Saturday Night at the Movies

One of my big projects for 2019 has been writing reviews for 52 of my favourite 'positive psyche' movies. Two recently purchased 2020 diaries have been upcycled into a movie schedule for the upcoming year; they feature a positive film review for every Saturday of the year, as well as accompanying artwork, lists of positive virtues contained in the films and ideas for book/film tie-ins.

13 Books for 2019

2019 has been a good year for reading. 

These are the books I have been enjoying, since January.

 The first 6 by 6 book challenge - Mood Boosting Fiction

1. Kafka on the shore by Haruki Murakami

2. The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide

3. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

4. This book will save your life by A.M. Homes

5. The reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent

6. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

The Second 6 by 6 book challenge - Autumnal Reads

1. We have always lived in the castle by Shirley Jackson

2. Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

3. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

4. Wabi-Sabi by Francesc Miralles

5. Cloud atlas by David Mitchell

6. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Buddhism Extra

The things you can see only when you slow down by Haemin Sunim

Stargazing by LJ Finnigan

 
Stargazing is, perhaps, my favourite of the songs I have written. It is now accompanied on YouTube by, perhaps, my favourite of my daughter's paintings, also called Stargazing. The earlier music video to my song includes a montage of Amy's space pictures and also a space poem written by Amy and me called 'Planet Renga'.

 

Six by Six Book Challenge - July to December 2019

My second six by six book challenge was just as rewarding as the first. I would strongly recommend reading fiction if you need some deep escapism in your life. The following are my six related book reviews.

​We have always lived in the castle by Shirley Jackson

This is a strange little book concerning sisters Constance and Merrycat and the strange little lives they live. I wasn't sure if I was reading about ghosts or real live people, the sisters and the big house they inhabit become more mystical as the story wears on. There is an interesting essay on the story and its author at the end of the book, written by Joyce Carol Oates. It makes me think that Shirley Jackson was as strange and sad as the stories she created.

Dark Matter by Michele Paver

This book is what it says on the tin. It is a dark and disturbing read. I read it at the height of summer; I thought it would help me cope with the excess of light and heat. The book is mostly set in the arctic winter, with four moths of cold and darkness. The book is quite horrible in places. I read it in the mornings. I can imagine it would be much scarier reading it at night.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

I read this after being so taken with the film. I think the film is funnier, but the book is intriguing and entertaining. It is written in first person so you can really connect with R, the zombie at the heart of the action. He falls in love with a human girl called Julie, there is even a balcony scene, you can definitely see Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' shining through the zombie apocalypse.

Wabi-Sabi by Francesc Miralles

I read this book while on holiday in Eastbourne, while taking a break from Cloud Atlas. It is quite a light read, although there is a tone of sadness and disappointment in it. Wabi-Sabi is a Japanese philosophical concept which embraces life's imperfection, impermanence and incompleteness in alignment with nature. The book livens up when Samuel's Japanese adventure begins and he starts living this new philosophy in real life.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

I enjoyed this film enormously, but it took me two attempts to read the book. The first time I found it too difficult, but the second time I seemed to understand it all quite perfectly. The book comprises of six stories arranged in a kind of pyramid structure so you sort of end up back where you started. The first story involves slavery and a sea voyage, the second is a series of letters from the 1930s, the third a 1970s political mystery, the fourth a contemporary story involving an old people's home, the fifth a futuristic interrogation and the sixth a post-apocalyptic tale. All in all it is a very good read.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

This book is full of animals, human and otherwise, Pi is a very entertaining storyteller telling a fascinatingly long tale about an ill-fated sea voyage. I watched the film first and that is quite faithful to the book and just as entertaining. I would recommend them both very strongly.

Poe Therapy

 

After the difficulties of 2018 I decided that my coping strategies needed reconsidering and recalibrating. I realised that some of the 'distractions' I had developed over my previous 50 years had great value. I'm not so sure that 'distractions' is even the right term. I decided a few years ago that what gave my life most meaning was music, art and creative writing.

Edgar Allan Poe has long been a source of comfort for me. He died poor at the age of 40 in Baltimore in mysterious circumstances. He left behind morbid tales of psychological torment and human frailty. I have always felt a connection between me and his fragile characters, the overly sensitive, sickly Ushers, the tormented souls in the Tell-Tale Heart, the doomed party goers of Prince Prospero. He doesn't go in for happy endings, he didn't get one, maybe no one does. There is something therapeutic about him and his tales of frailty and failing. I've found Poe Therapy to be a thing. I've also found solace in Dr Who, films, books, ghost stories, poetry, Shakespeare. I've started making more lists.

Below are some pictures I took of Poe Cottage, The Bronx, when I visited New York City at the end of October 2017.

 

    

Lucy Vale

 

I was writing Lucy Vale over ten years ago, in 2006, just before I started work on ALF Creations @ the Star Heart Cafe and embarked on various social media projects. For years I couldn't work on my story, I felt it was a big mess and I was busy being a working mother, I had a lot of grief to deal with and I was also nursing a big broken heart. Then on her ten year anniversary I felt once more able to engage with Lucy and came up with a year long plan for her dream diary adventures which I am still working on.