Juxtabook

Jill and the Lost Ponies by Jane Badger

Jill and the Lost Ponies by Jane Badger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A brilliant evocation of the world of Jill Crewe as she pursues her first year, pony-less, in secretarial college. Jane Badger captures beautifully the world and the characters of Ruby Ferguson's beloved pony book series to create a new story that had me smiling from start to finish. Voice, tone, and Jill's follies and internal self-agonising are all presented freshly and authentically. Anne, Susan Pyke, Jill's mother (and her soppy stories), cousin Cecilia, Captain Cholly-Sawcutt and other well-loved characters are all here too. I loved every minute and hope she writes some more!

Not only does Jane Badger write fiction she also publishes books. Read more about the UK's premier pony book expert here.

The Oxbridge Formula by Paarul Shah, Jessica Grindlay and Chris Parker - review

 

It has been a while since I posted on education and most children (and their parents!) are missing the support of school at the moment so this is excellent timing for the publication of The Oxbridge Formula by Paarul Shah, Jessica Grindlay and Chris Parker.

If you have a child in years 11 or 12 likely to do well/ or having done well in their GCSEs then this book is well worth your time. Although principally aimed at those planing on studying sciences and the more mathematical subjects such as economics there is much good advice here for any student in lower 6th (year 12).

Applying to Oxford or Cambridge brings challenges that applications to other universities do not - the entrance exams and admissions interviews. These can be daunting to point of putting students off even considering an application, and can also be a minefield to navigate even if they do decide to go for it. Here, then, is your answer, clearly organised and full of sound good sense.

It is a much weightier tome than you might think but is well designed for dipping in an out of the relevant sections to you. Courses are explained with "what it's like to study x" sections and explanations of how the subject differs between school and university, or what a day or week in the life of a student of that subject is like. It also summarises what you need to apply for the courses at Oxford or Cambridge in terms of A level results, or specific A level subjects. The various different entrance exams are explained - this is something of a sea of acronyms but that's hardly the authors' fault. There is plenty of depth of detail with styles of questions and the nature of the different papers discussed and QR code links for more information, sample or past papers, and free guides. I am also impressed by how many joint honours courses or courses that more interdisciplinary are considered: PPE, or Economic History for example.

The book adds to its strengths with really useful annotated sample personal statements and candidate interviews transcripts, as well as spot the successful candidate sections which compare different approaches to preparing for the exam and interview. The former show what is good to include, and how to display your experiences and interests to your advantage. Although the letters are subject specific the advice could easily be applied to any subject and would make useful reading if you're stuck on writing your personal statement (or advising your son or daughter) for any Russell Group university not just Oxford and Cambridge.

The interview transcripts show how the tutors are looking for teachability and an informed, enquiring mind. The amount of backtracking and "uming and erring" in the transcripts show how good candidates think on their feet and engage with what the tutor is asking them, but should also help nervous future applicants realise that they don't have to get everything right first time to be successful. I also like the focused sub-sections such as what a candidate without an Economics A level might get asked in an interview to study for a degree in Economics for example.

The third significant feature, the candidate profiles, are just brilliant. You can see immediately (perhaps more so if you're the parent) what are the useful ways for you (or your young person) to be spending time in the run up to the entrance exams and then the interviews. Clear differences are shown between targeted useful preparation, ill-thought out preparation or over-confidence or over-ambition, and candidates that work very hard but in the wrong way mis-directing their energies in someway, or applying for the wrong courses for their talents and interests. I think this feature as much as the more academic parts of the book is the real social leveller: it invites all candidates, whatever their background, to the world of what used to be called middle-class know-how.

Lastly there is much recommended further reading to help you prepare for the exams and most importantly for the interviews. These are potted reviews of the books not just lists. There is even recommended reading for you once you have an offer, to help you keep up to speed for your first year at university (again useful for students applying elsewhere). This latter is particularly useful if you are taking a gap year. With maths and science where so much knowledge is cumulative, you will slip back a little in your year-out and this advice will keep you on track.

As an arts graduate I asked myself was there enough here to help me understand the differences in the application systems if I was supporting a child to apply for science, medicine or maths (ie a subject far removed from mine), and there was. You can see the pathway if even if you don't understand the subject!

After closely reading the bonus chapter on studying philosophy (something I did read as an undergraduate!) I thought it balanced and informative. The suggested reading was demanding but very much in line with what I might expect to be recommended to a bright 6th former.The interview sample was thought provoking and you could see the way the student was thinking their way around the problems posed and what the tutor was trying to get out of it.

As for criticisms my biggest gripe is the sample letters are a bit London/private school-centric. Debating societies and work experience in Parliament for example are in one letter, though to its credit the notes explain that the key thing is to mention how the work experience fits with your subject choice which could apply to a much great range of life experiences. Another mentions spending a gap year working for a publicly listed software company when applying to study computer science, again unlikely to be available to you if you live in, say, rural Wales. I would like to have seen more of how a student whose background is a comprehensive school in a deprived area or a rural area, and whose out-of-school experiences might have been looking after younger siblings or working on a supermarket till might make the most of those experiences in their statement. It is fairly easy to see how working in parliament can be made to apply to the PPE course but more imaginative examples here and there would have been good. Equally though the same letter mentions doing an Open Yale course - providing ideas of something the reader could do to add to their CV with enough notice.

Overall, this is a five star guide with much to recommend it to a broad range of students. You can read more on their website here. You may also find the Russell Group website regarding the best choices for A level subjects here.

Notes:

PPE is Philosophy, Politics and Economics. A degree much beloved by future politicians, city workers and journalists.

The Russell Group is a group of 24 leading research universities (which means they prioritise academic research as well as teaching). There are many well respected universities outside of this group but it would be foolish to pretend other than that attending one of these does help graduates in the jobs market for some employers/industries.

Stanley and Elsie by Nicola Upson

Stanley and Elsie by Nicola Upson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved every page of this. Upson manages to make art that you can't see sing, and characters you should loath become sympathetic. The world Upson creates is so real you almost feel embarrassed looking in. Wonderful, wonderful writing!

View all my reviews

40% off books for today only

 

For Monday 31st August only we're having a 40% off sale. Note the discount code 40Aug19 to use at the checkout and then browse our site. (There are more details and the small print in our newsletter here)

Book catalogues you might enjoy:

Authors A-Z
Fiction
English local history by county
Children's Literature
Poetry and Criticism
Novels and Criticism
Classics
Language Studies
History
Philosophy
Movements and Themes in Literature
French Literature
Art and Photography

 

Heroines on Horseback: The Pony Book in Children's Fiction by Jane Badger

I have sung the praises of Jane Badger many times on here and on twitter: she is a fantastic bookseller, author and now publisher. Her book Heroines on Horseback: The Pony Book in Children's Fiction which was published by GGBP has been out-of-print in paperback for a little while but Jane now has it out as an e-book available for kindle here. I don't believe there is anyone who knows more about the pony book and its wider place in children's literature than Jane and her book is an intelligent, fun read.

A few months ago Jane Badger Books began bringing back out some hard-to-find pony books as e-books and in some cases paperback too making classic pony books available again from authors such as Patricia Leitch, Victoria Eveleigh, Diana Pullein-Thompson, Josephine Pullein-Thompson and Caroline Akrill. You browse some of the selection here.

Testament by Alis Hawkins

Long-time readers of Juxtabook will remember how much I enjoyed the time-shift novel Testament by Alis Hawkins. After the success of her Welsh historical crime series (The Harry Probert-Lloyd Mysteries - which I also highly recommend) Testament has just been re-issued by Sapere Books.

You can read my original review of Testament here. Ten years ago! How time flies!

You can follow Alis Hawkins on twitter.

40% off Book Sale - today only

For Monday 22nd April only we're having a 40% off sale. Scroll down for your discount code and further details and then browse our site.

 

 

 

The Brothers Powys by Richard Perceval Graves - signed

Oxford University Press, 1983. Hardback. 370pp. Inscribed by the author, “With best wishes, Richard Perceval Graves, March 1983”. First edition. Biography of three of the Powys brothers, John Cowper Powys, Theodore Francis Powys (rural novelist often compared with Mary Webb), and Llewellyn Powys (author of Earth Memories, Dorset Essays etc). A insight into this fascinating literary family. Includes a note on further reading. Indexed.

 

40% off books in stock* - today only

Use the code 40April19 at the checkout for a 40% discount on our book prices on Monday 22nd April only. There is no minimum purchase and no limit to how often you can use the code on the day so browse our site and enjoy!

There are a small number of exceptions - please read the 'small print' below.

Please feel free to pass the discount code onto friends or to your students.

 

 

No Go the Bogeyman: Scaring, Lulling and Making Mock by Marina Warner - signed

Chatt & Windus, 1998. Hardback. 435pp. First edition. Signed by the author to the title page. Two selections of colour plates. Some integral black and white illustrations.

 

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The Small Print :

Valid until midnight on Monday 22nd April 2019

The offer does not apply to the small number of new books that we stock including Bay of Ghosts and An Almshouse for Linton.

Postage is extra. Because of the sizeable discount we cannot subsidise postage so large orders from outside the UK might require increased shipping costs. We will contact you to explain if there are any additional costs once your order has gone through, or you can email us before placing an order. You will be able to cancel the order if you're unhappy with the extra shipping.

The Traveller's Guide to Classical Philosophy by John Gaskin

 

 

The Traveller's Guide to Classical Philosophy by John Gaskin is one of my favourite discoveries in the last twelve months. Those of us who benefited from and '70s or '80s comprehensive school education avoided Latin. Many of my contemporaries may thank their lucky stars for this but, for me, lacking this entry level means to a classical education is a source of regret. You're not more than five minutes into an undergraduate English degree before you realise that our literary canon is under-pinned by thought developed from western Christianity and from the classical world. First year undergrad courses in philosophy (my subsidiary subject) hardly scratched the surface. My lack of knowledge on the latter has been a source of irritation since then.

I know from my sales of Latin and Greek books that there are many autodidacts out there, but most them are going back in their retirement to subjects begun at school in the '40s and '50s. In a busy life the motivation to start from scratch is sadly lacking. And here's where the wonderful The Traveller's Guide to Classical Philosophy comes in. Firstly it is based on lectures: hard stuff based on the spoken word originally is always easier for a tired brain to take in, and often much more entertaining. Secondly it is big on historical and literary context which for a literary critic coming to philosophy in some trepidation is excellent. And lastly, and this may seem trivial, it is short being a beautifully brief tour at 192pp. This, you see, is exactly what I am after.

It has a great first chapter, "A Scheme of Things Entire", being a detailed chronology bigger on explanation than dates, that I keep dipping back into for context. I'm now thoroughly enjoying Part II: The Ideal of Homer and the Ideas of the Philosophers which is clear, well paced and enlivened with drawings. Other elegant features include a proper index (I'm amazed how often indexes are missed out these days) and a gazetteer making it literally a traveller's companion. A review copy that is definitely a keeper.

Offer: free P+P on UK orders of this book until the end of January. The book is £8.99. Just send me a message to order.

We also have a couple of thousand out of print and hard to find philosophy books in stock. You can browse the philosophy shelves here.

Literary Landscapes: Charting the Real-Life Settings of the World's Favourite Fiction

 

Literary Landscapes: Charting the Topography of Classic Literature edited by John Sutherland is not the first to chart this kind literary geography but it is certainly one of the most wide-ranging. Dozens of novels are explored here, with settings across the world. As well as the obvious Brontës in Haworth, Dickens' London, John Steinbeck's Cannery Row, Harper Lee's Alabama, or even A. A. Milnes' '100 Aker Wood' here we also find essays on Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain (set in the Swiss Alps), Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavrandsatter set in the Gudbrand Valley, Norway, Orphan Pamuk's Snow set in Kars, Turkey, Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart set in Onitsha, Nigeria, and Tim Winton's Cloudstreet set in Perth, Australia. If you look the evocation of place then this not just a place to catch-up with old favourites but to find new ones too.

 

 

The format is by movement and era: Romanticism, Modernism, etc. This gives the book both a thematic as well as a chronological structure. The vast number of essays mean that each treatment is fairly short, but there is no sense of hurry amongst the essays themselves. I assume the range and organisation are down to Sutherland and both features are a strength of the book.

Also standout are the visual production values. It is lavishly illustrated with contemporary photographs (in colour for the more modern books), author photographs, stills from films, maps, and images of books covers. As a book dealer I particularly like the page of evocative mid-twentieth century William Faulkner covers and the full page given over to the anniversary edition cover of La Colmena (The Hive) by Camilo José Cela.

Each essay is bordered by wide margins finely filled with more detail on the authors and their books. Beautifully presented and meaning the essay writers don't have to waste time on background before the exposition on the place in the novel. I like this feature and it is especially useful as for those authors you are less familiar with (and there will be quite a few).

The obvious essay for me to focus on is Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, set as it is fairly close to where I am typing and an area I know well. The essay is excellent: it immediately brings together the weather and landscape, not simply the oft mentioned cruelty of the landscape which is really the landscape combined with its weather. We certainly get a lot of weather round here (in the never that extreme rather British way). I remember an American book blogger who visited here commenting that until she'd ventured up on the moors behind Haworth she had no idea wind could come from so many directions at once. The moors do take your breath away. Sutherland (for this is one of the literary critic's own essays) then finds a rather lovely sunny quote by contrast that has me reaching for Wuthering Heights again to re-live some its texture. The skies aren't always grey over Haworth.

 

The essay is finished off beautifully with a double page spread of a painting by L.S. Lowry, The Witherns near Haworth; this Lancashire painter is an unexpected choice but the blue-grey-khaki palette of Lowry fits the essay's themes extremely well.

So far I can heartily recommend, but I do have a few quibbles. The essays are very uneven - not surprising perhaps when there are so many - although the Brontë one is one of the best and I love the one on Anne of Green Gables. In addition, some of the sub-editing choices are poor - Wuthering Heights is on the Yorkshire Moors apparently. That phrase, particularly with a capital M, usually refers to the North York Moors. (See this for an example, and this). This is a National Park and Haworth is not in it nor particularly even near it, Yorkshire being a huge county. Obviously Yorkshire moors could be used to described any upland Yorkshire area. This rogue capital letter is small point but an irritating one (why didn't they look at an OS map and call it Haworth Moor?) There are other little quibbles like this on the books / places I know well so there must be others on those I don't.

The most significant problem though is the lack of attribution of the essays. It is possible to eventually find out who wrote what only by turning to the the back where there is an A-Z of contributors, where you have to read through each one till you find who wrote the essay you're interested in. This hassle could have been solved by the use of the old-fashioned by-line.

Having moaned about the difficulty of discovering the contributors, they are generally of a high quality though, which probably means you've never heard of them, as they are mostly academics like Sutherland. They include people like Daniel Hahn (Oxford Companion to Children's Literature), Julie Curtis (Professor of Russian Literature at Wolfson College, Oxford), Andrew Watts (Senior Lecturer in French Studies, University of Birmingham, The Cambridge Companion to Balzac), etc., as well as more general writers such as the ubiquitous Robert Macfarlane.

Overall all, I enjoyed this beautiful book. It is a worthy successor to last years' Literary Wonderlands: A Journey through the Greatest Fictional Worlds Ever Created from the same publisher, and an excellent addition to what you might call the book-list genre.

 

 

Literary Landscapes: Charting the Real-Life Settings of the World’s Favourite Fiction

General Editor: John Sutherland

Published 25 October 2018 – Price: £25 hardback, full-colour illustration.

You could buy this from your local book shop or by using the Amazon link in the text, or directly from me (who is also assessed for Uk tax!). I can offer free UK postage on pre-orders until the 24th October. Just contact me to order.

You could win a copy too: Follow @modernbooks and tweet your own favourite #LiteraryLandscape for a chance to win a copy of Literary Landscapes.

Blog tours can be a bit samey but there is so much to read and discuss in this book that this one might well be worth following.

 

House Keeping Notes

I've been having a long overdue play with the content and layout of this blog. I've gone back to having two side bars to enable more links and more books to be displayed. I've also been checking links removing dead ones an d updating others whilst adding lost more. It is a work in progress and not quite finished but I hope it will be more readable and more useful to you.

A few things to draw your attention to: there are new indie booksellers listed in the Independent Booksellers links, there are new links for UK book fairs, and the Book Care and Repair links are definitely worth a look. I've yet to check the literary societies and I want to add more books to the right side bar. I may add some of my own stock over there.

I read all the time but often don't have time to review so I have moved the Books on the Bedside Table further up on the left - hopefully that is easier to see and may flag up books you never get to see reviewed.

I have very mixed feelings about my current read:

 

but it needs little introduction.

 

If you have suggests for links - your favourite independent book shop for example? Then please add them to the comments and I'll see what I can do.

40% Off Books Bank Holiday Sale

For Monday 27th August only we're having a 40% off sale. Scroll down for your discount code and further details and then browse our site.

 

 

40% off books in stock* - today only

Use the code 2018aug40 at the checkout for a 40% discount on our book prices on Monday 27th August only. There is no minimum purchase and no limit to how often you can use the code on the day so browse our site and enjoy!

Please feel free to pass the discount code onto friends or to your students.

 

 

Books shown:

Rosamond Lehmann: An Appreciation

The Wool-Pack by Cynthia Harnett

and below Rápúnzell [the classic Ladybird Rapunzel in Gaelic]

 

 

 

Book catalogues you might enjoy:

Authors A-Z
Fiction
English local history by county
Children's Literature
Poetry and Criticism
Novels and Criticism
Classics
Language Studies
History
Philosophy
Movements and Themes in Literature
French Literature
Art and Photography
Architecture