Granta #63: Beasts

An interesting Granta anthology, ostensibly on the subject of beasts but only the first 5 stories are directly about animals.  My favourite was Paul Auster's 'Mr Bones', a story about a homeless man's dog accompanying him on his dying pilgrimage to his former English teacher's home. 'Mr Bones' is written with such elegance and sadness without ever becoming pathetic, as the dog reflects on what he knows of his person's life and how he came to be a homeless wanderer.  Hilary Mantel writes about the family's dogs, Gary Ennsa powerful piece about a crow that he and another boy teach to speak, Gordon Grice on bats and Sam Toperoff a story written from a tarantula's point of view.  All are thought provoking.

The rest of the anthology contains stories by Jackie Kay, Deborah Levy, T Coraghessan Boyle, John Barth, Joyce Carol Oates, Anwar Iqbal, Martin Amis and Hans Magnes Enzenberger, with a reportage piece by Simon Norfolk and Michael Ignatieff on the Rwandan massacre.

Stitch, Cloth, Shimmer & Shine by Sarah Lawrence

Search Press and Sarah Lawrence come together with a book as full of inspiration as stunning pictures. Lawrence generously shares her techniques for using fabrics, gilding, mica, metals, adhesives, heat, fusible web, paints, markers, inks, stencils, stamps, stitching, embellishments, and crayons to make stunning pieces which can be displayed in their own right or used further as fabrics for projects. She shows us how to create fabrics, beads, embellishments, cords, trims and jewellery. 

Lawrence's book is in two parts, the first and by far the largest a series of workshops with step by step instructions and photographs on using materials and techniques. These are clear, well written and illustrated, although a little knowledge of fabric craft is needed in some instances.

A beautiful book, a piece of exuberant creativity I will continue to enjoy and learn from.

Snake Bite by Scott Hancock (AUDIO)

The Doctor and Rory decide to steal a march on Amy and race out of the TARDIS into their next unknown world without her. You would think after accidentally condemning Amy to 36 years on Apalapucia with the handbots they would know better. They find themselves in a steel lined room, the Doctor's sonic screwdriver gets them out into the laboratory of Doctors Elehri Mussurana and Ernst Wharner. But as Amy emerges she and the TARDIS are sucked into the wormhole created within the chamber and finds herself on a dying world under three red suns. And she's not alone. As Rory and the Doctor try to get back to Amy a terrible truth comes to light.

Read well and rather disturbingly by Madame Kouvarian herself, Frances Barber, a good sparky adventure.

Simple Crochet by Sara Sinaguglia

I was a little disappointed in this book as I'd been pleasantly surprised by Simple Sewing with Lola Nova by Alexandra Smith which is in the same series. As I said with that, you can tell much of the worth of a craft book by its introduction, and the crochet instructions in this one were too short and not at all clear, I have seen far better.

The writing, is, however, clear and the projects well laid out. There are six sections of craft projects divided up by location: Kitchen, Living Room, Bedroom Bathroom, Children's Rooms and Out and About. They are themed by colour scheme and the feel of the projects but each of the projects could be made up in a different fabric for a completely different effect. Projects comprise: apple and egg cosies, pot holders, table linen, edgings for shelves, pillows and knickers (!), a crochet hook roll, coasters, artwork, cushions, a bookmark, slippers, face cloths, bowls, a blanket, a pencil pot, a toy bunny, a steering wheel cover, a bag, smartphone case, scarves, beret and wrist warmers.

Each project has a header page like a recipe showing everything you will need to complete the project, tension, finished size and skill level along with a good picture of the finished article. Clear crocheting instructions follow.

It is a shame about the instructions because the projects are very pretty, and if you know how to crochet already the book is worth it for them alone.

Hollow Earth by John and Carole E Barrowman

13 year old twins Matt and Emily Calder are in the National Gallery in London and they are bored, it's summer, it's hot, their mother is talking to someone and they just want to go swimming.  Seurat's Bathers at Asnieres is tormenting with them with it's vision of people dozing in the sun on the banks of the Seine.  They take out a drawing pad to entertain themselves, but these children are extraordinary.  As they draw their picture it comes to life and they get the swim they wanted, and a world of grief from their mother.

The incident sets in motion a series of consequences and before long the family are fleeing for Scotland and the home of their grandfather, their father's father: the ancient Monastery of Era Mina on a tiny island off the coast at Largs.  Here they meet others who can do what they do and the people who guard them, a new friend Zach and find out more about the mysterious disappearance of their father and the Hollow Earth and the history of Era Mina.

Brilliantly paced and written, the Barrowmans' book carried me through and left me eager for the next instalment. The characters are well delineated and vibrant, setting and descriptions so clear that the magic could really be real.

Simple Sewing with Lola Nova by Alexandra Smith

This is a good book, you can often measure the worth of a craft book by the quality of the introductory pages and Smith's are well written.  She speaks of her own creative journey and her passion for handmaking is infectious.  Her listing of tools, materials and basic techniques is comprehensive,  well written and easy to follow.

Then there are four sections of craft projects divided up by theme: Boho, Natural, Vintage and Eclectic.  They are themed by colour scheme and the feel of the projects but each of the projects could be made up in a different fabric for a completely different effect.  Projects comprise: bags, children's clothes, a tent (which me and my 9 year old daughter will be making!), storage, mats, artwork, cushions, pencil case and tool roll, a book cover, a tool belt, badges, patches, a toy bunny and all templates for the projects.

Each project has a header page like a recipe showing what you will need and the skill level along with a good picture of the finished article.  Instructions follow, clear well written step by step instructions with full colour photographs.

A delight to look at and I can't wait to try out some of the projects.

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

John Bartle and Daniel Murphy are soldiers, no more than boys who signed up from their homes in rural Virginia to fight their country's war in Al Tafar, Iraq in 2005.   Bartle's first person narrative alternates between his experiences in Iraq and the year after his return to Virginia.  Powers' describes Bartle's increasing sense that although he was the only one to return from Iraq in a very real sense both he and Murphy died out there.  Powers speaks with painful beauty of the heat and dust of Iraq, the emotions suppressed as he killed not just men but also women and children, and how the trauma reduced him to a walking ghost on his return, unable to reconnect with those around him, plagued by flashbacks.  Powers' description of the true nature of depression is one of the best I have ever read and this is to my mind as beautiful an elegy for what is lost in war as Sassoon.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Blue Sargent is the child of a psychic, but not pyschic herself.  In her little American home town of Henrietta Blue's mother Maura and extended family of aunts trade in predictions, keeping Blue close because she amplifies their powers.  As she sits in a churchyard sited on the corpse road scribing the names of those who will die in the coming year for her mother's friend Neeve as they pass through the gates she reflects on the predictions made about her - that the boy she kisses will die - and for the first time she sees one of the soon-to-be dead.

Nearby at the exclusive Ivy League residential school Aglionby Gansey is searching.  There are four so-called Raven boys: Gansey, his roomates Ronan and Noah and local half-scholarship boy Adam.  Gansey is possessed by his search for Owen Glendower (Owain Glyn Dwr), a mythical Welsh king who he believes to be buried on the ley line that runs beneath Henrietta.  The legend tells that the one who finds Glendower and raises him from his enchanted sleep will be greatly rewarded.  But he is not the only one searching, and there is one prepared to do anything to find the sleeping king.

Privilege meets poverty, ordinary teenage concerns meet with magic and the spirit world, and past and present loop together in this well told fast paced story.  The characters are well developed but although well written and gripping I did feel, however, that The Raven Boys petered out at the end and although I wanted to read the next one it didn't have a strong ending.

The Science Magpie by Simon Flynn

This is a great little book that had me learning and laughing from beginning to end, my inner geek is completely sated!  Little tasty bites of science, well written but not too basic, speaking about every aspect of science, period table, asteroid earth collison, prime numbers and logic theory, genetics, etymologies of scientific terms and the lyrics to the CERN rap.  The short sections make it an ideal book to just pick up and set down inbetween the rest of a busy life, and it's a nice size in the hand with an elegant white on black linen cover.

The Obsidian Mirror by Catherine Fisher

Jake Wilde has finally got himself expelled from his exclusive Swiss boarding school. Despite his many efforts this is the one that has succeeded: taking the role of Laertes in Hamlet rather too literally and substituting a sharpened rapier for a blunted one. Like Hamlet he is driven by the desire to avenge the murder of his father, not by an uncle but by his father's best friend Oberon Venn. Venn became Jake's guardian when David Wilde disappeared on his way home from Venn's estate.

Jake's teacher Wharton is sent to accompany Jake to his guardian's estate to ensure he doesn't abscond en route and together they enter Wintercombe Abbey. This is a house of myth and legend, the Venns are said to be half fairy and the woods around the estate to harbour fairies, not the cute creatures of Victorian imagining but wild and dangerous immortals. Enter also a girl called Sarah who comes from another time, pursued by something resembling a man and by an ice wolf. 

Jake's quest for vengeance and the characters come together in a mesmerising story by a writer who is skilled at taking ancient mythology and giving them a fresh slant. She weaves together fairy lore, the legend of Queen Elizabeth's magician Dr Dee, time travel and Shakesperean revenge tragedy into a story which I can't wait for the next installment of.

The Fairytale Princess: Seven Classic Stories from the Enchanted Forest by Su Blackwell and Wendy Jones

Seven classic fairytales featuring princesses are smoothly retold by Wendy Jones: Cinderella; The Frog Prince; The Twelve Dancing Princesses; The Princess and the Pea; Snow White; Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty. The book itself is large and satisfying, pictures on every page, each fairytale is of an ideal bedtime story length, not too long or too short. But the real star is Su Blackwells beautifully created and photographed paper sculptures. From one book a wave filled lake emerges in the Twelve Dancing Princesses, a castle rises from the opposite page, tiny paper boats float on the lake and delicate trees surround it. Snow White flees from the huntsman through the trees that rise out of another book, from a third a princess lifts a frog from a well. Enchanting