June 20, 2008
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2008 Miles Franklin Award winner is Steven Carroll for The Time We Have Taken. This is the third in a loose trilogy, which includes “The Art of the Engine Driver” and “The Gift of Speed.” According to the Miles Franklin Press Release, the novel is “a meditation on the rhythms of suburban life and a luminous exploration of public and private reckoning during a time of radical change.”
“It’s an extraordinary thrill and an honour - but it’s also daunting to be joining a long list of authors whom you’ve either studied or admired for years. The Miles Franklin comes with the gravitas of a whole literary tradition, and you feel that weight almost instantly.” Steven Carroll, on accepting the Award, June 19th.
It is all very exciting. I am organising a Miles Franklin Shortlist challenge through Bookcrossing. I will get to read this book at some stage, and I will post a review of what I thought of it. If you would like to participate in the bookring (AUS only), visit DrCris at bookcrossing.
Miles Franklin Award announcement
June 17, 2008
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I have two wonderful children: Zoe is two and Jacob is 10 months. J is just starting to get really thrilled about reading, and Zoe has been a bibliophile for a long time now. Seeing their enthusiasm about their books, I realised that they have lot to teach me.
- It’s ok to read books over and over
If you enjoy a book, you can close the cover and start again at the beginning. For both my kids, this doesn’t break the “three books before bed only” rule, because it seems to be part of one continuous reading. So if I have to read the same page three times? That’s ok. It counts as one reading only.
- It’s good to read your books so much that they disintegrate.
Zoe has a big hardcover book called “The Toddlers Book of Everything”. It has over 1000 labelled images in it, and she has loved it for 18 months now. Initially, she learnt “duck” and “cow” and “cup” and “spoon”, and now she has moved on to “summer” and “city” and “semi-circle” and “paddock.
This book is read in bed, in the car, under the coffee table and on the stairs. Jacob knows how much she likes it, so he likes to read it too. So it has dropped, held by the pages, fought over and tripped over. Surprisingly, it has very few torn pages. But the binding is falling apart.
I noticed the other day that I will have to buy another soon, and it will be totally worth it.
- Put a book under your pillow before you go to sleep, in case of emergencies
It is much easier to go to sleep with a book at arm’s reach. You may never wake up in the middle of the night, but if you do, you will have something to do.
- Books are better when you get involved
My son really loves books that include different textures to touch. He loves books with a button to press that makes a noise. He loves turning the pages. Zoe loves opening windows and flaps where objects are hidden.
When I read a book, I don’t need doors, or textures. But I do need a book that picks me up and transports me. Where I can hear the sounds and the atmosphere is real. And I can’t ignore non-fiction books that have me questioning everything in my life, and quizzing family members for their opinions.
- The best books aren’t always the handsome ones
Some of the books I loved when I was a child have ended up in our bookshelf. They are pretty beaten up, but they still get read over and over. The illustrations are remarkable seventies, but they appeal to my kids as much as they did to me. Hand, Hand, FIngers, Thumb; Bears in the Night; Gendarme, the police horse. All great books. All favourites.
One of my recent favourite books was “I Heard the Owl Call my Name” by Margaret Craven. It was old and dusty, and the cover illustration was nothing impressive, but it was a great book.
- No one else has your taste in books
I take my kids shopping for books at my local charity shop. They are allowed to choose any book they like. Sometimes they are even allowed to choose two. Sometimes they grab the brightest, shiniest book, as I expect. But last week Zoe chose an old Golden Book on flying dinosaurs. It is really boring, but she loves it. The books Jacob squeals with laughter at are not the ones I love, either.
- Don’t waste time on bad books
No matter how much you think you will like a book, if you get bored halfway through, it is better just to skip to the end and find something you like better.
- Books are fun
Books aren’t a quiet, solitary pastime. They are about cuddles, tickles, funny voices and laughter. Books need to be read with all your energy.
I love my kids, and they love books. Every time they squeal at books, and rifle through the bookshelf, they remind me to revel in books.
June 13, 2008
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Edna O’Brien’s In the Forest is a fictionalization of the murder of a young child and his mother in Ireland by a very disturbed young man. Apparently, the book created a huge furore at the time as the crime was very well-covered in the press. I came to read it because it is on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list.
O’Brien has created a tale of a dysfunctional, sociopathic young man, Michen O’Kane, who is institutionalized at an early age. His behaviour deteriorates regardless of what treatment he receives and he eventually escapes to plague his home county with destructive jaunts of madness. He meets outsider, EIly, who lives with her son, Mattie, and they become a touchstone of normal relationship for him, and eventually get swept into his whirlwind.
I really enjoyed the upward swing of this book - the travels with Michen as he grew into a cracked young man. I didn’t really bond with Eily, which made it hard to keep reading as enthusiastically. Also, I found it very hard to pick Mattie’s age, which meant he was very ghost-like for me. I don’t think he was consistent as a character, which made scenes with Eily jar, and made her less believable as well.
This novel is really dark in timbre, but not particularly gruesome. I love that a book can be so emotionally disturbing, without containing shocking descriptions. Instead, the mood of the novel and explanation of events is built of the emotions of the villagers. O’Kane was not bluntly shown to be evil, but a sense of dread was built around him by the fear of others. (People will probably disagree with this, as he did do some pretty awful things)
This is one of the 1001 books that I enjoyed, although it certainly left me disturbed. In some sense, the unreality of Michen’s thought processes distances it from my life. Although I know that people can be insane (in fact, I’ve met some of them), the foreignness of his thoughts prevents him from invading my life. This book didn’t keep me up at night. However, it is a lot more than the “social-worker” justification of murder that I thought it would be. Even despite the glitch with Mattie’s character, definitely worth reading.
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