Paperback Reader » Toni Morrison

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

Paperback Reader — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 08:30:48 +0000

Happy New Year! I hope you have all been having an enjoyable and indulgent festive period; may you have been bestowed with books and grey ones for those of you still awaiting your Persephone Secret Santa gift.

Santa Claus did not -sadly- bring me reinstated internet access so I am still limited at home for the time-being, which is frustrating me. Posts at Paperback Reader will continue to be somewhat sporadic although I have scheduled another and will post from my iPhone where I can; I am hoping for a painless resolution but it looks like it will be the end of January before I am back online.

However, I could not see 2010 end without posting my favourite reads of the year. Due to an extended reading slump from May onwards (which impacted my blogging) I managed to read 40 books less than I did last year and did not break the 100 books mark, which disappoints me. These things cannot be helped though and I read some wonderful books throughout the year. For 2011 I am following no set plans but will continue to read on a whim and hopefully manage to read more than three or four books a month as I have done recently (the amount of books read is not a competition, by any means, but I really can’t help but believe the adage: so many books, so little time).

The books I did read though were of outstanding quality and I revisited some favourite authors (and reread some beloved books) along with discovering some new ones that I will explore further next year and beyond.

My top ten books were (titles link to my reviews):

The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery

Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon

Love by Toni Morrison

Memento Mori by Muriel Spark

Les Liaisons dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos

Blindness by José Saramago (not yet reviewed)

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Still Point by Amy Sackville (not yet reviewed)

Paper Towns by John Green

The City and the City by China Miéville (not yet reviewed)

Honorable mention must be made to: The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham; Room by Emma Donoghue; To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf; Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde and A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood.

There you have it: some cracking good fiction.

Publishing Experience Pt. 2

Paperback Reader — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 17:16:35 +0000

In the comments to the first part of my Publishing Experience account Karen of Book Bath asked to learn more about a typical day in the publishing world; I would have to say from my limited experience that there was no typical day for me. Now it may be that for a fully-fledged publicity assistant there is a routine to their day: checking the papers for reviews first thing; speaking to the press and mailing out review copies; making travel arrangements for authors on book tours; whereas I picked up the odd jobs that seemed more varied to the unknowing intern. Lack of typicality or not, I had an amazing time and would relish a permanent position to discover for myself what would constitute as a typical day in the publishing world.

I spent last week at home in Glasgow visiting family and becoming acquainted with my newest nephew. I found myself missing Random House, however, even after my brief time there. The photograph above captures the impressive headquarters and above and to the right of “HOUSE” can be found the CCV Publicity Department (send them doughnuts! I brought some in on my last day, which earned me some doughnut points and a much-needed sugar high).

Highlights of my second week included recording all of the submissions into this year’s Graphic Short Story Prize competition hosted by Jonathan Cape in association with Comica and The Observer. Regular readers of my blog will know that I am still a novice when it comes to graphic novels but am slowly yet steadily growing to adore the form; Jonathan Cape has “the best graphic novels list in Britain” and publish some of the graphic novelists that I have highly enjoyed: Alison Bechdel, Marjane Satrapi and Audrey Niffenegger. I was thrilled to be involved in such a thriving competition and there were an astounding number of entries; I was astounded by the quality of the artwork in the submissions and looking forward to the winner being announced at the end of this month. Inspired by the prize entries and as I was surrounded by some of Jonathan Cape’s front and backlist graphic novels, I came away from my experience with new graphic novels by Audrey Niffenegger (The Night Book Mobile - look at the stunning cover taken from a page inside), Charles Burns (X’ed Out) and a signed copy of Thomas Hardy-influenced Tamara Drew by Posy Simmonds, which has recently been adapted for the big screen; I will share all of these books and others I was generously given during my time at CCV -including The Whoopie Pie Book, which deserves excited mention- in the near future.

I also worked on my first -hopefully of many- book signing. Nicky Haslam came to Random House Towers to sign one hundred limited special editions of his memoir, Redeeming Features; as would be expected of the stylish designer, the special editions in their hinged boxes were flamboyant in hot pink and orange shades that reminded us of Fruit Salad penny sweets. I worked as part of the small production line before and during the signing, removing all of the books from their boxes, flapping them so they could be easily signed, and returning them to their boxes afterwards; I enjoyed contributing to the efficiency of this set-up and foresee similarly spent mornings (or afternoons or evenings) in my future…

The definite highlight of the experience, however, occurred on my penultimate day. I was sitting at my desk processing a large pile of graphic short stories when I happened to look away from the computer screen and see Salman Rushdie walk into the department. I did not have a Bridget Jones moment but instead remained dignified and professional even if inwardly I was squealing “OMG, Salman freakin’ Rushdie is standing a metre away from me” like an immature fan-girl. Salman Rushdie’s latest novel, Luka and the Fire of Life, was published at the end of last month by Jonathan Cape and the author is in London doing book promotion; he came into the publicity department to meet his publicist before an afternoon of interviews and signings. Salman Rushdie was in a triumvirate of favourite authors that I would love to meet along with Toni Morrison and Terry Pratchett … I have now met them all (okay, I would also love to see Gabriel García Márquez in the flesh but I’m not sure that will ever happen). Random House announced today that they have acquired the multi-language rights to publish Salman Rushdie’s memoir worldwide in 2012, which is incredibly exciting and quite the publishing coup.

So, there you have it: a condensed account of my work experience in a bustling, vibrant publicity department for a leading publisher over two posts. Every day I spent there felt like Christmas.

Speaking of feeling like Christmas, the Autumn/Winter Persephone Biannually has been printed and two reviews from Paperback Reader have been quoted in the Reader’s Comments section (which can also be accessed from the website). It is an honour to be quoted again and to be in the lovely company of some blogging friends. Tomorrow I am helping out at Persephone Books and posting out the Biannually to readers overseas – after my work experience at Random House I am now a dab hand at stuffing envelopes!

Love by Toni Morrison

Paperback Reader — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:49:24 +0000

If you are a regular reader of my blog then you may well know that Toni Morrison is one of my favourite writers. I own all of her books (in matching white editions): I cherish her books; I ration them out. To date I have read six of Morrison’s nine novels and now Love may very well be my new favourite (Beloved is a masterpiece but I was very pleasantly left in awe by Love). You may also know that my edition of Love is one of my all-time beloved possessions; my boyfriend gave me the newly published hardback on our first Christmas together and wrote a touching inscription inside. What you may not know is that I LOVED Love.

I read along with three favourite bloggers, Claire of Kiss a Cloud, Steph of Steph and Tony Investigate and Nymeth of Things Mean a Lot; you can read their eloquent views by clicking on their blog links. One of the things I love most about co-reading is when each individual focuses on different aspects of the novel and their personal connection to it. Conclusively, we all embraced this novel; personally, I loved it with every fibre of my being.

Am I alone in gaining great satisfaction -and butterflies in my tummy- when different strands of narrative come together so perfectly in the last third of quarter or fifth of a novel? So completely and utterly perfect do things slot into place at the end of Love that I sighed with contentment and joy; the resolution, the unveiling of secrets, the realisation that the title is more apt than first believed… all cemented how much I adored this novel.

I savoured Morrison’s lush prose, her beautiful imagery and succinct expressions; I have always known that Morrison was an exceptionally talented writer but her writing is exquisite in Love, often making me gasp. The storyline and themes are every bit as powerful as I have come to expect; the plot itself is simplistic but there are so many threads woven in and out of the text to make it an impressive tapestry of characterisation and universal thematic appeal. Even though Love is, to date, Morrison’s penultimate novel, I think it is a very good one to start with, especially for those readers intimidated by Morrison; not quite as devastating as her other novels, Love does have one scene of exceptionally uncomfortable violence (a gang rape) and a couple of disconcerting relationships, but I cannot stress enough how much Toni Morrison’s writing is worth the -at times- dark subject matter.

Love has a sometimes confusing non-linear narrative with multiple narrators but it is so expertly crafted. The Cosey women were and are all obsessed with Bill Cosey; their love is obsessive, all-consuming and the root of a lifetime of jealousies, resentments and hurt. Cosey is dead and only appears in the novel through reminiscences, all showing him in a different -and sometimes unfavourable- light. Heed (the Night) and Christine are the surviving Cosey women, living together in acrimony, each feeling betrayed by the other from childhood; their relationship is the crux of the novel. Hurt, betrayal and the power of memory -and its unreliability and subjectivity- are what makes Love so emotionally-charged and moving. Evocative and emotional, Love has me reaching for the three unread Morrison novels on my shelf; I want to gorge myself on them instead of ration and then reread them over and over again.

Many thanks to my lovely co-reviewers.

Books, Red Wine and Chocolate

Paperback Reader — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:25:30 +0000

When I’m reading I do like doing it with a cuppa and some chocolate; I have also been known to have a glass of wine in one hand and a book in the other. When I was given the opportunity to review chocolate with red wine, it was an offer I could not decline. I feel that books and chocolate are very similar in their packaging/cover; both work towards attracting you and compelling you to pick up the chocolate /book in the first place and make you want to buy it. Also a good chocolate bar, just like a good book, should excite and have an interesting beginning, middle and end with different levels of intensity, texture and enjoyment. Moreover, I think that on bottles of wine, where it tells you what meals it is best to drink with, chocolate packaging should cover which books are best to read or films to watch whilst eating… marketing departments, take note. Wine labels should extend to sharing that information too: full or medium-bodied, with hints of, best read with…

As for my review itself: I was kindly sent a bar of Zotter Chocolate Schönberger Red Wine by Lee of Chocolate Reviews. This Fairtrade alcoholic chocolate from an Austrian company is given the following description “A premium red wine from Burgenland. The Blaufränkisch (Burgundy) grapes form a complex taste spectrum, which give the exquisite dark chocolate a soft aftertaste” and retails at £3.00 a bar. More expensive than a regular bar of chocolate it tastes rich; it is potent truffle-filled bar that is not moulded into segments but is one slab. A fine bitter chocolate with red wine and chocolate inside, it is a chocolate bar with a filling as opposed to a bar of chocolate infused with red wine. The bitterness prevented me from being able to eat this bar in the one sitting -and therefore is not one to eat on the run for energy- but I enjoyed it in small nibbles and thought it worked well with a glass of wine to bring out its notes. I was impressed by how authentically like wine the chocolate tasted although that’s not surprising as it is made with red wine as opposed to artificial flavoring; the alcohol content of the bar is 2% and yet manages to be heady and taste strong. The aroma is of cocoa as opposed to wine and the packaging something of a let-down (the gold foil reminded me of the inside of cigarette packets, which instantly cheapened it for me). This chocolate was a rare treat and more decadent and rich than I am used to but if you enjoy truffles (and, of course, red wine) then this is recommended, or is perfect for a special occasion.

Whilst I prefer my chocolate less rich I do love richness in my reading; I like my wine full-bodied and the same can be said of my literature. This post and photograph also serve to contribute to Simon of Stuck in a Book’s meme. Simon called for a photograph that summed up my reading taste that didn’t include a book in it (am I ineligible as this one does, even though it is only for decoration?) and I ruminated long and hard before I realised that the photograph above was perfect. My reading taste is eclectic and difficult to fully surmise but liking my taste in books to my taste in red wine is accurate; both are great loves of my life (as are cats) and share many elements. My favourite writers -Angela Carter, Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, Gabriel García Márquez, Colette, Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, Sarah Waters- all write rich prose that I become drunk on and then require a little break from; their language, imagery, and stories are lush as am I… Like the most heady of red wines, these writers are at the top of the grape varieties and they mature with age, with hidden notes and subtle flavours detected upon further tastes. Reading a book by one of these writers is like drinking a fine wine, something I appreciate, savour, and look forward to, and yet try to do in moderation.

I also enjoy Earl Grey tea reading -Persephone Books- or Champagne reads that are bubbly and effervescent, that go straight to my head, like The Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice, but I will always return to my favourite tipple of all: red wine.

Defined by Books

Paperback Reader — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:42:00 +0000

Simon of Stuck-in-a-Book tagged me in his ten books meme three weeks ago and I am only now getting around to posting; both another cookie crumbles and JoAnn of Lakeside Musings tagged me in the honest scrap “ten things” award so this is also a response to them with ten bookish things about me.

Simon’s rules:

1.) Go to your bookshelves…
2.) Close your eyes. If you’re feeling really committed, blindfold yourself.
3.) Select ten books at random. Use more than one bookcase, if you have them, or piles by the bed, or… basically, wherever you keep books.
4.) Use these books to tell us about yourself – where and when you got them, who got them for you, what the book says about you, etc. etc…..
5.) Have fun! Be imaginative. Doesn’t matter if you’ve read them or not – be creative. It might not seem easy to start off with, and the links might be a little tenuous, but I think this is a fun way to do this sort of meme.
6.) Feel free to cheat a bit, if you need to…

Seeing as Simon fully sanctioned cheating … I did. To be fair, I instinctively know where all of my books are so I couldn’t have picked them unknowingly blind but I did choose them at random by looking at the bookshelves and quickly choosing ten books from ten different shelves, one or two of them as intentionally representative of something about me.

Everything I Needed to Know about Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume: this title is self-explanatory and true. I could have shared one of my Judy Blume books but instead I thought this was far more revealing about me. I loved Judy Blume as a girl and still hold a soft spot for some of her books (Just as Long as We’re Together, Here’s to You Rachel Robinson, Tiger Eyes, Deenie …)

Trumpet by Jackie Kay: there are several books that I could have used to tell you that I am from Glasgow but none quite as beautiful as this one, in which the 1960s sections are set in my home-city (Kay also grew up there).

The Collected Stories by Katherine Mansfield: I was first introduced to Katherine Mansfield by a beloved English teacher at school who gave us “The Doll House” to read, which remains one of my favourite short stories because of its apparent simplicity yet also inexplicable quality. This book reveals not only a cherished bookish memory from school but also that I own a replica Victorian dollhouse (I used to own two, but my sister now has my first one) and collect miniature furniture, including books, a Swan Lake screen, a tiny Tiffany lamp (post-dating Victoriana but too cute to resist). Furthermore, it reveals my obsession with silver Penguin Modern Classics, of which this one is a favourite.

Bold Girls by Rona Munro: another set text from school (for Higher English), Rona Munro is a Scottish playwright although this play concerns four women in war-torn Belfast. I loved this play when I studied it and a friend bought me my own copy and wrote a dedication inside likening me to one of the characters (whose part I had read in class). I am a huge fan of drama; I don’t read or see as many plays any more as I used to but I have a full shelf on my bookcases dedicated to plays and that doesn’t include my numerous books by and about Shakespeare. I forget that readers of my blog probably don’t know that I am an English Literature graduate (I also have my Master’s) but it is an intrinsic part of me.

Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter: I couldn’t define myself using books and not include Angela Carter. Anyone who doesn’t know that I am a Carter devotee hasn’t been reading my posts closely enough! Nights at the Circus was the first book of hers that I read and hence meaningful.

Mog’s Christmas by Judith Kerr: along with Dogger by Shirley Hughes this was my favourite picture book as a child. My much-loved and dog-eared copy was handed down to my sister and is still at home but my boyfriend bought me a lovely mini hardback copy a few Christmases ago.

Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose: another perfect gift choice by my boyfriend, this book is indispensable and I love close-reading a chapter at a time over and over. The subtitle is revealing as I am both of those people; the book sits on my writing shelf, where I have writing style handbooks, creative aids, and a number of short story volumes by writers included in the book.

The Brontës Went to Woolworths by Rachel Ferguson: I began to consciously collect the original green-spined Virago Modern Classics in April 2008 and very early on I coveted an elusive copy of this book. Shortly after looking at expensive copies online, I went into an Oxfam Books in Glasgow, purposefully seeking a copy; I instantly honed in on a green spine (a skill known by all that collect these editions) and it was the one I was looking for! Priced at a wonderful £2.49. Very surreal and quirky, this book bears re-reading but I know that I am never going to part with it, even if Bloomsbury have re-issued it in a particularly lovely ice-cream copy.

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf: I adore this essay by Woolf and love to pick it up and luxuriate in her words and thoughts. As a feminist I love to read about Woolf walking on the lawn of Oxbridge and adore her creation of Judith, Shakespeare’s sister. Although I am attached to this Penguin edition I am somewhat obsessed with the earlier purple and cream striped one; I own most of the Penguin merchandise that imitates the iconic edition: the bookbag, the notebook and poster and I covet the postcard and mug.

Love by Toni Morrison: this is the book I’d rescue from a burning building, not because of the book itself but the inscription inside; my boyfriend bought me this for our first Christmas together and wrote something beautiful to me. This is one of several books that have something meaningful written to me inside but this one, above the others, is incredibly special; if I shared it online, it would betray my boyfriend and I would never do that.

Did you learn anything new about me from this meme and did you notice that all of my books are written by women?

The White Shelf

Paperback Reader — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:40:00 +0000

Due to popular demand I decided to post a photograph of my white shelf today. An homage to The Beatles’ White Album is appropriate for someone whose blog name plays on their song “Paperback Writer”.

I wrote yesterday that all of the white books were Vintage Books but there’s Animals by Keith Ridgway at the end of the shelf. One of his novellas, Horses (an amazing book), is peeping in at the end, the only non-white book on the shelf, but I couldn’t separate it from Animals and the claret colour compliments the font on the Murakami spines.

I also notice that the two Toni Morrison hardbacks -her latest novels, of which Mercy is a signed copy- are no longer published by Vintage but by another Random House imprint, Chatto & Windus.

The Haruki Murakami and Toni Morrison books are some of my favourites; they have such lovely, distinctive covers and have been extremely well published. As I add to my collection of these authors (I have every novel that Toni Morrison has written to date but still have a few Murakami books to buy) a reshuffle of shelfs will be order but at the present I am very content with this shelf. When I have more of them and more shelf space I’ll add the new white, Penguin Modern Classics to these ones.

I love themed tables in bookstores and will instantly be drawn to them to peruse at leisure. I think colour themes are exceptionally striking and have seen a white table, a red table, a black one, and a rainbow one in different bookshops and all were appealing. As for my other shelves, I have a dove-grey shelf beneath the white one (no prizes for guessing what they are); a bottle-green Virago shelf a couple of bookcases along; a rainbow coloured Virago shelf beneath that; and perpindicular to that I have a silver Penguin Modern Classics shelf. Look out for another photograph of one of these colour-themed shelf in a few weeks.

Thankful for mercies

Paperback Reader — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:37:00 +0000

I am glad to see Toni Morrison’s A Mercy on The Orange Prize for Fiction’s longlist; although there are an abundance of female American authors on the list this year I am thankful that more readers will be introduced to Toni Morrison. I could be wrong but I think that unless you have come across Morrison through academia or because you have a penchant for reading Oprah-endorsed bookclub reads then you do not necessarily come across her work unless by chance and the Orange shortlist offers this chance . Certain book groups, most likely library ones will attempt to read all of the longlist; libraries will invest in more copies of the books and display them well, as will bookshops; retailers -especially online- will offer bargain deals (hopefully a good one for A Mercy as it isn’t published in paperback until June, after the prize is awarded.)

I was lucky enough to attend a reading and interview with Toni Morrison at the Southbank Centre in London on October 28th of last year, two days before the novel was published in the UK; I picked up a signed copy of the book (which I promptly devoured the day after) and heard the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning writer give a reading and an interview. I consider myself privileged to have experienced this; I missed her speak at Glasgow University in ’99 and regretted it. It was the night following the day I moved flats in London for the second time in a month (the first time when I moved to the city), not by choice, and was the end to a rather stressful and exhausting week; it was also the first snowfall of Winter and a bitterly cold evening but my boyfriend and I put our big people’s hats on and braved the inclemental weather. We weren’t disappointed; what my boyfriend lacked in understanding of the reading (she read the prologue, which comes across as quite erudite when listening), he made up for in enjoyment of what she had to say, increasingly so when she turned to her excitement -and trepidation- about the Presidential Elections the following week.

The book itself is short, lyrical, tragic, epic, haunting, memorable, a prelude to the themes of Beloved and is undoubtedly feminist… the narrative and structure are beautiful, covering the viewpoints and stories of five women who are interconnected and who have all been touched and wounded by slavery, in their own ways. Set in the late seventeeth century, the novel explores the origins of slavery; its scope is epic but its shortness in length disallows strong character development, which is a regretful flaw as the women make interesting, intense and memorable characters. The language, its poetic quality, and the biblical themes are all powerful and I am thankful for small mercies when it comes to being introduced to Toni Morrison not merely by chance.