Hannah Kate's Blog, page 71
December 27, 2015
Happy Christmas! Some Seasonal Book Recommendations
The Hannah’s Bookshelf Christmas show was broadcast on Boxing Day on North Manchester FM. After festive shows about gifts and parties, this show was simply devoted to books set at Christmas time. You can listen again on the player below, but first a rundown of the books I discussed…
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum
Written in 1902, this American children’s classic tells the story of an orphan called Claus, who is brought up in the land of the Immortals. If you like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, then you’ll love this festive favourite.
Christmas Novellas by Anne Perry
Historical novelist Anne Perry has published a series of seasonal novellas, the first being A Christmas Journey (2003) and the most recent being A Christmas Escape (2015). On the show I talked about A Christmas Secret, which is set in 1890 and tells the story of Dominic Corde, a curate who arrives in Cottisham to temporarily replace Reverend Wynter. While the village initially appears pleasant and welcoming, Dominic soon realizes that someone is hiding a dark secret. And I talked about A Christmas Hope (2013), which is in 1868 and features Claudine Burroughs, a young woman who escapes her stifling social life by volunteering at Hester Monk’s clinic for poor women. The latter book ties in with one of Perry’s earlier novels about detective William Monk, Execution Dock (2009).
Okay… confession time… it’s been a few years since I read Straub’s 1979 novel, so I can’t remember if part of it is set specifically at Christmas, or just in the winter. But it’s a creepy book with a blizzard in it, so I’m going to say it counts. The story is told from the switching perspectives of four old men – the ‘Chowder Society’ – who come together to tell frightening stories from their pasts. As the stories unfold, the dark secret the binds the men to one another reveals itself and things begin to fall apart.
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
This book is probably better known via Christmas with the Kranks, the 2004 film adaptation starring Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis and Dan Ackroyd. When their daughter Blair leaves to join the peace corps, Luther and Nora Krank decide to skip Christmas for a year and put the money they would’ve spent towards a luxury cruise. Suffice to say, their neighbours do not agree with this decision.
The Box of Delights by John Masefield
Instant nostalgia trip for any children of the 80s! The Box of Delights was written in 1935, and was the sequel to The Midnight Folk (1927). When Kay Harker meets Cole Hawlings – a Punch-and-Judy man – he is entrusted with a box that leads him into a magical series of adventures. The book was adapted into a BAFTA-winning mini-series in 1984.
Tied Up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh
Well… it wouldn’t be Hannah’s Bookshelf without a bit of Golden Age detective fiction, would it? This time it’s Ngaio Marsh’s turn. Tied Up in Tinsel (1972) is an Inspector Alleyn (Marsh’s series detective) novel. Agatha Troy – Alleyn’s artist wife – has been commissioned to paint a portrait by Hilary Bill-Tasman, and is invited to spend Christmas with the family while finishing the painting. Of course, there’s murder in the air – more so than usual, in fact, as the entire staff is made up of people who have served a prison sentence for murder. Classic whodunnit with a festive twist – well worth a read!
Merry Christmas!
To listen to my discussion of the books on this list, you can use the player here:
Hannah’s Bookshelf – 26/12/2015 by Hannah’s Bookshelf on Mixcloud
The post Happy Christmas! Some Seasonal Book Recommendations appeared first on Hannah Kate.
December 20, 2015
A Few of My Favourite Literary Parties
As it’s the festive season, on Saturday 19th December, Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM was all about great literary parties – admittedly, like my show about holidays, this turned out to be more ‘parties gone awry’. You can listen to the show again on the player below but first, as promised, here are the details of the books I discussed:
Zadie Smith’s debut novel (published in 2000) tells the story of wartime friends Samad Iqbal and Archie Jones, their wives and children. White Teeth is included on this list for the ‘End of the World Party’ (a New Year’s Eve party in a commune) where Archie meets his wife Clara for the first time.
Tsiolkas’ award-winning novel, published in 2008, centres around the events and consequences of an afternoon barbecue in suburban Melbourne: someone slaps a child who is not their own, and the fallout from this results in friendships being fractured and secrets being revealed. Each chapter of the novel is narrated by a different character, including the party host, the child’s mother and the perpetrator of the eponymous slap.
From barbecue to dinner party now: the next book I talked about was Muriel Spark’s 1990 novel Symposium, which takes place at a dinner party hosted by Hurley Reed and Chris Donovan. Told through fragmentary chronology, flashback and memory, the book is a ‘jigsaw puzzle’ of a story, with a bit of darkness at its heart.
The Beckoning Lady by Margery Allingham
Although this party certainly goes awry, it’s still the literary party I would most like to attend. I love the descriptions of the party preparations in Allingham’s 1955 novel, which features her detective Albert Campion. As Minnie and Tonker Cassands prepare for their annual Midsummer party, a body is found is Pontisbright and Campion is called upon to lend his expert eye to the case – with the help of Magersfontein Lugg and DCI Charles Luke, of course.
Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
Maybe not a party as such – more an ad hoc, slightly chaotic family gathering – but I felt that the get-together at Brinkley Court in Wodehouse’s 1934 novel deserved a place on this list. I could have chosen from a number of Wodehouse’s short stories and novels, but I picked Right Ho, Jeeves because it made me laugh until I cried the first time I read it. Bertie Wooster is shocked to discover that his friends rate Jeeves’s advice higher than his own – so he instructs his valet to keep quiet as he attempts to solve a number of small social problems. Needless to say, this does not go well.
The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter
I ended the show on a play, rather than a novel. The Birthday Party was first performed in 1957, and has been described as ‘theatre of the absurd’ and a ‘comedy of menace’. Stanley Webber is lodging at a boarding-house run by Meg and Petey Boles, when two mysterious men named Goldberg and McCann arrive, claiming to have unfinished business. It’s also Stanley’s birthday. Or maybe it isn’t.
To hear more about all these books, you can listen to the show here:
Hannah’s Bookshelf – 19/12/2015 by Hannah’s Bookshelf on Mixcloud
The post A Few of My Favourite Literary Parties appeared first on Hannah Kate.
December 9, 2015
A Selection of Literary Christmas Presents
On Saturday 5th December, Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM was all about literary Christmas gifts. Around this time of year, there are a lot of lists of ‘best book gifts’ floating around, so I thought I’d approach this slightly differently. So, my take was… why not take the standard, cliché and replace them with their literary counterpart? (Bear with me… this will make sense very soon…)
Instead of giving chocolate, why not give…
Chocolat by Joanne Harris (1999) tells the story of Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk, and the effect they have on an isolated and austere French village when they open a decadent chocolate shop during Lent.
Instead of giving perfume, why not give…
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind was first published in English in 1987 (translated by John E. Woods). It is the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a young man born in 18th-century Paris who embarks on a sinister quest to distill the ‘perfect’ scent. This will perhaps be a surprise to someone hoping to find a bottle of Minajesty under the tree, but I’m sure they’ll thank you once they’ve read this best-selling novel.
For my next selection, I had to think about what other ‘stock’ gifts we give during the festive period. It could be calendars – which could be replaced with copies of Edgar Wallace’s 1930 The Calendar, a thriller set in the world of horseracing. Or if you prefer a more edible gift, you could replace a fancy hamper with a copy of Bread and Wine, Ignazio Silone’s 1936 anti-Stalinist novel. But instead of these, I went for a true classic…
Instead of giving socks, why not give…
Socks by Beverly Cleary was first published in 1973, and tells the story of the eponymous tabby cat as he comes to terms with a new arrival in the Bricker family.
Instead of giving soap, why not give…
Okay… so I sort of bent the rules on this one, but I thought it was funny. Although the word ‘soap’ doesn’t appear in the title of Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996 novel, the image of the stamped bar of soap is now fully associated with Fight Club. The book – known to many through the 1999 film adaptation starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton – is narrated by an unnamed character, who battles insomnia, disillusionment and a rather pugilistic friendship with a man called Tyler Durden.
Instead of giving a jigsaw, why not give…
While I was having a little hunt around for a book called ‘Jigsaw’, I accidentally stumbled on these little gems – and now I really want one! Marketed in 1934 as a novelty gift combining two hugely popular things (detective fiction and jigsaws), the Harrap Jig-Saw Mysteries were a full-length detective novel that included a 150-piece jigsaw as one final clue to the solution (which was apparently also sealed so you couldn’t sneakily jump ahead). As far as I can tell, there were three titles marketed: The Case of the Velvet Claws by Erle Stanley Gardner, Murder of the Only Witness by J.S. Fletcher, and The Secret of Tangles by Leonard R. Gribble. A beautiful little treat from the Golden Age of detective fiction, these books can occasionally be found at secondhand booksellers – though most don’t have the complete jigsaw or the sealed solution.
Finally, I considered the humble Christmas stocking. When I was a kid, the standard stocking fillers were a little orange – which could be replaced with Cherie Priest’s 2010 Clementine – and a handful of chocolates – which, of course, should be replaced by a copy of J.M. Barrie’s 1901 play Quality Street (after which the well-known chocolates are named). But what would you put in a stocking if someone has been naughty?
Instead of giving coal, why not give…
Upton Sinclair’s 1917 novel King Coal is set during the 1910s, and takes its inspiration from the 1913-14 Colorado Coalfield War. Protagonist Hal Warner adopts the name ‘Joe Smith’ and gets work with the General Fuel Company, in order to investigate the working conditions for miners. After an explosion at the mine, Hal finds himself involved in union organization and a bitter strike. The sequel, The Coal War, was published in 1976, 8 years after Sinclair’s death.
To hear more about all of these books, you can listen to the show here:
Hannah’s Bookshelf 05/12/2015 by Hannah’s Bookshelf on Mixcloud
The post A Selection of Literary Christmas Presents appeared first on Hannah Kate.
November 27, 2015
North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf, Saturday 28 November, 2-4pm
Join me this Saturday (2-4pm) on North Manchester FM for Hannah’s Bookshelf. This week, my guest will be Jeanette Greaves.
Jeanette is a dark fantasy writer, whose work has appeared in Wolf-Girls, Impossible Spaces and Hauntings: An Anthology. She lives in Lancashire where she currently helps to run the local branch of Cats Protection. She has degrees from three different universities, and a CSE in Latin, and her previous work has ranged from quality controlling the exact shade of peach in recycled toilet roll, to analysing the effectiveness of reed beds in the treatment of Yorkshire’s sewage. Jeanette is terrified of vampires, loves werewolves, and thinks that the best way to deal with zombies is to invest in a spade and an air freshener.
I’ll be chatting to Jeanette about her writing and inspirations, and she’ll be sharing her Apocalypse Books selections. Tune in on 106.6FM (if you’re in the North Manchester area) or listen online (if you’re further afield) at 2pm this Saturday.
Missed the show? You can listen again here:
Hannah’s Bookshelf 28/11/2015 – with special guest Jeanette Greaves by Hannah’s Bookshelf on Mixcloud
The post North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf, Saturday 28 November, 2-4pm appeared first on Hannah Kate.
North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf, Saturday 28 November, 2-40pm
Join me this Saturday (2-4pm) on North Manchester FM for Hannah’s Bookshelf. This week, my guest will be Jeanette Greaves.
Jeanette is a dark fantasy writer, whose work has appeared in Wolf-Girls, Impossible Spaces and Hauntings: An Anthology. She lives in Lancashire where she currently helps to run the local branch of Cats Protection. She has degrees from three different universities, and a CSE in Latin, and her previous work has ranged from quality controlling the exact shade of peach in recycled toilet roll, to analysing the effectiveness of reed beds in the treatment of Yorkshire’s sewage. Jeanette is terrified of vampires, loves werewolves, and thinks that the best way to deal with zombies is to invest in a spade and an air freshener.
I’ll be chatting to Jeanette about her writing and inspirations, and she’ll be sharing her Apocalypse Books selections. Tune in on 106.6FM (if you’re in the North Manchester area) or listen online (if you’re further afield) at 2pm this Saturday.
The post North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf, Saturday 28 November, 2-40pm appeared first on Hannah Kate.
November 10, 2015
North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf, Sat 14 November, 2-4pm
Join me on Saturday (2-4pm) for another exciting instalment of Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM. This week, my guest will be the fantastic James Everington.
James is a writer from Nottingham – most of what he writes is dark, supernatural fiction, although not necessarily ‘horror’ in the blood and guts sense. His main influences are writers like Ramsey Campbell, Shirley Jackson, and Robert Aickman, and he enjoys the unexplained, the psychological, and the ambiguous in his fiction. James’s second collection of short stories, Falling Over, was published by Infinity Plus in 2013, and The Quarantined City, a serial story from Spectral Press, is being released in six parts during 2015. James’s upcoming novella, Trying To Be So Quiet, will be published by Boo Books in 2015, with a limited edition hardback to follow in 2016. And you should definitely check out James’s short story, ‘The Man in Blue Boots’, in the Hic Dragones anthology Hauntings (edited by yours truly!) – it’s an absolute (creepy) gem of a story.
I’ll be chatting to James about his short stories and novella, and also about the challenges of writing serialized fiction. And of course, James will be sharing his selections for Apocalypse Books.
Tune at 2pm on 106.6FM (if you’re in the North Manchester area) or listen online (if you’re further afield).
The post North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf, Sat 14 November, 2-4pm appeared first on Hannah Kate.
November 6, 2015
North Manchester Folklore
If you caught the Halloween edition of Hannah’s Bookshelf then you’ll know that I told some spooky stories about the local area. In case you missed it (or in case you’d like to listen to the stories again), you can hear the individual stories in the videos below. I’ve only recorded the Harpurhey (Hannah Beswick) story and the Crumpsall story as videos, as the Boggart Hole Clough tale is probably much better known, and you can find it on a number of other websites.
The Manchester Mummy – the Tale of Hannah Beswick
The Crumpsall Hoofprints
The post North Manchester Folklore appeared first on Hannah Kate.
November 4, 2015
North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf, Saturday 7 November, 2-4pm
Join me this Saturday, 2-4pm, on North Manchester FM for Hannah’s Bookshelf.
My guest this week is Annette Sills. Annette was born in Wigan, Lancashire to parents from Co. Mayo, Ireland. Her short stories have been longlisted and shortlisted in a number of competitions including the Fish Short Story Prize and the Telegraph Short Story Club. Her first novel, The Relative Harmony of Julie O’Hagan was awarded a publishing contract with Rethink Press after it was shortlisted in their New Novels Competition 2014. Annette currently lives in Manchester with her husband and two children.
I’ll be chatting to Annette about her writing, and she’ll be sharing her Apocalypse Books selections. Tune in at 2pm on 106.6FM (if you’re in the North Manchester area) or listen online (if you’re further afield).
The post North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf, Saturday 7 November, 2-4pm appeared first on Hannah Kate.
October 28, 2015
Manchester in Fiction: Some Recommendations
Inspired by my interview with Heather Burnside, a local Manchester novelist, I decided to devote a whole edition of Hannah’s Bookshelf to books set in my hometown. If you didn’t catch the show, you can listen to a recording on the player below. But, as promised, here are the books I featured on the show.
In preparation for this show, I did an internet search to see if there were any books set in Manchester that I hadn’t heard of. I found a 2009 article in The Guardian (by Jerome de Groot) that pointed me to Chris Killen’s 2009 debut novel, The Bird Room. This offbeat and unsettling novel features a paranoid and jealous man named Will, who is in a relationship with Alice. Will introduces Alice to his friend – also called Will – and becomes obsessed with the idea that she will cheat on him. Alongside this is the story of Helen – who used to be Clair – a wannabe actress who makes her money answering adverts on ‘adult contact’ websites. These confusing and shifting identities play out in parallel (and also possibly not in parallel) in a fragmentary narrative of (post)modern life.
But, although I thoroughly enjoyed Killen’s novel, it’s inclusion in this list may not be completely appropriate. The novelist was based in Manchester when he wrote the book, but The Bird Room is not unambiguously a ‘Manchester’ novel. There is nothing specifically tying the novel to any particular city (except that one episode reveals that it is definitely not set in Cardiff) – so is it a Manchester novel? Perhaps. But, then again, perhaps not.
Love on the Dole by Walter Greenwood
Walter Greenwood’s 1933 novel is often counted in lists of ‘Manchester’ novels, so I thought it deserved a mention on the show. Not least because it’s a good example of the ‘grim up north’ social issues novel that is often associated with the city. There is a problem, of course, with including Greenwood’s book on this list – and I’ll come back to that shortly.
Love on the Dole‘s protagonist is Harry Hardcastle, a young man who works in a pawn shop, but leaves for the ‘glamour’ of factory work. The novel starts with the General Strike of 1926, but it’s main story takes place in 1931, taking in the Great Depression and the mass unemployment that followed. Harry is laid off from Marlowes factory, and is forced to face the widely decried Means Test in order to receive dole money. Meanwhile, he enters into a relationship with a young woman called Helen (another Helen! hmmm… I wonder if this will be a pattern). Helen gets pregnant, and the two are forced to marry, despite not having the means to start a family. Harry becomes involved with the National Unemployed Workers Movement (founded in 1921 by members of the Communist Party of Great Britain), and the novel’s climax takes place at the NUWM march on Salford Town Hall in 1931.
And there’s the problem: Love on the Dole isn’t set in Manchester, but in Salford. Now, readers from further afield may not realize the difference, but for some of us there’s a world of difference between Manchester and Salford (even if we’re a bit fuzzy on where the boundaries are). In fact, much of the best-known writing about social conditions in the industrial north is by Salford, rather than Manchester, writers. One of Salford’s most famous writers is Shelagh Delaney, who wrote A Taste of Honey. Last year, the city decided to honour the playwright with an annual ‘Shelagh Delaney day’, to be held on 25 November. 2015’s programme includes a new adaptation of Delaney’s ‘All About and to a Female Artist’, set to music by Stuart Stevens, which will be performed at the Salford Arts Theatre.
Okay… so that’s a book set in an undisclosed city and a book set in Salford… time to move on to the books that are definitely set in Manchester!
McDermid’s Kate Brannigan series follow the exploits of Manchester-based PI Brannigan, as she investigates the darker side of the city. There are six books in the series: Dead Beat (1992), Kick Back (1993), Crack Down (1994), Clean Break (1995), Blue Genes (1993) and Star Struck (1998). I enjoyed all the series, but I think Blue Genes is my favourite – hence why I chose that one to talk about on the show.
Kate Brannigan begins the book facing a number of crises: her business partner wants to sell up and emigrate and her current investigations are not going well. She then discovers that her best friend’s girlfriend is pregnant, apparently as the result of a pioneering (but illegal) fertility treatment. Things get really complicated when the doctor who carried out the treatment – known to the expectant couple as Helen Maitland, though this may not be her real name – is found murdered. Blue Genes takes to the mean streets of Manchester in an energetic and enjoyable (though sometimes a little far-fetched) crime thriller.
The Automated Alice by Jeff Noon
The Automated Alice (1996) is the third book in Noon’s Vurt series, following on from Vurt (1993) and Pollen (1995), and coming before Nymphomation (1997). All four novels are set in Manchester – or, at least, in a version of Manchester. The Automated Alice is also a sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass; as the book states, it’s a ‘trequel’. Noon’s Alice (and her doll Celia) fall into an alternative ‘future’ version of Manchester, which is inhabited by ‘Newmonians’ (hybridized humans) and run by the Civil Serpents. Filled with Noon’s characteristic wordplay, twisted part-steampunk, part-cyberpunk aesthetic and some affectionate nods to Carroll’s original novels, The Automated Alice is a strange and compelling novel, which works equally as a sequel to Carroll’s books, an instalment in the Vurt series, and a standalone story in its own right.
Although Fletcher’s 2010 debut novel (like the follow-up books The Thing on the Shore and The Ravenglass Eye) is mainly set in Cumbria, it’s early chapters set in Manchester are the reason for its inclusion on this list. This stunning horror novel is told alternately from the perspectives of Jack and Francis, two recent graduates working in a call centre in Manchester who are intent on prolonging their student lifestyle for as long as possible. Jack meets a woman named Jennifer, who buys Fell House in Cumbria and invites Jack’s friends to a housewarming party. But as the book’s cover warns: ‘an ancient evil is waiting’. Once the characters travel to Fell House, the book leaves Manchester for the atmospheric creepiness of Cumbria; however, the Manchester chapters are as terrifying a version of the city’s urban horror as you are likely to find. From the stifling banality of the call centre, to the oppressive darkness of the street’s at kicking-out time, the Manchester in Fletcher’s novel is redolent with a ‘modern evil’ that lures the characters (and the readers) to its ancient Cumbrian counterpart.
The Leaping is one of my favourite novels – it’s one of only three books that have given me genuine nightmares after reading – and I’ve reviewed it in more detail on my other blog.
Hungry, the Stars and Everything by Emma Jane Unsworth
I ended the show with something a little closer to home – it is North Manchester FM, after all. Published in 2011 by Hidden Gem (an imprint set up by Sherry Ashworth), Hungry, the Stars and Everything is the debut novel by Prestwich author Emma Jane Unsworth. I first became aware of Unsworth’s book when I was involved in an event at the Prestwich Book Festival; the 2012 festival programme included a collaborative event with Unsworth and chef Mary-Ellen McTague. At the event, McTague’s now-closed Prestwich restaurant Aumbry served the menu described in the book, accompanied by readings from Unsworth.
In Hungry, the Stars and Everything, restaurant critic Helen Burns (our last Helen of the day!) visits a new and intriguing Manchester restaurant called Bethel in order to review the work of their mysterious head chef. Each chapter begins with a course from the taster menu being placed in front of Helen; she brings the food to her mouth and is immediately transported to a memory of her past. It’s through this patchwork structure that we come to know Helen and her relationships – including her troubled relationship to food and alcohol – and to realize the crisis she is currently facing. In many ways, this style of storytelling reminded me of Kate Atkinson’s Behind the Scenes at the Museum, though the books differ significantly in terms of character and tone. I can’t say Helen is always the most sympathetic character, but this just makes her more interesting (in my opinion). And then there’s the identity of that mysterious head chef…
Hungry, the Stars and Everything is an assured and accomplished debut – and it’s a strong recommendation from me.
To hear more about these books – and some general musings about Manchester’s place in fiction – you can listen to the show here:
Hannah’s Bookshelf 24/10/15 by Hannah’s Bookshelf on Mixcloud
The post Manchester in Fiction: Some Recommendations appeared first on Hannah Kate.
North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf, Saturday 31 October, 2-4pm
Join me this Saturday for a very festive edition of Hannah’s Bookshelf… it’s Hallowe’en!
I’ll be joined in the studio by local resident, Hallowe’en fan and pumpkin carver extraordinaire Dorothy Shedwick (aka my mother-in-law) to take a look at some of our favourite creepy books and stories. Okay… okay… I know I talk about dark fiction a lot on the show, but I promise this week will have a few Hallowe’en surprises! Not least that I’ll be presenting the entire show in costume (this may seem a little pointless, as it’s a radio show, but I take Hallowe’en very seriously).
Tune in on Saturday at 2pm – 106.6FM (if you’re in the North Manchester area) or listen online (if you’re further afield).
The post North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf, Saturday 31 October, 2-4pm appeared first on Hannah Kate.
