Best Bits of 2014

These are my highlights of 2014.  They weren’t necessarily new this year; they were just new to me.

Best Book:  A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, Ill. by Jim Kay (see post earlier this year).

Best TV show: Outlander (Gorgeously shot on location in Scotland, it has everything I love in a story – history, time-slip, adventure, romance and the added bonus of Sam Heughen as Jamie Fraser.  Thank you Foxtel for switching channel numbers around in November so I could happily, inadvertently, stumble upon this.)

Best Movie: The Fault in Our Stars (This is one of those memorable movies that makes you laugh and cry at the same time.  Read what I thought of the book here.)

Best Song:  Unfortunately it was played to death on the radio, as good songs often are, but after complaining about a dearth of love songs, I have to pick Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran.

Best wishes to one and all for a great year in 2015.

Lyrical Lesson 2: Assonance with Pink Floyd

Assonance is the resemblance of sounds. 

Besides an awesome bass riff, brilliant guitar solo, and tongue-in-cheek rebellious lyrics, what makes Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall one of the most memorable rock songs of all time is its use of assonance.  You will notice in the example below that none of the words strictly rhyme (unlike the refrain: All in all you’re just another brick in the wall where ‘all’ and ‘wall’ are a perfect rhyme). 

Assonance is not the same as rhyming; rather it is the repetition of similar sounds within a sentence or piece of writing.  Pink Floyd use a long ‘e’ sound, a long ‘o’ sound and long ‘ah’ sound in repetition throughout the song as follows:

We don’t need no education (We need)

We don’t need no thought control (don’t no control)

No dark sarcasm in the classroom (dark sarcasm classroom [if you sang this line with an American accent, you’d find two lots of assonance with sarcasm and class])

Teachers, leave them kids alone (Teachers leave picks up the long ‘e’ sound and Alone picks up the long ‘o’ sound from the first two lines.

Assonance can be used to great effect in both poetry and prose.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

I’m in the middle of rewriting a manuscript and am trying to dedicate as much time as possible to it, but I must mention this fabulous book I read recently.

A Monster Calls was developed from an original idea by Siobhan Dowd who died from cancer before she was able to write the story.  It’s gorgeously illustrated by Jim Kay; he and Patrick Ness won the Greenaway and Carnegie Medals respectively for this book.

Conor lives with his mother who is ill.  His father has moved away to America (from the UK) and Conor does not get along with his grandmother.  One night Conor is visited by a monster, who returns repeatedly to tell him stories.  The stories don’t make sense to Conor, they seem unfair and anger him.  The monster says after the third story, Conor must tell his own story.

After the monster tells each story, Conor is ‘possessed’ by the monster with frightening consequences.  But in spite of the bad things Conor has done, he is not punished. 

When Conor finally tells his story, he accepts the unfair truth: his mother is going to die. 

Having lost my own mother to cancer when I was young, I related to this story in almost every detail (apart from a giant yew tree visiting in the middle of the night).  It’s a rare thing to find a wonderful book that feels like it’s your story there on the page.  I highly recommend this book to everyone, but particularly for anyone who’s lost someone to a terminal disease.

Best Bit of A Monster Calls:  It’s hard to choose:  the superb writing, the outstanding illustrations, or the truth-seeking monster that lives in us all.

Can’t wait to see the movie: Liam Neeson is signed on to play the monster.

Lyrical Lessons

I’ve decided to make an occasional departure from my usual ‘Best Bits’ posts, to share some light-hearted lyrical lessons.

Lyrical Lesson 1: Simile vs Metaphor

A simile is a comparison of one thing to another, often using the words as or like.

A metaphor is when a term is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable, in order to suggest a resemblance.  (Thanks to my poor, coverless, rendered-into-two-volumes Macquarie dictionary for that definition.  I asked for a new dictionary for Christmas but instead got Macquarie’s A-Z of People and Places, which tells me Simitis became Greek prime minister in 1996 and Meta is a river in Colombia.)

But back to Lyrical Lesson 1:

When Nellie Fertado tells us she’s like a bird and will only fly away, she’s singing in simile.  The Blues Brothers, however, tell us to shake our tail feathers implying we are actual birds with tail feathers to shake (metaphor).

Elton John compares Norma Jean (Marilyn Monroe) to a candle in the wind, something flickering and fragile, never destined to last (simile).  Katie Perry sings, Baby you’re a firework.  There is no comparison; Baby is that explosion in the sky (metaphor).

Jordin Sparks questions why love always feels like a battlefield (simile).  Well, Jordin, Pat Benetar had the metaphorical answer back in the eighties: 

Love is a battlefield.

Op Shops

I’ve just returned from a visit to my local Op-Shop, where for six bucks I purchased a winter jumper and four books for the princely sum of six dollars and ten cents.  It’s been at least a year since my last visit there and I was dismayed to see the children’s book section had reduced quite considerably. 

I’ve picked up some great classics there over the years, such as Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Peter Pan, the first three Narnia books and Treasure Island.  Today I purchased a copy of Oliver Twist, because Dickens is one classic author whose books I’ve never read.  I tried to read A Tale of Two Cities many years ago, but couldn’t get much further than the first paragraph.  I’m hoping Oliver will grab my attention a little better. 

It’s true that a lot of these classic books can be downloaded for free on tablets or e-readers these days, and I have read quite a few that way this year – particularly some obscure ones – but I find it easier on the eyes, and more comfortable for overworked hands to read from the printed page.  The last thing I feel like doing after staring at a computer screen all day is stare at another screen. 

Flicking through the books today, I considered purchasing Robinson Crusoe until another title caught my eye and made me gasp aloud.  What induced me to abandon Crusoe on his desert island?  The Riddle of Trumpalar by Judy Bernard-Waite.  Of all the books I was forced to read for high school, this was the one I loved most (the only other one I recall enjoying was Sally Morgan’s My Place).  I kept all of my high school English books – despite the fact I didn’t enjoy most of them – but back in year eight or nine I loaned my copy of Trumpalar to someone with the initials SG.  When I asked for it back, SG said she’d given it to NM.  When I asked NM for it back, she said it was her book.  She showed it to me.  The cover, which had had a sticker with my name on it, had been completely peeled off.  As much as I love The Book Thief, I was not impressed with these book thief bullies for stealing my favourite high school English book (not to mention the difficulties I had finishing my assignment on it).

I am looking forward to reading this time-slip adventure once more, and sharing it with my kids.  I remember loving the riddles and poems at the beginning of each chapter, and it’s a well-established fact that I love a book with a map.

Best bit of Op-Shops:  Finding pieces of your childhood in hidden corners.

Questions can sometimes be answered

Storm clouds be swift blown away,

The weft of a dream can be held in the heart,

A memory that lives and will stay. – From The Riddle of the Trumpalar by Judy Bernard-Waite

Eighties music

Driving to work earlier this week, three songs played back-to-back on the radio.  The songs were:

·         Chandalier – Sia (sample lyric: 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, drink; Throw 'em back 'til I lose count)

·         Like a G6 – Far East Movement (sample lyric: Popping bottles in the ice, like a blizzard; When we drink, we do it right, gettin' slizzard)

·         Faded – Zhu (sample lyric: Baby, I'm faded; All I wanna do is drive home to you, baby; I'm wasted)

That’s three songs (played in a row) about getting or being inebriated.  Now I'm not saying these songs don't have merit, or don't have a place in music, but there's been a hell of a lot of them on the radio in recent years.  There was even a push by a radio station recently to get UB40's Red Red Wine to number one in the charts so the DJ's would have an excuse to play it on their exclusively top-forty station.  They almost succeeded. 

Only, is Red Red Wine really a song about drinking?  Here's a sample lyric: Red, red wine; Go to my head; Make me forget that I; Still need her so.  The essence of the song is the singer's blue, blue heart, not getting drunk for the sake of getting drunk.  (The lyrics to Chandalier hint at some internal pain, but certainly Like a G6 and Faded don’t appear to have a deeper meaning.)

This brings me to a question I've had for some time (I know the Black Eyed Peas asked it first, but...):  Where is the love?

There has been a real decline in love songs since 2000.  To check this theory, I looked at three different lists entitled ‘Top 50 love songs of all time’.  I checked three because each list seemed weighted to a different era, but each list had the same thing in common.  There were very few love songs included that were recorded after 2000 and only two out of all the songs listed were recorded after 2010.

Has love become passé?  Or is there just nothing new to sing about love that hasn't been sung before?

Here are some songs from the lists that I loved when I was a teen.

I Want To Know What Love Is – Foreigner (sample lyric: In my life there's been heartache and pain; I don't know if I can face it again; I can't stop now, I've travelled so far; To change this lonely life)

Crazy for You – Madonna (sample lyric: Trying hard to control my heart; I walk over to where you are; Eye to eye we need no words at all)

Total Eclipse of the Heart – Bonnie Tyler (sample lyric: And I need you now tonight; And I need you more than ever; And if you only hold me tight; We'll be holding on forever)

In the mid-eighties, these songs and many more like them were playing back-to-back.  They really meant something to me.  Sure love songs still exist, they're just not the same and I think teens today are missing out.

Hubby tells me I should just switch radio stations, listen to the golden oldies like he does, but firstly, I like to know what my kids are listening to; secondly, if I'm going to write for young people, I don't want to lose touch with what's current and relevant to them; and thirdly I'M NOT OLD!

Okay, maybe I'm old, but I'm not a wowser.  I don't mind listening to the odd song about drinking.  I don't believe music has such influence on individuals that kids will go out and get drunk because they've heard a drinking song on the radio.  Music is usually a reflection of, or sometimes a protest against, society.  So what does the decline of love songs, and the rise of gratuitous inebriation songs, say about the society we live in now?

The Best Bit of Eighties music:  Big hair power ballads

(Bring back the power ballad, but leave the big hair in the eighties please; I just can't do big hair.)

Every Day by David Levithan

This book is an example of a great concept beautifully executed.

The text on the front cover reads:

            Every day a different body.

            Every day a different life.

            Every day in love with the same girl.

Reading those lines, you just know there's gonna be some great conflict happening. 

Some days A is a boy, like the day he meets Rhiannon after waking up in her boyfriend Justin’s body.  A falls in love with Rhiannon, but how can he have a relationship with someone when tomorrow he will be someone else. 

Some days A is a girl, like the day he wakes up in love-of-his-life Rhiannon’s body.  Awkward!

David Levithan touches on a breathtaking array of issues – love, gender, depression, addiction and modern slavery among many others – treating each with great tenderness to create a deeply profound, must-read story.

The Best Bit of Every Day:

There will always be more questions. Every answer leads to more questions. The only way to survive is to let some of them go. – David Levithan

(This was a tough choice though – see http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/18464379-every-day to see what I mean.  Better yet, read the book!)

My daughter had a birthday party at Moonlit Sanctuary on the weekend http://www.pearcedale-conservation-park.com.au/.  She had the privilege of entering many of the enclosures, as well as handling and feeding many of the animals. 

A bearded dragon named Hagrid

An owl with it's dinner (look closely, it's holding a rat in its talons)

Hanging out in the gum trees

Feeding the emu

A kangaroo joey that all the kids got to feed

An adult Eastern Grey

Wallaby

A poteroo

Best bit of Moonlit Sanctuary:  The most adorable tawny frogmouth in the world.

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

The blurb, the cover, and even the title of Nick & Norah command attention and I was convinced I would love this book even before reading a word.  After reading the first two chapters, I wasn’t so sure anymore.

At a Manhattan night spot, Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend for five minutes because his ex-girlfriend just walked in with another guy.  Norah responds by kissing Nick and they spend the rest of the night getting over past relationships and falling in love.

There were elements of this book that I liked (mostly Nick’s chapters written by David Levithan) and elements that I didn’t (mostly Norah’s chapters written by Rachel Cohn).  The character of Norah seemed to swing from one extreme to another without reason – kissing him, walking away; getting hot and heavy then leaving.  Nick was a steadier character, and I think I would have enjoyed the book more if it had been told purely from his point of view.

There are some great observations made by the characters throughout the book and this was my ‘best bit’ of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist:

Which leaves us in this weird we’re off to see the Wizard pose, with Tris blocking us like the Wicked Witch of the Past.

– David Levithan

Every Breath by Ellie Marney

I’m not a fan of crime novels, so I had to suppress a groan when someone suggested crime as one of this year’s topics for our children’s literature book club.  I confess I haven’t approached the books with much enthusiasm, and I think part of me was determined not to like Every Breath.  But… I stuck with it, and I’m glad I did because the relationship between the two main characters, Watts and Mycroft (modern day versions of Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes) built into a sizzling romance.  I dislike crime but I love a romance. 

Watts is a country girl having a hard time adjusting to city-life, as is all her family.  Her neighbour, Mycroft, is an orphan staying with his rarely there aunt.  Watts makes sure Mycroft eats and tries to help him stay out of trouble, with little success.  When a homeless friend of theirs is murdered, Mycroft is determined to find out the truth, dragging Watts into the process and getting her into hot water along the way.

Whodunit was pretty obvious from the moment the villain entered the story, which spoiled it for me.  I really hoped I would be surprised at the end, but I wasn’t.  Teens investigating murder mysteries is hard to make believable and the main characters didn’t always seem consistent in the first half of the book.  I found the crime scene too grisly for my taste and there were other minor problems, but being that it’s Ellie Marney’s debut novel, I can forgive the rest.

In the second half of the book, there was more action, more consistency in the characters, the grisly part was over and I could enjoy the tension between Watts and Mycroft as they gradually gave in to their feelings for each other.  There are some great humorous moments too (like when Mycroft tells Watts he has a dead Jack Russell in his freezer).

Best bit of Every Breath:

He moves one hand to lift my chin, his eyes darting across my face.  I’m staring at him now, and his expression seems to fold through so many different emotions I can’t keep up.

-          Ellie Marney

Longbourn by Jo Baker

Set within the world of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Longbourn follows what is happening in the servants’ lives while Elizabeth, Darcy et al. are working through their misunderstandings and differences.

If you’re looking for a retelling of Pride and Prejudice you will be disappointed.  Longbourn is a different story with a few recognisable characters.  Jo Baker recreated some of the characters perfectly, such as Mr Collins, who was very much the same in both stories.  However, there were some, Lizzie for example, that didn’t gel with their P&P versions.

That said, if you’re looking for a well-researched historical novel, and want some fascinating insights into the day-to-day lives of servants in Jane Austen’s time, then you’ll love this.  I love historical novels and I enjoyed Jo Baker’s detailed descriptions.  There was romance, intrigue and suspense.  I would have liked the middle section of the book to be shorter to allow the romance to play out fully at the end, but I enjoyed this book for something more than the story itself.

About three quarters of the way through the book, I was itching to watch my taping of the original BBC series with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth.  Before I reached the end I gave in, only to find that Episodes 2-4 wouldn’t work.  I still enjoyed 1, 5 and 6, but now I’ll have to fork out for a DVD of the series (I need Mr Darcy to tell m… I mean, Lizzie, how much he ardently admires and loves m… her).  However, I still have my Great Classics Library version of P&P to read.  Which brings me to:

The best bit of Longbourn:  Falling in love with Pride and Prejudice all over again.*sigh*

Postscript:  I wrote the above post in January, but only just realised I hadn't posted it yet.  Since writing this I have read P & P again, and my Valentine's Day present was a Jane Austen DVD collection - YAY!  Now I'm reading Emma.  Look what you've started, Jo Baker.