John Berger, who died aged 90 on January 2nd, was a critic, novelist, playwright, screenwriter and poet and well-known to many. Occasionally, in his early writings according to this Guardian obituary, Berger’s ‘Marxist dialectic did force him into uncomfortable contortions’, but whenever I heard him or read his fiction I loved his originality and his extraordinary ability to make the … Read More
Author: Angela
Dare Always Dare, and Guerilla Grafters
A friend pointed out to me a week or so ago that this: DARE ALWAYS DARE is written in neon above the foyer entrance to the Old Vic Theatre (no idea why I’d never noticed it before): And so we should, if only we could, all the time. But I think it’s good enough to DARE SOMETIMES … Read More
Third novel, and the Reith Lectures, 2016
This month I finished my third novel. Finished to be interpreted loosely: there will be redrafts when I’m working with an agent and then with an editor. It’s working title is For the Love of Life. Rejoice. At least for now. But now, while I do all the things I haven’t had time to do (updating … Read More
Rose Tremain’s The Gustav Sonata and Dioni Mazaraki’s silver jewellery
I’ve read all Rose Tremain‘s novels and I love the fact that they fail to fit neatly into any particular category (except the category of beautifully written stories about the way we are and how we become). They’re always and essentially different, one from the next. I read The Gustav Sonata on holiday and, perhaps because the usual daily … Read More
Theresa May, the Queen and Boris Johnson and, more seriously, Kent Haruf
A friend of mine sent me this sometime after the Brexit Bungle: There’s not much else to say, is there? On a much more serious note (and far wiser, kinder, more compassionate and life-enhancing), I read Kent Haruf (to rhyme with Sheriff)’s Our Souls at Night on holiday recently, on the recommendation of dovegreyreader and, in a parallel … Read More
How dramatic stories change brain chemistry, and NOT the Booker Prize
Good strong stories, as we all know, transport us to other people’s worlds. So, when we’re reading fiction, even though we know the people we’re reading about aren’t real, if the story has a successful dramatic arc we’ll empathise with those imaginary people and their difficulties as if they were real. And now Paul J Zak, Director of the Centre for … Read More
The UK Referendum, Brexit, and Meike Ziervogel on the importance of listening to other people’s stories
On 1 July Meike Ziervogel, founder and publisher at Peirene Press, published this: Translation is Europe’s only common language. Umberto Eco It’s a thoughtful and thought-provoking piece about the UK referendum, Brexit, and the importance of listening to other people’s stories. These are Meike’s words, not mine, but they’re published here with her permission. The whole … Read More
Why Readers Stop Reading; Lisa McInerney’s 2016 Bailey’s win, and Penicillin
An interesting survey on why readers stop reading: There’s more here. It’s published by Lit World Interviews (I found it on a TLC facebook post.) The conclusions are mostly what you’d expect to put readers off (although I particularly loved Unexpected Sex as a deterrent to reading on). But they’re a salutary reminder to us writers that what we must do, first and foremost … Read More
brainpickings and mindset
I’ve just discovered a website called brainpickings. I was noodling around on the internet, trying to find out something for one of my characters (what it was escapes me now) but I recommend brainpickings for the heart and for the brain. The articles are written by Maria Popova and they’re about, to quote her: Art, science, psychology, design, philosophy, history, politics, anthropology and … Read More
DO YOU WANT ESCAPE or EXPERIENCE WHEN YOU READ FICTION? And: from food desert to food forest
I found this definition of the distinction between genre and literary fiction here: The main reason for a person to read Genre Fiction is for entertainment, for a riveting story, an escape from reality. Literary Fiction separates itself from Genre because it is not about escaping from reality, instead, it provides a means to better understand the … Read More
Mindfulness, Fitzroy Square and Subversive (Guerilla) Gardening
A few weeks ago I did an Introduction to Mindfulness day at the London Mindfulness Project (whose rooms are in the astonishingly beautiful, Georgian Fitzroy Square, at No 6): No 6, according to the Georgian Society, has: Over the years … become associated with high-end Bohemian residents many of whom had and have prominent careers in … Read More
A Valentine to Fear; and Visual Verse
In Elizabeth Gilbert‘s brilliant new book Big Magic (I reviewed it here) she acknowledges that we need fear in our lives, otherwise we’d be: Straight-up sociopaths … [or an] exceptionally reckless three-year-old … . But you do not need your fear in the realm of creative expression. She also writes: When people try to kill off their fear, they often … Read More
Mistakes, for a new year
The first days of this new year have brought oddly mixed emotions. Happiness and gratitude that all those celebrations with friends and family went well, mingled with sadness for the absence of all those we used to celebrate with who are no longer alive. Memories of the dead weaving (wefting?) through the warps of our lives (and not always sadly). And then a … Read More
Laurie Lee’s A Village Christmas, and other things
I read about Laurie Lee’s A Village Christmas and Other Notes on the English Year at dovegreyreader’s wonderful blog early in November and I’m hoping it will end up under our tree this year. I’ve already bought it for several friends.A perfect book for this time of year (Lee’s daughter Jessy discovered seven pieces by her father in the … Read More
Leslie House, Fife; and the Daily Good
My great-grandmother Noël Rothes, whose life was the initial inspiration for my novel The Dance of Love, lived at Leslie House between 1904 and 1919. The house was burned to the ground while under restoration in 2009. It’s been the subject of at least two planning applications, but now stands derelict. But as I wrote in … Read More
What it’s like to write and what it’s like to imagine you might write; and Suffragette
In Edith Wharton‘s 1925 The Writing of Fiction in the section called ‘Constructing a Navel’ – obviously a typographical mistake but one I like for its overtones of contemplation – Wharton writes about the creation of character in a novel: The creatures of that fourth-dimensional world are born as helpless as the human animal; and each time … Read More
Mindfulness; 18 things creative people do differently and the ever-magical Elizabeth Gilbert
Mindfulness, according to The Mindfulness Project in London, is: A simple and very powerful practice of training our attention. It’s … about paying attention to what’s happening here and now (sensations, thoughts, emotions) in a non-judgemental way. It can interrupt the habit of getting lost in thoughts, mostly about the future or past, which often generate more … Read More
How incomprehensible unworkable things inspire
Joanna Briscoe and Grace Paley caught my attention this month. They’re very different writers but I’ve just read articles about writing by both. Grace Paley died in 2007 but a friend sent me her thoughts on writing recently. Here’s an extract from an article, reprinted here): One of the reasons writers are so much more interested in life … Read More
Ideas are NOT stories; and the Biblioteca Jardim
It becomes obvious if you write, but perhaps not if you don’t: ideas are not stories. Before I wrote or, at least, before I finished a novel, I didn’t grasp this fundamental fact because ideas, when they come (and I’ve no idea where they come from) are so exciting. They’re the fuel; the energy; the surge; the … Read More
Men and Embroidery, and a belated apology
Inspired by this post about John Craske and his delicate life and delicate embroidery in a new book by Julia Blackburn, at dovegreyreader earlier this week, I’ve begun thinking about men and embroidery. My grandfather sewed: tapestry, I think, for chair and cushion covers, but I thought, horrible child that I was, that it was an unmanly … Read More