sarahmatthews

sarahmatthews, 6 months ago to bookstodon

A spotlight on a great indie publisher based in West Yorkshire via The Publishing Post | “In contrast to the corporate and conglomerate nature of publishing today, Bluemoose publishes stories that engage and inspire, rather than books that rely on celebrity names to attract readers.”

https://www.thepublishingpost.com/post/spotlight-on-bluemoose-books

#bookstodon #publishing @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 6 months ago to bookstodon

#BookReview The Dower House Mystery by Patricia Wentworth
Read as e-book using a mix of Braille and TTS
Dean Street Press
Pub. 1925

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I’ve been meaning to read Dean Street Press for ages as their books sound so enjoyable, so #DeanStreetDecember was the nudge I needed.
I loved the setup of this one; Amabel Grey takes a peculiar job to earn enough money to send her daughter on a chance of a lifetime trip abroad (to snag a rich husband!), thinking she’s a capable woman who doesn’t believe in ghosts and all will be fine. How hard could it be to be paid by the owner of a house to live there for 6 months to quash the local rumours that it’s haunted, which have made it impossible to rent out?
But of course as soon as she arrives strange and unsettling things start to happen, all of which sound ridiculous when explained out loud; someone laughing, a cat mewing, doors that were bolted at night being wide open in the morning, the feeling that someone is following you up the stairs. And all manner of other creepy little details to add to the tension:
“The house was very still, but twice the stillness was broken by that sound of light footsteps, jenny of course, moving about downstairs. She turned a page and forced her mind to follow the words. They remained words to her, separate words, no connecting thought to string them together. On other nights there had been a hundred sounds; the wind in the chimneys, the pattering of the rain, the unkempt ivy buffeting the windowpane, the faint scuttering of mice. Tonight there were none of these sounds, the house was very still. It was like the hush before a storm.”
The solution was a little absurd and I saw it coming but I didn’t mind as I was enjoying the main characters and the eerie atmosphere of the house so much, I just went with it!
A fortune teller, a past love, a mysterious missing girl and two dogs that run away in terror all make for a thoroughly entertaining read.
#Bookstodon #DeanStreetDecember23 @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 6 months ago to disability

A survey for any #Braille users in Europe who have a Braille display or notetaker - The European Blind Union want to know your views in order to improve access to electronic Braille:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdTwXqIiE018k3wMOeTqALmMaggvd1sGqOm3VCkbrDUIzHu7A/viewform
#blind #Deafblind #PartiallySighted @disability

kimlockhartga, 6 months ago to bookstodon

@bookstodon Just out of curiosity, how close are you to your reading goal for the year? I need to read 12 more books to meet the goal I set for myself. 📚📚📚📚

Not everyone works the same way, of course. We've discussed before that reading goals are counterproductive for many. Having a goal really helps me, but it doesn't work for everyone. Just like reading for pleasure and reading to write a review are very different processes.

18+ sarahmatthews, 6 months ago to bookstodon

#BookReview Boy Parts by Eliza Clark
Read on audio, performed by the author
Influx Press
2020

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After reading a run of classics I was looking for something different and this certainly fit the bill!
Irina’s a bartender/artist from Newcastle who graduated with an MA from The Royal College of Art and is in an awkward phase where she’s partying but also wants to be taken seriously as an artist. Her style of photography lands her in tricky situations as she scouts teenage boys and men to photograph. Talented, beautiful and manipulative, she uses her power to persuade them to bend to her demands, with her explicit photos being bought by wealthy private collectors who’re into fetish art. She attracted praise as a student including a profile in Vice and has 1000s of Instagram followers who she couldn’t care less about.
We follow Irina as she prepares for a group show in London; she’s looking through her archive for her best images and reminisces, resulting in some memories she’d prefer not to drag back into her consciousness.
I’m surprised I had the stomach for this book but that’s down to the clever writing which makes you weirdly relate to Irina. Her life just seems chaotic, details begin to be drip fed into the narrative and by that time you’re hooked!
There’s some great writing about the pretensions of art school students and feeling shunned as a ‘northern’ artist. And plenty of messy nights at house parties, with a cocktail of drink, drugs and vomiting.
In a similar way to the protagonist in I’m A Fan the author’s created a unique voice and pushes behaviour to the extreme. Just be warned that here these extremes include self harm, mental illness, sexual abuse and violence.
I was impressed how Eliza Clark explores a certain kind of modern art which is celebrated as edgy but which makes you wonder about consent and the twisted mind of the artist; playing with this in complex and surprising ways.
#Bookstodon @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 6 months ago to bookstodon

Dean Street Press is a great independent publisher who are ‘ devoted to producing, uncovering, and revitalizing good books’. Their authors include Stella Gibbons, Brian Flynn and D E Stevenson. This month it’s Dean Street December and I fancy reading a new author to me, Patricia Wentworth, who wrote mystery novels in the mid 20th century. I’ve been having fun looking through their website this morning trying to decide which one to read first #bookstodon #publishing @bookstodon
https://www.deanstreetpress.co.uk/pages/author_page/33

sarahmatthews, 6 months ago to bookstodon

Just finished reading Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, 1961, and I absolutely loved it! For a book with a slow pace I found it perfectly plotted with characters who were so rounded. None of them are wholly good or bad and none of them are particularly likeable which appealed to me. I thought I’d seen the film years ago but from the beginning it didn’t feel familiar so I guess it could’ve been one of those Netflix DVDs back in the day that arrived, sat around for a bit and got sent back unwatched! 🤣 So glad about that as I thought the writing was beautiful and devastating and I’m so relieved I didn’t know anything about it before going in, other than it’s considered a modern American classic #bookstodon @bookstodon

MarianHellema, 7 months ago to bookstodon Dutch

@bookstodon
#AmReading

This book is a real pleasure

On New Year's Eve the 85 year old Lilian takes a long walk in Manhattan. On the way she visits places from her past and talks to people she meets. Meanwhile she looks back on her life as an ad copywriter, poet, wife and mother

You can't help but love her independent, prickly character and her way with words

You can read her as a feminist, but this is not too explicit or preaching, which I liked all the better

Thanks again @JD_Cunningham

sarahmatthews, 7 months ago to bookstodon

The winner of The Booker Prize will be announced this evening… I enjoy following it and this year only Western Lane really tempted me.i did look for it on audio but couldn’t find it. Anyway, here’s a good summary of the shortlist:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67518323?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
#bookstodon @bookstodon.

sarahmatthews, 7 months ago to bookstodon

Boundary Road by Ami Rao is going straight on my TBR list - a book set on a London bus, with all the possible drama that will likely involve and the glimpses of life outside the window - looks like it’ll be a Kindle read for me as it’s from a very small publisher called Everything with Words #bookstodon #blind #publishing @bookstodon
https://www.everythingwithwords.com/books/boundary-road/

sarahmatthews, 7 months ago to bookstodon

#BookReview At Freddie’s by Penelope Fitzgerald
Read as e-book using a mix of Braille and TTS
Pub. 1982, 160pp

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Penelope Fitzgerald wrote the introduction to my first #NovNov23 (Novellas in November) read, A Month in the Country by J L Carr, so I figured I’d lean into the connection and read At Freddie’s, her 1982 book.
This is the story of a chaotic stage school in central London and the many children who pass through it in search of a life on the stage.
Run by Freddie, a well known and loved personality in the theatre world, it’s a ramshackle place which is always under threat of closure but always manages to pull through, mainly by the charity of those in the business who adore her. This ongoing struggle is a big theme in the book along with the relationship between two teachers, Hannah and Pierce, neither of whom knew what they were taking on when they said yes to their jobs. They can’t help spending a lot of time together, resulting in a difficult relationship and at one point Hannah decides they must talk it over:
“Lyons teashops might almost have been particularly designed for the resolution of such awkward situations…In a Lyons, as Hannah had reflected, the limits of communication had to be reached by 7 o’clock, while at the same tine it was necessary to share a table or at all events to sit very close to other customers, so that although everyone restricted their elbows, their bodies and their newspapers and by a long established convention showed no signs of understanding what they overheard, they provided all the same a certain check on human intimacy.”
And I particularly like this description of the legendary Freddie ‘here she occupied an entire corner, commanding her territory, a hugely moulting royal raven sprinkled with gems”
If you love the theatre or were a theatre kid this will be a great read but equally, like me, if you know very little but enjoy beautiful writing and great characters this won’t disappoint!
#Bookstodon @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 7 months ago to disability

This is a great competition from RNIB and KCL for UK #blind and #PartiallySighted writers - I’m not a creative writer but even I fancy having a go! | ‘we welcome submissions for a piece of creative writing, prose or poetry, centred on your experience of a museum trip, piece of art or even a household object.… it can be based on a real experience or serve as imagined storytelling.
We are keen to explore and celebrate how people with sight loss experience and enjoy mmuseums, art and objects.
1000 words max. for prose 50 lines max. for poetry
Deadline: 5pm Fri 2 Feb 2024’
I couldn’t find the info online easily but here’s the link I found with further info and tips, good luck!
https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/5c8d651c-4b77-416e-a225-19b6c33ad072/downloads/KCL%20RNIB%20writing%20competition%20advert.pdf?ver=1699875871247
#Deafblind #writing #Disability #bookstodon @booksodon @disability

sarahmatthews, 7 months ago to bookstodon

#BookReview A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr
Read in Braille
Penguin
Pub. 1980, 104pp

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This is a novella I’ve been meaning to read for years and it’s delightful.

Tom Birkin’s a Londoner who’s returned from war with shellshock and he takes a commission to restore a medieval church wall painting in a Yorkshire village. The warm summer days are glorious as he gets to work, with high hopes for the project:
“I willed it to be something good, really splendid, truly astonishing… something to wring a mention from The Times and a detailed account (with pictures) in the Illustrated London News.”

To his relief he’s quickly welcomed into the community:
“In the first few minutes of my first morning, I felt that this alien northern countryside - friendly, that I’d turned a corner and that this summer of 1920, was to smoulder on until the first leaves fell, was to be a propitious season of living”

For a book of just over 100 pages it’s full of fully realised characters; from his neighbour Moon (a fellow veteran who’s also on a contract from the vicarage) to the stationmaster’s daughter Kathy and the vicar’s wife Alice - they all visit him often, interested in him and his work. The vicar’s a miserly character and there’re some very uncomfortable conversations between him and Birkin.

And the description of landscape is evocative throughout:
“For me that will always be the summer day of summer days – a cloudless sky, ditches and roadside deep in grass, poppies, cuckoo pint, trees heavy with leaf, orchards bulging over hedge briars.”
This is a beautifully written story of someone looking back fondly on a restorative period in their youth, with the gradual unveiling of the painting mirroring his own feelings of rediscovering himself. The conversational tone, a hint of romance and poignant moments of reflection on religion and war make it easy to relate to this character from another time.

Thanks to #NovNov23 for nudging me to read it!
#Bookstodon @bookstodon

Likewise, 7 months ago to bookstodon

Tell me a good book you’ve read this year that you’d recommend.

I’ll start: Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom
#books #read #bookstodon @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 7 months ago to disability

🛍️Research opportunity for blind people in the UK | ‘Greetings from our research group at the London College of Fashion! We are reaching out to you with an opportunity to be at the forefront of a study that aims to revolutionize the fashion retail landscape, making it more inclusive and accessible’

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdqiNZNw7al6oReA7JLMyKHlJm0whHwgvdLpMPRfN-et0U0IQ/viewform

#blind #PartiallySighted #Deafblind #VisuallyImpaired #fashion #accessibility #disability @disability

The_BookishWolf, 7 months ago to bookstodon

Here's my latest blog post! Riding Blind; The Story Of Chass Moller-Nielsen https://lunaverse.blog/guest-post-riding-blind/ #Blind, #Blindness, #DirtBike, #DisabilityRelatedContent, #GuestPost, #Motorbikes, #Motorcycle, #RidingBlind #bookstodon @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 7 months ago to disability

Eye Matter is a charity doing great things in the #blind and #PartiallySighted community in the UK. They are led by Suzie who is determined to get events going including online book groups, tech support and in person events. I very much enjoyed an audio described tour with a group at Tate Modern earlier this year and one at The Wellcome Collection last year. Eye Matter has recently been granted charity status and has just launched their website, so do have a look and spread the word ⬇️
https://www.eyematter.org.uk/about-eye-matter/
#Deafblind #charity @disability

sarahmatthews, 7 months ago to bookstodon

The sad (to me!) demise of Twitter over the past year has made me interested in reading about it in fiction and I’ve been hooked to an audiobook today called The Subtweet by Bivek Shraya, published in 2020. Set in the music industry, an unknown but enthusiastic YouTuber goes viral with a cover of a fairly well respected singer-songwriter’s song and they end up striking up a friendship as they both live in Toronto. As you can imagine from the title, an explosive subtweet goes viral (the type of tweet that then gets quoted in online news articles) and it all kicks off! ShortEnough to read in a day, I loved it!
#bookstodon #AmReading @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 7 months ago to bookstodon

When the storm woke me up in the middle of the night I read this charming classic short story on the Scratch Books website, it’s about a clever and mischievous boy who outwits his aunt - 'The Lumber Room' by Saki
#bookstodon #AmReading @bookstodon

https://www.scratch-books.co.uk/post/the-lumber-room-by-saki

sarahmatthews, 7 months ago to disability

Relieved to see this outcome! I was one of the thousands who submitted a passionate response to the consultation #transport #Disability @disability | ‘Transport for All, a disabled-led organisation, called it "the best possible outcome", but added that while the government was "eventually swayed, it is appalling that disabled people's concerns were dismissed for so long".’

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67263931

sarahmatthews, 7 months ago to bookstodon

#BookReview Less: A Novel by Andrew Sean Greer
Read on audio
Narrator: Andrew Petkoff
Hachette Audio
Pub. 2017, 263pp

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Wow, I had a blast reading this book which kept me entertained on a long flight home from holiday. the character of Arthur Less is so vividly realised and he gets up to some great misadventures throughout the story. in fact he reminded me of a friend who I admire as she gets into all kinds of scrapes by throwing caution to the wind in a way I rarely dare to do!
This is a hard book to review because I went into it knowing only that the main character is a middle aged American writer who goes on a book tour of sorts and I’m glad that was all I knew about it. Sometimes it’s best not even to read the blurb.
what I will say is that, despite mixed reviews, I believe Less totally deserved to win The Pulitzer Prize in 2018. it’s brilliantly quirky and I loved the way language is played with. Here’s a little taster:
“Less wears a pair of natural leather wing tips, a paint stroke of green on each toe, black fitted linen trousers with a spiralling seam, a grey inside out t-shirt, and a hoody jacket whose leather has been tenderly furred to the soft nubbin of an old eraser. He looks like a Fire Island super villain rapper.”
Another highlight was that at one point Less thinks he’s fluent in german but the translation of what he’s actually saying to people shows otherwise!
it’s true that the story meanders somewhat so if you like a tightly plotted novel this may not work for you, but I was totally on board with the writing style from the start. This is a very funny book but it’s balanced with poignant and reflective moments that many readers will relate to. And the audiobook narrator was particularly good, easily switching between languages and accents.
Less definitely appealed to my sense of humour and I highly recommend this refreshing book. Witty and insightful, it’s up there in my top 5 reads of the year!
#bookstodon @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 7 months ago to bookstodon

Just followed the hashtag #FediBookFair which is an event for #writers and #readers next weekend, 4/5 Nov, more info here:

https://authorhelp.uk/fedibookfair/fedibookfair-faq/
#bookstodon @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 7 months ago to bookstodon

My plan for the extra hour in bed today is to read my Braille book (Revolutionary Road by Richard Yeates) and jot down some thoughts on Less which I’ve just finished and didn’t want to end! #bookstodon #AmReading @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 7 months ago to bookstodon

Really enjoyed this book review by Jen Campbell,bwritten as a London walk #bookstodon @bookstodon | “Seven years ago, Jeanette Winterson published her book Christmas Days, a delightful ghost-hug of a book, part memoir, part fiction… A few years, later her novel Frankissstein was stitched together: a play on Mary Shelley’s novel, exploring technology, gender, and AI. Her new book, Night Side of the River, appears to be the spectral child of both”
https://www.toa.st/blogs/magazine/jen-campbell-book-club-jeanette-winterson-night-side-of-the-river

sarahmatthews, 8 months ago to bookstodon

Louise Kenward has compiled a book of essays on nature, Moving Mountains, by 24 #writers who are living with #ChronicIllness or #Disability and it’s published today! | “Moving Mountains is not about overcoming or conquering, but about living with and connecting, shifting the reader's attention to the things easily overlooked by those who move through the world untroubled by the body that carries them.”
Here she explains how the project came about
https://thepolyphony.org/2022/09/20/storytelling-and-chronic-illness-an-evolution-of-time-and-place/
#nature #bookstodon #reading @disability @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 8 months ago to bookstodon

#Bookreview Hand in Glove by Ngaio Marsh
read on audio
Narrator: Marie McCarthy
Harpercollins
Pub. 1962, 251pp

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This is a classic crime read set in a village among a group of neighbours who’re related in various ways. I knew I was going to get on well with the #audiobook from the start as the narrator was instantly engaging, expressing the dialogue brilliantly.
The action centres around the home of snobbish Percival Pyke Period, an eccentric figure who’s writing his memoirs, alongside the cook Mrs Mitchell, his loyal servant Alfred and his new lodger Mr Cartell who has a rather troublesome dog, Pixie. The first chapters set up the world surrounding this household with the introduction of a cast of distinctive characters. I particularly liked Mr Cartell’s ex-wife, the Flamboyant Desiree Bantling, and this great description:
“with her incredible hair brushed up into a kind of bonfire, her carefree makeup, her eyebrows and her general air of raffishness she belonged, asMr Period mildly reflected, to Toulouse Lautrec rather than any contemporary background.”
She’s known for her amusing parties and there’s a long build up to her April Fool’s treasure hunt which is set to end in tragedy. In fact, as the murder doesn’t take place until about Chapter 14 I felt I knew everyone involved very well and of course there were plenty of strong motives for possible killers.
The central idea of a letter being sent in condolence to someone for the death of a loved one before the deceased was discovered was unique and played out well.
One thing that surprised me was the lack of period details to root the story to the 1960s. It seemed to me that it could’ve very easily been set in the 30s or 50s, though there were a few passing references like mentioning TV. I guess it stuck out as my other read for the #1962Club was the Miss Marple which was very much about social change.
This is my first Ngiao Marsh novel and I’ll be returning to her in future.
#Bookstodon @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 8 months ago to disability

This is a lovely blog post from Hayley at UK-based greetings card business Dotty About Braille showing just what reading #Braille has meant to her mum over the years #Disability #blind #PartiallySighted #Deafblind @disability
https://www.dottyaboutbraille.com/dotty-about-braille-blog/guest-blog-post-why-i-love-braille

sarahmatthews, 8 months ago to bookstodon

#BookReview #1962Club The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side by Agatha Christie
Read in Braille
Pub. 1962, 280pp

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A Hollywood actress, Marina Gregg, buys a country house near Miss Marple’s village and hosts a garden party where a guest is poisoned. The police believe the lethal cocktail was meant for Marina and she takes to her bed, scared that someone’s out to get her. A whole host of her movie world rivals and others from her past are suspected. She’s not exactly made too many friends over her career!
Meanwhile life in St. Mary Mead isn’t quite what it once was, with progress being viewed with suspicion by many. The Development (as it’s referred to by locals) brings new people and attracts a supermarket which is a step too far!
Miss Marple embarks on her sleuthing in her typical quirky way; asking her hairdresser for old movie mags:
“I think the truth lies somewhere here.” She rustled her magazines and picked up another one.
“You mean you’re looking for some special story about someone?”
“No,” said Miss Marple. “I’m just looking for mentions of people and a way of life and something–some little something that might help.”
I was struck by how well Christie writes about aging as Miss Marple comes to terms with the loss of independence in her 80s. She has a housekeeper, Miss Knight, who fusses around her, speaking to her in a condescending way. At one point Miss Marple sends herh to town with a long shopping list, so she can escape to explore The Development alone which was a nice detail.
The mystery takes many enjoyable turns, including a fashion photoshoot at Keats’ Hampstead house and the ending is satisfying. I tend to let Christie’s books wash over me but with this one I surprised myself by guessing the killer and motive!
I’ve read that it was based on the life of a real Hollywood actress and that the 1980 movie had the inspired casting of Elizabeth Taylor as Marina Gregg and Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple, wonderful!
#Bookstodon @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 8 months ago to disability

A powerful essay from Dr M. L. Godin #Braille #blind #PartiallySighted #Deafblind #libraries @disability | ‘Nobody suggested I learn Braille, even though it was clear my vision was deteriorating. Adults seemed afraid of it, afraid of blindness itself. I know now that this is how ableism is passed from one generation to the next. But I didn’t have that word back then, so it’s not surprising that I accepted the stigma of blindness and refused to do or learn anything that might make me “look blind.”’

https://www.slj.com/story/Serving-Blind-and-Low-Vision-Children-Well-Benefits-All-Students-Here-Are-Suggestions

sarahmatthews, 8 months ago to bookstodon

I’ve got Spotify but haven’t looked into using it for #audiobooks yet. This is an interesting article on the knock on effect of the new offer for #publishers and #writers | SoA demands transparency and action on publishers’ streaming deals with Spotify - The Society of Authors https://www2.societyofauthors.org/2023/10/10/soa-demands-transparency-and-action-on-publishers-streaming-deals-with-spotify/ https://www2.societyofauthors.org/2023/10/10/soa-demands-transparency-and-action-on-publishers-streaming-deals-with-spotify/?fbclid=IwAR0AE_oiQeBWWJdO0g9aZlLPUSQYcwrzN-R6KnmqN4giMAqNIhmYNz4qQGc
#bookstodon #publishing #reading #PayTheCreator @bookstodon

sarahmatthews, 8 months ago to bookstodon

This is a great read about the excellent Look At Me by Anita Brookner, published in 1983, for all #backlisted podcast fans #bookstodon @bookstodon | “To Face the Enemy”: Anita Brookner, Look At Me – Novel Readings https://rohanmaitzen.com/2023/10/08/to-face-the-enemy-anita-brookner-look-at-me/