Today's post is brought to you by the letter...

U!

A little explanation... My friend Simon, over at Stuck in a Book (and also a contributor at Shiny New Books, which you should all check out), posed this little idea.  Basically, people were to come up with their favourite book, author, song, movie, and object beginning with a letter assigned by Simon via a random generator.  I got the letter U and, while it proved a bit challenging, it was a bit fun. 

Favourite book...  Unbroken

I just finished this book, so that may bias me, but it was truly incredible.  Even one story from Louis Zamperini's life is unbelievable - but the fact that all of those stories happened to one man???  I cannot even fathom...

Read the book because the movie's coming out.
Read the book because Louis Zamperini just passed away.
Read the book because it is positively remarkable.
Read the book because all of the above!

Favourite author... Unknown

I haven't read Updike or Umberto Eco or anyone who's first or last name began with "U."  But... sorting through my goodreads, there was one anonymous but particular "Unknown Author" that wins my favourite:  the Unknown Author of Beowulf.  Though the Anglo-Saxon epic undoubtedly evolved orally, one person penned down the beautiful lyrics of the hero's tale in Old English.  And I am in that person's great debt.

Favourite song...  "Ulysses" by Josh Garrels

 

As the title suggests, this is a song about Ulysses's (or Odysseus if, like me, you prefer the Greek) journey home after the Trojan War.  Full of both the literary allusions and Garrels own journeys, the song is, for me, the perfect blend of melancholy and hope.  Some of my favorite lines are:

Trouble has beset my ways, and wicked winds have blown
Sirens call my name, they say they’ll ease my pain, then break me on the stones
But true love is the burden that will carry me back home
Carry me with the, memories of the, beauty I have known 

Favourite film...  Up

How could it be anything else, really?  This is such a beautiful tale of love and friendship and the truth that the adventure never really ends.  On that topic, nerd-alert: Karen Hallion is putting the finishing touches on her Doctor Who / Up piece, "Come Along, Carl."  Also, I'm excited to say that I'll be going the Seattle Symphony's "Pixar in Concert" this weekend and am most looking forward to "Married Life":

 

Favourite object...  Umbrella

I have one of those clear, dome umbrellas and I rather love it.  Yes, I am one of those umbrella-users that Seattlites call "wimps."  Well, being a bus commuter, the umbrella is quite helpful.  And fun.

[via]

So there you have it for the letter "U."  If you would like to share some of your favorite "U" inspired things or would like a letter of your own, let me know in the comments. 

Wednesday Creatives: Simon Thomas

Two summers ago, my first Sunday in Oxford, I was at church, meeting lots of new people and one of those was a a guy named Simon.  After some casual conversation, I learned that he was "reading" English Literature for his D-Phil at Magdalen, specializing in obscure female authors of the 1930's.  Oh, and he works for the school library - which in his case, happens to be the Bodleian.  Impressive.  But then he mentions, yah, he has a blog...

Come to find out he has a rather famous book blog, "Stuck in a Book."  Famous as in: several hundred followers, gets invited to Penguin events, and the official Lizzie Bennet Diaries facebook page - they follow Simon's blog.  Oh and on top of being a grad student, working part time for the Bodleian, now and then, part time for Oxford University Press (I'mnotjealousI'mnotjealousI'mnotjealous...), he must read 130+ books a year and then, of course, blogs about them. I consider myself lucky to count Simon as a friend and fellow Janeite, to have discussed LBD episodes via facebook comments, to have followed his trips to Chatsworth and the home(s) of Virginia Woolf, and to have taken up some of his book recommendations [I'm sorry I didn't love Agatha Christie more, but London War Notes was beyond compare!].  And I've mentioned him here before for his review of Peter and Alice.  I'm sure he's going to go onto an illustrious career in publishing or writing or blogging or academia or whatever he chooses to pursue. 


All that to say... He has branched out from book reviews to post some short creative writing, like these witty poems.  Each little one is dedicated to an author and they go something like this:

What the dickens?

Oh Charles, you saw
The humble poor
In such disarming detail -
But somehow missed
In all of this
A single real female.

Dear Aunt Jane

"Sweet, ineffectual Jane, the dear!"
Of all misreadings, wrongest.
Her barbs will last two hundred years;
Her laughs, both loud and longest.


Aren't those fun?  Do check out both parts 1 and 2   Also quite good is his "One place, Many Simons" article, regarding the idea of the same place becoming part of our story in many different ways.

Today, though, he outdid himself.  A fan of hilarious, literary, and/or witty short stories? Read "Jane Austen wrote the works of William Shakespeare."  Having experienced one or two academic conferences and after writing my thesis on the critical history comparing Austen to Shakespeare - this made me cry with laughter.  Such a joy!

Peter and Alice: A Review

So my Oxfordian friend, Simon, who was the first to tell me about the play Peter and Alice finally posted his review.  Do check it out; here's an excerpt to tempt you:

Peter and Alice goes a bit mad - in the best possible way; in a way that is perfectly in keeping with Wonderland and Neverland. The bookshop set is pulled up to the ceiling, and behind is a land with Tenniel and picaresque illustrations intermingled. J.M. Barrie, Lewis Carroll, Alice, and Peter (the fictional characters in these last two cases) all join the stage, and the dialogue whips back and forth among them all. Childhood memories mix with retrospective reservations, which interweave with the excited shouts of the childish characters, or the justifications of the authors. It should be confusing, but the excellent writing and acting mean that it is not. So many tones come together - there are moments of nostalgia, and seeing Judi Dench take on the gait and manner of a young girl is quite breathtaking to see; there are moments of recrimination; of guilt; of confusion; of regret....  [Yet] The midpath between nostalgic indulgence and Nihilistic noir has been expertly judged - and perfectly acted by a brilliant cast, led, of course, by Dench and Whishaw.

 
I've sent out inquiries about a chance to see it... so, stay tuned ;)