Juxtabook

The Clumsies by Sorrel Anderson

Thank you to Caroline Smailes for hosting a giveaway for The Clumsies Make A Mess Of The Big Show by Sorrell Anderson. I was delighted to win a copy for my 7 year old and even more delighted, when I said we hadn't met The Clumsies yet, that the publishers sent not one but three titles from the series. So thank you Caroline and HarperCollins.

 

Poor Howard works in an office and he has a very scary boss who likes everything to be ship shape and tidy. Unfortunately Howard has two talking mice living in his office and though they try very hard to help, and put the kettle on an awful lot (those are my kind of mice!) they just cause hilarious chaos. The Clumsies Make A Mess is this first in the series and it is a several-chuckles-a-page worth of fun. If you have ever wondered how to turn an elephant into a dog using only a box, a tooth brush and a mouse you need look no further!

Yeats is Dead and The Haunted House

I have two interesting looking works of fiction in stock at the moment. Both are multi-authored narratives, though they're written over a century appart. Yeats is Dead! was published in 2002 for the benefit of Amnesty International. It was written by fifteen leading Irish writers including Roddy Doyle, Frank McCourt and Joseph O'Connor. The Haunted House was put together by Dickens and includes three chapters by the great man. Published in 1863 it also includes chapters by Wilkie Collins and Elizabeth Gaskell as well as some less well known Victorian writers (specifically Adelaide Proctor, George Augustus Sala and Hesba Stretton, if you're interested).

 

My copy of The Haunted House is published by Hesperus Press and has an introduction by Peter Ackroyd. Ackroyd describes the multi-author production as a kind of Arabian Nights, though it strikes me as more I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. Perhaps Ackroyd means in that the stories are complete in themselves though connected, rather than being a complete whole narrative. If I get the chance to read the books before I sell them I shall no doubt find out.

Several things intrigue me though. Does this kind of multi-authored book have a name? Wikipedia calls The Haunted House a "portmanteau story" but again I think this refers to the fact the stories can be read on their own as well as part of the group, rather than the fact it has many authors. I have also heard the phrase "portmanteau story" applied to A Group of Noble Dames by Thomas Hardy (I've not read that either) which of course has just one author.

I am also wondering whether there are many examples of this kind of work? I can imagine there are more like the Yeats is Dead! in modern times produced for charity or causes, but what of the past? Can anyone recommend any? I would also be interested to know of any critical treatment of this 'genre' even if it is just a paragraph or two in a book or article on something else.

If you've any thoughts, please share them!

Updating the To-Be-Read Pile - part two

Some more additions to the TBR pile, which is actually piles plural down the side of my bed. I actually have a bookstand instead of a traditional bedside table but there are still three teetering towers of books as well.

First up is The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley. This is a review copy from Book Dagger. It is the second in the Flavia de Luce series and my first read from the series. A historical whodunit with a precocious 11 year old detective with an obsession for chemistry, a quick glace suggests this is what the Mapp and Lucia books would have been like had they been written by Josephine Tey.

Next is another Christmas present from Mr J. I have had a lot of Geraldine Jewsbury through my hands but they never stay in stock long enough for me to read them. I am very pleased to now own a Virago edition (now out of print) of Zoe . "You are not like other women, Zoe, you are stronger for both good and evil, and it may be that you will be tried. Women like you seldom pass through life easily". The virago edition of Zoe has an introduction by Shirley Foster who was one of my tutors when I was an undergrad and she is excellent on the underrated woman writer. Geraldine Jewsbury was very much an early feminist in her fiction and is probably best known for her long standing friendship with Jane Welsh Carlyle, wife of the historian Thomas Carlyle, and their extensive correspondence.

From the wonderful Leeds Library I have two of the St Petersburg Mysteries by R. N. Morris: A Vengeful Longing and A Gentle Axe. These are new to me but having very much enjoyed two books set in Russia recently (The Tsar's Dwarf and Red Blood, White Snow) I fancied this historical crime series. I'll let you know how I get on. Has anyone else tried these?

Another of my Leeds Library haul is Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner. Another feminist tale the delightful sounding Lolly sets her self free "with her cat and a pact with the Devil" as she dabbles in witchcraft. Again, this is my first read from this author though I've had her biography of T. H. White (T. H. White : A Biography ) on my wanted list for a while.

Lastly, for this post at least, I have Private Peacefulby Michael Morpurgo. I am assuming this is a children's or at least a YA book but as a piece of First World War historical fiction it looks intriguing. After a few chapters I am already very taken with the first person narrator.

I really don't need any more books for the wanted list but have you seen this furniture destroying tome reviewed on Cornflower? It looks a must for crime fiction lovers.