The Literary Gift Company

A little plug for this online retailer of literary gifts, which is presently offering a 15% discount. A good place for presents book lovers from mugs and cushions to earrings and t-shirts and I rather like their stationery collection. Find them at: Literary Gift Company.

Mornings in Jenin

At a well attended meeting last night we shared our views on Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa. It turned out to be one of those books which provoked a good deal of interesting discussion but one on which we largely shared similar thoughts. One reason for this might perhaps be because none of us had the political or historical insights and depth of knowledge needed to challenge this most moving and beautifully crafted Palestinian story. We acknowledged that it was a one-sided account of a sustained period of devastating conflict (the story opens in 1941 in Palestine and ends, under Jewish fire, on the West Bank in 2002) but we felt that this was acceptable as it was the story of one Palestinian family's struggle, generation after generation, to survive endless political turmoil, violence and war. The portraits of the Jewish characters are more one dimensional and less powerful than the wonderful and very moving characterisation of Amal, her parents and friends.

There is a strong sense in this book of the importance of land - the family lived off the land, cultivated the land, were dispossessed of it and yearned for it throughout the book. And, in my view, the writing is at its most poignant and moving when the author describes the land and what it means to Amal's family. An early sentence illustrates this exquisitely:


In a distant time, before history marched over the hills and shattered present and future, before wind grabbed the land at one corner and shook it of its name and character, before Amal was born, a small village east of Haifa lived quietly on figs and olives, open frontiers and sunshine.


It's enough to make you weep at the outset and a number of us last night confessed to tears as the story progressed. This is a book which educates you about the Palestinians and their cause, provokes you to think about the Middle East and linger longer over the news stories and which undoubtedly stays with you. As Huda (what a sage and honest character) says to Amal on her return from the US: "The roots of our grief coil so deeply into loss.....Our anger is a rage that Westerners cannot understand. Our sadness can make the stones weep." Anything I write is inadequate to explain the beauty and sadness of this book.

Fifty Shades of Grey - a confession

Ok, it's best to be honest about it from the start. Despite my sniping, cynicism and earlier blogs, as soon as I discovered that EL James lives locally in Brentford and that her son is at Laura's school, I had to read the porno sensation that is Fifty Shades of Grey. What's more, I now learn that very many of my friends (nameless of course) have read it.

What is there left to say? Well, everyone knows that there is no sex until about a third of the way through the book but that the second two thirds certainly make up for it. And everyone knows that it is not a literary masterpiece (I'm trying hard to be polite here); I lost count of the number of times the heroine refers to her "inner goddess" but it is irritating on each and every occasion. And everyone knows that it is the fastest selling paperback of all time and that Kindle downloads are massive (last week one electrical retailer held Fifty Shades responsible for a 71% increase in Kindle sales). And now the Sunday papers tell us that the book is responsible for a massive increase in the sale of sex toys, including a "beginners bondage kit"- yours for £17. We are told that sales of nipple clamps are up by 330%, riding crops by 200% and jiggle balls - read the book if you don't know - by 653%. Indeed, the first hit (excuse the pun) I got when googling the title of the book was to sextoys.co.uk followed, unintentionally I imagine, by sainsburysentertainment.co.uk although I don't think you'll find nipple clamps on the supermarket shelves.

However, my favourite reflection in the Sundays on this topic concerns the speculation about who will play the leads in the film (the content of the film itself is mind-boggling). Whilst Michael Fassbender and Scarlett Johansson might seem likely contenders in Hollywood, I prefer the quirky British dream team of Benedict Cumberbatch and Miranda Hart: "such fun!"

Reading on the tube

Here's a link to a delightful Tumblr blog (pictures, not words) celebrating reading on the New York subway Underground New York Public Library. It is a joy and there really ought to be a London Underground equivalent. I've looked and whilst I can find blogs on the history of the tube, tube etiquette, tube art and underground music (busking that is), I've found nothing on books or reading habits. In any event, my curiosity about other people's reading habits has recently been frustrated by the number of Kindles (full of dirty secrets I wonder?) on the District Line.

Rather bizarrely, my research for this post has thrown up a Reading (the place, but you can understand Google's confusion) baking club (who knew there were such things) where the July challenge is to bake something inspired by a London underground station. Suggestions include carrot cake for Warren Street, marmalade cake for Paddington, marble cake for Marble Arch and so on. The rules state that cup cakes, brownies and muffins are not allowed but that, unlike our book group, men may participate. It's meant to be fun but I think I'll stick with the olives, peanuts and sauvignon blanc at our book group meetings.