Member Introductions

[Michael]

Hello, Group Members.

The Assemblage folder is a place where members can meet to socialise (if they are of a sociable turn) and generally get to know each other. If you wish to, please introduce yourself to the group in this thread.

I'm Michael :-) I've been moderator of this group since 2012, although you wouldn't know it as I only made the group live in 2017 - I'm not very sociable!

In real life, after a succession of jobs that I tolerated as they provided financial security, I recently retrained as a counsellor and now love my work (it doesn't feel like a job), and hope that someday I can actually make a reasonable living at it!

I don't remember when I first heard of Peake and Gormenghast, but I do remember that when I was 19, I got some book tokens for my birthday (it's nearly always been book tokens!), and I set out quite deliberately to buy The Titus Books, which I did and was hooked!

As well as the Gormenghast books, Mr Pye and Peake's poetry, I've got a small collection of works by other authors that he illustrated, which I hope to grow, though I tend not to go tracking them down but rather relish the delight of a serendipitous find.

[Cecily]

Hi. Thanks for starting this group, Michael.

I'm a huge Peake fan - his writings and his art - but I only discovered him in my 30s. My day job is writing about software. A very different sort of writing to what I do on GR. I've always lived near to London, and as well as reading and writing about reading, I enjoy the countryside, fine food, and travel.

I plan to look through the starter topics here in the next day or two and invite others.

Peake is at the forefront of my mind, as I've just read another biography, in the light of which I updated many of my numerous reviews of his works and books about him. I have 30 such reviews on this shelf:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I was involved in The Great Gormenghast Read a few years ago, and the discussions are still viewable:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

[Michael]

Hi, Cecily

Thanks for telling us a bit about yourself - it sounds like reading and writing are major parts of your life. I've read many of your Peake reviews already, always interesting and thought-provoking, but thanks for the links as that will make it easier to catch the others :-)

[Fuchsia]

Hello to all the dwellers of the Tower of Flints!

I have just found this group, love the name and the idea!

In “real” life my name is Berta, not Fuchsia, of course, and I’m a lawyer. Sorry for my mistakes, I’m from Spain and I do not speak english as well as I would like (although I understand it quite well).

Here in Spain Peake is not well known. The Titus Books were published more than ten years ago and are now discontinued. Can you believe it? So sad.

I love his work. The Titus Books are my all time favourites since I read them in 2011. I’ve got a shelve in my profile dedicated to his work too, although I haven’t read all of them (I’m a bit lazy to read in English).

So, I will read the comments published in the group in the next days!

[Michael]

Hi Berta - or should I say Fuchsia :-)

Welcome to the group. We aren't very active in this group, but we are passionate :-D

Your English is excellent, and much better than my Spanish, insofar as I don't speak it! I think that if you can read Peake, you have no cause to worry about your command of the language.

Peake is still something of a cult figure in Britain - his works are adored by a small minority of readers, though largely unknown to the masses. Interest in him has peaked (excuse the pun!) whenever there is a TV adaptation, but the last one of those was 18 years ago. That may change soon, as there is talk of a new adaptation being in development!