Ewan's Corner

Posts Tagged ‘fiction’

From the brilliant Julia Donaldson, author of several wonderful stories which I (and my kids) have memorised.

Tea in bed. Second cup.
Dislodge cats. Get up.
Son to school. Spouse to work.
Sit at desk – mustn’t shirk.
Scratch head. Dream up snail.
Maybe team her up with whale?
Chew pen. What next?
Can’t think. Feel vexed.
Feed cats. Open post.
Read it, over slice of toast.
Little boy wants to know Date of birth of Gruffalo.
Little girl wonders why Giant gave away his tie.
Out to shops. Get idea
(Big grin, ear to ear):
Brilliant climax – whale gets beached!
(Rhyme a problem . . . reached? Beseeched?
Leeched? Well never mind, just now.)
Snail then rescues whale – but how???
Back home, get stuck.
Go off snail. Consider duck.
Phone rings. Who is it?
School, requesting author visit.
Check diary . . . shocked to see
“Monday, Brookwood Library”.
That’s today! Leap in car.
Thank goodness, not far.
Tell a story, act and sing.
Kids join in with everything.
(Teacher sits there marking books,
Blind to my accusing looks.)
Answer questions. Back to house.
Joined by son, later spouse.
Open bottle. Cook salmon.
Practise piano. Play Backgammon.
Have bath – that’s when
Inspiration strikes again:
Snail could learn to write with slime!
(Quite an easy word to rhyme.)
Crawls on blackboard, leaves a trail . . .
Children run and save the whale.
Story planned! Tomorrow, start
Writing it – the easy part.

“100 idiots make idiotic plans, and carry them out. All but one justly fail. The hundredth idiot whose plans succeeded through pure luck, is immediately convinced he’s a genius.”

~~Iain M Banks, Matter

“A long shear of light and then a series of low concussions” – this is how the world ends in The Road – by Cormac McCarthy, 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner. The most brilliant and emotional book I’ve read in years – it literally made me cry.

It is dark and horrific and haunting – and so well written you can’t help but be sucked in. As a dad I couldn’t help but empathise with the father in the story – I don’t think you can understand the pure love he shows for his son (and the boy for his dad) without having a child of your own, a child you truly believe you could and would die to save if necessary.

I have always been fascinated and emotionally affected by post-apocalyptic fiction – movies and written (for example Mad Max, 28 Days, The Postman, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Waterworld, Star Trek: First Contact and recently the TV series Jericho) which makes this story even more fascinating for me.

It isn’t science fiction (you never find out what caused the end of the world, no aliens and little science) and I don’t think I would ever have read it myself if it wasn’t given to me as a gift. Do yourself a favour and give it a try, it may change the way you see life, the world and everything.

Links: The Road (novel) – wikipedia article (warning: spoiler), Wikipedia’s List of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and the NPR book review.