Kultur & Literatur

"Anya's Ghost is not only a spooky horror tale, but is a really heart-warming and hilarious novel. It is easy to relate to, and really, really clever"

Anya's Ghost. The title means it already appeals to a certain type of person. If you like scaring yourself to sleep at night with a creepy horror story, of course, you will not regret picking up this book.

However, I'm not a horror person. If I'm choosing a new book, I don't reach for a book with the words 'ghost', 'horror', or 'disgusting terror' in the title. But fortunately, someone realised I'm awful at choosing books, for that reason exactly. Several people could fall asleep looking at my bookcase. Family problems, teenage dramas, and (the occasional) fairy story. Anyway, enough of the rambling, long story short, someone bought it for me, as a Christmas present. Honestly, I appreciated it, but I was on quickly enough to the mysterious box that smelt like chocolate (it was chocolate, but that's not that important).

About a week later I was tidying my table, and I came across it again. I did go through the 'I must read that' thought process, but I shoved it on the book shelf with all the other books all the same. In the same week, my mother started a graphic novel for adults, named 'drinking at the movies.' Which she loved. This brought her to ask me if she could read my new book, 'Anya's Ghost.' I said yes, and in another week she had finished it. Her words, quoted correctly "This is a really good book Grace, you would enjoy it." So, I read it, and I'm really glad I did.

Anya's Ghost is not only a spooky horror tale, but is a really heart-warming and hilarious novel. It is easy to relate to, and really, really clever. Not forgetting, it is over 200 pages long, but can be enjoyed even if you do not feel like a confident reader, and generally go for the shorter book. But the truth is, this book is worth the challenge. Me and my mother are still quoting little parts and laughing about them together.

A quick overview of the story:

Anya is a completely normal teenage girl, she's sure she looks fat in her shirt, she never says her surname because she's sure it's more embarrassing than everyone else's, and she envies that pretty girl, and her perfect boyfriend, who she quite fancies for herself....

But when she falls down a little hole in the forest, she finds a young ghost named Emily, who cannot leave her skeleton. Anya takes pity on her, and Emily ends up staying at her house. At first it seems like a great idea, she can help her with her homework, and she knows all about boys from her ninety years observation. But when Emily begins to change, Anya decides she needs to find out more about her mysterious past....

Want to tell the world about a book you've read? Join the site and send us your review!

mehr...

On Charles Dickens' 200th birthday, Britain has some striking similarities to when the author was alive

mehr...

Michael Cunningham's novel By Nightfall prompted 1,000-word demolition job in Observer by author and critic Adam Mars-Jones

His "killingly fair-minded and viciously funny" review of the Pulitzer prize-winning author Michael Cunningham's latest book, By Nightfall, has won novelist and critic Adam Mars-Jones the inaugural Hatchet Job of the Year award.

Mars-Jones demolished the US writer's story of a middle-aged gallery owner attracted to his young brother-in-law in a 1,000-word review in the Observer last January. Beginning by ridiculing Cunningham's numerous bookish allusions – "nothing makes a novel seem more vulnerable, more naked, than an armour-plating of literary references. If you're constantly referring to landmarks, it doesn't make you look as if you're striding confidently forward" – Mars-Jones then mocks his artistic pretensions, saying "the book's pages are filled with thoughts about art, or (more ominously) Thoughts about Art".

After aligning his Pulitzer-winning novel The Hours to Mrs Dalloway and Virginia Woolf, Cunningham makes a mistake in linking By Nightfall to Joyce, continues Mars-Jones: "If he had chosen softer models he would cut a better figure, the contrast being smaller … Joyce would have begrudged By Nightfall the rationed reading time (failing eyes) he gave so willingly to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". Later, Cunningham's attempts to draw from Flaubert fail, says Mars-Jones, and sometimes the American author does not even use language correctly. "At the very least, shouldn't a writer try to shield the kettle of language from further cracks by knowing the meanings of the words he uses?" he asks, querying Cunningham's choice of the word "prone".

The Hatchet Job prize is given to the "writer of the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review" of the past year "not to punish bad writing, but to reward good and brave and funny and learned reviewing". It was launched by the Omnivore website, which gathers press reviews of books, films and plays, and judged by the journalists Sam Leith, Suzi Feay, Rachel Johnson and DJ Taylor.

Mars-Jones beat a scorching lineup of reviews to win the prize, from Geoff Dyer's rejection of Julian Barnes's Booker winner The Sense of an Ending ("It isn't terrible, it is just so … average") to Mary Beard's demolition of Robert Hughes's Rome in the Guardian, which sees the classicist advise readers to skip the first 200 pages, calling the first half of the book "little short of a disgrace".

Leith said Mars-Jones's review "had everything a reader could hope for" in a hostile write-up. "The best hatchets, in criticism, are wielded with precision as much as they are with force," he said. "Adam Mars-Jones's review … was at once erudite, attentive, killingly fair-minded and viciously funny. Every one of his zingers – 'like tin-cans tied to a tricycle'; 'it seems to be the prestige of the modernists he admires, rather than their stringency'; 'that's not an epiphany, that's a postcard' – is earned by the argument it arises from. By the end of it Cunningham's reputation is, well, prone."

Mars-Jones was given his prize of a golden hatchet and a year's supply of potted shrimp, courtesy of The Fish Society, in an awards ceremony at The Coach and Horses pub in Soho, where New Statesman reviewer Leo Robson, 26, also received a special mention. Robson was nominated for his write-up of Richard Bradford's biography of Martin Amis, in which he says that "his book fulfils the main duty of a biography - it is informative - while failing to attain any of the possible virtues".

Calling Robson "the best critic of the younger generation: perceptive, astringent and wittily turned", Leith said his "assault" on Bradford was a close runner-up to Mars-Jones. "Robson not only knows what Bradford knows about Amis: he knows what Bradford doesn't know, and amid his barbs are serious and subtle points about what this biography of Martin Amis might profitably have done, and didn't."

mehr...

Dave's asked me to read Hard Times. I only skimmed it, but it's total literature fail

Well no disrespect to Dickens but when Dave came upstairs with Hard Times and Totes Expectations, whatever, I just went WTF, the bookshelf is completely full and are not times hard enough without taking endless paperbacks to the dump, major downer, but he was like please babes, just a precis and some quotes, Hilto wants to own Dickens before Miliband's people get hold of him, plus Hunty specially picked us the funnest titles, Caroline got Bleak House, tee hee. And I was like, wait up, did you not do Dickens at Eton but Dave said are you serious, only the local boffinry, everyone normal did Of Mice and Men?

And he went of course he would like nothing more than to read it himself but he had to go and buy more fish in Morrisons because so long as Dave keeps buying fish nobody will think about the NHS. And I'm like, fine, so we tip Danny to read Dickens when he has done the rabbits? But apparently they need Danny for the libraries, dear Vaizey has been working like 10 men but Hunty says it is like cleansing the Augean stables except Hercules did not have to deal with Joan Bakewell plus the Dickens anniversary, talk about timing.

So I am reading Hard Times and I mean literally how unbelievable is Dickens? I went to Mummy, I only skimmed it, obvs, but it so makes you glad you do not live in the olden days because tbh if Dickens had asked me, of course I would have been uber-tactful like I am about Theresa's shoes, but basically don't give up the day job? As in, I do not think Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has anything to worry about.

Because is it just me, or does it not make any sense for Louisa to turn down someone like Harthouse, since he is a) a promising Tory MP and b) not from hideous Coketown/Scunthorpe and c) obviously buff? So really, total literature fail except for this Govey/Gradgrind person, I mean separated at birth, who knew? And I have found these quotes where he basically says something like down with horse-care studies & up with sums & Coalition academies are amaze – Dave will LOVE.

mehr...

Google, Prince Charles, the Archbishop of Canterbury and a host of writers and artists join in bicentenary events

A 24-hour global "readathon", celebrations in two British cities and a special Google Doodle were among the highlights of the bicentenary of Charles Dickens's birth on Tuesday.

For the readathon, organised by the British Council, 24 countries hosted consecutive readings of Dickens novels. Starting in Australia with an extract from Dombey and Son, it was due to hit the UK at 9pm, where author David Nicholls was planning to read from Great Expectations at the British Film Institute.

In Portsmouth, where Dickens was born, a day that actor Simon Callow warned would be "a dangerously moving occasion" started with the laying of a wreath outside the author's birthplace by Ian Dickens, his great great grandson, then continued with a service at St Mary's church which included readings by Callow and Sheila Hancock from David Copperfield and Oliver Twist.

In London, festivities began at his old house in Doughty Street, now the Dickens Museum, where Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were treated to a private reading of his work by Gillian Anderson, who recently played Miss Havisham in the BBC's adaptation of Great Expectations.

The house, where Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby were written, recently raised eyebrows by announcing that it will close for a £3.1m refurbishment from April, despite the potential boost in visitors that Dickens's bicentenary and the Olympics would be expected to bring.

The royals then moved on to Westminster Abbey for a wreath-laying ceremony on Dickens's grave in Poet's Corner, attended by Dickens fellows, society members and almost 200 of his descendents – as well as famous enthusiasts of his work including Nicholls, Armando Iannucci and Mike Newell.

Ralph Fiennes, who is to star as Magwitch in a new film adaptation of Great Expectations, proved Dickens's ability to stir the emotions with a heart-rending extract from Bleak House describing the death of homeless boy Jo.

In a statement, read out simultaneously in Portsmouth, Prince Charles said: "Despite the many years that have passed, Charles Dickens remains one of the greatest writers of the English language, who used his creative genius to campaign passionately for social justice. The word Dickensian instantly conjures up a vivid picture of Victorian life with all its contrasts and intrigue, and his characterisation is as fresh today as it was on the day it was written."

In his address, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said that Dickens loved the poor through "a sense of outrage that lives are being made flat and dark". He added that he regarded Bleak House as Dickens's "most profoundly theological work, though he would not thank me for that".

"I didn't realise the service would be so religious," said academic and Dickens fan Berry Mayall afterwards. "Dickens had faith in God but he was a Unitarian – he didn't have much truck with the Church of England. He liked his religion plain. But I thought they chose the readings very well indeed."

Jane Whinney, the wife of Dickens's great great great great grandson Harry Whinney, said she planned to continued the celebrations at a dinner in Dickens's honour at Mansion House, with entertainment by Patrick Stewart.

Novelist Carol Lee, said the service had reaffirmed the potency of Dickens's work. She said she sat next to a man from New York at the service who said Dickens changed his life.

"In 1993 he was reading A Tale of Two Cities and came to the chapter where the man is sitting drunk: 'Here is a man who has sensibilities but cannot be sensible.' It was as if Dickens was speaking to him directly and he stopped then and there."

mehr...

Julia Golding, Eleanor Updale and Wilkie Collins are all on the Book Doctor's reading list for a fan of Victorian mysteries

I am 14 years old. I have recently discovered a liking for Victorian mystery books, including the Sally Lockhart quartet by Philip Pullman. Any suggestions on what I could read next? (Books more recently published would be better than say, Sherlock Holmes novels).
Thank you, Sophie

I have a special fondness for Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart novels, too. They have just the right amount of historical detail, a big splash of mystery and enough romance to keep readers as swept away as Sally is herself. There are similar qualities in Jennifer Donnelly's A Gathering Light. Set on the shores of Big Mouse Lake, it is launched by a mystery and unravels purposefully as a tender coming of age story.

Richly clothed in the world of the theatre, Julia Golding's Cat Royal series begins in London in 1790 where Cat, later to be the feisty heroine of the books is abandoned as a baby on the steps of the Drury Lane theatre. As Cat grows up so the trappings of her life and the characters in it feel increasingly Dickensian.

Although Montmorency, the first title in Eleanor Updale's series, is on the young side for a 14-year-old, the subsequent titles are increasingly dramatic and the scope of them extends to the social and political uprisings across Europe. And there's some romance as well.

Other older books that just can't be missed by anyone who loves Victorian mystery include Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone and J Meade Falkner's Moonfleet.

mehr...

The Booker-shortlisted novelist on discovering her hero's failings, and resigning herself to her novel's

How did you come to write Half Blood Blues?
I was living in Germany at the time, acutely aware of my difference – being a black woman from Canada. At the same time I'd been reading about the so-called "Rhineland Bastards", the half-black children of France's colonial soldiers from Africa stationed in the Rhineland after the close of the first world war. I began imagining their lives in Germany, as both outsiders and insiders, and this naturally led to my wondering what must have happened to them during the 1930s, with the rise of Nazism.

What was most difficult about it?
Imagining myself in a world and a skin other than my own – but I guess it's always this way with writing. I did struggle to build an atmospheric sense of the setting, one which would be alive and a little bit strange and a little bit familiar.

What did you most enjoy?
Writing in Sid's voice. Following his (at times) twisty sense of right and wrong. Coming to terms with his failings as well as his finer qualities.

How long did it take?
Three years, from the moment I began writing to the moment it was finished.

What has changed for you since it was first published?
Half Blood Blues has had the miraculous fortune of being recognised in both Britain and my home country of Canada. I'm feeling rather blessed. Much more importantly for me as a human being, I gave birth to my first child last August - so in that sense everything changed all at once, seemingly overnight.

Who's your favourite writer?
Tolstoy has given me the most, year after year, without fail. I return to him for his scope, his sense of human destiny, the vastness of his vision. Alice Munro, for the precision of her writing, the sharp corners she can turn between sentences. There are many others – dozens and dozens! – of course.

What are your other inspirations?
Music, certainly, and not only jazz. Schubert is often playing in my office when I'm working. The exquisite sculptural drawings of faces by British artist Alison Lambert. Cooking. And now, it seems, my daughter.

Give us a writing tip.
Everyone's process is different. Trust what works. I often begin each writing day by editing what I wrote the previous day – as a way of climbing back inside the work and building momentum.

What, if anything, would you do differently if you were starting the book again?
I'm not sure I believe in regrets. Whatever flaws are in the book simply become a part of the book.

mehr...

This fascinating book is brimming full of fun facts about how robots are made. Enter our competition for the chance to get your hands on a copy!

Are you interested in all things fantastical and futuristic? Would you like to swim with robo-whales and shake digits with Massimo, the giant pizza delivery robot?

Book Doctor Julia Eccleshare gave Robot City a big thumbs up in her review of the best children's fiction at the end of last year.

Proving that picture books are not just for little children, she thought its mixture of wacky characters, whizzy illustrations and useful information would delight readers aged nine or over.

We've got six copies to give away, signed by author Paul Collicut. All you have to do is to think up your own ideal robot and let us know its name and the things you'd like it to do.

How to enter

Email your entry, with Robot City in the subject line, to childrens.books@guardian.co.uk by 23.59 pm on 21 February 2012.

In the body of the email tell us the name of your robot and some of the things your ideal robot would be able to do.

The email must also contain your name, age, address and contact telephone number.

If you are under 12 years of age you must ask your parent or guardian to send the email with your entry on your behalf. If you are under the age of 16, your email must also include the name, contact telephone number and email address of your parent or guardian.

Good luck!

Terms and conditions

1. The "win a copy of Robot City" competition ("the Competition") is open to UK residents, excluding employees or agents of Guardian News & Media Limited ("GNM"), its group companies or their family members, or anyone else connected with the Competition.
2. To enter the Competition you must send an email to childrens.books@guardian.co.uk containing your name, age, address and contact telephone number. If you are under 12 years of age you must ask your parent or guardian to enter the Competition on your behalf. If you are under the age of 16, your email must also include the name, contact telephone number and email address of your parent or guardian. We reserve the right to ask for parent's or guardian's consent. We will use this information only in relation to the Competition and we will not keep it for longer than necessary.
3. If you are under 16 please check that your parent or guardian is happy for you enter the Competition based on these terms and conditions.
4. If you have any questions about how to enter the Competition, please email us at childrens.books@guardian.co.uk with "Robot City query" in the subject line.
5. Submitting an entry to the Competition is confirmation of acceptance of these terms and conditions.
6. Only one entry is permitted per person. Entries on behalf of another person (except those made by a parent or guardian in accordance with clause 2 above) will not be accepted and joint entries are not allowed.
7. The closing date and time of the Competition is 23.59 pm on 21 February 2012. Entries received after the closing date and time will not be included in the prize draw.
8. There will be six prizes and five winners chosen from all eligible entries.
9. The prize is a copy of Robot City.
10. The winner will be notified by email within 2 days of the closing date. If the winner and his or her parent cannot be reached or fail to acknowledge such notification within 7 days, GNM will re-draw and select a new winner of the prize (and the same acceptance period will apply). If a winner rejects his or her prize, then the winner's prize will be forfeited and GNM shall be entitled to select another winner.
11. The prize is non-exchangeable, non-transferable, and is not redeemable for cash or other prizes.
12. GNM reserves the right to change the prize at its discretion or to offer an alternative of similar value in the event the original prize offered is not available.
13. The winner may be required to take part in promotional activity including the use of his or her photograph in connection with publicity about the prize.
14. GNM requires the consent in writing (which may include email) of the parent or guardian of the winner if he or she is under 16 years of age in order to publish the winner's name, age and town or city of residence on guardian.co.uk. If GNM does not receive such written consent from the parent or guardian of the winner then we may award the prize to another entry.
15. We take no responsibility for entries that are lost, delayed, misdirected or incomplete or cannot be delivered or entered for any technical or other reason. Proof of delivery of entry is not proof of receipt.
16. No purchase is necessary.
17. Nothing in these terms and conditions shall exclude liability for death, personal injury or fraud, as a result of negligence.
18. Any personal data submitted by the entrant will be used solely in accordance with current UK data protection legislation and GNM's privacy policy.
19. GNM reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, this Competition with or without prior notice due to reasons outside its control (including, without limitation, in the case of anticipated, suspected or actual fraud). The decision of GNM in all matters under its control is final and binding.
20. GNM shall not be liable for any failure to comply with its obligations where the failure is caused by something outside its reasonable control. Such circumstances shall include, but not be limited to, weather conditions, fire, flood, hurricane, strike, industrial dispute, war, hostilities, political unrest, riots, civil commotion, accidents, supervening legislation or any other circumstances amounting to force majeure.
21. Details of the winners can be obtained by sending a stamped addressed envelope to the following address: Children's book site, Guardian News & Media Limited, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU.
22. The promoter of the Competition is GNM whose address is Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU.
23. The Competition will be governed by and interpreted according to English law and the English courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction to deal with any disputes arising in connection with it.

mehr...

Due to his turbulent childhood, the young Charles Dickens was extremely sensitive to location and standards of accommodation. Walking around the house of his birth, we look at the significance of each room to Dickens, and how his characters relate to domestic life.

Download the beautiful hand-drawn map by Badaude for the tour here to take with you.

More about the Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum, Portsmouth

mehr...

A wonderful retelling of the history and evolution of the periodic table, including the close relationship between chemistry and physics

The modern periodic table is basic to the sciences and is so familiar that popular songs have even been written about it. But perhaps surprisingly, even many professional chemists don't know much about the history of how it was discovered beyond Mendeleev's contributions.

In his newest book, The Periodic Table: A Very Short Introduction [Oxford University Press; 2012: Amazon UK; Amazon US], university lecturer and writer Eric Scerri takes us on an engaging and fascinating journey into how the modern periodic table came to be. This small book provides a surprisingly big overview of the many discoveries, developments and individuals that defined this universal law of nature, the periodic law, and all this is all rolled up into an absorbing and educational narrative.

In this book, we are introduced to an interesting cast of international characters, including physicists, chemists, geologists, teachers, tradesmen and nobleman, all who played a role in the discovery and evolution of the periodic table. Notably, we meet Scottish physician, William Prout, whose proposal that all matter was composed of hydrogen atoms motivated the scientists of the day to obtain ever more accurate weights for each atom in their quest to prove whether his hypothesis was correct. We meet Danish-American eccentric, Gustavus Hinrichs, who saw the connection between the frequencies of spectra emitted by the elements and the internal structures of their atoms. We also meet German physical chemist, Julius Lothar Meyer, who is considered by some historians to be the co-discoverer of the periodic table, along with the Russian scientist, Dimitri Mendeleev, who sketched out his periodic table on the back of an invitation to a local cheese factory.

But more than simply recounting history, Scerri also discusses how the deeper meaning of the periodic table's structure gradually became evident to scientists, and served to reinforce the growing cross-pollination between chemistry and physics by contributing to the development of atomic theory and quantum mechanics. Further, there is a chapter devoted to the artificial synthesis of super-heavy elements beyond uranium (element 92). I especially was fascinated by the discussion of the many alternative forms of the periodic table -- ranging from trees to spirals -- both from a scientific and philosophical point of view. I am not sure if the author did this intentionally, but by the telling the multi-faceted story of the periodic table, the reader gains an appreciation for the scientific method and for how science is really done.

Researchers, scientists, science educators and students will all enjoy this book, as will fans of science and of the history of science. This small paperback is 147 pages long, and includes black and white photographs, tables, and diagrammes, a list of additional readings, and an index. Chapters include:

Although this book is really well-designed and written, there is one small addition that may possibly improve it: a timeline that notes when the relevant discoveries were made in chemistry and physics to provide the reader with a concise mental image for how all this information fits together into a coherent story.

This small paperback is part of Oxford's growing collection of "Very Short Introduction" books that collectively have sold more than three million copies around the world. Written by experts in their fields and peer-reviewed before publication, these books are small enough to fit into a pocket, handbag or rucksack. Based on the titles I've read so far, I have found these slim volumes to be interesting, informative and very readable, and I eagerly look forward to each new book.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Eric Scerri is a lecturer in chemistry and in the history and philosophy of science at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has written and published more than 100 research articles, numerous book chapters, is featured in many online video & audio lectures, is the editor of the academic journal, Foundations of Chemistry, and has edited or written six books. His 2007 book, The Story of the Periodic System: Its Development and Its Significance earned him UCLA's Herbert Newby McCoy award, which honors significant contributions to the science of chemistry. The Periodic Table: A Very Short Introduction is Dr Scerri's sixth book. Visit Dr Scerri's website.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

twitter: @GrrlScientist
facebook: grrlscientist
evil google+: grrlscientist
email: grrlscientist@gmail.com

mehr...