What I've been reading

Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White

"This is the story of a little girl named Fern who loved a little pig named Wilbur, and of how Wilbur's dear friend, Charlotte, a beautiful grey spider, saved Wilbur from the usual fate of nice fat pigs."

A lovely tale which I must have read when I was young, but I remembered virtually nothing about it until I picked up this copy that Lola II and Mr M were going to send off to a charity shop. Much more interesting than I was expecting from a book for under 11-year-olds.

Near Future
by Suzannah Evans

"Doom-pop-poetry with an apocalyptic edge, a darkly humorous journey through sci-fi lullabies and northern mysteries. This is a future simulation stripped of the space-age gloss of progression - one where the robots have gone rogue and the hopes of a new millennium are malfunctioning; a skewed yet oddly familiar world gone uncannily wrong"

I could go as far as to say that I don't like poetry; it was mismanaged at school a bit like the gruesome lunchtime rice pudding. I didn't understand what I was supposed to do with prose in English lessons, let alone this weird stuff. Over time my objections have lessened (and I positively like rice pudding now). One of the other people on retreat with me recently is a poet, and brought a load of poetry books that we were encouraged to have a look at, lucky dip style. I picked out a book on the basis that it wasn't very thick, and started reading. Now I think I may be converted. I kept the book for a few days, and came back again and again to some of the poems, which contained short stories in a few words, a bit like the lyrics of  my favourite songs. If I weren't trying hard to reduce the books in the house, I would even consider buying it - and I still might. Here's a link to the author reading one of the poems that I particularly liked.

The Mill on the Floss
by George Eliot

narrated by Fiona Shaw

"Brought up at Dorlcote Mill, Maggie Tulliver worships her brother Tom and is desperate to win the approval of her parents, but her passionate, wayward nature and her fierce intelligence bring her into constant conflict with her family."

I was slightly worried about embarking on this book given that I didn't really enjoy Middlemarch and that's supposed to be one of the greatest novels in the English language. But this was much shorter and a lovely story, beautifully read, and very relevant and accessible. The 19th century has to be my favourite era for novels (with one or two exceptions - see below!)

Meeting the Buddhas: A Guide to Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Tantric Deities
by Vessantara

"An introduction to the most well-known and important Buddhas, deities and other sacred figures of Buddhism. Each is imaginatively brought to life for the reader presenting their major characteristics along with illustrations, visualizations, symbols, mantras and myths."

The earlier chapters covering the figures I've frequently heard of are much more interesting than the later chapters that introduce obscure Tibetan deities. It's a useful reference work and I may go back to it, but I'm glad I borrowed it from the library rather than bought it for myself.

The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne

"In the eyes of her neighbours Hester Prynne has committed an unforgivable sin. Everyone knows that her little daughter, Pearl, is the product of an illicit affair but no one knows the identity of Pearl's father. She stands strong in the face of public scorn, even when she is forced to wear the sign of her shame sewn onto her clothes: the scarlet letter 'A' for 'Adulteress'"

This was written at almost exactly the same time as 'The Mill on the Floss', but is a very different reading experience. I really don't understand why this book is so well regarded; I thought it was awful. The story could fit onto one page and everything else seems utterly redundant, and the archaic language is puzzling given how easily it is to understand George Eliot's writing. Perhaps dialect in New England diverged from that in England, or maybe he wrote deliberately in an old-fashioned way in order to relate a story from older times. Either way, I wouldn't recommend it.