Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

26 August 2010 23:33

I dug a lot of books out of the attic during my recent clean up and decluttering binge, and one of them was Testament of Youth which is Vera Brittain’s autobiography from 1900 – 1925, definitely one for keeping and re-reading. This book was first published in 1933 and the BBC dramatised it years ago.

I think I saw the tv programmes first but soon after that I bought the book and the sequel Testament of Experience.

Vera Brittain was one of the very few women to get into an Oxford College in 1914 but after one year she gave up her studies to become a VAD nurse and ended up nursing in London, Malta and at the Front in France. It’s a heart-breaking read as all of the young men close to her are lost, including her fiance and her beloved brother Edward. But if you are interested in World War 1 then this is a “must read”.

Vera became a pacifist and was active in the League of Nations. She did get married and her daughter is Shirley Williams, who was once a lib-dem M.P. and is now in the House of Lords.

I think I’ll buy the dvds because I haven’t seen the series since it was first shown.
I like this anniversary cover although it isn’t the one which I have, mine has Cheryl Campbell on the front, she played the part of Vera in the series.

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The Shipping News DVD

21 July 2010 22:40

When I finished reading the book The Shipping News by Annie Proulx I had that horrible feeling that you get when you really enjoy a book so much that you’ve been completely immersed in its environment. Surfacing to the real world isn’t all that pleasant and I really missed Newfoundland and the characters.

So I asked for and received a copy of the DVD as one of my birthday presents. Although Kevin Spacey looks nothing like the character in the book, to be fair I’m sure there is nobody like that in Hollywood, he is really great as Quoyle.

In fact I think all the actors were really good in their parts, even the wee girl. I’m sure I’ll be rewatching the film a lot. If you haven’t seen it already, you can get a flavour of it here.

Interestingly, Annie Proulx was one of many authors who were featured in The Guardian Review on Saturday. They were asked to recommend books for summer reading. One of her choices is Eaarth by Bill McKibben.

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Birthday books

21 June 2010 09:32

I was lucky enough to be given a copy of The Gathering Night by Margaret Elphinstone for my birthday. This photograph of me reading it in our garden makes me look a bit weird I think, worryingly my husband thinks I look normal in it.

I was also given The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale which is about a true murder mystery which took place in 1860 and inspired Wilkie Collins and other writers.

Last but not least is a lovely book, Plants in Garden History by Penelope Hobhouse. It’s beautifully illustrated if you like plants, flowers and garden plans.

I can’t resist visiting second-hand bookshops which are quite thin on the ground in this area but when I was in St Andrews I bought myself:

Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier as I am trying to read all of hers.

Moonfleet by J.Meade Falkner. It’s a classic tale of mystery and adventure in a Dorset smuggling village. For some reason I love smuggling tales.

The Best of Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) who was killed in the trenches in the First World War. It’s a book of short stories.

Last but not least School for Love by Olivia Manning. I’ve been meaning to read more of her books. I read and loved The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy. The BBC serialised The Balkan Trilogy as The Fortunes of War in 1987 starring Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh. I think anyone interested in WW2 would love these books.

I was given lots of DVDs by Duncan and I was especially pleased to get The Shipping News. I read the book recently and was so immersed in it that I really missed it when it was finished, so now I can revisit the story via the film. It’s too soon for a re-read.

So, as you can see I was a very lucky birthday girl and that TBR pile just keeps growing.

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Birthday Trip

20 June 2010 22:33

First, many thanks for the birthday felicitations, folks. As it was a lovely bright day we prepared a picnic and went for a drive along the coast.

Just before we left our house I had a delivery of roses from Gordon and Laura, very naughty of them as they were just too extravagant. Must remember to skelp their legs when I see them!

We visited the East Neuk fishing villages of Largo, Pittenweem, Anstruther and Crail and then on to the university town of St Andrews. It’s a lovely wee very historical town and the only place that I would like to live in Fife. Unfortunately that’s impossible now as it is so expensive for property, mainly because of all the golf courses in the area. The University of St Andrews is celebrating its 600 birthday this year. Duncan, our eldest is the website editor there.

So after a nice wander around the town and a visit to Fisher and Donaldson the famous bakery, we headed for the bookshops. Then we travelled back to Anstruther as it was getting on for dinner time. We had the birthday meal on Wednesday in Kirkcaldy so dinner was very low key, fish and chips from the famous award winning chippy.

Apparently it was a popular destination for Prince William when he was a student at St Andrews a few years back, and he recommended it to his father, Prince Charles, who took Camilla there for fish and chips recently.

It was good but I don’t think it was the best that we had eaten, we had never sampled it before because the enormous queue had always put us off, but the queue did move fairly quickly. Next time we will try The Wee Chippy which got a very good write up in The Guardian.

Then we just went back home and ate our purchases from the cake shop. We all had strawberry Danish pastries and I couldn’t resist a coffee tower too. Yummy! Jack watched the FIFA World Cup while I had happy birthday ‘phone calls and watched a birthday DVD – One Foot in the Grave. Really funny, I nearly choked at a few points, so a good day was had by all.

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BBC Forsyte Saga (again)

5 April 2010 11:04

I’ve been having a bit of a Forsyte-fest since I was given the original BBC set from 1967 for Mothering Sunday. I’ve watched all 26 episodes and although it seemed a bit dated at first, it wasn’t long before I forgot that it was in black and white and I got engrossed in the whole thing.

As I mentioned before, some of the love scenes in the earlier episodes are an absolute scream, but they did become more natural looking as time went on. Maybe the actors had started to do a bit more than acting with each other by that time.

I still think that the casting was better than the recent ITV version. Nyree Dawn Porter was so much better as Irene than Gina McKee was, although Nyree didn’t get the distinctive walk of Irene either. You would think it would be an easy thing for an actress to master – a sexy bum waggling walk, which Galsworthy described her as having.

For the most part, the ageing make-up was well done too. Although for some reason the character of June’s face looked dirtier as she got older.

Susan Hampshire will always be Fleur to me, I think she was just perfect for the part and her husband was played by the actor Nicholas Pennell, who I think did a good job. I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t seen him in anything else, but apparently he was in The Saint, which I never watched. At some point he moved to Canada and acted in a Shakespearian company there. Maybe the parts just didn’t come up for him in Britain. Sadly he died when he was only 56.

So all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my present. It was an absolute bargain, bought from The Guardian website for £19.99.

The Forsyte Saga was hugely popular when it was first broadcast in Britain. Pubs closed early (in England – Scottish pubs were shut on Sundays way back then; only hotels could sell drink and then only to “bona fide travellers”) and churches rescheduled their evening services.

It was subsequently released in Australia and America where it was just as popular and it became the first serial sold by the BBC to the Soviet Union. More than 160 million viewers around the world watched the serial.

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BBC’s The Forsyte Saga

15 March 2010 00:00

My husband bought me The Forsyte Saga boxed set on 7 DVDs for Mother’s Day. Well, he’s not a bad lad and of course it was really cheap from The Guardian. (£19.99)

I’m really shocked that this was first screened in 1967, so I was only 8 years old. I remember that I loved it and certain parts of it have always stuck in my memory. I think it was actually on quite late at night, I’m sure that it wasn’t meant to be viewed by 8 year olds but as I was the youngest in my family by quite a long way, my bed time tended to be forgotten about. Lucky me.

It was a BAFTA and Emmy award winning series but of course it is in black and white which doesn’t really bother me, I love watching vintage films which are often in black and white too.

So I’ve been having a great time watching it again whilst my husband was out at a football match, and I’m already on episode 5. As you would expect after all this time it is a bit dated but that hasn’t spoiled my enjoyment. Some of the acting is really good but some is quite bad. The love scenes are terrible, really hammy so they are an absolute SCREAM. I think it was all a bit too much for the BBC to cope with in 1967. I certainly remember that it was talked of in the newspapers and thought to be not quite ‘nice’ and a bit risque.

I think that the cast was well chosen, apart from John Bennet who plays the part of Philip Bosinney. His acting is fine – apart from the hilarious love scenes – but he is just too old for the part, he looks older than Soames a lot of the time.

For some reason I have never liked the actor Kenneth More who plays the part of young Jolyon, but again he doesn’t spoil it for me.

As an 8 year old, I remember being a fan of Soames and I still think that he was very badly treated by Irene. Eric Porter was perfect as Soames.

So my Mother’s Day present has been a great success and I can’t wait to watch the rest of it.

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The Barchester Chronicles

13 January 2010 23:28

I was lucky enough to be given the DVD’s of The Barchester Chronicles as a Christmas present and I’ve just finished viewing it all. I think this was one of the few classic book adaptations which I saw on television before I had read the books, so I had no idea if the BBC had done a good job or not.

I just knew that I really enjoyed the series, well you can’t go far wrong with such a brilliant cast I suppose. It was the first time that I remember seeing Alan Rickman in anything and he made a wonderful job of portraying the ghastly Obadiah Slope. Barbara Flynn looks so young too, it was made in 1988, which I can hardly believe.

Donald Pleasence, Nigel Hawthorne, Geraldine McEwan,Susan Hampshire and Clive Swift are the main players.

The series is based on the novels The Warden and Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope. A newspaper sets out to rid the Church of England of nepotism, using a young local doctor to spearhead the campaign. The reverend Harding, who is well-loved in the local community is targeted by the newspaper and his name is dragged through the press. At times of great stress, Mr Harding (who is in charge of the church music) plays the air cello whilst he is in mid verbal flow. I thought this was a great way of showing how emotional he became and I was pleased to discover that it is in the books.

When the old bishop dies, he is replaced by Bishop Proudie (Clive Swift) and his wife (Geraldine McEwan), with Mrs. Proudie very much the one wearing the bishop’s hat. I think that this might be quite a common occurrence as at the time the series was first aired they were exactly like a certain bishop and wife couple of our acquaintance with a diocese in the west of Scotland.

Throw in Alan Rickman as Obadiah Slope, Mrs. Proudie’s sleazy side-kick and you have a very entertaining series. Don’t be put off by the ecclesiastical ambience of the whole thing.

Trollope seems to have had as much fun with names as Dickens did. One character is called Sir Omicron Pie and there is a Sir Lamda Mewnew, both doctors to the bishop.

It’s a good long while since I read the books but viewing the series again has whetted my appetite so I’m hoping that I enjoy them as much as I did after watching the series the first time.

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The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

30 October 2009 00:20

I first came across Elizabeth von Arnim when I was rooting around in a second-hand bookshop years ago. I saw a beautiful, small, slim volume bound in calf skin with lovely gold edges. I had to buy it whatever the contents were.

However I had struck gold as the book was called Elizabeth and Her German Garden and it turned out to be a book based on the author’s life as a wife, mother and gardener. As a keen gardener the whole thing appealed to me and I really loved it.

The book was first published in 1898 but my edition was printed in 1914, that fateful year. I was intrigued as there was no clue as to who the author was and as I bought the book before the existence of the internet I had to do a bit of detective work and I eventually discovered that it was written by Elizabeth von Arnim.

I managed to track down her other books and a few years after that (the BBC) made an adaptation of her most famous book, The Enchanted April.

It’s a story about four very different women who are unhappy with the lives which they are leading and are desperate for a change of scene. After seeing an advert in The Times for a medieval castle in Italy, available to rent for the month of April, they end up sharing it to make it more affordable.

San Salvatore turns out to be a magical place for them.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and went on to read everything else which von Arnim had written which I could find.

I later discovered that Elizabeth was the cousin of Katherine Mansfield, who was quite a famous short story writer. Katherine’s other claim to fame was that she ‘bolted’ from her husband after only one week of marriage. I’d love to know why she gave up so quickly. Must have been quite a scandal at the time.

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Mapp and Lucia by E.F. Benson

16 October 2009 22:07

Mapp And Lucia book covers

Mapp And Lucia book covers

I saw Mapp and Lucia on T.V. and loved it, so I ended up getting the books and was given the DVD. To me everything is just perfect about it. I can’t imagine anyone other than Geraldine McEwan as the character of Lucia and Nigel Hawthorne is Georgie to a T. I think they must have had a whale of a time whilst filming it as Geraldine and Nigel ‘ham it up’ like mad.

Mapp and Lucia

Prunella Scales is wonderful as the sour and sarcastic Miss Mapp, (she seems to have cornered the market on those characteristics.) Mapp and Lucia are deadly rivals in a small village in England in 1930, each of them vying to be top dog in their community. This results in lots of comedic situations which amount to lovely ‘comfort viewing.’

The wardrobe department pulled out all the stops, especially with Lucia’s costumes, resulting in a feast for the eyes if you are into vintage clothes and accessories. Just sumptuous.

So when I came to reading the books I was really pleased to discover that they had been so well adapted and everything was as it should be.

Apparently E.F. Benson was the mayor of his town, I think it was Rye in Sussex. He must have based his characters on close observation of the locals,which probably made him popular with the majority of the population.

Anyway, if you feel in need of a laugh, some comfort reading or just want to drool over some beautiful handbags, hats, clothes and jewellery – then I recommend you should try these books and DVDs.

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The Forsyte Saga

29 July 2009 22:41

I’ve been watching the re-runs of The Forsyte Saga recently and I can’t help thinking that nobody involved in the making of it seems to have thought of actually reading the book. I can’t see how they could have chosen Gina McKee to play the part of Irene otherwise.

I have really enjoyed the adaptation although for me it has been marred by the choice of an actress who is the complete opposite of the descriptions of Irene. As the whole book (trilogy) rests on Irene having a wonderful figure, a swaying walk (bum waggling in todayspeak) and yellow golden hair, it seems very strange to me that we are expected to believe that any woman with such an emaciated figure as McKee has could possibly be desired by every man that she came into contact with, which is just about what happens in the book. Irene’s figure was described as being ‘well covered’. They would suspect her of having T.B. Come to think of it, she would be perfect as a tragic heroine dying of consumption, or in something about the Irish potato famine.

I think it is really lazy casting and I feel sorry for any young unknown actresses who are overlooked in favour of well known people, even when they are completely unsuitable for the part. How is anyone supposed to get on in the profession when the same people pop up all the time just because they are a known face.

Soames was supposed to have dark hair, so Damien Lewis seems to be an odd choice for that part, given that he is a redhead but in every other aspect he is perfect as Soames, who I always had a bit of a soft spot for.
I hope he wasn’t chosen because he has red hair. Victorian novelists always gave their bad guys red hair so that people knew where they were with them straightaway. As I have red hair, I can’t help noticing things like that.

Anyway, I am just old enough to remember the original BBC version of The Forsyte Saga. I think I was about 10 years old when it was shown, and I recall the lovely Nyree Dawn Porter being very good as Irene. Although sadly I think it did her career no good as she was forever tainted by the character. The whole thing caused quite a scandal in the late 1960s, I’m quite amazed that I was allowed up to watch it.

Gina McKee would have made a better Fleur, as she has the perfect figure for a flapper.

Well, it encouraged me to re-read the books, which I hadn’t done for about 20 years and as I enjoyed that so much I’ve dug out some more Galsworthy books which I have never got around to reading. So tonight I’m starting Fraternity which I have just noticed was dedicated to J.M. Barrie – someone else that I have a soft spot for, so I’m taking that as a good omen.

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