Tag, You're It

Okay, so sitting here at 7am, checking emails and the dreaded facebook (I hate facebook, but I love being connected to my friends. Aargh), and looking at my blog stats (that is so addictive. Be warned, should you start a blog. And remember, the views and + are not reflections of you or your worth as a human being. It's okay that no one has looked for a while). My son and I love looking at where the views are from. That can be a lot of fun, and quite perplexing. I have a regular viewer in Russia, and the family history blog (which I must get back to) seems to have someone from the US armed forces. At least I think that's what's going on. Views from South Korea, then Germany, then South Korea again, but never both at the same time. Then both will vanish and there'll be extra under US (I have a branch of family in the US, so it's possible). The Zentangle blog gets readers from all over the place - Czechoslovakia, Poland, Netherlands, South Africa, Malaysia. It's up to about twenty destinations now.

Today I am checking the blogs. I have one and a half posts ready to go for Grasping Nettles (hopefully later today), and because it has a been a little while between drinks there hasn't been much activity. One view. I'm curious (it did annihilate the feline species, according to K9). Source? House Goes Home, that wonderful blog of my old school friend, Alana. Which is weird. Who has clicked through from there and how? So I follow the link. And get a shock.

I read Alana's blog every day (yes, she blogs every day. I don't know how she does it). If you want a blog that is honest, frequently funny, sometimes heartbreaking, that deals with everyday existence, her part of the extraordinary journey we all make, go and read HouseGoesHome. I looked at the post the link took me to, "I Got Booked", and wondered how someone found me through there. Um. Alana tagged me. And I didn't realise. I read that post three days ago and didn't see the tag. I loved the little image at the top of the page (the Steamgoth had a good laugh about it too then wryly said "there are some people at school who need to see that"). I followed through and read Pinky Poinker's post from which she tagged Alana (see? Grown ups do still play tag). And I looked at who Alana tagged in her post and thought "that would be fun" and didn't realise one of them was me. Some days, I swear, thicker than a whale blubber sandwich.

So, questions, answers, incep dates. I have to answer some questions about my reading habits. Here goes, and apologies in advance for boring you all to tears.

Do you snack while you read?

Ah, no, for the same reason I don't listen to music when I paint or draw. I get so caught up that I don't notice if I'm eating or not. Plus, if I do stop to think to take a bite then the flow is gone. I also don't like intermissions in plays or films.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

For fiction books, this absolutely horrifies me, makes my blood run cold. My uni texts, on the other hand, are full of notations. Even if I am looking at them again now, more than 15 years after leaving, I sometimes add notes. Some of my non-fiction favourites also have very full margins, passages underlined, wording questioned. It is like a conversation with the text. At high school I would have died rather than mark a book. Studying the history of book production at uni shifted something in my head. But only for non-fiction. The words of a fiction author are sacrosanct, their creation, and the images they are pouring into my head don't leave time or space for anything else. But there are editors out there who could do a better job.

Fiction, non-fiction, or both?

See above. Definitely both. There is too much knowledge out there, and too much amazing storytelling for me to ignore a category.

Hard copy or e-books?

Oh, this is vexed. I love the book as artefact, the smell, the sound of the pages turning, the feel of the paper and the spine, especially if it is a hardback. Especially if it is old. I love having those beautiful volumes on my shelves, just waiting to be picked up, with no energy needed other than mine. They don't need recharging, they don't rely on electrickery. Once made they need no other energy investment, they become clean and green for more than a lifetime. But... (there is always a but), I have an e-reader on the computer (I hate it. I want a Kindle. They use Othello technology. They aren't hard on the eyes). There is a Victorian author I love, George Chetwynd Griffith. He was an explorer and author (yes, he wears a pith helmet in his author photo). He was a left-wing science fiction writer, posited the powering of London with wave power from the Thames, wrote about airships that didn't run on fossil fuels, gave women strong important roles. He was a Steampunk writer before there was Steampunk. And my chances of actually owning a physical book of his are pretty much close to zero. But I have his entire output in e-book format. So for the sake of George I have to beat down my Luddite tendencies and say thank you to e-books.

What is the last book you bought?

I can't say because it is a Christmas present, so the one before that was "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley. Because I really wanted to read it again (you'll see why if I get my act together) and I don't know where my copy has gone. I went to QBD and found there was stacks on my card so I got Frankenstein and a Percy Jackson for my son for free. Who cannot love free books?

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?

Yes, yes, yes. Terry Pratchett, Robert Brown and Nancy Mitford. I have been reading Terry Pratchett's books since I first picked up The Colour of Magic in 1987. The collection has grown from there - his science fictions, children's books, the Discworlds (obviously), Unadulterated Cat, his collaborations, including the latest, the Long Earth series, with Stephen Baxter, essays. He is an extremely gifted writer. Over the years his books have become darker and more political, and I have loved those even more. And if you want books with a strong role for girls, go straight to his Tiffany Aching books "The Wee Free Men", "A Hat Full of Sky", "The Wintersmith" and "I Shall Wear Midnight". The first one is okay for 8-10, the last for teenagers. Like Harry Potter, the story grows with the reader.

“Zoology, eh? That's a big word, isn't it."
"No, actually it isn't," said Tiffany. "Patronizing is a big word. Zoology is really quite short.”
Terry Pratchett, "The Wee Free Men"

Robert Brown. If you have been reading this blog you know about Robert Brown, whether you want to or not. Lead singer, main lyricist and songwriter of Abney Park. And a glorious author. Only two books so far, "The Wrath of Fate" and "Retrograde", but he is a great story teller. They follow the adventures of Robert and his wife Kristina as they are shot into a world of chaos in a time-travelling airship, the Ophelia. Along the way they discard, meet and recruit others (who fans can identify as past and current band members, some are harder to pick than others) and Robert tries to "fix" the world, with disastrous consequences. That makes it sound twee. It isn't. You don't have to know a thing about the band. You don't even have to like their music (although how could you not?). These stories stand tall on their own strengths. I have written elsewhere about them. Brown is maturing as a writer (so is Pratchett. All good writers mature with each book). These are rollicking good tales, with beautiful illustrations, and they are novels that make you think. At least, they make me think. Even if you are one of those who rolls their eyes at my banging on about Abney Park, you are doing yourself out of a bloody good yarn if you ignore Robert's books (and if you want more of the story, it's there in the songs too).

And lastly Nancy Mitford, author of (amongst other things) "Love in a Cold Climate", "the Pursuit of Love" and "Don't Tell Alfred". She wrote startlingly funny books about upper class England between the wars. There are also her biographies, her essays, journalistic writings and reviews, translated stories (from French) and collections of letters. Beyond her novels (which I adore) I especially love "The Mitfords" from 2007, a collection of letters between Nancy and her five sisters, including Unity (although there aren't a lot from her after she shot herself in the head when Hitler rejected her. She was the black sheep in the family. You can read more about all the sisters in "The Mitford Girls" by Mary S Lovell, 2001). I have always urged others to read Nancy Mitford's books. She will make you laugh until you cry, and then she will make you cry.

So all that remains now is to tag two other bloggers and ask them to answer the questions on their reading habits:
Do you snack while you read?
Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
Fiction, non-fiction, or both?
Hard copy or e-books?
What is the last book you bought?
Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?

So, to the lovely and talented Lianne of the Tangled Way, tag, you're it. Most of the other blogs I read are by academics I don't know, others I have only been following for a short while and don't feel confident to tap them almost out of the blue. Alana already tagged me and it seems I cannot tag her back. One blog is so specific I dare not ask (We've Got Work to Do. I would love to know the reading habits of my favourite Who blogger). Instead I shall tag my Facebook friend Arthur Slaughter, who isn't a blogger but should be. An erudite and well-read man with many strings to his bow, whose reading habits I am rather curious about ("curiosity annihilated..." yes, yes, K9, I know).

And to end, my son's favourite band, the Russian ensemble, Caprice. They often write about stories and books (there are at least two albums about Middle Earth) and have lots of weird labels put on them - neo-classical, neo-baroque, fairy-pop (wrong), fairy-goth (closer). But everyone seems to agree: evocative music, ethereal vocals. I can't find his favourite track, Edge of Arctica, so instead you have this, which isn't typical, but is soothing.