Posts by Carol Stewart
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As far as I'm concerned, Hodgkinson and his ilk should be in prison as an accessory to crimes against humanity.
Totally agree, Craig. 'His ilk' includes ratbag quack Matthias Rath. The chapter from Ben Goldacre's book Bad Science on Rath is available from here as a free download. Highly recommended.
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a collaboration between Aiken and Diana Wynne-Jones, where Dido and Sophie Hatter from Howl's Moving Castle meet. That's a fireworks display I'd pay cash money to see.)
My money would be on Dido and her Battersea street smarts.
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Yesyes, I'd like to join the Joan Aiken fan corner. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase series was the backdrop to my childhood. Dido Twite's my heroine too. I particularly love Night Birds on Nantucket, where Dido is pitted against the sinister Aunt Tribulation, she of the knee-high bottle green boots. Heh. All the books in the series are fabulous, especially the early ones. I did feel that the concept got stretched a bit far by the final ones such as Cold Shoulder Road.
Not part of the Wolves series but also totally fabulous are The Whispering Mountain, set in Wales, and Midnight is a Place, set in the dark satanic mills of northern England. Totally satisfying stories and memorable villains. -
Check out Mr McGregor's got a Flymo!
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Sacha! You're as bad as Craig!!
Well, okay, not quite as bad. -
Japanese curry! What's it like? (other than variably potent)?
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Thanks Geoff, that is a lovely and perceptive essay by Gordon Campbell. He makes some interesting (see the conversation above) comparisons between Moominland and AA MIlne's 100 Acre Wood:
In Moominvalley, she created a fictional universe as fully realized – to take one recurring comparison – as the 100 Acre Wood of A. A. Milne. Think about it : rural setting, naïve hero, much good nature and whimsy, creatures who seem part animal, part human. Milne’s world though is resolutely male-centered ( Kanga excepted) and was inspired, reportedly, by his father’s experience with a school for boys.
Jansson’s world is far more female-oriented. It does contain one stereotyped female character ( the Snork Maiden) but it also offers several strong female characters besides Moomimamma ( eg Too-Ticky, Little My and the Groke) and this strength is expressed in quite different ways.
You nailed it, Gordon.
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Dorothy Parker could resist the charms of Pooh:
"And it is that word "hummy", my darlings, that marks the first place in "The House at Pooh Corner" at which Tonstant Weader Fwowed up."
(from her 1928 review in the New Yorker)
(trust Craig to get in first with a lacerating quote!)
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I'm with Giovanni. Winnie the Pooh is unbearably twee. Give me the ineffably strange, philosophical, bracingly unsentimental Moomins any day.
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Thanks Grace, The Little Stranger is indeed on my reading list. I loved The Night Watch, but this sounds like something else again. Forewarned, forearmed etc.
At a complete tangent, does anyone have a really good figgy pudding recipe?