[ebooktalk] Re: BOOKS OF MY LIFE
- From: Ian Macrae <ian.macrae1@xxxxxxx>
- To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 09:26:06 +0100
One of the reasons I continue to love re-reading LOTR Elaine is that there is a
brilliant reading of it in the RNIB talking book library by David Banks. He
avoids many of the cliches and stereotypes in terms of finding voices for the
characters. True, Sam remains a bit of a yokel but the Orcs have a kind of
Yorkshire menace rather than being cocknified yobs and his Smeagol is every bit
as inventive as Andy Circis's in the Peter Jackson movies. Don't know whether
it would turn any avowed Tolkien disparagers, But this would be a good reading
for a newby to start with.
As for Gabriel wolf, he would certainly be one of the readers of my life. A
very early radio memory is of him reading ring Of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell
and that must have been in the mid or late 50s. Incidentally, he is also
responsible for the RNIB reading of The Hobbit and makes a rather disappointing
job it in my view. Other readers of my life would include the legendary david
Davis, Bernard Cribbins for a magnificent Winny The Pooh in the 1970s and,
more recently David Thorpe, a reader of great versatility and inventiveness.
On 28 Jun 2013, at 06:45, Elaine Harris (Rivendell) wrote:
> Oh, wow!
>
> I’ll have to think about these and submit a list later – probably over the
> weekend.
>
> Ian, I love Tolkien; I have both the BBC Radio drama version on CD and the
> entire book read (acted in full) by the wonderful Rob English whom I was
> privileged to meet in about 1987 when he was touring his one-man/one-hour
> show of The Hobbit.
> Another much-loved but lighter Tolkien is “Farmer Giles of Ham”.
>
> I will work on my list but “Watership Down” is definitely on there and it
> would be all too easy to choose a book read by Gabriel Wolf; he’s on my
> short-shortlist of readers along with Tony Robinson, Martin Jarvis, Stephen
> Fry and, as mentioned once before, Stephen Thorne.
>
> “The Handmaid’s Tale” is Margaret Atwood’s best to my mind but so utterly
> terrifying I don’t know that I would ever re-read it.
>
> I had to list my three favourite books last year but can now only remember
> two of them so shall check back.
>
> More when I can make up my mind.
>
> Take care,
>
> Elaine
>
>
>
>
> From: ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Behalf Of Trish Talbot
> Sent: Friday, 28 June 2013 6:03 AM
> To: Ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: BOOKS OF MY LIFE
>
> Having read Ian's five favourite books, thought I'd have a go at choosing my
> own list. I have to say it was almost as bad as trying to choose my "Desert
> Island discs" (I've never yet managed to decide what my favourite 8 tracks
> would be). Like Ian's list, mine might be very different in six months, but
> these are my thoughts today, and although they are numbered, the numbering
> doesn't indicate preference:
>
> 1. George Eliot, "Middlemarch". We read this book for A level, and I have
> read it since, as well as watching TV versions and hearing it on radio. Each
> time, it says something new to me. I think Eliot was well ahead of her time,
> her views are very feminist for the Victorian era. All the characters are
> superbly drawn, and I particularly enjoy the contrasting characters of
> Dorothea and Rosamund - both strong women, but with very different ideas
> about life.
>
> 2. Richard Addams, "Watership Down". Often misjudged as a children's book,
> just because its characters are rabbits, it is, in fact, a book about a team
> of creatures, all very different in character, but using their skills and
> talents to achieve their aim. It has its sadness as well as its happier
> moments, and the story keeps moving. This was the first book I ever (to use
> Ian's word) chain read, which has to make it a special book for me.
>
> 3. Andrea Levy, "Small Island". I read this a couple of years ago, and
> couldn't put it down! There is so much misunderstanding from people who
> think they understand, so many conflicting views, but the author manages to
> convey the fact that not every white British person is hostile to the new
> West Indian imigrants. I'm glad I read it as an audio book, though, it
> definitely gained something from being read by readers who could make sense
> of the Jamaican dialect.
>
> 4. Margaret Attwood, "The Handmaid's Tale". A disturbing, but
> thought-provoking book, which, once I read it, stayed with me.
> 5. J K Rowling, "Harry Potter And The Gobblet Of Fire." (There had to be
> one.) I loved the whole series, with reservations about the last one, but
> this one was, to my mind, the best. It has everything - characters who are,
> by this stage, well developped, humour, suspense, and a brilliant story. I
> suppose the series being set in a boarding school appeals to me as well,
> knowing how it feels when you're away from home and have to think for
> yourself and/or include our friends.
>
> I struggled to limit the choice to five, as I narrowed it down to six and
> couldn't decide which to leave out. Cheating, I will sneak in the fact that
> I wanted to include:
>
> Winifred Holtby, "South Riding", the stroy of life in a Yorkshire town prior
> to the creation of the Welfare state. I love this book, and I think it can
> tell us a lot about where Britain seems to be heading.
>
> Anyone else up for "Desert Island Books"?
>
> Trish.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ian Macrae
> To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 10:50 PM
> Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: BVOOKS OF MY LIFE
>
> I'm sure some of you will think this very predictable and disappointing, and,
> of course, if I was asked to draw up the same list in six months time, I'd
> come up with something a little different. But here we go and I'll fill in
> some of the background and detail for my choices.
>
>
> 1. The Lord Of The rings: J R R Tolkien - like many of my generation I
> discovered Tolkien in my teens during the 60s. There are other books I read
> back then such as For Whom The Bell Tolls, Catcher In The Rye and Catch 22
> which simply no longer work for me. But I re-read LOTR at least once a year.
> I appreciate all that's wrong with it - the master servant relationship, the
> slightly old fashioned values, the literal denegration of black, but it
> remains a story which never fails to chime with me.
>
> 2. F Scott Fitzgerald: the Great Gatsby: the first book I ever chain read.
> that's to say, like a cigarette, as soon as I'd finished it, I started
> again. The sense of suffocation and frustration coupled with the mystery (or
> not) surrounding Gatsby himself combine to make this possibly the most
> perfect novel ever written.
>
> 3. A self compiled anthology of 20th century poetry: this would include the
> Georgians, WW1 poets, eliot, the protest poetry of the 30s, poems from WW2,
> philip Larkin, on through the beats and Liverpool scenes and up to ~John
> cooper-clark and beyond.
>
> 4. John le Care: tinker Taylor Soldier Spy: Having gone through
> institutions all my life, I find his evocation of the inner workings of the
> intelligence service utterly convincing, although it may well be total hooey.
> Smiley is a central character without compare and le Care's style is
> perfectly suited to the subject and genre.
>
> 5. Alan Clark: Diaries 1983-91: No-one takes you quite inside politics like
> Clark. I hate him as a politician and despise him in many respects of his
> life, but no-one takes you inside politics, and particularly Tory politics
> like he does.
>
>
> On 26 Jun 2013, at 22:17, Shell wrote:
>
>
> You can't expect us to wait for that one Ian. Please tell us straight away!
> Shell.
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Ian Macrae" <ian.macrae1@xxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 9:15 PM
> To: <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [ebooktalk] BVOOKS OF MY LIFE
>
> > Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to RNIB talking book studios in Camden north
> > London to record my Books Of My Life feature for the October issue of Read
> > On. Five favourites from all these years of reading. Would people like to
> > know what they are or would you rather wait till the mag comes out?
> >
>
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