David Walliam's children's stories

"Mr Stink" has been sitting on my V+ box from Boxing Day 2012 and yesterday I finally decided to watch it. What prompted me was BBC was also showing "The Boy In The Dress" - another of David Walliam's children's stories adapted for television. I'd watched "Gangsta Granny" last Christmas and been impressed, only half realising it was Mr Walliam's creation, and all year I've been hearing lots of good things about his stories from the mum's coming into the post office. There have been comparisons with Roald Dahl and I love the fact he's working with the greatest illustrator Quentin Blake.

What I love and admire about great writers is that they take something very ordinary, find a way to bring it to life, tell a story with it and, most importantly, leave us with a message. They give their writing purpose.

Some people read a book to escape. Some people read for pleasure. Some, to better themselves. I read to find the hidden message - and yes, this is most probably because I'm a dreamer and want peace and love in the world. So, if I can find a little something to make the world a better place, I will search it out and use it.

"Gangsta Granny", "Mr Stink" and "The Boy In The Dress" are fantastic children's stories. I saw their appeal to children - but also I saw the bigger messages - reminders not to judge people by what you see on the surface, don't be scared to be different, make time for people in your life.

I remember reading everything of Roald Dahl's when I was younger and being moved, thrilled and delighted with the stories. I haven't read Walliam's books yet, but the TV adaptations left me with the same feelings of fulfillment.

Read more about "The Boy In The Dress" here.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

I'd somehow managed to escape all the hype about this book and the film, but did have the film on my "must watch list". However, I'm glad I didn't watch the film as apparently the ending is completely different to the book and now, having read the book, I would have been conflicted. Yes, a more satisfying end in the film version, but definitely not keeping true to the story or what the author intended.

It's a powerful novel about a family dealing with a child and sibling sick with cancer. Without putting a spoiler in, the ending made me ball my eyes out and throughout the story, I felt myself catching my breath with the depth of emotion portrayed in such brilliant writing.

It deals with the controversial subject of genetic engineering - having a child to save a child - and Picoult writes from the individual perspectives of each family member, plus other central characters to the storyline.

Again, it's an excellently engineered novel with thorough medical research thrown in to give the book credibility. The characters jump off the page as real, living human beings with the same hopes, fears and dreams as any of us. And that's beautiful writing making it a joy to read.

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

This book was lying around in my office and being a Postmistress, I was intrigued to read a story portraying my job back in a time when letters really mattered - and a lost letter mattered even more.

A letter not delivered, slipped into the pocket of the Postmistress and, another letter, found by a Reporter, which she vows to deliver - both from the same man - are at the heart of the story. This is a beautifully crafted novel about three women whose fates entwine because of these letters.

I absolutely loved Atonement, so when I read this book had a similar storyline, I knew I was in for something good.

It's a war story with depth. The Americans are not yet a part of World War 2 and they don't see it ever reaching their shores. "How easily the face of the world turns away." (Pg 251). A reporter returning from the Blitz trying to make people aware. A wife wondering why her husband went to London to help when he could have stayed safe at home. A Postmistress neat and orderly in her small town post office, aware of the chaos that could come, but for now, all is calm on the shores of Cape Cod...

Blake has included some additional notes once the story concludes, which are invaluable to a wannabe author if you want to see exactly what must go into writing and researching a novel to make it the very best you can. She spent hours and hours researching to build the story and she asked questions of herself and her characters every step of the way. She then endeavours to answer those questions as the story unfolds. In Blake's own words: "It is the story that lies around the edges of the photographs, or at the end of the newspaper account. It's about the lies we tell others to protect them, and about the lies we tell ourselves in order not to acknowledge what we can't bear: that we are alive, for instance, and eating lunch, while bombs are falling, and refugees are crammed into camps, and the news comes toward us every hour of the day. And what, in the end, do we do?"

The Last Mile by Mike Clarke

This was the first free eBook I'd downloaded and it was an eye opener into the stages eBooks need to go through before they're absolutely ready for publication.

Todd and Buzz are old friends and life has taken them their separate ways. They each come to a crossroads in their careers and need a change of pace, so they hook up and ride Route 66 again because they have unfinished business.
I liked the concept of the story and the first half of the book was excellent. It has potential! I think the author should take another look at the second half and give it a thoroughly good edit. There were times I got lost with the plot and it felt rushed.

If anything, reading this book made me take a long, hard look at my first published effort and I could see where I need to make improvements to my own work before putting it "out there" for people to enjoy. As a reader, I was disappointed that the story wasn't polished.

The Road Home by Rose Tremain

 

Last December, a woman came into the Post Office and handed me this book to read, or to pass on to somebody else. It was for World Book Night 2013.

Seven months later and I've now read it after being informed it had an unexpected ending, which naturally whet my appetite.

What I love about this book is it reminded me how to tell a story and how to build a story using little succinct bits of research to add credibility to the plot and believability to the characters.

Lev is a lost, lonely soul on his way from Eastern Europe to Britain looking for work. It's the story of many people that come into the Post Office to send moneygrams to their families back home. I often think about the backstories of these people. I wonder why they're here and who their family is. Has it been easy for them to make a life and living in our country? Do they miss their home? Do they have crazy friends like Lev has Rudi?

This is a "real" story and what I mean by that is, there are no happy endings, no easy solutions, no nicely rounding it all off. On the flip side, there are no dramatic, crazy, unbelievable parts either. It's REAL storytelling taking us on a soul searching mission with Lev.      

Laugh Lines by Ben Bova

I am just about keeping up with my Goodreads challenge of reading and reviewing one book per month in 2014... six down and six to go...

I haven't read science fiction for many, many years, but this collection of stories was recommended to me because it was written in the 80s and predicted 3D televisions and eBooks.

And now, here we are!

The Starcrossed (3D TVs) and Cyberbooks (eBooks) sandwiches six shorter, futuristic stories which are equally amusing. These stories give great twists on things like the moon landing, the way the media reports the news, the mafia and underworld, and the fall of a former US President, all written with a sardonic and humourous touch.

What I liked the most is the way Ben Bova takes the various characters - people he's come across in real life - and enhances either their positives or negatives, traits, flaws, characteristics.. with a futuristic edge so I was picturing them, not only as people, but as alien or robotic beings too.

Reading Cyberbooks was particularly poignant given what's been happening to the Publishing Industry over the last few years. The tale of woe, the uproar and the almighty shock to the system was spot on - for a prediction!

Kicking off WordUp Wednesdays

The game is to take a word, describe that word and then find out its true definition to see if your feelings change towards it. We used to play this in our English Lit. classes - getting to know and love the English language.

On first sight, crepuscular is an ugly word, very different to what I'm used to and sounds medical and scientific. It has multiple syllables, doesn't flow off the tongue and trips itself up as I say it.

Definition: At the time of twilight

I would like this word to enchant me now that I know its meaning, but it still sounds far too similar to muscular.