rothesay in good weather this time for a busy, bustling event at Rothesay Library. There I presented my books and because the audience was still buzzing from the success of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/butenoir/" target="_blank">Bute Noir</a>, the new crime festival held on the island, crime fiction was also on the menu. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyrxMQ5OJrQDlDgzlHpBkL7OwtgDb1maUGcZha9frtGXtPb3HDozPYDbyc5xZgUCyGQ0Rblx4-7YZkpdsd7pXr8jtvS-bZ0udDKZHKZnT2AfgBTGxcCZLjww1R0jX-LpHyIEmdDib9/s1600/IMG-20160916-00602.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyrxMQ5OJrQDlDgzlHpBkL7OwtgDb1maUGcZha9frtGXtPb3HDozPYDbyc5xZgUCyGQ0Rblx4-7YZkpdsd7pXr8jtvS-bZ0udDKZHKZnT2AfgBTGxcCZLjww1R0jX-LpHyIEmdDib9/s320/IMG-20160916-00602.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oban Harbour</td></tr>
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Last stop was<a href="http://www.oban.org.uk/" target="_blank"> Oban</a>. I love Oban, I have visited many times, mostly passing through on the way to the Islands. This time I talked to readers at Oban Library and spent Saturday afternoon in Oban Waterstones engaging with customers, most of whom were tourists. I had a fan girl moment during a wonderful conversation with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Sutherland" target="_blank">Luke Sutherland'</a>s sister! </div>
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We camped in a coastal campsite just outside the town and enjoyed spending lazy mornings watching boats sail up and down <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerrera" target="_blank">The Sound of Kerrera</a>. </div>
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This tour was an adventure. A way to combine my love of Scotland and camper-vanning, with my love of writing. It was hard work but I enjoyed very minute of it. The many librarians, bookstore managers, writers and teachers who hosted my events were kind, welcoming and helpful. I thank you all.</div>
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While I was in Oban it was suggested my next tour should be to the Islands. Watch this space.</div>
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Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-21842744383130017822016-06-30T15:11:00.004+01:002016-06-30T15:11:37.587+01:00Highland, One Island Book Tour<br />
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<h2>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Coming Soon</span></b></h2>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtjn-z-AY2Aw1L9pLZhs51imAFeqGlHaw7SNLy9yUBToW8HJ7HWowCEKJkb0XTiulh4c6Yi7ldopdLLC3leFB2jWLJQxBVeVu9nHP61mT8i93ENVc4S81KmMDtiqflqq7U8ynFAbAx/s1600/poster+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtjn-z-AY2Aw1L9pLZhs51imAFeqGlHaw7SNLy9yUBToW8HJ7HWowCEKJkb0XTiulh4c6Yi7ldopdLLC3leFB2jWLJQxBVeVu9nHP61mT8i93ENVc4S81KmMDtiqflqq7U8ynFAbAx/s640/poster+6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-7365560105563968032016-05-18T19:43:00.000+01:002016-05-18T19:43:02.986+01:00Adults Love a Child Narrator #2 - Girls<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is almost
a year since my novel <i>Ways of the Doomed</i> was published and I
am astonished at the mixed readership it has attracted. When the
marketing was first planned it was agreed to pitch mostly to the Young Adult
market. I have been visiting schools all year and it's true, the kids are
enthralled. When I wrote the novel I had no audience in mind, I just
wrote the book I wanted to write, so I am delighted that adults are also loving
reading the harrowing adventure of my young protagonist Sorlie Mayben.
This got me thinking about other books narrated by children that have an
overwhelming adult appeal, often because the subject is bigger than the
narrator’s story. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now
it’s the girls turn to show that they are just as capable as telling their
stories for the adult audience. When I looked out my reviews I found
just as many girls stories as I did boys. Many of the reviews whether with girl or boy
narrators are set in Africa. This may be because I did lots of
research on Africa a few years back or maybe it is because African writers seem
to find it easier to tell harrowing stories from the point of view of children.
Looking at the list below, I find that most of the stories are harrowing no matter where they are set but they are stories worth reading despite that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Not
reviewed but also worth reading are <i><a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20rel=%22nofollow%22%20href=%22http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0099929309/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0099929309&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21%22%3EThe%20Famished%20Road%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0099929309%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E" target="_blank">The Famished Road</a></i> by Ben Okri; the novels
of Buchi Emecheta; <i><a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20rel=%22nofollow%22%20href=%22http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0349120641/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0349120641&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21%22%3ESay%20You%27re%20One%20Of%20Them%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0349120641%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E" target="_blank">Say You’re One of Them</a></i> by Uwen Akpan and <i><a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20rel=%22nofollow%22%20href=%22http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0747578869/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0747578869&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21%22%3EThe%20Icarus%20Girl%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0747578869%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E" target="_blank">The Icarus Girl</a></i> by
Helen Oyeyemi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> 1. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Precious by
Sapphire</span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0099548720/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0099548720&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0099548720&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sixteen
year old Precious Jones, is illiterate, she is raped by her father, beaten by
her mother, let down by the system. When she falls pregnant for the second time
by her own father she is placed in an alternative teaching programme. Here she
learns to read and write. This is her diary. This brutal story is
not for the faint hearted, but we are kidding ourselves if we think it is a
unique story. Too many novels portray ‘poor little rich girl’ - poor
little poor girl deserves to have her story told too. Despite the trauma of the
tale this is an inspirational read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0099548720" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> 2. Dora, a
headcase by Lidia Yuknavitch</span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0983477574/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0983477574&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0983477574&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Definitely
not for the faint hearted. I imagine teenagers hiding this novel
from over anxious parents. LGBT sex, drugs and enough swearing to
make Madonna blush. Oh but what a voice (or not) because this is a
modern telling of the Sigmund Freud case study and his treatment of a young
girl Ida Bauer (Dora) with hysteria which resulted in loss of voice. The
modern narrator Ida (Dora) ramrods her way through her own mental health
issues, subjects her psychiatrist to a treble dose of Viagra and videos his
subsequent relief. It is fun but with serious undertones. Her mother
is in denial of Ida’s father’s affair and Ida relies on her motley crew of
friends to help her get even, get better, get the hell out of there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">3. No and Me by
Delphine de Vigan </span></h3>
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<a href="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0747599645&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0747599645&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 12.0pt;">The story is told by thirteen year old OCD
sufferer, Lou Bertignac in a narrative voice that is unique and believable. She
befriends No, a homeless girl living rough on the streets of Paris. With a
naivety that is refreshing Lou tries to fix No's life. The fact that
the number of homeless young people currently living on the streets of Paris is
staggering makes this story all the more believable. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> 4. Where’d you
go Bernadette? by Maria Semple</span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/178022124X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=178022124X&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=178022124X&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This
book is set in Seattle, where everyone works or is connected to Microsoft, but
the fifteen year old Bee uses emails, articles, hand written post-its and
reports to try to discover what has happened to Bernadette, her wacky mother,
who one day vanished from Bee’s life. Bee is a funny, clever and very wise
narrator. I loved this book<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=178022124X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">5 5. NOS4A2 by Joe
Hill</span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0575130695/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0575130695&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0575130695&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Although
this book starts with the grown up Viv McQueen, most of the book is in
flashback. Vic as a young girl can teleport to the right spot to
find missing items just by riding her bike through a covered bridge. She
keeps her gift to herself and gets into all kinds of horrors when she meets bad
guy Charles Manx, the man who offers children a ride in his creepy car and
takes them to Christmassland. Very scary and definitely adults only.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">6. 6. The Other
Hand by Chris Cleeve </span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1473639077/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1473639077&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1473639077&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This
is the story of another Bee, this time a young girl fleeing her African
village, which was cleared by soldiers for the oil companies. While on the run
Bee and her sister encounter Andrew and Sarah, a white couple who try to help
but with horrific consequences. When Bee’s sister is murdered Bee
travels to England to find Sarah. A harrowing story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18pt;">7 7. The </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">Sopranos by</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18pt;"> Alan Warner<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0099268744/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0099268744&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0099268744&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18pt;">Five
choir girls from Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, a rural girl’s school, are let
loose in the big town for a night of drunkenness, debauchery and shenanigans. Their antics are hilarious and also often very sad. Not only is this a book
about teenagers written for adults, it was written by a man and proves that
maybe men are not always from Mars. Alan Warner’s Morven Callar was a great
female novel, The </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">Sopranos</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18pt;"> is just as good. Brilliant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> 8. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">The Cure for Death by Lightning by Gail Anderson-Dargatz</span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B017QLH7XS/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B017QLH7XS&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B017QLH7XS&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Fifteen
year old Beth lives on an isolated Canadian farm beside a Native American
reservation that is being terrorised by a daemon. This becomes a metaphor for
how Beth deals with her violent father’s abuse and her treatment in the
community. The focus of action is a moody menacing wood, and characters are
both good and evil. The novel is sprinkled with recipes and remedies
from a scrapbook and is rich in sensory descriptions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> 9. The Taxi
Driver’s Daughter by Julia Darling</span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0141012617/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0141012617&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0141012617&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Novel’s
written by poets are normally beautifully written and this is no exception.
This is a story of a family in crisis; two teenage daughters, a mother in
prison for shop lifting and a father who just wants to run away from it all.
Caris is fifteen and hugely affected by her mother’s imprisonment, she is
bullied at school and falls in with the bad crowd. The hopelessness of Caris’
plight is brilliantly portrayed. You just want to tell her to sort her life,
but the reader can’t and nor can she.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">1 10. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie</span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0007189885/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0007189885&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0007189885&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This
book won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and was Shortlisted for the Orange
Prize. The narrator fifteen year old Kambili tells the story of her
family, ruled by a fanatical, misguided father who believes he is doing right
by God, by half killing his family. It is only when Kambili and her brother go
to live with a free thinking aunt that brutality and oppression of their old
life become apparent to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0007189885" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> 11. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold</span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0330485385/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0330485385&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0330485385&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One
of the most famous child narrators, Suzie Salmon, uses her vantage point of
heaven to narrate her story. She tells the reader how she was lured into a hiding placed,
raped and murders. But her family don’t know and Suzie watch them as they
agonise over her disappearance and slowly disintegrate as a unit. A grim tale very well told.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">1 12. The White Bird Passes by Jessie
Kesson</span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1873631693/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1873631693&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1873631693&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This
is a Scottish classic autobiographical novel. Little Janie MacVean is a little
girl who is happy playing amongst vagrants and tinkers, but eventually ends up
in an orphanage when the ‘cruelty man’ deems her mother’s upbringing unfit. The
novel is filled with colourful characters and an impressive writing style that
uses simple homely verbs which hit the spot every time. A delight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1873631693" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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I'd be surprised if you've never read a book with a child narrator, but if you haven't I would urge you to do so. They are more reliable and much better fun than adults.<br />
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<br />
<br />Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-22878415150265094692016-05-11T09:28:00.000+01:002016-05-11T09:28:04.613+01:00Adults Love a Child Narrator #1 - Boys<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">It is almost a year since my novel <i>Ways of the Doomed</i> was
published and I am astonished at the mixed readership it has attracted. When the marketing was first planned it was agreed to pitch mostly to the Young Adult market.
I have been visiting schools all year and it's true, the kids are enthralled. When I wrote the novel I had no audience in
mind, I just wrote the book I wanted to write, so I am delighted that adults
are also loving reading the harrowing adventure of my young protagonist
Sorlie Mayben. This got me thinking
about other books narrated by children that have an overwhelming adult appeal,
often because the subject is bigger than the narrator’s story. I trolled through my book journals and began
listing and as the list grew I realised, if I was going to highlight the best,
I’d need to separate them into two posts: boy narrators and girl
narrators. Boys first for a change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by
Mark Twain <o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0007351038/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0007351038&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0007351038&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">The charismatic Huckleberry Finn must
be the original teen on the edge. He is
boy of about thirteen years old who lives with his drunk father in the deep
south of the United States of America.
His schooling is neglected and he is placed into the care of Widow
Douglas and Miss Watson who try to civilise him with religion. Huck feels trapped and escapes with his
friend Jim, the black slave of respectable Miss Watson, to go adventuring. The treatment of racial issues can be
shocking for today’s reader despite the fact that the main protagonist is
anti-racist. This is a fun adventure story with a rock hard moral attached.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0007351038" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines
first published 1968<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0141184981/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0141184981&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0141184981&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Many fictional edgy teens are poorly
treated at school and Billy Casper is no exception. Brought up by a wayward
mother alongside a brutal half-brother, in a Yorkshire mining village, Billy
has few choices in life. His world is turned around when he finds a kestrel to
train. The story is told over the course
of one day with flashback sequences which lay out the hopelessness of Billy’s
life. The reader has no option but to
hold their breath and hope for a happy ending.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0141184981" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Let the Right One In by John
Ajvide <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 28.08px; text-indent: -18pt;">Lindqvist</span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1847248489/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1847248489&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1847248489&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">The story of a friendship between young
vampire Eli and a twelve year old bullied boy Oskar is perfect for a youth
reading project. The story is an easy read and gruesome enough to keep young
boys interested but it also has sociological merit.<br />
The story takes place in a deprived area, in 1980's Sweden, and shows a
different Sweden to the one we are used to. The sense of place is probably the best
aspect of the book. I have worked in a Stockholm </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">suburb in summer and that was
depressing enough. This novel is set in winter and there is a chill that lasts
from page one until the end. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">4.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">Maggott Moon by Sally Gardner </span></h3>
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1471400441/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1471400441&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1471400441&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">This
novel takes place in 1956 in an occupied Britain. The narrator is an
imaginative fifteen year old boy </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Standish
Treadwell. He lives in in Zone Seven
where the Motherland keeps everyone under surveillance. His ball ends up on the wrong side of a wall
and when he goes over the top to retrieve it he finds a moon mission mock up
and a heap of propaganda. This subversive
fable is told in one a unique voice that rings through your head for days. Another
story you can’t pin a reading age too. A
story of what ifs and an excellent read for any age.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">5.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Butter by Erin Lange <o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0571294405/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0571294405&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0571294405&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Butter is a morbidly obese teenage boy
with a passion for the saxophone and a girl in his class who he contacts
anonymously on line. This is a tale of all the loves in Butter's life; his
mother's suffocating love that is killing him, his father's love that Butter is
denied, his love of music and his love for this on-line girl.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">It is at times funny and is often very
sad. I found the character of Butter believable - he could be pretty tough and
very funny but also obnoxious and sarcastic.
At no time did this novel fall into sentimentality but retained its
focus to the end. A good well rounded tale.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0571294405" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">6.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">The Wall by William Sutcliffe <o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">William
Sutcliffe chose a fictional, almost dystopian setting to tell a story set in a
situation similar to the Palestine/Israel divide. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408838435/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408838435&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1408838435&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Thirteen
year old Joshua loses his football, discovers a tunnel and finds himself on the
other side of The Wall. There he befriends a young girl and her family and
agrees to look after their olive grove which is on the wrong side of the wall
from them. He faces many obstacles not least his violent stepfather. This is a
story about fear, and how that fear controls the lives and the choices made by
the characters on both sides of the wall. It is well balanced and does not try
to answer any of the questions raised in this very complex situation. A great
novel for everyone young and old to learn about this Middle East conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1408838435" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 54.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">7.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Shipwrecks
by Akura Yoshimura<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0062O2UXS/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B0062O2UXS&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0062O2UXS&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">This is a simple yet heartbreaking story of nine
year old Isaku and his family. They live in a poor village by the sea. While
Isaku's father has gone into bondage for three years to allow the family to
have some money to stay alive Isaku finds himself head of the
household and main breadwinner.</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">The cyclical style of prose emphasizes the
monotony of trying to stay alive year in year out and poetic descriptions of
the element are always in connection to that struggle. The pace is gentle, in
keeping with the changes in the seasons and the paradox between Isaku's
childlike thoughts and his strength give the story a sad tone which is
sustained throughout.</span></span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B0062O2UXS" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">8.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray
Bradbury<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1407239929/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1407239929&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1407239929&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">A coming of age horror story that
Stephen King didn’t write! Middle America is visited in October by a carnival with
a difference. The carousel can rejuvenate or age depending on the direction it
turns, a maze of mirrors shows your nightmares and Mr Dark is hovering in the
side lines. Two boys and a dad take on the evil owner and try to save themselves
and the town from a wicked end. A horror masterpiece.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1407239929" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">9.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">Chronicle In Stone by Ismail Kadare</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B017R2EA8Q/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B017R2EA8Q&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B017R2EA8Q&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" height="200" width="186" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Albania’s leading literary figure and Booker
prize winner, Ismail Kadare is one of my favourite authors. Chronicle in Stone is set in his home town
Gjirokaster, which is also the home town of the communist partisan leader and
eventual dictator Enver Hoxha. The story is narrated by a child and at first shows normal family life in an ordinary Albanian town during WWII. The town is occupied and changes hands and allegiance several times. This situation makes for a fascinating and often cruel tale of gossip, superstition and injustice.</span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B017R2EA8Q" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">10.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy</span></h3>
<h4 style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">All the Pretty Horses #1; The Crossing
#2; Cities of the Plain #3</span></h4>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0330334611/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0330334611&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" rel="nofollow" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0330334611&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">The Border Trilogy is, in my opinion,
the best of McCarthy. </span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">John Grady Cole
and Billy Parham, two young cowboys</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> travel
over the border into Mexico to begin their own adventures and a passage into
adulthood that is far from pretty. The cowboy story brought up to date using
all the elements, </span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">McCarthy</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> excels in; tight, often witty dialogue, magnificent
desert descriptions and a cruel sense of inevitability. </span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0330334611" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-35050537717977837632016-04-26T19:24:00.000+01:002016-04-26T19:24:13.506+01:00#Hattastic Big Knit Challenge -The Results<br />
<br />
Every Picture tells a story and the #Hattastic Gallery shows some of the hats knitted and bought in aid of Brain Tumour Research.<br />
<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPRDATdMm7gXFhn6IYDqF3IYPkmyQu4eOVGMABy7_ywmdQtp_ADBPfLTgh3g76rdvjP33_eBDwFQ9sxu3W5Zj6nwh9EYFQ7n57-xyhm6j8nYbfASH-BBfQ04SOHBvUSkOncI_W7jD5/s1600/Hats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPRDATdMm7gXFhn6IYDqF3IYPkmyQu4eOVGMABy7_ywmdQtp_ADBPfLTgh3g76rdvjP33_eBDwFQ9sxu3W5Zj6nwh9EYFQ7n57-xyhm6j8nYbfASH-BBfQ04SOHBvUSkOncI_W7jD5/s320/Hats.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
To begin with I was a bit unsure if it would work. I set my Just Giving Page target to £250 thinking I might get lucky. But who would buy my hats? I lined up a couple of friends to sell them for me but seriously expected to have to donate the remainder to the homeless. <br />
<br />
How wrong could I be. Within hours of launching the Big Knit Challenge I had orders flying in through Facebook. CR Smith colleagues old and new stepped up to the mark and many people who have been affected by this terrible cancer. I was overwhelmed. And then came the offers to help knit. Four CR Smithies took up the needles and joined in. They also organised a coffee morning on the Wear a Hat Day to sell their hats.<br />
Fiona did a great job of spreading the word about the charity. She is a popular girl and as soon as people knew the challenge was to help her the Just Giving page rose, and rose and rose... As soon as the donations slowed Fiona began spreading the word further afield.<br />
<br />
In the end I knitted 67 hats. I sold 50 and gave the rest to the coffee morning to sell. The grand total is;<br />
<br />
The Just Giving Page £1640.00<br />
<br />
My hat sales £1100.00<br />
<br />
CR Smith sale <u>£1000.00</u><br />
<br />
Donated to BTR £3740.00<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
THANK YOU</div>
Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-28010100098314734272016-01-06T16:24:00.000+00:002016-01-22T15:19:02.454+00:00#Hattastic Big Knit Challenge<br />
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Many years ago I worked with a young woman who had more life
and energy for sport than anyone I have ever met. Fiona is much younger than me
but was happy to play me at squash. She was a tough opponent, her strength was phenomenal. We also played in the company five a-side
football team together. Somehow I always ended up on the opposite side to Fiona
and was terrified of her punishing tackles.
She persuaded the company owner to let me use his personal gym where
Fiona and I would train together. She taught me how to use weights correctly
and often we would meet at the gym at 6.00am and cycle miles through Fife
countryside before work. I thought she was invincible. We lost touch when I changed jobs and then
picked up contact again through Facebook. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwB9N4KGCQayhiCVY8RxEhSCyvmAkiQ3sGqHm4d-3Gfy5fhzqhjZ-I4g5LNf7blm2Pm4p4dZRaZx5Wxpc4O2bPtk3WsoegO6MjJyGbrLunaS_G8IyFy74AleyzmBXFAS_XPvOehgpC/s1600/CRS+football.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwB9N4KGCQayhiCVY8RxEhSCyvmAkiQ3sGqHm4d-3Gfy5fhzqhjZ-I4g5LNf7blm2Pm4p4dZRaZx5Wxpc4O2bPtk3WsoegO6MjJyGbrLunaS_G8IyFy74AleyzmBXFAS_XPvOehgpC/s320/CRS+football.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The CR Smith Football Team 1996</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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On the surface she was fine. Then I discovered
through a mutual friend that she had been battling a brain tumour for years.
All the fight and energy she used on the sports arena was now being channelled
to keep her alive. Despite her illness Fiona is still the same funny, bubbly person she was during the gym years. She has one of the most infectious laughs I've ever heard. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4sv5vngYqddRb73WXvcs1P26NRdqFA-sYoO85R4qOCula62nsZXveoKuJG_Rwp6Iy6cI39MR6aQrLdgv0QZqlmICa0QnLjExQpyjN68__zCgAu4YJE1WNGQAAqsrSv1TxRXenpFYz/s1600/CR+Smith+charity+photo+1997.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4sv5vngYqddRb73WXvcs1P26NRdqFA-sYoO85R4qOCula62nsZXveoKuJG_Rwp6Iy6cI39MR6aQrLdgv0QZqlmICa0QnLjExQpyjN68__zCgAu4YJE1WNGQAAqsrSv1TxRXenpFYz/s320/CR+Smith+charity+photo+1997.jpg" width="216" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fiona ans I helped to raise £1000 for CHAS on behalf of CR Smith</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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During one recent communication with Fiona I became very
frustrated. I wanted to do something - anything to help her. I remembered her
posting about wearing a grey hat for Brain Tumour Research. That afternoon in
November 2015 I started to knit hats. I haven’t stopped since.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Bm3h88o80adjz9ZO6NVjCrNQkCFnXS2LPgNge-1Z5gnbkyNza04Njn87kWmjcRB97Tj-gQ84nXgQL3AGqVC7WLz1R7rsDh2G1KADL_jITdvVlTJR-H0MPa2xJmFaicW5D1uNaIPD/s1600/P1030117.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Bm3h88o80adjz9ZO6NVjCrNQkCFnXS2LPgNge-1Z5gnbkyNza04Njn87kWmjcRB97Tj-gQ84nXgQL3AGqVC7WLz1R7rsDh2G1KADL_jITdvVlTJR-H0MPa2xJmFaicW5D1uNaIPD/s320/P1030117.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WIP hats</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I decided I would ask people to sponsor me to knit fifty hats
before the end of June this year. I'll be posting regular updates of #Hattastic Big Knit on this blog as well as pictures of the hats as they grow and details of how to purchase a hat.</div>
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https://www.justgiving.com/moira-mcpartlin1/</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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This Just Giving Page is for sponsorship only due to Gift
Aid rules. I set it up because I realised that the challenge itself is worth sponsorship and not everyone suits a hat - I don't!<o:p></o:p></div>
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To date I've knitted thirteen hats, in six different styles. I've sold three. This amounts to a total 42482 stitches knitted using 1092 grams of wool. And not a fur pompom in sight!<o:p></o:p></div>
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‘Brain tumours kill more children
and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer… yet just 1% of the
national spend on cancer research is allocated to this devastating disease.’
BTR<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0cm;">
On the 24<sup>th</sup> March 2016
Brain Tumour Research hold their ‘Wear a hat for a Day’ event. Do you need a
hat?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhObZYTq0jP0wbbHD7HYV23act5B6L5gt9YQ9u1YOt1-zAAVVH7xC5f-2jWpFrtF1lHSbXUuLeaE2uN5wv4X1RfVbAGSrmny0sOmn64xjCoDurpVodg2TTU9WDG2V5SoH4anPRvWrdN/s1600/family+hats.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhObZYTq0jP0wbbHD7HYV23act5B6L5gt9YQ9u1YOt1-zAAVVH7xC5f-2jWpFrtF1lHSbXUuLeaE2uN5wv4X1RfVbAGSrmny0sOmn64xjCoDurpVodg2TTU9WDG2V5SoH4anPRvWrdN/s320/family+hats.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Willing hat models</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-11194109666862034832015-12-31T13:44:00.001+00:002015-12-31T13:50:37.714+00:00Shelfie Skelfie ChallangeIt's look back at the year time again. Every New Year I set myself a challenge for the year ahead. Last year I set two challenges, one large, one small. One I achieved and one I failed.<br />
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I'll start with the one I failed on. It was to play chess at least once a week. On January 1st 2015 when I set it I thought it was small but would be good for me. Because my husband worked away during the week I reckoned it would be a skoosh to play my phone. I enjoy playing chess and with my phone set to easy I could even be assured of a win. In the first couple of months I did play, but there is something quite demoralising about sitting alone on a wet, dark February night before a log fire, playing a Blackberry at chess. I gave up, there seemed no point to the challenge and I never regretted the decision to quit.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shelfie 31st December 2014</td></tr>
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The second challenge was greater and harder - I would not buy a book for myself in 2015. This might not seem hard for most folk but I am a confirmed biblioholic. I can't stop buying books! At the beginning of 2015 I had a whole bookcase filled with books I had bought over many years and never read (I have more in another bookcase, but more of that later). Over the course of the year I would work my way through the bookcase and use the local library.<br />
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I am happy to say I did succeed in not buying any books (ebooks included) for myself, although I did buy a few gifts and download one free ebook to allow me to take part in a Global Reading Salon event.<br />
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So how big a challenge was this really? It was huge! So difficult. The first thing to happen was I attended two great lectures at my mountaineering club. The first was given by John Allen, about the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team. His book <i>Cairngorm John</i> sounded brilliant but I couldn't buy it. Luckily one of the other club members owned a copy and loaned it to me.<br />
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The second lecture was given by hill runner Manny Gorman. This was a worse situation because Manny is a friend, I really wanted to buy his book. I had to apologise to him and explain the situation. He came up with the solution. My novel <i>Ways of the Doomed</i> was due to be published in June 2015. We would swap books. Perfect.<br />
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This leads me onto the main problem I had. Many of my friends are writers who, like me, were launching books in 2015. I wanted to support them as they supported me but couldn't buy their books. I leave this year with a list of books I must buy from these friends.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shelfie July 2015 (books on top left are loans and gifts)</td></tr>
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Everyone has been very understanding of my challenge. Many people bought me books as gifts, other loaned me books. My local library has been a saviour providing me with much needed research books and new releases I couldn't live without.<br />
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I have to admit that I haven't finished all the books I took from the bookcase during the year. The larger tomes like Howard Zinn's <i>A People's History of the United States</i> and Alan Bennett's <i>Untold Stories</i> are at my bedside but are ongoing reads along with shorter works. I consider this challenge to be a success.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shelfie 31st December 2015 (still some to read!)</td></tr>
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In 2016 my reading challenge will be to work my way through the rest of these books and my 'Want to Read' list in Goodreads, (including some of the books from other shelves) but for now I will be heading out when the bookshops open in January and I will buy myself a book.<br />
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<br />Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-73157008618481338812015-09-02T21:28:00.002+01:002015-09-02T21:28:51.427+01:00Interview with John Murray from k107FM<iframe frameborder="0" height="180" src="https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?embed_type=widget_standard&embed_uuid=987592b5-5697-4770-a783-0dbf57652f06&feed=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2Fcronullajohn%2Fjohn-murray-talks-to-moira-mcpartlin-on-k107-fm%2F&hide_cover=1&hide_tracklist=1&replace=0" width="660"></iframe><br />
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<a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/cronullajohn/john-murray-talks-to-moira-mcpartlin-on-k107-fm/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=resource_link" style="color: grey; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">John Murray talks to Moira McPartlin on k107 FM</a> by <a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/cronullajohn/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=profile_link" style="color: grey; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Cronullajohn</a> on <a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=homepage_link" style="color: grey; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"> Mixcloud</a></div>
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Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-23640217823895310242015-08-02T20:27:00.000+01:002015-08-03T19:41:33.317+01:00A Tale of One City, Six Schools, Three Libraries, A Conference and A Birthday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On the 7th of July 2015 I travelled to London to promote my book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1908643889/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1908643889&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21&linkId=XJX7GQZFXQ25U4WL">Ways of the Doomed (The Sun Song Trilogy)</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1908643889" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />. Here's what I got up to. <br />
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The preparation and inspiration. I never did manage to play my whistle.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first of my many school visits<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6666660308838px; line-height: 20.8000011444092px;">"Moira explained her method of writing and what inspires her. Students asked a lot of questions, for example her top tips for aspiring writers: Always aim to finish a text. Always get feedback on a text. Always read many other books to get inspired. In the end students felt very encouraged to continue their own writing, we are looking forward to reading some great new stories!" </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6666660308838px; line-height: 20.8000011444092px;">Ulrike Kohnen-Zuelzer, LRC Co-ordinator, Harris Academy, Peckham</b><br />
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I hummed the theme tune to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Life_(1975_TV_series)" target="_blank">The Good Life</a> all the way to Surbiton. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEdQ2YY-H8zvZJOE3ZDpuKLVP_Ia190P24pGE5xCuBpJYBeK4FTrcRGoHsYTXQClTadXHGJwD4eN7R7kh3Z5Gc_juql48bD9EPxSQZk4sfx5AoesI54KFURBZUuZCMRR8iYTEHIas1/s1600/Copy+of+P_20150710_133445.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEdQ2YY-H8zvZJOE3ZDpuKLVP_Ia190P24pGE5xCuBpJYBeK4FTrcRGoHsYTXQClTadXHGJwD4eN7R7kh3Z5Gc_juql48bD9EPxSQZk4sfx5AoesI54KFURBZUuZCMRR8iYTEHIas1/s320/Copy+of+P_20150710_133445.jpg" width="180" /></a><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.3333330154419px;">" We felt honoured to welcome Moira McPartlin in our School Library to talk about her new book 'Ways of the Doomed'. The students enjoyed her workshop and they participated with interest and enthusiasm but most importantly it made them think about words and language and how they are used to influence people." </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.3333330154419px;"><b>Mareke Martens, School Librarian, Stepney Green Maths, Computing and Science College</b></span></div>
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Harris Academy Bermondsey. <a href="http://www.harrisfederation.org.uk/" target="_blank">The Harris Federation</a> was set up by Lord Harris of Peckham, the CEO of Carpetright, to provide good quality education to the children of London. There are now over thirty Harris Federation Schools in London.<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"> </span></div>
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"It was one of the best author visits we have ever had. Thank you especially for the enthusiasm, your positive outlook and most of all the time you were able to give to our students, which is what many of our students are deprived in.</div>
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The students were really engaged with what you had to say. You really connected with the groups, especially the Year 9 students. The cracking powerpoint, the evocative film, and your own story which was somewhat different from the career orthodoxy preached at the school.</div>
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I have spied badges have been on lapels all week and the books will form basis for Year 9 book groups next year and prizes for the more resilient readers and writers." <b>Sean Delaney, Lead Librarian, City of London Academy, Bermondsey</b></div>
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Easy transport too - door to door to Walworth Academy on the Number 168 bus!<br />
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Plane, train, underground, overground, DLR and foot.</div>
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My last school visit was to Walworth Academy where I was made to feel very welcome indeed.<br />
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"<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It was an excellent presentation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">... a joyous experience - definitely for me and for most of the students too! After your visit the students have been happily borrowing books, totally enthused. Your visit also encouraged our students that reading can be hugely enjoyable.</span>" <b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Cecilia Johnson, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Librarian, </span></b></div>
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One of the highlights! My London book launch at <a href="http://www.barbican.org.uk/visitor-information/barbican-library" target="_blank">The Barbican Library</a>. The Library is situated in The City of London and is the largest lending library in London. I ran a lunchtime writing workshop for adults there earlier in the day.</div>
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The very funny and talented <a href="http://www.candygourlay.com/" target="_blank">Candy Gourlay</a> interviewed me in front of an audience of family, old acquaintances (some I hadn't seen since primary school) ex work colleagues and many writers I've met through <a href="http://britishisles.scbwi.org/" target="_blank">SCBWI</a> (Society of Children Book Writers and Illustrators). </div>
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The brand new Greenwich Library where I met many Celts. One was the grand nephew of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Ledwidge" target="_blank">Francis Ledwidge</a>. What an honour. Makes me want to go to Ireland.</div>
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Victoria Library in Westminster. I met a genetics student who was intrigued by WOTD's book cover. He was persuaded to read the book. I hope he likes it. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/adults/young-adults/yalc/" target="_blank">YALC</a> - The Young Adult Literature Convention,<br />held exclusively at <a href="http://www.londonfilmandcomiccon.com/" target="_blank">London Film and Comic Con</a>, Olympia.</span></h2>
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'Apocalypse now'. With Virginia Bergin Marie Rutkoski, Francesca Haig, Moira Young, Teri Terry and Gemma Malley. I asked what the panel thought of the term CliFi. They agreed the genre of dystopian fiction was limiting, adding another term like CliFi was even more limiting.<br />
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'YA: The next generation'. With Alice Oseman, Lucy Saxon, Helena Coggan, Taran Matharu and Samantha Shannon. Very impressive. Nearly all these young writers had great book deals before they reached the age of twenty. Taran Matharu told a great example of how Wattpad and NanoWriMo can work.</div>
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No YA Convention would be complete without <a href="http://www.judyblume.com/" target="_blank">Judy Bloom</a> to admire and some fun writing pals, <a href="http://www.christinabanach.com/" target="_blank">Christina Banach</a> and <a href="http://www.chitrasoundar.com/" target="_blank">Chitra Soundar</a>, to share the events with. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good craic with Christina Banach and Chitra Soundar</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;">I skipped the last day of the conference because it was my birthday! My birthday treat was a trip to Shakespeare's </span><a href="http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">Globe Theatre</a><span style="text-align: left;"> to see </span><span id="goog_1544454453" style="text-align: left;"></span><a href="http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/richard-ii/" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">Richard II</a><span id="goog_1544454454" style="text-align: left;"></span><span style="text-align: left;">. What an amazing place. The acting was fabulous and the actors interaction with the audience in the pits was hilarious. A real treat indeed. </span></div>
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I was in London for 15 days. It was hot and muggy. I travelled to places I had never been to before by tube, bus, train, DLR (Docklands Light Railway) and foot. I met hundreds of enthusiastic kids and many hard working and generous librarians. I'll be back.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I saw this in use on the day of release. The user held up the queue a nanosecond longer than usual.</td></tr>
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#LoveLondon</div>
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<br />Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-34803487628352553742015-05-26T18:24:00.000+01:002015-06-13T17:47:07.342+01:00Book Launches - Ways of the DoomedAs the publication date of Ways of the Doomed hurtles towards me I find my days filled with creating content. These are fun days; ordering cakes, writing articles and lists, updating my profiles on social media and book reviewing sites. But the best fun of all comes on the day the book is launched. The invites have gone out and I am looking forward to catching up with old friends and readers at my book launches.<br /><br /><div>
Here are the details of the three Scottish launches and my first ever London launch.<br /><ul>
<li>Glasgow - 16th June, 7.00pm Argyle Street Waterstones G2 8BT</li>
<li>Stirling – 17th June, 6.30pm Central Library, Corn Exchange Road, Stirling FK8 2HX</li>
<li>Edinburgh – 24th June 6.30pm Blackwell’s Bookstore, South Bridge, EH1 1YS </li>
<li>London - 15th July, 6.30pm Barbican Library, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS</li>
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Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-74357368492198566882015-03-28T09:11:00.001+00:002015-06-13T18:03:43.213+01:00Ways of the Doomed: trailer I love the trailer of my latest book due out in June. Published by Saraband Books.<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjusOj0phy4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjusOj0phy4</a>Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-35226354811638430572015-01-02T14:56:00.000+00:002015-06-13T17:45:39.112+01:00The Marcothon in Thirty One Tweets<br />
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">So what is The Marcothon? It all started in 2009, when a guy called Marco
challenged himself to run every day in November. His wife then deciding to
follow suit and run every day in December, dubbed it the Marcothon and before she it
knew it there was a group of runners eager to embrace the winter conditions of
December 2009. In 2010, the group was added to Facebook and attracted over 500
runners from across the globe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">The rules are simple you
must run every day in DECEMBER. Minimum of three miles or 25 minutes – whichever
comes first. The challenge starts on December 1 and finishes on December 31
including Christmas Day.<span class="apple-converted-space"> It’s not a
competition but a personal challenge. If
you have friends who are also doing the challenge the added support helps keep
you going.</span></span><span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">I Marcothoned for the
first time in 2013 and loved it. I forced myself out the door in dark, cold,
sometimes atrocious weather. After the
first week it became a habit – a good habit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">When I approached the
start of December 2014 I decided I would record every run on Twitter and
Facebook just to add another dimension. I ran in total over 1100 minutes which
probably equates to over 100 miles in the month. Here is my Marcothon in Thirty One Tweets<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/marcothon"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">marcothon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> day 1 run done. In london
again for start so lots of running dark o'clock </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/runningindark?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">runningindark</span></a></div>
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park. Very quiet and dark, saw guy on unicycle. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/runningindark?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">runningindark</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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wee dog in flashing green collar. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BeamMeUpScotty?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">BeamMeUpScotty</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/themarcothon"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">themarcothon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> day5 longer run done in
daylight up primrose hill with friend elke and </span><a href="https://twitter.com/ClnBrd"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">ClnBrd</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> - good one! </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/runningfriends?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">runningfriends</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/themarcothon"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">themarcothon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> day 6 crisp and sunny
morning in regents park. Wait for me!</span><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmL0pI7qvvtKRBQK-JEhAvnlB6qe87B8slzbbGKpygw0C9u9vLgd_8omDPdLESXvt-qZtKN5DOx-o-8jfS-Lejkp5LMT2NXboPg3Y4f4BS5kXBQLqPyDSG0YqVaf-ckeCnAVXpdRJ/s1600/regents+park.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmL0pI7qvvtKRBQK-JEhAvnlB6qe87B8slzbbGKpygw0C9u9vLgd_8omDPdLESXvt-qZtKN5DOx-o-8jfS-Lejkp5LMT2NXboPg3Y4f4BS5kXBQLqPyDSG0YqVaf-ckeCnAVXpdRJ/s1600/regents+park.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/themarcothon"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">themarcothon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> day7 done. Home and back
to dodging potholes, cattle grids and low flying pheasants. It's good to be
home. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/loveScotland?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">loveScotland</span></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span><a href="https://twitter.com/themarcothon"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">themarcothon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> Day 8 done. Note to self -
do not do usual convoluted run between 9 and 10. Met the postie three times
this morning!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/themarcothon"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">themarcothon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> Day 9 done. Yuck weather,
saw some sheep sheltering behind trees. Not so bad once I got going. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wimpysheep?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">wimpysheep</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/themarcothon"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">themarcothon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> Day 10 Done. Stuck to the
valley and ran in the lee of the hill. Even got some sunshine. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/whatwindbomb?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">whatwindbomb</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">?</span><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">Marcothon
Day 11 done. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/darkcountryrun?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">darkcountryrun</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> in rain, sleet then snow.
Got a fright when lightening flashed and thunder rolled </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/madweather?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">madweather</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/themarcothon"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">themarcothon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> Day12 Done! Road was too
icy so I louped fence and ran up the hill. Hillrun before breakfast was
ex-hill-arating. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coldwetfeet?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">coldwetfeet</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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shopping morning. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/ClnBrd"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">ClnBrd</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> dropped me off a distance
from home. Ran back along the west highland way.</span><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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in driving rain, under low skies. Now happy, Christmas baking in my cosy
kitchen. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/gladitsover?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">gladitsover</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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in winter sunshine. Climbed the hill for great big views of snowy mountains.</span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stunningScotland?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">stunningScotland</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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day! Still slippy. Fab view </span><a href="https://twitter.com/Glengoyne"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">Glengoyne</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> distillery in Dumgoyne's
shadow </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/hic?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">hic</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXfKwTgpw7aaiDKF2UXibJw93fvDYzcczjbCyhCLifoADyxxQLFbN7bpkX_RB5dAdtOCPOqGt6VHWA-1jMfORRabwouAVivYPnOEC05753e5EUc3kWglplKyvrHphr8fvC5bi965vr/s1600/dumgoyne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXfKwTgpw7aaiDKF2UXibJw93fvDYzcczjbCyhCLifoADyxxQLFbN7bpkX_RB5dAdtOCPOqGt6VHWA-1jMfORRabwouAVivYPnOEC05753e5EUc3kWglplKyvrHphr8fvC5bi965vr/s1600/dumgoyne.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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couple of stray sheep up the road, away from my veg garden. They're still
mooching around. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KaleBandits?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">KaleBandits</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/themarcothon"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">themarcothon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> Day 18 Done. Rain running </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Drookit?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">Drookit</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">!</span><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Boys hunting with a pair of hawks. The pair beat me home and circled the
garden.</span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/magical?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">magical</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/runrabbitrun?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">runrabbitrun</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/themarcothon"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">themarcothon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> Day 20 done. Out in the
dark, a sliver moon, pink-glow city lights, a longhaul flew low overhead on
final approach </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/morningsky?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">morningsky</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/themarcothon"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">themarcothon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> Day21 done. The challenged
forced me out on this yuck weather day. Glad of </span><a href="https://twitter.com/ClnBrd"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">ClnBrd</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> support. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/notasbadasitlooks?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">notasbadasitlooks</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/themarcothon"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">themarcothon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> Day 22 Done. Another </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JustGetOutAndDoIt?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">JustGetOutAndDoIt</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> day with </span><a href="https://twitter.com/ClnBrd"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">ClnBrd</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">, cleared up halfway round so ran further than planned. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PuddlePaddle?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">PuddlePaddle</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/themarcothon"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">themarcothon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> day23 done. Jerra and back
with @weecountyharriers </span><a href="https://twitter.com/OuchLibrarian"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">OuchLibrarian</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> and </span><a href="https://twitter.com/ClnBrd"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">ClnBrd</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> I led the rear. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CoosTail?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">CoosTail</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/themarcothon"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">themarcothon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"> day24 done with fellow
Ochilettes Elke, Jo and Buffy dog. Kippen/Gurgunock loop </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RunChatEat?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">RunChatEat</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Christmas on this glorious day. Now, where is that fizz? </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SmugBd?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">SmugBd</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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the hill above me, a roe deer jumped the hedge in front of me and escaped. Hope
the rest OK. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WildWest?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">WildWest</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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icy puddles to get out and back before the annual pheasant shoot starts. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BoomBoom?src=hash"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">BoomBoom</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Coffee with often-absent neighbours on way home. </span></span><a data-query-source="hashtag_click" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/3ToGo?src=hash" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">3ToGo</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Minus 4 temp fair shifted my head cold </span></span><a data-query-source="hashtag_click" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheFlyingSnot?src=hash" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">TheFlyingSnot</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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frozen sea Loch Fyne. </span></span><a data-query-source="hashtag_click" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/1ToGo?src=hash" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">1ToGo</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a data-query-source="hashtag_click" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bonspiel?src=hash" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"></a></span><a data-query-source="hashtag_click" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bonspiel?src=hash" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background: white; color: #6bb8d4; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .2pt; line-height: 107%;">#</span><span style="background: white; color: #0989b8; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 21.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt; line-height: 107%;">Bonspiel</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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</span>Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-67967323122392577592014-11-25T09:11:00.001+00:002015-06-13T18:06:22.989+01:00When Adults Grow YoungMy latest novel, due out next year, began life as an adult novel. The subject is adult even though the protagonist is a sixteen year old boy. Two years into the writing and on reflection I began to believe the subject of oppression and class struggle might be suitable for young adults as well as adults. There was nothing else for it, I needed to read as many young adult books as I could lay my hands on.<br />
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I wanted to read only the best but I didn't know where to start. I was staggered by the choice on offer outside the famous Hunger Games and Twilight series. I asked for recommendation and my <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> friends were a great source. Here is a small selection of some I have read in the past months.<br />
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<b>We Were Liars by E. Lockhart</b><br />
<b> <span style="font-size: 22pt; line-height: 107%;">****</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/147140398X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=147140398X&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21&linkId=FZHYJP4A7HFPK3NF" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=147140398X&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" height="200" width="130" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=147140398X" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
There are a lot of mixed reviews about this book and I can see why. First off it would be easy to spoil the read by revealing too much of the story so I am going to say little other than it is about three rich cousins and their poor friend who always spend the summer together. A significant event occurs and everything changes. It has a twist at the end which I had heard about and I spent far too long looking for clues and trying to work out what it could be. I shouldn't have.<br />
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There have been complaints that the writing style is choppy, annoying. I liked it, it was different and felt natural for the age of the narrator (17yrs)<br />
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The novel is short, pacey and filled with creepy tension and yet the author still finds room make some pretty heavy social comments and for this I give it four stars.<br />
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<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><b>Kit's Wilderness by David Almond</b></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001KPTCJE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B001KPTCJE&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21&linkId=TWRKICRIXL3YGVRJ" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B001KPTCJE&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" height="200" width="150" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B001KPTCJE" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />Kit Watson and his family return to the mining village where his ancestors lived and worked. He is drawn into the childish game of Death in the wilderness of old pit workings and a story unfolds of friendship, death and the meaning of belonging.<br />
Although this is a YA book it is very dark and well suited to an adult read. <br />
The relationship between Kit and his grandfather is particularly well drawn.<br />
The plot has touches of a Stephen King style but this is gentler and more thoughtful. This is the kind of book I wish I had written.<br />
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<b>Skellig by David Almond</b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: 29px; line-height: 31.3866672515869px;">****</span><span style="font-size: 22pt; line-height: 31.3866672515869px;">*</span></b><br />
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I read this in one sitting. A pace perfect fantasy, with unfolding family drama, lots of love and a little sprinkling of William Blake. Loved it.<br />
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<b>Clockwork, Or, All Wound Up by Philip Pullman</b><br />
<span style="font-size: 29px; line-height: 31.3866672515869px;"><b>****</b></span><br />
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I picked this up from the library sale bin and read it right away. Philip Pullman is the master of children's' fiction. This reads like a fairy tale but is full of drunkenness and adults behaving badly. It is enhanced with very quirky illustrations and asides. It is a short read and I loved being transported through the whole story in one sitting. <br />
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<b>War Horse by Michael Morpurgo</b><br />
<span style="font-size: 29px; line-height: 31.3866672515869px;"><b>***</b></span><br />
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I really hated this book in the first part. I hated horse point of view, and the fact that the horse seemed to understand everything about the world. When he arrives in war torn France not only does he understand English but German and French too. Then I reminded myself who this book is aimed at and the message it is trying to get across. I settled into the style and stopped being an adult critic. That's when I started to enjoy it.<br />
It might not be perfect, but what this book does well is show man's inhumanity to man and beast then counters that by showing man's humanity to both. I found the historical aspects of the Warhorses very interesting although I'm not sure how accurate they are. The big message is about WW1 and how futile it was.Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-80532323202369056142014-07-09T09:33:00.001+01:002015-06-13T18:11:05.420+01:00Finding Al Alvarez<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiESO-kdznp4eWaZs_c5r8xcGkLOCB-TBoLnBacc1ouQaL8vrGZUYv7Pl2fkUHO0NmJWlIQs3AlaIBWEBQxPC1PIBYej9H32FKXAzNvlPnYsRJEf-OfsS6f0LhLqMx6Sae0-JoftZLf/s1600/2-P1020269.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiESO-kdznp4eWaZs_c5r8xcGkLOCB-TBoLnBacc1ouQaL8vrGZUYv7Pl2fkUHO0NmJWlIQs3AlaIBWEBQxPC1PIBYej9H32FKXAzNvlPnYsRJEf-OfsS6f0LhLqMx6Sae0-JoftZLf/s1600/2-P1020269.JPG" width="200" /></a>A couple of weeks ago I was in London. A sweltering, tourist
crowded, sweaty, dirty London. I jumped
on the number 24 bus at the bottom of Tottenham Court Road and within thirty
minutes I reached <a href="http://www.hampsteadheath.net/" target="_blank">Hampstead Heath</a>. I have never been before, had only see it on
films and TV <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">–</span> Notting Hill, Smiley<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">’</span>s People. I expected it to be like the other London
Parks, manicured and prim but it's not, Hampstead Heath is wild.<br />
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I began my walk at Hampstead Railway Station and scuffed by feet
uphill through rough stubble and newly cut grass.
Benches perched randomly on the hillside, left for anyone willing to climb the slope to
take in the breadth and beauty of the trees and the odd glimpse of the city. <br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Two competent dog walkers with twelve dogs between them
seemed comfortable with the surroundings so I followed them for a bit then
swung low to meet a well-made path. This took me to a causeway where two boys
fished in a pond. Notices advised against disturbing the water in respect of
the swimmers. <br />
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Swimmers? </div>
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At the far end of the pool was a jetty
behind which wooden huts huddled. In the
water I noticed a bald head heading toward a string of buoys about twenty five
metres from the jetty. An elderly
gentleman, the only one in the water, reached the barrier and hugged it, taking
in great whoops of breath. Bravo, I thought and before I had the chance to take
out my camera, he was thrashing back the way he came. This was the Mixed Pool.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUFR1iT_8DykFxg60P46doxxT1tvZDJBCNmjcJY0GapZ63VH2BH6FOZNL6EEaN2z4iMoIiI6eHNMe4DdM0x0tGDDyvW-B6CrpLO5ZR5oZLO7QBcZndRf3bf6-PryZZzBMord3pM6sK/s1600/3-P1020271.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUFR1iT_8DykFxg60P46doxxT1tvZDJBCNmjcJY0GapZ63VH2BH6FOZNL6EEaN2z4iMoIiI6eHNMe4DdM0x0tGDDyvW-B6CrpLO5ZR5oZLO7QBcZndRf3bf6-PryZZzBMord3pM6sK/s1600/3-P1020271.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Mixed Pool with old man swimming</td></tr>
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From here I climbed Parliament Hill where I was rewarded
with the iconic view of London only previously seen on the small screen but I
was then saddened to see a dejected English football supporter, draped in his
flag, gazing with awe at his green and pleasant land; wondering, no doubt, where
all his World Cup dreams had gone.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPOq5LD97zxe9Gsctm0FyMhOljn-35yf0WrQgTKMTcySW445yM0vFmnWUX0M41Hfc93YiK7-1aLY6k5WsKdee00wIq0rXmyv9k91hFH_qzz7weBPI0nieMEq3J3qN_Pe8qI_-8_WQ8/s1600/4-P1020274.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPOq5LD97zxe9Gsctm0FyMhOljn-35yf0WrQgTKMTcySW445yM0vFmnWUX0M41Hfc93YiK7-1aLY6k5WsKdee00wIq0rXmyv9k91hFH_qzz7weBPI0nieMEq3J3qN_Pe8qI_-8_WQ8/s1600/4-P1020274.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A poor wee soul on Parliament Hill</td></tr>
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I followed the path down to Highgate, toyed with the idea of
looking for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highgate_Cemetery" target="_blank">Karl Marx's grave</a> but in the end caught a bus back to Kings Cross.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Walking is hungry work so I stopped off at The Quakers<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri;">’</span>
<a href="http://www.friendshouse.co.uk/" target="_blank">Friends House</a> caf<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri;">é</span> for lunch. This decision was impulsive. I had been passing
the place every morning for the past week, it was close to my hotel and the
menu on the board outside looked tempting.
And they had a bookshop!<o:p></o:p></div>
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The lunch can only be described as OK. A dry scotch egg with
salad. The bookshop was more interesting. I am not religious but am interested in the
different philosophies religions explore. This bookshop had many on offer but
one book caught my eye.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Pondlife by Al Alvarez. <o:p></o:p></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408841002/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408841002&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1408841002&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1408841002" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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I have been familiar with<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Alvarez" target="_blank"> Al Alvarez</a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri;">’</span>s work for a
number of years. I always believed he
was an American climber who was also an excellent writer. I have enjoyed many
of his articles, stories and poems in various climbing magazines through the
years. He wrote the introduction to the iconic short story collection <a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0906371015/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0906371015&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21%22%3EThe%20Games%20Climbers%20Play%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=moimcp-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0906371015%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E" target="_blank">The GamesClimbers Play</a>. I vaguely remembered he
played poker.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I read the blurb about his previous publications, it turns
out he is British and a writer and critic who climbs, how could I have got that so
wrong? The book was subtitled A Swimmers
Journal; he had added another activity
to his already full portfolio.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I almost fainted with shock when I read the author<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri;">’</span>s
profile and saw his photo. The book journals the last few years of the author's swims in pools at Hampstead Heath and
charts his slow decline into old age. The photo shows an old man, bald head,
and grey moustache above a rather pained smile.
I was convinced the man I saw only an hour before in the mixed pool was Al Alvarez. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The coincidence made me giddy. What made me go to those
pools? I had no idea they were there. What made me go to the Quaker House? The
only reason I picked up that particular book was I knew the name <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri;">–</span>
I thought he was an American climber!
It was weirder than weird.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course I had to buy the book. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The journals begin in 2002 and charts Alvarez as he stumbles
from his home near the Heath to the ponds for his swim. He swims all year round
and along with a daily water temperature he lists the birds and the
blossom, the changing seasons. There is
a real sense and love of the place. The shifting cast of characters are
wonderful, fellow swimmers (mostly ex-athletes) and lifeguards. It is like an old boys club and very
companionable. The author is pained by a bad ankle that plagues his walking
and as the years spread over the pages he becomes more and more debilitated,
suffering a stroke and many falls. His
frustration is heart breaking but I shy from feeling sorry for him because that
is what he loathes most. By the end of the book his life is a constant battle
against pain and his declining years.
This is an amazing insight into what we all must face one day; this man<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri;">’</span>s
struggles should give us the courage to face it with dignity.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The book only chronicles up to 2011 and by the end I began to doubt
whether it was Al Alvarez I saw that day. I hope it was because it means he is
still winning.</div>
Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-7760017297393119832014-04-28T17:05:00.000+01:002014-04-28T17:05:10.080+01:00Guest Post by Alice-Catherine Jennings, Poet, Reader, Medievalist<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Epic-mania in the
Global Reading Group: How It All Began</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">We all have those books, right? The ones that are
always on your “must read” list but never quite make it to the top—year after
year. Mine was <i>The Inferno</i> by Dante Alighieri. It seemed like every time I read a
poem, a story, a novel, Dante’s name would pop up. Good grief! There was even a reference to <i>The Inferno</i> on <i>Mad Men</i>. <span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It was time </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">to get to the bottom of this
Dante thing. Oh, I wasn’t totally clueless. I had read snippets of it in high school. I
knew it was about sin and punishment and that Hell had nine levels. Yet, what
else was I missing? Why do so many writers refer back to this epic work of
literature? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This would be the year, the year to read Dante. The
timing was perfect. It was March 2013 and it was Lent. I could begin now and end on Easter
Sunday. I had a deadline but I needed a
support group. My memories of Dante weren’t favorable. I thought the reading
would be a slog—something that one endures because it good for you, like
getting your teeth cleaned. I needed
people to keep me accountable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">But where could I find these other readers? My
family said, “No way” and close friends said they were busy. They had other
books to read. It was time to clean their closets, file their nails. I decided to look further afield, to mine my
Facebook nation. I posted and posted and sent out invitations. At first, the
response was tepid but steadily it grew. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Forty-five! I could not believe it. By the start date, my original idea had
morphed into a literary salon of forty-five members. It was all so exciting. We
would journey to Hell together, with Dante and Virgil (more on him later) as
our guides. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">We considered form, mythology and structure. The
architects in the group gave us their version of the construct of Hell. We
thought about the worst of the worst and whom we would put in Hell’s lowest
circle. All in all, it was a terrific read. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">At the end of month, the group asked, what’s next? “What’s
next?” I never considered the reading group to be an ongoing thing. I just
wanted to read Dante. Anyway, that’s how we got hooked on the classics,
especially the epics. Dante led to Virgil and Virgil to Homer and Homer to <i>Beowulf</i> and so on. The list of future
salons continued to grow—and, so too did the readership. For the <i>Beowulf </i>salon, there were over 65
members. The average group size, however, is 35. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">At last count, there have been more than 350
participants (including many, many repeats) from 15 different countries
worldwide. Although I do not know
everyone personally in the salons any longer, I do sense a personal connection
to each and every reader. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">What attracts folks to the classics? I imagine there
are as many reasons as there are readers but I suspect there is a yen for an
opportunity to reflect on the things that are elemental, universal and
important—the things that make us human. And, the stories are good, really
good. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Each month The Global Reading Group reads one
classic work of literature. For the schedule and how to join, visit: </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.alicecatherinej.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">www.alicecatherinej.com</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5A_ta76fvlFNoriyLlxRO_gagAza79LkY2_hs2wOUpkcyJi4PyZWwp-dNQzsPkSuyBudqAkTUUhHcVCwMJQ-UoGZog8oszmxH0YpZyHqbRA9T98YQ2ZbGcqgjevfDgWBOih_8COU0/s1600/alice+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5A_ta76fvlFNoriyLlxRO_gagAza79LkY2_hs2wOUpkcyJi4PyZWwp-dNQzsPkSuyBudqAkTUUhHcVCwMJQ-UoGZog8oszmxH0YpZyHqbRA9T98YQ2ZbGcqgjevfDgWBOih_8COU0/s1600/alice+photo.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #343434; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #343434; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #343434; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Alice-Catherine Jennings</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"> is a student in the MFA Program in Writing at Spalding University. Her poetry has appeared in </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">In Other Words: Merida</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">Hawai’i Review, </i><i style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">Penumbra, The Louisville Review,</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">Boyne Berries</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"> and is forthcoming in </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">First Literary</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">Review East</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">. She is the recipient of the U.S. Poets in Mexico 2013 MFA Candidate Award. Alice-Catherine divides her time between Austin, Texas and Oaxaca, Mexico. </span></span></div>
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Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-38035180261232376562014-04-21T20:03:00.000+01:002014-04-21T20:03:08.069+01:00Epics on a Global scale<br />
'Milton’s Paradise Lost and Seamus Heaney’s Translation of Beowulf have been neglected. My new challenge is to work on finishing the unfinished and immersing myself in the epics.'<br />
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This is a quote from my <a href="http://moiramcpartlin.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/poetry-challenge-2013.html" target="_blank">blog post dated 31st December 2013</a>. Imagine my surprise when a week later I saw an offer on Facebook to join a Global Reading Salon set to read epics in 2014, the first of the selection being Beowulf. Of course I joined. <br />
And when I did join I found that Milton's Paradise Lost was on the calendar for March - perfect.<br />
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This closed group was created and is managed by Alice, a lady in Oaxaca, Mexico. So how does is work? Alice invites participants through her normal facebook links, you message her and she adds you to her closed reading groups. Each book has its own group so you do not have to read them all. There is four weeks allocated to read and comment on any particular epic.<br />
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About a week before reading commences, Alice posts some introductory information and invites the groups to introduce themselves to each other. She also sets out the reading itinerary, breaking the book into equal parts. Each week we are given a particular aspect of the book to focus on for example architecture, the role of women, heroism and that sort of thing. The group sizes could range from half a dozen to over thirty depending on the given book. Participants came from all over the globe although the discussions tended to be generated by the same few.<br />
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The thing I enjoy most about the Global Reading Group is the discipline of having to read a set amount each week. If I fall behind I work hard to catch up. It is invigorating to imagine people all over the world reading the same book as you, but I think the best part of the experience is the satisfaction I feel each time I finish what can sometimes be a very difficult read.
Below are my reviews of the first three reads of 2014.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0571203760/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0571203760&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0571203760&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
This is an epic poem written in Anglo Saxon sometime between seventh and tenth century. I thought the read would be heavy going but I was in the safe hand of the Seamus Heaney translation; beautiful flowing lyrical verse. The story is a rollicking good read. Poor Beowulf, not only does he have to slay a monster and monster mummy, but just when you think it's safe to take the chain mail off, a dragon appears. The reading group definitely enhanced the experience, with loads of online chat and additional information about the epic. I would recommend it. <br />
Five Stars<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0140441379/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0140441379&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0140441379&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><br />
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This German Epic is not for the faint hearted. It tells a very gruesome tale of love, lust, rape, murder, revenge and bitterness. The story takes place between the lands of the Rhine and the Danube around 400AD and 600AD. The most astonishing thing that struck me about The Nibelungenlied is the small value of life and the treatment of women, even those of noble birth. The armies' warriors were measured in thousands, many of them slaughtered. This is an interesting account of the nobility and changing fortunes of that period in time. Four Stars<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0140424393/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0140424393&linkCode=as2&tag=moimcp-21" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0140424393&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=moimcp-21" /></a><br />
This is one of the books I had sitting on my shelf for years and knew it would be good for me to read so I was happy the Global Reading Salon had it as the March read. It wasn't what I expected which was a holy, holy poem about Adam and Eve and the creation. God in the poem is scary, fierce and ruthless. And Satan has motives and seems quite rational at times. I read the poem aloud and enjoyed the beauty of the structure and language but I have to admit that I was often confused and lost concentration many times when the story spun off into different points of time, naming people and places I had no reference to. I am going to give it four stars because it is a cracking poem and an immense body of work. Four Stars<br />
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<br />Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-16167157106012250042013-12-31T13:02:00.002+00:002014-01-05T11:45:07.390+00:00Poetry Challenge 2013<br />
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<b>The poetry challenge</b></div>
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A year ago today I was planning my poetry challenge. As a
reluctant poetry reader the challenge was to read at least one poem a day,
every day and to choose a new poet every week. By the end of the year I should
have read at least 365 poems and 52 new poets.
One year on I can claim success and more. I managed to read on average about four poems
a day. Some weeks I did cheat and would choose to read a poet’s collection I
had previously started and failed to complete, but in the course of those weeks
I invariably found other poets to read somewhere along the line. Because here is the thing, once you embark on
including poetry as part of your daily life you begin to see it everywhere; in
newspapers and magazines; at the beginning of books; on the internet; in the
underground; on the back of cereal packets. Poetry exists everywhere we just
don't notice it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So how did I choose my poets and where did I source their
collections? When I started I knew very
little about poetry, but I did know loads of poets. The first thing I did was
broadcast a plea on Facebook and Twitter. The response was staggering. I began
with a list long enough to keep me going for the first couple of months. Many of these poets continued to send me suggestions
throughout the year if they came across something they thought I would
like. Even with this very unscientific
approach I find that the poems span many centuries and continents. I am
surprised by the many Scottish poets in my list but also by the diversity.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I admit to buying a few new poetry books, both hard copy and
ebook. I found many of the poetry ebooks
under £2.00 and often free. I also used <a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/">WWW.Poemhunter.com</a>,
a superb source that allows you to download free poetry ebooks. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Because I lived part of 2013 in France I had to organise my
library books with care but I am sorry to say the libraries only held a limited
online selection.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Most of my books were second hand. Early on in the year I visited Callander
where bookshop owner, the lovely poet and publisher Sally Evans, guided me on
the best and most influential poets to read. She insisted I read John Donne and
I am glad she did. ABE Books, a
marketplace of online second hand bookstore was my main source.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My greatest joy was trolling the shops of Paris. There I
found the elusive Edwin Muir, an old version of French Poetry with translation,
a bilingual version of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Yeats and Emily Dickinson. The
search was as pleasurable as the reading.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So what did I learn from this challenge? The aim was to improve my own writing. I am
not sure if this is achieved, time will tell. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I have learned that reading poetry enriches your life in
unimagined ways. New worlds have been opened up to me. I have discovered a
love of art, I know more about Greek Mythology, politics, oppression, nature,
life and love.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The challenge may have ended but I will continue to read
poetry every day. This is a daily habit I intend to keep. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Throughout the year I have managed to read full collections
but often I could only dip in and out again.
I only managed a glance at Shakespeare’s sonnets and the French collection. Milton’s Paradise Lost and Seamus Heaney’s Translation of Beowulf have been
neglected. My new challenge is to work
on finishing the unfinished and immersing myself in the epics. And I can't
wait.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Below is my list of readings:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 1 – Thomas Hardy, Poems of the past and present, full
collection <o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 2 – Kathleen Jamieson, The Overhaul, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 3 – The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, complete poem<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 4 – Billy Collins, selection of poems from
Poemhunter.com<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 5 – Two Billies – William Letford, Bevel, full
collection and William McGonagall, A Selection, full collection.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 6 - Sharon Olds, Stag’s Leap, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 7 – Robert Crawford, The Tip of my Tongue, full
collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 8 – Mark Doty, Atlantis, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 9 – T S Elliot, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,
full collection. And Sydney Goodsir Smith, Under the Eildon Tree, full
collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 10 – Moya Cannon, Carrying the Songs, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 11 – Emily Dickinson, Everyman’s Poetry Collection,
full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 12 – Bernardine Evaristo, Land of Abraham, full
collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 13 – Rhona Fitzgerald, Oidreacht/Inheritance, full
collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 14 – Christopher Reid, The Song of Lunch, full poem<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 15 – Sheila Blackhall, The Toad on the Rock’s Opinion,
full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 16 – Warsen Shire, Teaching my mother how to give
birth, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 17 – Dylan Thomas, Everyman’s Poetry Collection, various
selection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 18 – Don Patterson, Landing Light, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 19 – August Klienzahler, The Strange Hours Travellers
Keep, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 20 – Pablo Neruda, Love – Ten Poems, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 21 – James Robertson, Hem and Heid – ballads, sangs,
saws and poems, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 22 – Elizabeth Burns, The Gift of Light, full
collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 23 – WB Yeats, Everyman’s Poetry Collection, various
selection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 24 – Charles Baudelaire, The Poems and Prose Poems of,
various selection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 25 – Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, various selection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 26 –Wong Phui Nam, Way of Exile, various selection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 27 – Ray Bradbury, On Creativity, complete book<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 28 – Paul Muldoon, The Poetry of, various selection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 29 – Marina Tsvelaeva, Bride of Ice, various selection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 30 – WH Auden, Tell me the truth about love<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 31 – Chris Salt, Home Front, Front Line, full
collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 32 – Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken and Other
Selected Poems, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 33 – Epic of Gilgamesh, part read<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 34 - The Poems of Wilfred Owen, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 35 – Yardza Garcia, A Shy Girl Screams Poetry, full
collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 36 – Wendy Cope, If I Don’t Know, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 37 - Edwin Muir, Selected Poems, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 38 – Alice Walker, Horses make the landscape look more
beautiful, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 39 - Poems of the Great War 1914-1918, various poets,
full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 40 – George Mackay Brown, Northern Lights, Poems and
Prose, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 41 – Maya Angelou, And Still I Rise, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 42 – Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters, various selection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 43 – Tennyson, various selection<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Week 44 – Theodore Roethke, selection of poems from
Poemhunter.com<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 45 – Louise Gluck, selection of poems from
Poemhunter.com<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 46 – Sai Murray, Ad-liberation, full collection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 47 – Kevin Cadwallender, various selection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 48 – John Donne, Complete works, various selection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 49 – Robert Louis Stevenson, Everyman’s Poetry, various
selection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 50 – The Poetry of Jalaluddin Rumi, various selection<o:p></o:p></div>
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Week 51 – Moon in The Pines, Haiku, full collection<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Week 52 – Michael Ondaatje, The Cinnamon Peeler, various<o:p></o:p></div>
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Some were great, some were good and a few were truly awful but they were all worthwhile to read.</div>
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Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-46808598911438368942013-12-21T09:06:00.002+00:002014-01-05T19:22:14.316+00:00The curious world of Bizarro<br />
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<b>A couple of weeks ago I read a copy of Chris Kelso’s <i>A Message from the Slave State</i> and experienced my first curious taste of the Bizarro genre. I thought Bizarro would make a great topic for a blog post then realised I was hopelessly under qualified for such a task so I interviewed Chris about the genre and his writing. I'm now clued up and you can be too if you step into the weird world of Bizarro with the talented Chris Kelso as your guide.
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWRaY9zLm5WRRl7A-T0RpM7j37eUcjjK847Z6lDC7O5BfgmQ_bAF5ATp_LKIAadYXX_U4g3esp33N1zbOXtAhoNq-8u9ZSCyAGGfPT-r3cYsqgPz9qjQuzvSQDA5XaNsHIToekj7n/s1600/1-1378790_592876974087681_1388123138_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWRaY9zLm5WRRl7A-T0RpM7j37eUcjjK847Z6lDC7O5BfgmQ_bAF5ATp_LKIAadYXX_U4g3esp33N1zbOXtAhoNq-8u9ZSCyAGGfPT-r3cYsqgPz9qjQuzvSQDA5XaNsHIToekj7n/s320/1-1378790_592876974087681_1388123138_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris Kelso</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>You are the only Scottish Bizarro Writer. What is Bizarro and when did you first discover this new genre?</b><br />
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I’d say the most frequently used tagline the Bizarro genre has sums the whole thing up pretty well, although there is more to it. The tagline goes that: <i>Bizarro Fiction defines itself as the literary equivalent of the cult film section in a video store.</i>
It has a definite focus on the outré but shares common tropes with science-fiction, fantasy, and horror as well as with Dadaism and surrealism. It’s a great mash-up of tastes and styles. There’s a strong influence of new Weird in there as well as horror comedy
(I’d even argue that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ero_guro" target="_blank">Ero Guro</a> has been just as instrumental in shaping the Bizarro voice – it has certain preoccupations with eroticism, sexual corruption and decadence.)
I discovered it myself about 7 years ago, and like most newbies to the genre, it was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlton_Mellick_III" target="_blank">Carlton Mellick III</a> that lured me in. I was going through a kind of ‘controversial novel phase’ as a teenager where I was consuming anything that people found morally reprehensible or distasteful. “Satan Burger” was popping up all over the place and causing a stir – so I bought it, read it, and before I knew any better I was spending a large chunk of my student loan on <a href="http://eraserheadpress.com/" target="_blank">Eraserhead Press</a> titles. I was SUCH a fanboy. I still am really. Having the chance to finally be part of that whole thing is a dream come true, and in most cases I am actually friends with the writers I grew up reading. I even wound up co-creating a magazine called <a href="http://imperialyouthreview.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Imperial Youth Review</a> with an idol of mine, Garrett Cook. It’s been a fairy tale as far as I’m concerned.<br />
<br />
<b>What attracted you to the genre?</b><br />
<br />
I had my period of wading through the classics of the literary canon but by the time I was at university I was crying out for something that appealed to my sensibilities and didn’t feel like homework! Don’t get me wrong, I love the classics, I also love Scottish fiction like Robin Jenkins and Alasdair Gray, but there’s a side to my personality that all that stuff doesn’t cater to. While it’s certainly aimed at a mature audience, a large proportion of the Bizarro community take their inspiration from cult movies which make it accessible and appealing to disillusioned younger readers. It aims to satisfy the demands of readers who are looking for deliberately and unashamedly weird literature. Although a lot of the writing itself is surreal and grotesque, there’s an aesthetic of self-promoting too so every author in the genre is a hard-working, stoic professional. It’s the perfect genre to induct new writers – it’s unusually welcoming for a lit-movement, but you have to work your arse off to get anywhere and stand out. I need my arse kept in check like that to stay on top of my game.<br />
<br />
<b>Much of your work is short fiction. What opportunities are available for publication of short fiction in this genre? </b><br />
<br />
There are always new podcasts (<a href="http://castroller.com/podcasts/bizarrocast?page=2" target="_blank">Christopher Boyle’s BizarroCast </a>and <a href="http://www.surrealgrotesque.com/" target="_blank">Jeremy Maddox’s Surreal Grotesque</a> shows instantly come to mind) and ezines appearing within the genre. You really couldn’t hope to be in better company as an emerging writer because people are constantly creating a new arena for you to express yourself. Everyone is very encouraging and there are ALWAYS open submissions somewhere.<br />
<br />
<b>At times your prose uses exquisite literary description and unique metaphor. Do you ever explore other genres to sustain this type of prose? </b><br />
<br />
I do. Bizarro is really just the “excuse” I cling to in order to communicate my horrid little stories without being stoned in the street or deemed abhorrent in the eyes of society. It’s not just my excuse, I do actively identify myself as a Bizarro writer in some capacity. But it allows me to write without restraint, urges it even. This is tremendously freeing for a writer. I’m just as influenced by literary fiction and science fiction as I am by Scottish fiction (believe it or not!) and some non-fiction. The Bizarro genre has been hugely inspirational to me but most of the actual literary devices and developments I exercise are taken from or influenced by the more recognised genres.<br />
<br />
<b>Who are your main writing influences and why? </b><br />
<br />
This is difficult for me. I have so many, but I’ll give you the run down on the three who have had the biggest impact on me. My main influences are….<br />
<br />
.William Burroughs – because his prose is just stunning. It’s raw, ugly, refined and coarse in equal measure. “Naked lunch” provides, in my eyes at least, the true blueprint for what Bizarro fiction means to ME and what I think it’s all about: Writing without shackles, provoking and employing heavy use of metaphor to create fix-up novels. The pop-culture significance is also present in Burroughs work.<br />
.Alasdair Gray – “Lanark” is my favourite book, hands down. “1982 Janine” is a close second. He was the first Scottish writer I’d come across who didn’t come across as a stuffy auld arsehole (of course I’ve since learned that there is a rich tapestry of writers who don’t write like stuffy auld arseholes!). His writing is so accomplished and his artwork is beautiful. That’s another thing that influenced me to try and illustrate my work. The experience simply enhances twofold. I want to create a similar reading experience.<br />
.Philip.K.Dick – Everything about his books tap into what I enjoy most about writing. He introduced to me the idea of creating worlds and analysing the shifting dimensions of our reality. His writing is always smart, efficient and funny. I’ve read most of his books, even the trashy, pulpy novels he wrote early on in his career just to generate cash.
I’m missing people like Garrett Cook, Samuel Delaney, Tom Bradley and Charles Bukowski, but I’d be here for bloody ages blethering on about them…<br />
<br />
<b>Cartoons appear sporadically within your collections and you use a relaxed, often very funny dialogue. These two elements in your writing led me to wonder if you have ever considered branching into the growing Comic writing scene that is happening in Scotland at the moment. Have you?</b><br />
<br />
I have actually! I’m currently scripting a comic at the moment called The New Animal Liberation Front. There are already some exciting people coming on board to help me out so hopefully we’ll see more from that endeavour soon. But I’m really proud of the way this country is so ingratiated in comic books. From <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_AD_(comics)" target="_blank">2000AD</a> to <a href="http://www.grant-morrison.com/" target="_blank">Grant Morrison</a>, there’s a strong network of top-Scots in the field. We seem to be intrinsically channelled into the whole comic book ethos, we just seem to get it over here. There are obviously great artists and writers in comics all over the world, but for a country our size it’s a phenomenal thing to witness.
I’m very keen to be part of it, or at least meet some its main proponents. I met Grant Morrison a couple of years ago in <a href="http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/" target="_blank">Forbidden Planet</a> and I had a lovely chat with him. Unfortunately, I tend to get all marble mouth and start sweating profusely in the company of greatness, but he was very, very cool and lovely…<br />
<br />
<b>You have been published both in the UK and in the US. How do the experiences compare?</b><br />
<br />
I’d say the US publisher was much quicker, but both have their pitfalls and graces. I love <a href="http://www.doghornpublishing.com/wordpress/" target="_blank">Dog Horn</a> (who published “Schadenfreude”), but Adam the editor is so unbelievably busy and backlogged that the book took a good while to come out – that said, I think Dog Horn is the freshest and most exciting indie publisher of alternative fiction in the UK –PERIOD- , so it was a small price to pay just to have their name attached.<br />
<br />
<b>And finally what advice would you give any writer wishing to break into the Bizarro genre? </b><br />
<br />
Show each other respect. All the established Bizarro writers are approachable and beautiful human beings who want to see everyone in their genre flourish and succeed. They respond to politeness and a showing of mutual respect. If you need advice they are always accommodating. Just make sure you leave the ego at the door. Get networking on Facebook and make sure you join all the groups that discuss Bizarro literature, think about the Bizarro writing workshops too. There’s no initiation or bull-shit. If you write bizarre, weird fiction there’s a place for you.<br />
<br />
<i>Chris Kelso is a Scottish writer, illustrator, editor and journalist. He has also been printed frequently in literary and university publications across the UK, US and Canada. He and Garrett Cook are the co-creator of ‘The Imperial Youth Review. His books include, Schadenfreude, Moosejaw Frontier, A Message from the Slave State, Last Exit to Interzone and the upcoming books - The Black Dog Eats the City, Transmatic and The dissolving Zinc Theatre. </i><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Thanks Chris. To read my short reviews of <a href="http://westernlegendspublishing.wordpress.com/books/a-message-from-the-slave-state/" target="_blank">A Message from the Slave State</a> and <a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/chris-kelso/schadenfreude/paperback/product-21134838.html" target="_blank">Schadenfreude</a> click<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R2MMLF8Y0LM4PN/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1482763818&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=266239&store=books" target="_blank"> here</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/RP1IVK1IPSGHZ/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1907133399&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=266239&store=books" target="_blank">here</a>. MM
</b>Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-83277597779244964752013-10-21T21:32:00.000+01:002013-10-21T21:32:13.864+01:00What I talk about when I talk about the pain in my bones<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">A wee while ago I read Haruki Murakami's inspiring memoir '<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ciframe%20src=%22http:/rcm-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?t=moimcp-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=0099526158&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr%22%20style=%22width:120px;height:240px;%22%20scrolling=%22no%22%20marginwidth=%220%22%20marginheight=%220%22%20frameborder=%220%22%3E%3C/iframe%3E"><span style="color: blue;">What I talk about when I talk about running</span></a>' for
a number of reasons. The first being I am a fan of Murakami's novels, but I am
also a runner and a writer and I was intrigued to see how he linked the two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In the book he talks about his motives for running. This man is a
serious athlete competing in marathons, ultra marathons and triathlons so I was
surprised that his motives were not competitive. He explains that he
started running about the same time he became a writer and it was a lifestyle
choice. He realised that writing is a sedentary profession and if he wanted to
be in it for the long haul he would need to maintain his body in ways he had
never considered before. This got me thinking about my own well-being
story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As humans we are not designed to sit all day. It wasn't long ago we were
hunter gatherers. In the last fifty years or so, with the decline of
industrialisation in the western world, our employment and our leisure time is
increasingly spent sitting, usually in front of a keyboard, screen or smart
device. The news reports rises in cases of obesity, heart disease and poor
circulation as a result but there is never a mention of how our poor joints and
muscles are coping with the changing trend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsNwrzMNVeQljZctFIqabl5ZDddOEZpBcVZAx2krR_WFMludoqJ1X1Tbn_dsJL21oQFHJFHnwUDd6jDv9_X5HWl7p8UuA-Ti9qvzZhDoR1iXdtdDaC3iaagehHXKNboRFUi4NUwnKE/s1600/1-P1010772.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsNwrzMNVeQljZctFIqabl5ZDddOEZpBcVZAx2krR_WFMludoqJ1X1Tbn_dsJL21oQFHJFHnwUDd6jDv9_X5HWl7p8UuA-Ti9qvzZhDoR1iXdtdDaC3iaagehHXKNboRFUi4NUwnKE/s320/1-P1010772.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Homework Space</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Even before I became a full time writer I had pain issues. Life in
the Corporateland, years of lugging a laptop around, heaving cases in and out
of aircraft overhead lockers had left me with shoulder, back and arm pain. I
hoped that slowing down and working in one space might help; a weekly Pilates
class would sort out little niggles, time to run short distances would shake
out those tight shoulders. It did for a while, but after long periods
typing I found my shoulders creping up to almost touch my ears. After days
of editing, needle pains began to shoot down my left arm (even though I am right
handed). Like Mr M I want to keep writing as long as I can. Something had to change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As years passed I began to notice my mother's mobility decreased
exponentially. Just before she died at the age of eighty six, she had
shrunk to the size of a child and had all but seized up, her bones and tendons
cracking audibly when she did dare to rise to her feet. And in her I saw
myself thirty years down the line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">A few years ago I began <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_release"><span style="color: blue;">myofascial
release treatment</span></a> with the added benefit of a therapist who is
also my Pilates teacher. She knew my weak points and from day one gave me
homework and one simple tip which was to change my working arrangement
regularly. The body doesn't tell you when you are in the wrong position
until it is too late and it has sneakily learned to adapt. This puts strain on
other parts of the body. By changing position the body doesn't get a chance to
adapt. The pattern is being constantly broken.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I don't claim to understand the full meaning of myofascial, but the
treatment is a cross between stretching, massage and torture. When my muscles
are knotted tighter than a clenched fist she performs a treatment called
'stripping out' which is more painful than child birth (I'm not kidding, it
is!) It is no surprise then that I do my homework.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The latest piece of homework involves a roller. This is to prevent
the back spasms which occur when I spend too much time sitting and reading which leaves me debilitated for weeks. Holidays used to be a time when I could
curl up on a sofa and read a book from cover to cover. Not anymore. We
(my therapist and I) have come to the conclusion that I need to be in perpetual
motion. That is a tough call for a writer and layabout, and much as I love
<i>The Wizard of Oz</i> movie, I have no
desire to be Tinman. And I am not the only one afflicted, a Google search threw
out a number of blogs about the same subject. <a href="http://patthomson.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/looking-after-your-body-while-writing-tip-one/"><span style="color: blue;">Here is one</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I now need to walk about a bit folks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-77161475301305112152013-08-29T20:34:00.002+01:002013-08-29T20:34:57.581+01:00I Luv Paris (with exceptions) #3 - August or Fermeture Annuelle<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Bonnes
vacances à toutes et à tout</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I returned to Paris on the 2nd of August after a short trip to
Scotland. When I popped out of the <span style="font-family: inherit;">Metro at </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alésia</span></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>I thought I had taken
a wrong turn; caught the train to ghost town instead of my usual busy
little 14e Arrondissement. Cafe Zeyer, closed for refurbishment, set
the trend. All along the street shutters were down, cafe chairs and
tables stacked in corners, usually busy bar tabacs with handwritten signs hung on closed
doors, even our little corner boulangerie had its green blinds drawn and
buttoned. August in Paris means Fermeture Annuelle. The time when every small
business shuts up shop and goes on holiday for the month of August. How
would we survive? What would it be like living in a ghost town? It was easy.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Paris was hot and steamy but I wasn't
complaining. If I wanted crowds I need only go to the Seine in central Paris where a
horde of tourists hugged the river bank oblivious to the fact that outside that
enclave the city was virtually empty. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In the 14e the Monoprix was open so we
wouldn't starve and the market, although drastically cut, still had one of each type of stall and an abundance of fresh sunflowers for sale.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The biggest problem was finding an open boulangerie. Parisians take their bread very seriously and ever since 1789, when one
poor baker was hung for running out of bread, the annual holidays of boulangeries
have been regulated by La Préfecture de Police. Parisians should never
have to travel more than a couple of streets for their daily bread. The problem was
the trial and error of finding one that was open.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">There are great advantages of being in
Paris in August. Shorter queues at museums, being able to sprint over the busy
junction at Porte d’Orléans without having to run the gauntlet of red light
blindness, no junk mail, no cold calls and being able to get a seat on
the bus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shut for a month</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It is now nearing the end of the month and
slowly the shops are cranking up the shutters and sweeping out the summer dust.
It feels like the end of summer. Although the streets are again filled with the
smell of baking bread, through that I can smell autumn's rapid approach. The leaves are falling
and the sun is falling too. It has been a good August.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The
Exception<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Mosquitoes. According to the locals this
has been an exceptionally hot summer and the result is more mozzies. Some mornings I would wake with tracks of
bites across my shoulders and legs. I
tried tea-tree oil mixed with lavender oil, but that proved no deterrent. In the
end a new bedtime ritual of swot the mosquitoes was the only solution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-67341009555813043352013-06-19T19:32:00.000+01:002013-06-19T19:32:46.172+01:00I Luv Paris (with exceptions) #2 - Tenements and TentsAccording to Wikipedia two million people live within the twenty inner city arrondissements of Paris, twelve million live in the metropolitan area making Paris one of the largest population centres in Europe. I don't know if these facts are correct but I do know that compared to other cities I have visited and a few I have lived in, Paris does seem to have a higher population living within the city. And because this is in an area that, up until recently, had a cap on building height most of the residents live in six and seven floor tenements pulling out of every rues, avenue and boulevards.
It seems to work well. Our tiny one bedroom apartment is on the third floor of a traditional building six high. An old original wooden staircase spirals up an airy well, lined with an ornate window between each landing giving additional light for the steep ascent. Our heavy door opens into a postage stamp size hall giving little space between each room. The shower-room has been creatively fitted to ensure the porcelain jigsaws in place somewhere or other and the galley kitchen can hold only one person at a time, making the task of lifting a hot dish out of the oven a feat of physical agility I have had to learn.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcbaRiawCihl7NJdCwPIjzShEc3imHZ9Vd_o733eA0vx30nSaBgMr3fTL4aGM47wwn0zNgxXZLR4m4vqhkdUYEh0wc491cDOK0wG9e7SbnNQFhT8Ut4oYbBM1Jka-mP2Dq59zaLGEK/s1600/1-8377330048_e7c5ce936a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcbaRiawCihl7NJdCwPIjzShEc3imHZ9Vd_o733eA0vx30nSaBgMr3fTL4aGM47wwn0zNgxXZLR4m4vqhkdUYEh0wc491cDOK0wG9e7SbnNQFhT8Ut4oYbBM1Jka-mP2Dq59zaLGEK/s320/1-8377330048_e7c5ce936a.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tenement Stairs (image C Baird)</td></tr>
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The bedroom has a mirrored robe which gives the room a feeling of great space. But it is the living room which gives the apartment its charm. This primrose yellow painted room is in fact two rooms knocked into one and again, with a large mirror positioned at one end, the room feels like a ballroom. Two full length windows, guarded by a Paris balcony, open out into the narrow street providing vast portions of light reflected off the concrete building across the road which even the heavy wooden furniture cannot absorb.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">City of light - mirrors and concrete buildings</td></tr>
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I lived briefly in a Glasgow tenement about seven years ago and had forgotten how liberating it was to live with few possessions around, little drying space for clothes, a kitchen cupboard with space for only a few ingredients to work with and the familiarity of the noises around – from the street and the building.
Although I very rarely see my neighbours they are evident. The rattle of the wee boy upstairs as he races to school and he tries to beat his personal best in the seconds he takes from top to bottom. Each day I hold my breath convinced that today he must surely break his neck. Or the other footsteps down in the morning and wearily back up again at night. I occasionally meet the elderly monsieur on the second floor as he returns from the boulangerie and sometimes the oriental gentleman on the ground floor who takes responsibility for putting the bins out.
Each 'close' share a dedicated bottle bank (needed for all those red wine bottles) and recycling bin that are emptied twice a week, there are two smaller bins for general waste. The stairs are cleaned by an outside contractor - Friday mornings the streets around here are plashed with the slops of the close cleaners. I reckon the most secure jobs in Paris are those of close cleaners, bakers and those guys that erect and dismantle the market stalls. It all works very well.<br />
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So what is the downside? The downside is that of all the large cities in Europe I have visited nowhere is the homeless more visible than in Paris. Maybe it is a good thing the problem is so visible, but I'm not so sure. The homeless seem to be accepted by the locals but does that mean responsibility is devolved? The homeless I have encountered tend to be very polite, non-aggressive white, middle aged men who spend their days either begging, sleeping or sitting around reading and chatting to each other. Residents give them food and drink and they live in tents erected on the pavement. When I first arrived and saw a tent on the pavement I thought it was a one off, but I soon discovered they can be found in little enclaves in most arrondissements. There is one new camp set up beside Montparnasse Cemetery flying the flag of Breton – they seem to be in for the long haul.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHlb-cSEEUxb5mkdI0MNKXnlb0fk7l-6QUiraXx5SqpQUwpMYiddyeEhwwm1vDdaVzMDkWZgWQlqjgshON0BOMKEH8o4cMh1o6M6MwZcFa9g8ljsuU-FPYtDvWdUqti7E1ROLtsSbV/s1600/1-P1000269.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHlb-cSEEUxb5mkdI0MNKXnlb0fk7l-6QUiraXx5SqpQUwpMYiddyeEhwwm1vDdaVzMDkWZgWQlqjgshON0BOMKEH8o4cMh1o6M6MwZcFa9g8ljsuU-FPYtDvWdUqti7E1ROLtsSbV/s1600/1-P1000269.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Homeless winter camp beside The Observatory</td></tr>
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Of course it isn't just in the inner city. In some of the poorer Banlieues (suburbs) where high rise living and social housing is normal, there are huge shantytowns sprawled over large areas of land. One can be seen from RER B. At first it looks like a landfill site with rubbish strewn everywhere, until you notice the smoke from the little crooked chimneys reaching out above the chaos. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/sep/07/france.sport" target="_blank">The site beside Stade de France</a> has re-emerged again after it was dismantled for the Rugby World Cup.<br />
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I am only an observer and I admit to not having all the facts but I can't help wondering why a city that boasts some of the most expensive couture in the world cannot help the poor man rolled up in a tartan blanket, asleep on the pavement, right outside a high class fashion outlet?
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keeping warm in November on Rue de Sèvres<br />
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<br />Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-80696586771997570922013-05-28T18:44:00.000+01:002013-05-28T18:44:52.639+01:00A Writer's Paradox<br />
It is the time I wait for and the time I dread. That magical time when I can write The End to a novel length manuscript. But am I alone in this feeling of emptiness when it all ends? I bet F Scott Fitzgerald or Ernest Hemingway never had this problem when they finished a book.<br />
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For the past year I have started my day knowing exactly what I will be doing, when and where. I could be writing a new chapter or rewriting, or polishing up a piece to send to one of my early readers. I might even be having a morning in the library to check up on some facts before meeting a friend for lunch. Whatever I was doing it will have involved my novel. <br />
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Then one day I wake up and think what am I going to do today? What happened to a those dreams over the last few months, of the ending, of all the free time I will have to play with words, to read books, to explore the world outside of the four walls of my writer's cave. What's stopping me? Maybe other writers go straight onto the next project. I can't do that, the creative side of my brain has been sucked dry and is withering somewhere in a corner waiting for the inspiration juice to perk it up. <br />
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It is May and I am living in Paris. It should be simple to be inspired, I just need to walk round the corner to my local cafe and people watch. Why the restlessness, the inactivity?<br />
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Guilt is perhaps one of the reasons. Guilt of having all this free time while my partner goes out to his nine til five every day. Or is it simply just a lack of routine? One thing is for sure, something has to change.<br />
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Here are six things I am attempting to do this week to shake this feeling - at least into next week;<br />
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1. Stop feeling guilty. There have been many times when I have worked well into the late evening while my partner sat reading or playing his guitar. I gave up a nine to five to be a full time writer. He has accepted that now I need to do the same. Despite what writers' interviews would have you believe writers don't, won't, can't write full time. There needs to be a bit of, what my old boss called, blue sky thinking. <br />
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2. Read poetry, read widely and start making a list of all the new exciting words that crop up in that reading. At the beginning of this year I began a poetry challenge to read a poem a day and to sample a new poet each week. So far I have been successful in this challenge, but up until now I was only passively reading. By writing down each new word I become active in my own learning. Not only will this widen my vocabulary but it will also fuel my creative tanks.<br />
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3. Read the internet news and allow taking the luxury of following threads through the forest of news until embroiled in stories I would never normally reach. Be shocked, be enraged, be sympathetic, be bemused. whatever it is take it in, from all over the world and learn what is going on around you.<br />
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4. Ask someone to write down five words or phrases in your note book and then, over the week write something about each one. It is quite incredible when the first topic is written down other unrelated ideas jump forward to be added to the list My partner gave me five topics last night and already the list has doubled.<br />
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5. Be inspired by the masters - read the <a href="http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews" target="_blank">Paris Review Interviews</a>. Some of these are pretty old, but reading them is like having a chit chat round the corner with some of the iconic writers of our time. When I was writing my novel I would often have a sneak read at some of these, now I have time to indulge myself. <br />
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6. Have fun with words. Someone told me before my first novel was published that it was the best time in her writing career. After her debut novel was published she lost some of her love of writing. I think this is because the pressure is on for a steady performance, but just like any job of work artists have good days and bad days. The best thing about being a writer is that you are a writer. It is a huge privilege to be able to entertain others using words, but it is an even greater privilege to be able to entertain ourselves I have now given myself permission to be free with words and to play. It doesn't matter whether anyone else reads them or not.<br />
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Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-67234120842567132802013-04-02T21:26:00.001+01:002013-04-02T21:26:10.023+01:00I Luv Paris (with exceptions) #1 - Le Petit Commerce<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht7pqGgzPyQ_1JXrORt4_xmE-bWKSXeIKK-YkZj_7zy_vz5xD7yx64W0yy9mLOW3XKD4iJFuKlY8FQBJU1OCyXAQuX-qvWA-AueMMI8QWyuY9HUkRbfduoIRjcnv-db343gCyaJB3K/s1600/P1000009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht7pqGgzPyQ_1JXrORt4_xmE-bWKSXeIKK-YkZj_7zy_vz5xD7yx64W0yy9mLOW3XKD4iJFuKlY8FQBJU1OCyXAQuX-qvWA-AueMMI8QWyuY9HUkRbfduoIRjcnv-db343gCyaJB3K/s320/P1000009.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">I don't know if this is true all over Paris but in </span>14ème arrondissement <span style="font-family: inherit;">Le Petit Commerce is thriving. By that I mean small businesses - bars, restaurants, shops and markets. The High Street in my home town in Fife, as in most Scottish towns, is a continuation of empty shops carrying </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">For Let</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> signs interspersed with a sprinkling of pound shops and charity shops. I have seen no evidence of this type of dereliction in Paris - in fact I have found very few charity shops.
In our neighborhood there is a healthy mix of businesses. I can't be sure of all the reasons for this but I can guess a few. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The biggest factor I see is the absence of large supermarkets. There may be some out of town but within the </span>Périphérique <span style="font-family: inherit;">(ring road) boundary there are only small shops. Parisians live in small tenements, often six or seven stories high, without a lift; most don't own a car. It would be very difficult to go to Asda or Tesco, do a large shop, lug it up six flights of stairs and then find a place in your tiny galley kitchen to store the food. Parisians seem to enjoy the art of shopping. </span>Why shop in one pace when you can still buy cheese from a fromagerie, preserved meat from a charcuterie and fish from a poissonnerie. Local loyalty and specialization still rule. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjat_yLUF6Tb9PFKJLmxCQGNCfGnbi-lrvetI-5q4jlEcqDF8cj0H6HSp7PCqpGjOO2wX2vUKEk6nEEXGfd-xnvtBGPv45PwpFNO0hPDK6VZMeeu72NoR3A6ngzSvbcO5QmsBDsOizo/s1600/P1000259.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjat_yLUF6Tb9PFKJLmxCQGNCfGnbi-lrvetI-5q4jlEcqDF8cj0H6HSp7PCqpGjOO2wX2vUKEk6nEEXGfd-xnvtBGPv45PwpFNO0hPDK6VZMeeu72NoR3A6ngzSvbcO5QmsBDsOizo/s320/P1000259.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And then there is the French love of fresh bread. On any street at anytime of the day, you will see people carrying home their batons, often tearing the top off to eat on the way because they cant resist that delicious fresh baked warmth. We have three boulangeries in our area. They all display a mouthwatering palate of cakes and pastries and as if by some prior arrangement, they all take a different day's closing. Sundays are a particular favorite with the Parisian cake buyers. Gift wrapped cake boxes are carried home with care, as if the bearer were carrying a new born baby. We have succumbed to this tradition by treating ourselves to a modest tranche of Flan Nature, a cake so delicious it has become my guilty pleasure. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyf2eQQAwsKui1BIjDZTiR3uiUHx_T05Q8e9jWTcBQyoWU2eswQix8EWNefEIvuGdNJTu1f7mNbUP9FjemgVMBph1OOwOfCwM_yYgGlTyOxqoYp5fl1f1ZfZf5ky1baOPdjFLepo9t/s1600/P1000284.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyf2eQQAwsKui1BIjDZTiR3uiUHx_T05Q8e9jWTcBQyoWU2eswQix8EWNefEIvuGdNJTu1f7mNbUP9FjemgVMBph1OOwOfCwM_yYgGlTyOxqoYp5fl1f1ZfZf5ky1baOPdjFLepo9t/s320/P1000284.JPG" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">Next is the availability of good quality open air fresh food markets. On any day of the week there is a fresh food market within five minutes walk of my house. We go each Sunday to the nearest and happily queue for meat, fish, cheese and vegetables and of course like every good Parisian we finish our shop at the fresh flower stall. Although my french is pitiful the stall holders remain cheery and patient and between us we manage to complete the transaction with little variation between what I ask for and what I actually get. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Groceries can be bought in little franchise supermarkets called Simply, Franprix and Monoprix - the equivalent of UK's Spar shops. The selection is usually varied and there are enough stores around to pick and choose. And as with the markets, the origin of the food is clearly marked and the majority is locally produced. In my first month in Paris I had an overwhelming desire for Scottish Oatcakes. I searched high and low and eventually emailed Nairns who gave me the addresses of three stockist in the centre of Paris but then last week I found the Franprix round the corner now stocks them - result!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8O7k7aL_-CoNE5Z1wGs4YcjkCDik9Uy2r7mm8i1xAb9Pfqh9Qz-wT47sEGAM0XRrmbbgQcmGbYZJxlT_xd-4hM7eIeZtKrNX8FBQqDmBx_mg962-FfbQSIwcRfJGhwEqiCUdbpFBv/s1600/P1000280.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8O7k7aL_-CoNE5Z1wGs4YcjkCDik9Uy2r7mm8i1xAb9Pfqh9Qz-wT47sEGAM0XRrmbbgQcmGbYZJxlT_xd-4hM7eIeZtKrNX8FBQqDmBx_mg962-FfbQSIwcRfJGhwEqiCUdbpFBv/s320/P1000280.JPG" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">Small cafes and bars seem to survive in this hard economic climate. The habit of locals dropping in for a coffee at any time of day must help and the owners' willingness to open at all hours of the day and night must be a contributing factor. Most serve '</span>formule' <span style="font-family: inherit;">meals at reasonable prices and there is often two hour long happy hours on offer. Many have arrangements with huitres (oyster) sellers allowing stalls to set up in front of their bars for one or two days a week when in season. They also double as Tabacs, selling stamps, tobacco and transport tickets.</span><br />
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On the whole the petit shopping experience is very enjoyable but as with everything there is a down side. Many (not all) of the small franchise shops appear to give no customer service training to their staff. The staff look and act miserable all the time, not just with étrangers like me, but with everyone. They appear to hate every minute of their job. In comparison to the cheery stall holders and family run bars I can't help wondering if their conditions of work are very poor and there is a resentment towards the predominantly middle class in the area. Unfortunately it is unlikely I will ever find out. It is a shame because like all the contrib<span style="font-family: inherit;">utors to Le Petit Commerce these stores are providing what their customers want - minus the smile.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7517617850603736197.post-45062500436633798472013-01-22T19:01:00.001+00:002013-01-22T19:01:58.033+00:00MarginaliaThis time last week I had no idea that scribbling on books had a name but week three of my poetry challenge ended with Billy Collin's alerting me to the art of Marginalia through his poem of the same name. And with startling synchronicity <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jocelyn-kelley/marginalia_b_2479707.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003" target="_blank">The Huffington Post</a> ran an article on 22nd January on the same subject.<br />
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I am a bit of a book purist and the thought of even dropping a flake of chocolate in the creases of a book brings me out in a clammy sweat. However the discovery that this is common place, even an art form reminded me of the time when I was thrilled to find scribbling of a superior kind.<br />
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It happened when I was researching motivational quotes in Glasgow's majestic <a href="http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/virtualmitchell/" target="_blank">Mitchell Library</a>. The only book I could find on Chinese philosopher<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi" target="_blank"> Lao Tzu</a>, thought to be the founder of Taoism, was in the Edwin Morgan Collection. <a href="http://www.edwinmorgan.com/news_index.html" target="_blank">Edwin Morgan</a>, one of Scotland's greatest poets, died in 2010. At the time of my research he was still alive though very ill. The books in this collection are kept in some special far away place. A request form is completed and the precious book is brought to you. Pencil only can be used to take notes and I would hate to think what punishment is delivered if the librarians sniff a whiff of ink. The feeling of being watched is unnerving.<br />
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With all the high security I was amazed to find in this edition fine spun pencil marks in the body of the text and margins - questions marks, affirmations and the odd additional wise word. I was being treated to a lecture by two great men. It could be the marginalia did not belong to Edwin Morgan, it did not matter, he allowed the marks to stand and that was enough for me. I assume they are still there and no one has rubbed them out.<br />
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Post script on this subject: Is there an art form of dead finds in books?<br />
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Today I opened a borrowed copy of Oscar Wilde's <i>Lord Arthur Savile's Crime</i> and found on page five pressed across the bottom two lines, a very dried, squashed spider. Being a confirmed arachnophobic I could neither destroy the relic or read the page. It gave a whole new meaning to the term page turner.<br />
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<b>Poetry Challenge Update</b><br />
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My week spent with the poems of Billy Collins was a delightful and rich experience and I have no doubt I will return to his slick brand of philosophy some time soon. Thank you <a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/" target="_blank">Poem Hunter</a> for providing the free <a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/billy_collins_2012_3.pdf" target="_blank">ebook</a> of his poems.<br />
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In Week Four of my poetry challenge I will explore poet and poem <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubaiyat_of_Omar_Khayyam" target="_blank">Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám</a></i> translated by Edward FitzGerald. The copy I have is a 1909 (3rd edition) of the first version by FitzGerald and is a great find. It cost me £1.00 in the wonderful chaotic bookstore <a href="http://www.nothingtoseehere.net/2008/07/voltaire_and_rousseau_glasgow.html" target="_blank">Voltaire and Rousseau</a> in Otago Lane, Glasgow. The poem can be read in one sitting but I plan to read it many times this week to absorb the beauty of the language and also to learn a little history of the poem and its many manifestations.<br />
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Moirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031362965457408527noreply@blogger.com0