The Woman in Black

Open Book this afternoon included an interview with Susan Hill about The Woman in Black. Now of course I know that it is a long running West End play and that it is soon to open as a film staring Daniel Radcliffe. I also know that it is a spooky story in a gothic sort of way, but I'm ashamed to admit that that is about it. Well, I am now enlightened and will add The Woman in Black to my growing pile of books to read.

Hill, now 70, said that the book was a bit of an experiment. She wanted to write a ghost story and thought that the only ones anyone ever really read were A Christmas Carol and The Turn of the Screw and that, in any event, ghost stories were rarely full length novels. She also wanted to return to writing after a few years break with her young daughter. She found a student who provided childcare every morning for 6 weeks and so the book had to be written in that time. Consistent with the customary efficiency of a new returner to the workplace, she did it. After some initial success, it faded. However, the novel's enduring popularity seems to be founded on its place on the GCSE and A level syllabuses - a sure way to inflate sales. And no doubt that is one reason why the play is still running and why teenage audiences will flock to the film (nothing to do with young Dan of course).

Classic choices for the new year

We took a pragmatic approach to classics at last night's book group meeting at Maria's. We selected a new book in part based on its length, having quickly realised that Maria's copy of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskill looked very long (I checked afterwards and 448 pages is a couple of hundred too many in my view).  At the other extreme was Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (on Radio 4 this week) which at a mere 102 pages is a much more attractive proposition. However, we ended up compromising on a novel which ticks lots of boxes: Scoop by Evelyn Waugh is a classic, a comic novel and at 228 pages long is of manageable length.  It also seems an appropriate read at the time of the Leveson Inquiry; will it reveal the 1930s Fleet Street equivalent of phone hacking?

Since, for reasons involving various exciting travel plans (envy) we cannot meet until the beginning of March, some of us might also try to read On The Road by Jack Kerouac (does anyone have a surname with more vowels in it I wonder, unless it is the Italian branch of the family?). A novel which pulses with 1950s America will be an interesting contrast to Evelyn Waugh.

We also discussed our Christmas reading which was an eclectic mix ranging from Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James (Maria) to Back From the Brink by Alastair Darling (me..... and perhaps why I'm suddenly interested in books with laughs). Sally recommended The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje and Alison enjoyed The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst (I agree; I thought it was excellent and a nice take on the whole business of literary criticism too).

Caroline spoke highly of The Song of Achilles, a first novel by America classics teacher Madelaine Miller which is a modern retelling of Homer's Illiad. It has been well reviewed. According to The Independent, which liked it saying it is not a pretentious book: "Brokeback Mountain sets sail for Troy. It has all this ... without being remotely trashy. It's an entirely successful piece of writing, sitting comfortably between literary and commercial fiction genres. It does what the best novels do – it transports you to another world – as well as doing something that few novels bother to: it makes you feel incredibly clever."  That has sold it to me....must add it to the pile by the bed. Incidentally, is there a classical or Homeric revival going on? Alice Oswald's Memorial (see the blog here: Books at my bedside) was shortlisted for the TS Elliot Poetry Prize although she has withdrawn it in protest at the sponsorship of a hedge fund (I don't know the details).

We meet again at Caroline's on Wednesday 14th March; some way off so plenty of time to attack the pile.

Comedy Classics

No, not Dad's Army or Fawlty Towers but Radio 4's Open Book has challenged readers to come up with their favourite comedy classic reads. It set me thinking: how often do I read something that really makes me laugh? Parts of The Finkler Question were laugh out loud funny, gentle chuckles accompanied Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and of course I smile, in a lady-like manner, at the irony of Jane Austen, but other than that I can't recall reading a humorous book for a long time.

Top of the Comedy Classics Pops turns out to be The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4, followed by titles such as Three Men in a Boat, Cold Comfort Farm and Love in a Cold Climate (and many more). Whilst I have read Adrian Mole, I have never even dipped into the other three. The book group assembles next week with the mission of choosing a classic to read for our February meeting. Should we consider a comedy classic?

The Sense of an Ending - a Post Script

I chuckled at the Londoner's Diary in Friday's Standard for, where the book group leads, so the literati follow. It is as if they had read our thoughts on the Julian Barnes novel..... or maybe they had read the blog (at The Sense of an Ending).  The Standard asked whether it was "an Emperor's new clothes moment" since, apparently, a review in the New York Times is no better than lukewarm: "It isn't terrible, it is just so...average. It is averagely compelling.....it involves and average amount of concentration and ..... it is averagely well written: excellent in its averageness!" The Standard goes on to suggest that it is what a lot of people have been thinking but haven't dare say or print. Well, ever bold...... you read it here first.