Post Script: Education, Education, Education...

I must be one of the few people who didn't study Of Mice And Men for O Level...(they didn't have GCSEs in my day.) I did read the book a very long time ago along with Cannery Row, and I have to confess to not being able to remember much about either of the stories, except a depressing lack of hope.
My son, as you may know from the previous post, has read the book for GCSE English and enjoyed it. And, as you also may know he has since had all that enjoyment squashed out of him by the very same GCSE method of study. I did however manage to persuade him to come along to the Royalty Theatre's production of it. He wasn't exactly a willing or enthusiastic conscript. "I got the feeling you weren't giving me the option to refuse" he admitted. His feeling was correct; I admit it!
He was pretty impressed by the play, liked the way they had tackled it. Enjoyed the humour. But he

did fidget as "that speech" drew closer. That's the problem for him. It wasn't just that he knew what was coming, it was that he knew by heart what was coming. Curley's wife's speech has been read and reread, discussed and dissected ad infinitem until it has come to be nothing more than a tedious requirement of course work and exams. The irony is not lost on me. Curley's wife suffers a not dissimilar affliction, a life of tedium and a lost dream. Hopefully the outcome of Mark's boredom will not be quite so catastrophic.
I take heart from the fact that he enjoyed the theatrical experience, was able to comment intelligently on the production, and also that he admitted he has allowed his classroom experience to negatively influence his enjoyment of the play.
He is much more self aware than I ever was at his age, so maybe the education system is doing something right...or maybe I am?


http://spikemikeisbreakingaleg.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/of-mice-and-men-review-royalty-theatre.html

No Love Lost

The Legacy of Lorna Lovelost

I have been reading this book over the last couple of weeks. The author, Gary Murning, very kindly sent me a pre publication copy, on the understanding that I reviewed it in time for publication day. So naturally I added it to my "Must Read Over The Summer" pile: the "high priority" sub pile of my mountainous "To Read Eventually" pile. And naturally, I didn't quite get to it over the summer...
I have a digital copy, but don't own a kindle so I rely on the Kindle App on my android phone. This poses problems as my preferred reading spots are in the bath - risk of damp - and in my mother in law's garden - difficult, on a small led screen in bright sunlight and sunglasses... and time limited this year (a whole other story, don't even go there!).
So, here I am desperately trying to read it in time for publication day so that I can uphold my end of the bargain.
My other problem while reading this book has been a growing awareness that it was going to be very difficult to review. How the heck am I going to be able to tell people about it without giving away all the fabulous surprises and developments? I hate spoilers in reviews. If I read a review that unveils those vital moments before I have had a chance to discover them myself, then I simply don't read the book. What would be the point, if that delicious journey of discovery has already been plotted for me?
And so Gary may get the shortest, most cryptic review for his lovely book. I will try to make it longer than the title. To be fair I won't be able to give the ending away, because I haven't got there yet (sorry, Gary ETA sometime early on Sunday morning). I'm expecting it to be sad, hoping it will be uplifting, utterly convinced it will not be disappointing.
The Legacy of Lorna Lovelost is out today. There's an on-line launch party going on on Facebook, Twitter and Good Reads. Anyone can join in - please do. And buy the book. It's beautiful and funny and sad...and Lorna is an almost too good to be true librarian (no, seriously, we librarians are exactly like her...)

Down load a sample to try before you buy, or just go for and buy the whole book - it's on a launch day special for Kindle The Legacy of Lorna Lovelost by Gary Murning. and it is also available in good old fashioned paperback (for those of us who don't really do the eBook thing). You'll be able to see my proper review on good reads and Amazon soon. So that just leaves one more thing to say...

Gary...well done, love!

Celebrating words - written, spoken, sung, or simply implied...

In November last year the central library where I work celebrated its 21st birthday.

This is, of course, the "new" library on York Road. The "old" library on Clarence Road had been around for considerably longer but we out grew it and so a replacement was conceived and finally born in 1991.

Of course the new building was a bit of a Marmite experience. People either loved it or hated it. The old library was well, old, and quiet, it had that musty book smell and the hushed restrained atmosphere. People whispered while they were in there...it felt like a library. 

The new building was new, bright and airy.  It was ugly and brash and modern, and it has to be said, noisy!  People who had never set foot in the old place came in and talked, noise carried. On top of all this the books had some new-fangled "categorised" shelving system. How were people meant to find what they wanted!? Where was the peace and calm, the quiet solitude that our borrowers expected from their library? In some circles the old building was mourned and the new usurper shunned. 

The Old Library

The old building was also situated at the edge of town, on a traffic island. You took your life in your hands some days crossing the road to get there. The new library was built smack bang in the town centre...nestled among the banks, building societies and wine bars. Right next to the bus-stop and the entrance to the shopping centre. A prime location! When it first opened we had to daft in extra staff to man the counters. We had queues of people waiting to join, waiting to bring books back and take books out, waiting to reserve the latest Catherine Cookson! It was fabulous and exhausting! One member of staff actually brought in a pedometer to measure how far she had to walk in a single day! 

The newly refurbished Central Library

Twenty one years later and it's quieter. We would give our eye-teeth to have those queues back. Well, I would. Not so sure the staff on the front line would appreciate it quite so much. Queueing is seen as a bad thing still. Possibly even more so now than back then. Today if there are more than ten people on a waiting list for a book it is regarded as unacceptable; people start asking why more copies haven't been bought. Back in the day we might have over a hundred waiting for Ms Cookson and there might be 20 copies in stock. Times change. And so do libraries. 

In 1991 we opened our lovely new library with one author event: Ken Follett came and cut the ceremonial ribbon, all the council dignitaries turned out for it. Not so many of the public. Having actual authors in a library rather than just books was a bit new to us back then.

Mari Hannah and Russ Litten 

Twenty one years later, after a much needed and long sought after refurbishment, we celebrated with 21 events over a six week period: authors, song-writers, poets, illustrators. They came, they talked, sang, recited and drew...and they were fabulous. They also said lovely things about libraries - and in particular ours. And they said they'd love to come back and see us again, which is good because we are doing it all again this year...without the 21 theme, obviously. 

Thanks to the following who helped us celebrate! 

Trisha Ashley    Guy Mankowski    

Beda Higgins  Malcolm Green   Elizabeth Gill   

 P A Morbid    Lee Maddison   Mari Hannah and Russ Litten    

Peter Brunton    Dan Smith    Pauline Rowson   Alexander Gordon Smith  

 Paul Torday   Andy Briggs   Valerie Laws    Steve Cole   Phil Dunn  

 Keith Robson  Jeff Price and Aidan Clarke   Sean Cooney

  

Words and Memories

My Granda was an avid reader. He read everything and anything, from westerns, Dick Francis, Jeffrey Archer and John le Carre to my Grandma's "Woman's Weekly" and Mills and Boon romances. Basically, if it had pages and print he would read it. Christmas and birthdays were easy; a book, or two, would always be received warmly.

After a minor stroke he lost the ability to recognise words on the page. His loss was sudden and led to angry outbursts from this usually mild-mannered man. On one occasion he threw a book across the room claiming it was impossible to read as it was all in Russian. 

It was heartbreaking to witness his anger and distress as he struggled to understand. Why had we given him books in a language he could not read? 

But would it be worse to gradually lose your spoken language, and to be aware of it? With every misremembered word, to know that your means of communication was leeching away? 

 I first came across this work by Marc Nash as a written piece in his collection of flash fiction 16FF and although my Granda's speech remained perfect, this immediately made me think of him. Language - whether written, spoken or signed - is wonderful. How do we cope if it is taken away from us?

Visit Marc's blog at Sulci Collective.