The Guardian's Blog, page 79

Marvel and DC announce new wave of female-led titles

Two comic big hitters unveil their publishing plans for the coming year, with a tranche of female-fronted books including an all-female Avengers

It’s a good day to be a comics fan, especially if you’re a woman. Big hitters Marvel and DC both chose Friday to make major announcements about their comic book lines.

Marvel seemed to be edging ahead in the social media love-in after unveiling an all-female Avengers team. There was no sign of Captain America, Iron Man or Hulk, but instead a host of Marvel’s female heroes in a team to be introduced as part of its cross-title Secret Wars event in May.

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Published on February 06, 2015 11:38

Poster poems: darkness

For some poets it has meant solace, for others it is something fearful, or a kind of memento mori – but now it’s your turn to leap into the shadows. Post your poems about the dark

Even now, with the days growing slowly longer, darkness dominates these winter months, especially for those of us who live in relatively rural areas. But for many urban dwellers, true darkness is an almost forgotten condition, usually only experienced as a consequence of war, power failures or the deliberate seeking out of lightless indoor spaces. Our fear of the dark has led us to try and banish it, with the consequence that we have also managed to drive out the beauty of a starlit night from many people’s experience.

It is easy to forget how recent a phenomenon this technological elimination of the dark is. In Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, when the weary ploughman left the world to darkness and to the poet, it was a darkness the depth and quality of which most of us now can barely imagine. And in the dark, the poet’s mind was free to meditate on fame and mortality undistracted, and enter into a sympathetic understanding of the perpetual darkness that was the lot of his fellow denizens of the graveyard.

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Published on February 06, 2015 05:49

An unexpected ending for literary progress?

What does the current fashion for open endings have to tell us about literary progress? Ask Chekhov ...

There’s no science to the saying that while two things are just a coincidence a third makes a trend, but the last three collections of short stories I happen to have read have all been full of open narratives, bursting with transcendence.

It started with Colin Barrett’s lyrical Young Skins, which won the Guardian first book award last year. Set mostly in County Mayo, these stories follow a cast of bouncers, drifters and drug dealers as they criss-cross the streets of a fictional small town – the threat of violence always at their shoulder. On the night of the award, the judges and his editors lined up to praise not only his striking voice, but also his deft touch with narrative.

“He is trying to remember, to figure out what happened during the trip, if anything, and what it has to do with what is happening here now.”

“Once the eye is used to these shades, half the ‘conclusions’ of fiction fade into thin air; they show like transparencies with a light behind them – gaudy, glaring, superficial. The general tidying up of the last chapter, the marriage, the death, the statement of values so sonorously trumpeted forth, so heavily underlined, become of the most rudimentary kind. Nothing is solved, we feel; nothing is rightly held together. On the other hand, the method which at first seemed so casual, inconclusive, and occupied with trifles, now appears the result of an exquisitely original and fastidious taste, choosing boldly, arranging infallibly, and controlled by an honesty for which we can find no match save among the Russians themselves.”

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Published on February 06, 2015 00:00

Why To Kill a Mockingbird is overrated

Mockingbird’s ‘sequel’ Go Set a Watchman was written first so it might be truer to Harper Lee’s original vision

On Tuesday, I came out of a meeting to find a barrage of messages with the news that Harper Lee has written a sequel to her classic 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird and will be publishing it this summer. To say that I was startled would be putting it mildly; it was simply astonishing news. The novel’s many fans had long inured themselves to Lee’s seemingly irreversible decision not to write another novel. Her pen simply “froze”, Lee once declared, after the maelstrom of publicity and praise Mockingbird received, and she firmly rejected her loving, demanding audience’s repeated efforts to interview her or persuade her to write something more.

Then I saw the title of the “new” novel and realised that nothing had changed: Lee has not suddenly caved in to our desires and produced a sequel to Mockingbird at the age of 88. Scholars have long known of an earlier draft of Mockingbird called Go Set a Watchman (and at least one other title, if not another draft, called Atticus), and it is this book that will be published in the summer.

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Published on February 05, 2015 23:00

Which is your favourite classic book?

As we approach a million followers on Twitter, we’re celebrating with a series on our favourite books. Yesterday we revelled in our earliest reading memories, so today we’ve moved on to classics: is F Scott Fitzgerald your man, or do you prefer Jane Austen? Let us know in the comments or on the hashtag #booksamillion

Follow the #booksamillion conversation on Twitter, with new topics every day

We’re in a party mood on Guardian Books: our Twitter account is approaching one million followers, after four years of fascinating conversations with an engaged and passionate community. To mark the occasion, we’ll be exchanging literary tips, memories and anecdotes on the social network. After a nostalgia-fest of childhood reading, naming the first reads we could remember, today we talked all-time classic literature. Here is a selection of our readers’ favourite classic books – add your own, either in the comments below, or on #booksamillion.

.@GuardianBooks well-thumbed, well-loved, with marginalia that increases with every reading. #booksamillion pic.twitter.com/3TOMGpePUl

Alice in Wonderland, one shelf of many! Specially for you @guardianbooks @wordsbydan #booksamillion #classics pic.twitter.com/5Q013vMlaL

RT @davidallen129: @GuardianBooks Easy winner – love this book. pic.twitter.com/Ay6dd5W0XO #booksamillion

.@GuardianBooks my favorite classic has its own shelf #booksamillion pic.twitter.com/euaidabliw

.@GuardianBooks my favourite classic is this joy of a book. What's yours? #booksamillion pic.twitter.com/NWSY9jH0iG

. @GuardianBooks - I discovered this classic aged about 14, loved it then and love it now! #booksamillion pic.twitter.com/WvQExKpy5q

.@GuardianBooks My favourite classic, could get lost in this again and again... #booksamillion pic.twitter.com/lgDj0NkbfU

@GuardianBooks I, Claudius. It's just ridiculously good. #booksamillion pic.twitter.com/qTct8RMqd4

@GuardianBooks Is this a classic? If so, then this: #booksamillion pic.twitter.com/xkK4HfTj5H

@GuardianBooks John Stembeck's 'Of Mice and Men.' Something amazingly tender about it.

@GuardianBooks The Catcher in the Rye! favourite book of all time, also learnt a lot from Holden #booksamillion pic.twitter.com/kjXxYKGiyM

@GuardianBooks Treasure Island. I read it every two or three years since I was 14. It always shows something new.

@GuardianBooks my favourite classic is '100 Years of Solitude'. It took me by surprise and is such a brilliant read

@GuardianBooks The Strode Venturer by Hammond Innes, esp enjoyed it for the #Maldives connection pic.twitter.com/jy9WL9zpIY

@GuardianBooks The Great Gatsby is the most well loved book on my shelf. (That and Harry Potter - not quite a classic yet!) #booksamillion

@wandsworthlibs @martabausells @GuardianBooks and, to be topical, To Kill a Mockingbird.

@GuardianBooks The classic example of weird and wonderful: At-Swim-Two-Birds. Closely followed by The Master and Margarita. #booksamillion

@GuardianBooks Really cliche but Pride & Prejudice is one of my all-time favorites; but so is War of the Worlds (go scifi!) #booksamillion

@GuardianBooks Nothing resonates as deep as #Frankenstein. Both Victor & his creature break my heart. #booksamillion pic.twitter.com/1e8sugJOgp

@GuardianBooks @martabausells My favourite classic is 'Wuthering Heights': pic.twitter.com/RY6BstLLy0

@GuardianBooks #booksamillion Favourite classic Virginia Woolf's "Flush" short, cute & fluffy - the dog that is! pic.twitter.com/JJiu9ZoXv3

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Published on February 05, 2015 10:10

Which is the first book you remember reading?

As we approach a million followers on Twitter, we’re celebrating with a series on our favourite books. We’ve started by chatting about earliest book recollections – here are some of our readers’ fond memories. Join us on the hashtag #booksamillion

Follow the #booksamillion conversation on Twitter, with new topics every day

We’re in a party mood on guardian books: our Twitter account is approaching one million followers, after four years of fascinating conversations with an engaged and passionate community. To mark the occasion, we’ll be exchanging literary tips, memories and anecdotes on the social network – and we’ve kicked it off with the earliest book we remember reading. Delve into this retro children’s books fest courtesy of our readers, and add your own favourites, either in the comments below, or on #booksamillion.

@GuardianBooks #Booksamillion First book I remember reading .. Tiptoes the Mischievous Kitten by Noel Barr pic.twitter.com/mD9y6G19cY

@GuardianBooks this was my first book I read myself - I can still see the pictures in my brain pic.twitter.com/6NQXEYaTPf

.@GuardianBooks This is the first book I remember reading. Still love it. @bramblyhedge_ #booksamillion pic.twitter.com/luirM6ISiU

@GuardianBooks #Booksamillion first book I remember reading, 'Dear Zoo' tucked up in bed as a kid! pic.twitter.com/7vvzq3HhtL

@GuardianBooks #Booksamillion I remember this book, loved the story and the illustrations. This is the same cover. pic.twitter.com/PLfpoyr7Vo

@GuardianBooks @AB_Mycroft The french version of the Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse. #booksamillion pic.twitter.com/qwQsQPLOTf

First book I can remember reading (by myself) definitely Finn Family Moomintroll!! #Booksamillion @GuardianBooks pic.twitter.com/bXZtWVSxoG

First book - 'The Funny Thing' by Wanda Gag. And very good it was too, jum-jills. #booksamillion @GuardianBooks pic.twitter.com/lZmcfD9C6z

Not the 1st, but one of the first. #SmallPig & @liljewil51 taught me the word "nearby." @GuardianBooks #booksamillion pic.twitter.com/rrGwMdrhSB

@GuardianBooks Here it is, the first book I remember reading: The Large & Growly Bear, by Gertrude Crampton. pic.twitter.com/SBnjWfbITs

Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever because the pictures built worlds way beyond the words. #booksamillion http://t.co/afz0y1UzL8

@GuardianBooks #booksamillion First book I read alone, at Grandma Peg's on Christmas Eve. I was five and ate it up! pic.twitter.com/XlhIPTnBg2

First bk I remember reading: either Five Children & It or Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler (for the killer twist) @GuardianBooks #booksamillion

.@GuardianBooks I was reminded this Christmas by my mother buying me a new copy: Paddington and the Knicker Bocker Rainbow.

First books I remember reading -Magic Porridge Pot and Princess and the Pea by Ladybird #booksamillion @GuardianBooks pic.twitter.com/eH2XnYzKFs

@GuardianBooks @AB_Mycroft pic.twitter.com/35MPNrzfIE

@GuardianBooks Childcraft, Italian edition. My family read to me from it and I learned to read on it. #booksamillion pic.twitter.com/sVgWDlTieK

@GuardianBooks The Eye Book #booksamillion pic.twitter.com/SBRRvbup2f

@GuardianBooks The first 'big kid' chapter book I read was a slightly abridged version of Black Beauty when I was around seven.

@GuardianBooks Famous Five by Enid Blyton - read them in order, was allowed to visit a bookshop and buy new book with birthday money #smell

@GuardianBooks "Á La Recherche du Temps Perdu" when I was 2. In the original French, obviously.

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Published on February 04, 2015 10:07

Welcome to Bookmarks, our new books newsletter

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Introducing Bookmarks, our new email from the books team: from this Thursday, you can get a curated mix of our latest news, reviews, podcasts and blogposts in your inbox – plus the always educative How to Draw galleries from our Children’s Books colleagues.

Related: Sign up to our Bookmarks email

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Published on February 04, 2015 04:41

February’s Reading group: Caribou Island by David Vann

This month’s title was drawn from a list of your favourite recent books - and it’s the first novel from the author of Legend of a Suicide

The hat has chosen Caribou Island by David Vann, a book the New York Times has called a “swift and beautifully written first novel” and one that “gets to places other novels can’t touch”. I’m thinking, however, that it may well be interestingly tricky. Plenty of other reviewers, including Patrick Ness in the Guardian, have described it as something of a third book, following on from his breakthrough novella and story collection, Legend of a Suicide and bestselling memoir A Mile Down.

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Published on February 04, 2015 03:18

Baddies in books: Alex from A Clockwork Orange

From Charles Dickens to Stephen King, fiction offers plenty of troubled children – but Anthony Burgess’s teenage narrator is in a league of his own

While real-life juvenile delinquency is depressing in the extreme, there is an undeniable frisson generated by the fictional juxtaposition of innocence and evil – of boys and girls gone bad and youths wicked beyond their years. Just think of ruthless 17-year-old gang boss Pinkie in Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock, or murderous would-be-übermensch Raskolnikov in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, or the machiavellian Steerpike wending his way through Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast novels; then there’s the legions of troubled children who populate the literary landscapes of Charles Dickens, William Trevor and Stephen King. But when it comes to pure evil – evil as a force of nature – Alex, the 15-year-old narrator of Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel, A Clockwork Orange, is in a league of his own.

First and foremost there is the language. A Clockwork Orange is a reading experience unlike any other. Set in a dystopian future England, the novel is narrated in Nadsat, Burgess’s brilliantly conceived argot, made up partly of bastardised Russian. An initial response at being plunged into Alex’s world is likely to be one of bewilderment and alienation: “We sat in the Korova Milk Bar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening.” But Alex’s tone is amiable. He addresses his readers directly, looking for friendship and understanding. (“You may, O my brothers, have forgotten what these mestos were like, things changing so skorry these days.”) As one is swept up by the rhythm of the narrative, and by the sheer inventiveness and lyricism of the language, one gradually begins to see the world through Alex’s eyes – only to be pulled up short when realising the descriptions are of acts of terrible violence.

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Published on February 03, 2015 08:40

The best books on Angola: start your reading here | Pushpinder Khaneka

Our literary tour of Angola explores the brutal fallout from independence, corruption and the resilience of the people

Agualusa’s novel, ostensibly about the life of Angolan poet and activist Lidía do Carmo Ferreira – who mysteriously vanished in Luanda in 1992 – depicts his country’s tortured history in the second half of the 20th century. Independence in 1975, after a long anti-colonial struggle against Portugal, brings cause for celebration but also marks the beginning of three decades of civil war.