Skeleton Architecture

A book group is a good excuse for a regular meetup with friends.  It can be all about the book if you like, but it can also be an opportunity for wine and nibbles, and a bit of a giggle.  Oh, and the book too. Some of the lovely ladies from my previous book group in rainy town.  With wine :-) Poor loves, I made them read Game of Thrones! Of course, book groups are not for everybody.  If you're looking for a regular meetup with friends, to share an interest, you could set up a crafting group (although wine and nibbles don't work so well at that).  I've also got friends who go to the cinema on a regular basis. Personally, I like a read, and I love to go to the cinema, so my idea would be a book/film club - maybe a book a month and a film night from time to time too. So how to start a book group? First of all ask your friends if there is already a book group that anyone's in.  Or head down to your local library and see if there is a book group alr...

I've just, last night, finished reading The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber.  I'm hoping this means I'll be able to sleep more as it was hard to put down in places! It was recommended to me by a beautiful and interesting woman I met in a park in Leeds. While our respective children played happily we chatted about the joys of photography and writing. I told her about a character in a story I'm writing who seems inclined to be a murderous whore, and she told me to read this book. I'm glad she did, because it's a good story, which leaves you wanting more and sympathising with all the flawed characters. The writing is also lovely, especially in the beginning of the book, which is nothing short of fantastic (although Patrick Rothfuss keeps the prize for best first line ever). Apparently this was adapted for TV. Did you see it? Have you read it?  If you have read it, could you please answer a question for me? Why did Sugar choose to enter the hous...

Blatantly stealing an idea from my friend Steve, over at Shores of Night  (who stole the idea from Juliet McKenna ), this post is talking about some of my favourite books, but not just any books, some of my favourites, which happen to be written by women.  Why books by women?  Why not?  I think that the really big hits are more often written by men, so why not share the word about women authors? Having decided to do something about having lost my sparkle a bit lately, I've been busy setting up a book group today, and it's all coming together nicely.  I'm excited, and I'm thinking about books, and about how I'm adding a whole lot more books to my list of things to read by starting a new book group.  I'll have to start going to bed earlier! My Dad has a LOT of books, but I've always tried to be ruthless, and minimal.  So I've only got a couple of bookshelves, a Kindle, and a library habit.  Oops. So here are ten of my favourites (in no particu...

Have you heard about the Bechdel test? Brought to our attention by Alison Bechdel, the awesome American cartoonist (check out her website here ), is a blunt instrument tool to look at the sexism of ommission in films.  But you can use it for any sort of story. The Bechdel test is a pass or fail test.  You need to ask yourself these questions about the film: Are there two (named) women in it? Do they talk to each other? About something other than a man? If you get through to the end of those questions with a YES, then the film has passed the Bechdel test.  If you don't, then it has failed. The test, as I said, is a blunt instrument.  A film will pass if two named women have one conversation about shopping for puppies (giggle), and will fail if two unnamed superheroines kick butt across America, constantly discussing feminist theory.  But blunt instruments are useful.  Hammers are blunt instruments. So what fails the test?  Lots of ...

I know it's not a popular work of art, but this morning on the blogosphere I came across Tracey Emin's 1995 work of art, Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995, otherwise known as 'the tent'.  Not the real one, of course.  That burnt down in 2004.  Just pictures. I've popped some pictures here (taken from Wikipedia), so you know what I'm talking about, although they're not my pictures, so I hope Ms Emin and, indeed, the photographer, don't mind. Lots of people have criticised Tracey's tent, which is harsh, if you ask me, because it's an incredibly well crafted and put together piece, and it's thought provoking too. One of the thoughts the tent has provoked in people is 'blimey, she's slept with a lot of people'.  There are two points to note on this issue: The people whose names are inside the tent are all the people she's ever slept with.   So her Granny is in, while a guy she had sex with in a field (if such a thi...

Yesterday I had some time off being a Mum and travelled into Glasgow to see Robin Hobb talking at Waterstones.  It was lovely to be able to go where I wanted, when I wanted, and to spend a good quantity of time reading (one of her books). I must admit, I don't get on terribly well with Hobb's books.  The names of the characters annoy me (although that's my problem - they are completely in keeping with her world), and I don't like the magicy element (again, that's my problem - magic is, after all, to be expected in fantasy).  But the thing that really annoys me is that the central character has a familiar in the form of a wolf.  This of course happens in George RR Martin's books too, and I have no problems with the direwolves, but Hobb's Nighteyes (what a name) is much more doggy than the direwolves, and that's probably why it annoys me.  I cannot be doing with dogs. All that said, I love the way Hobb shows you people's characters, and how they ...