UEL English PEN Society Book Reviews

This translation, by Nick Hern Books and within a series of Drama Classics, happens to be the unfinished play that Büchner was working on at the time of his death, at the tender age of 24, from typhus. I happen to be lucky enough to work behind the bar of the theatre that has loosely reproduced it, Punchdrunk, under the name; The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable.

This piece had me hooked from the start – more for its introduction by Kenneth McLeish, which delves with great detail into Büchner’s life, aspirations, education, and political activity. He lived in a time, from 1813-1837, where Germany was under a dictatorial autocratic rule and all people considered dissidents, whether writing or protesting, or even simply reading the writings of dissidents, were murdered, stalked by secret police, placed under house arrest, or thrown into jail – including Büchner himself, on many occasions. He led societies and published pamphlets instructing and advising citizens on how to regain control of their lives and social conditions, and renounce the dictatorship they were under to create a unified, Christian Germany. Particularly apt for our society, and interesting to see how, whilst methods of incarceration and prosecution have changed for writers and readers – now, it seems, it is more insidious – the reasons for these arrests and clamp-downs are the same – speaking out against your government. History, it appears, does repeat itself, as illustrated by PEN’s continuous campaigns against these arrests and incarcerations.

The Play Itself;

…is based on a real-life murder case, which had a very controversial trial, in which a man called Johann Christian Woyzeck murdered his lover in Leipzig, 1821. When Büchner passed away, the manuscript was found, but not published until 1879, and not performed for the first time until 1913. The scenes themselves are self-contained, in that they differ from each other and don’t lead or thread into the next. Interestingly, this is replicated in the show that I work at – the sets are built across a huge, disused post office depot and each one is different, encouraging the theatre-goers to explore the entire building.

The fact that Woyzeck is a poor soldier, with no social standing or respect whatsoever, is an interesting one. In the time this this play was written and also performed, protagonists – or, hero/main characters – were usually always someone of some social standing, to reflect the fact that the only people who could afford to attend theatre at this time were upper class or ruling class.

The story-line is really quite a heart-breaking one. It follows Woyzeck through his ill-paid job as a lowly soldier, to his home with Marie – his lover and the mother of his son (who he pays no attention to whatsoever), and his friend in the barracks, Andres. The captain he works for is constantly making an example of Woyzeck, ordering him to do such things as eat a peas-only diet for three months so he can monitor what this does to a person, making him shave him whilst he demeans him and puts him down in front of other soldiers and orderlies, and instructing him to wiggle his ears, whilst laughing at him, as if some sort of freak-show attraction. His lover, Marie, is cheating on him with the Drum Major and when he finds out, he goes mad and buys a knife to stab her with. He hears voices telling him to do it, and in a frantic but eerily calm moment, he lures her to the edge of a pond and murders her. The language used throughout is clearly that of the era, which at first I thought I’d find difficult to understand, but almost immediately – because of the emotional quality of the piece – I understood and felt every line in every scene – even the occasional humour and moments of madness or sadness.

The ending of the play is chilling – he returns to the pond to locate the knife he used, in order to hide it – and chooses to throw it in the water. Deciding it hasn't gone in far enough; he wades in, finds it, and throws it further. He just keeps wading, in the dark, further out into the pond, and it ends there. I gulped a little bit, and had a definite tear in my eye as well as clammy skin, too! Great, great piece - Büchner was a genius.

We are now 7.5 hours away from the end of our readathon! At midnight tonight, we will have read and reviewed 60 books between us in 8 weeks – and we’re SO grateful for the support we've received from our pledgers and also English PEN and other student PEN societies, we couldn't have done it without you. Look out for more details on our launch party - we'll keep you all updated.

Peace and love, Sam

This is one of those novels which treads the fine line between readability and content perfectly, it managed to get me hooked without talking down to me, and I felt all the better at the end for having read it. It is an elaborate sweeping drama set over a number of decades in and around the first world war. Faulks writes in his introduction that he wanted to try and tell a story which hadn't really been told before, and in writing about the tunnellers trying to take out the enemy from underneath in hideous, staggeringly dangerous conditions, I feel like that is what he has done.

If I were being picky, then I would say that the sections of the novel set in the 1970s are a little unnecessary, and that the rest of the plot and characters work well enough in their own rights to not need the link to a more present day. However, this aside, I found myself seriously affected by the novel as a whole, and think it has rightly earned its place on the shelf as a modern classic about the brutality of war and all that goes alongside it.

Rachael Spencer, guest blogger

Note from the society; Rachael very kindly offered to help us out with some reviews when lost a member from the team at the last minute of the readathon, so thank you SO MUCH, Rachael, for being a friend of UEL PEN. Rachael also happens to be taking over Unbound, our creative writing anthology publication here at UEL, this coming semester. Look out for some amazing work from her and her team here; UEL Unbound

Michael Chabon never fails to keep me turning a page. I admit to having a particular soft spot for this novel due to the fact its main protagonist is a writer who is battling with his work much as I am.

Grady Tripp is a professor at a university in Pittsburgh who once had a roaringly successful novel and has, ever since, been working on a book called Wonder Boys. It has been seven years, and still he writes, seemingly without end. This book takes place on the weekend he is supposed to be allowing his editor to see the finished product, but somewhat predictably, it isn't done yet. At the same time, Tripp is also tying to deal with a home life on the brink of collapse as yet another wife leaves him and the woman he has been having an affair with declares she is pregnant.

If ever I need to remember why I love writing, I come back to this book. In it very little actually happens, but the characters become people you'd really quite like to drive around Pittsburgh with for a couple of days. When they say something funny (which is fairly often), I laugh, and when they are on the brink of an important decision, I hold my breath. Sometimes I wonder what they would be doing now, outside the confines of the pages.

My old paperback is a battered mess with a broken spine and pages folded over in the top corner. Somehow I feel that's the highest praise that can be given to a book, right?

Rachael Spencer, guest blogger

Note from the society; Rachael very kindly offered to help us out with some reviews when lost a member from the team at the last minute of the readathon, so thank you SO MUCH, Rachael, for being a friend of UEL PEN. Rachael also happens to be taking over Unbound, our creative writing anthology publication here at UEL, this coming semester. Look out for some amazing work from her and her team here; UEL Unbound

Written in 1968, this novel is set in 1992 during the aftermath of 'World War Terminus'. Earth has been left in a post apocalyptic mess where animals are all but extinct, and the planet is being engulfed in a nuclear dust. Amongst the abandoned buildings, Rick Deckard works as a bounty hunter on a mission to 'retire' rogue androids who have killed their human owners in order to try and live within society as humans themselves. The 1982 film Blade Runner is loosely set on this book, and though the plots differ quite radically, it is easy to see how Blade Runner found its dystopian, almost hopeless, sense of futility amidst the pages of this novel.

I enjoyed Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? more so than the film, and really liked the overall atmosphere created within just the first couple of pages of the novel. Characters are incredibly well drawn out, and I felt like I understood the world in which it is set perfectly given that it is not only a short book, but also set during just one 24 hour period of time.

Though incredibly genre orientated as a piece, I loved this book in its own right, and would happily recommend it until I'm blue in the face.

Rachael Spencer, guest blogger

Note from the society; Rachael very kindly offered to help us out with some reviews when lost a member from the team at the last minute of the readathon, so thank you SO MUCH, Rachael, for being a friend of UEL PEN. Rachael also happens to be taking over Unbound, our creative writing anthology publication here at UEL, this coming semester. Look out for some amazing work from her and her team here; UEL Unbound

In my 'reading out my closet' collection I have to include The Famous Five books by Enid Blyton, which were extremely popular in my country and I've read every single one of them as a child.
The books follow the adventures of Julian, Dick, Anne and Georgina or George as she likes to be called, who face different kinds of detective situations - think of them as a Scooby Doo gang (they even have a dog).
The reason why I wanted to include these series is because APPARENTLY they caused a massive controversy according to some of my Early Childhood Studies classes. There have been uproars about the books in regards to racism and gender stereotyping - presenting females as weak and males as strongest.
A couple of years back there was also a very controversial post where one Slovenian mom addressed the issue of her daughter reading the books and copying everything the characters are doing - like eating unhealthy, wanting to be a boy etc.

My interest in Little Women came from a Friends episode, when Rachel spoiled events of the book to Joey. I shared the same feelings as him when I was reading it as well, so well done Friends for spoiling a book to everyone.

Please Stop Laughing at me was one of the most painful reads I've ever encountered, probably because it's extremely close to my heart. The keyword of this story is BULLYING.
It follows the life of the almost naive Jodee, who just wanted to learn and be smart and have friends - this doesn't work out. Because of her ability to learn she encounters a variety of bullying from her peers, which forces her to switch schools several times until her parents got fed up with it.

It's amazing to see how backstabbing teenagers get and how they have no clue about their powers to hurt someone and to scar their mind. It clearly presents how school can go from heaven to hell in one day and it's interesting to see how Jodee has dealt with it. Words have consequences and I'd just like to say to the parents to try and see the bigger picture and to see what the kids are doing to each other.

She is now touring around the schools and talks about bullying. I'll let her story speak for itself - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eByfR2jeFtk

Of course, Jodee Blanco isn't the only person that's ever encountered bullying, but she's one of the few that openly speaks about it and tries to help people. Don't be an ass to somebody else and let them live.

xoxo Mandy

The next 4 reviews will be the final addition to this readathon from my part. I've never thought I'd actually be able to read so many books and I finally read most of my home library. If anyone is stuck on finishing their books I'd really recommend for them to do something like this - plus it helps us with our writing!

Why am I adding an autobiography into this? Because this is my absolute favorite thing anyone has ever written about the life of a celebrity. It pictures a perfect misunderstanding of how everyone things being a celebrity is such a cool thing - Geri Halliwell describes it as living in a bubble. You're being ripped to shreds and yet you still have to pretend you're strong and that you inspire people.

Her life story is quite shocking, but her quirky writing brings out some laughs as well. She gives us some insight on what happened in the Spice Girls from the audition stages, to the end, but also explains the negative effects of the celebrity life. It shows her battle with food and money and everything in between.
At some point it even discussed the big prince Harry mishap, and how apparently he had a picture of Baby Spice in his bedroom.

It's definitely a very light read and won't go over your head too much, but it's nice to get an insight on the celebrity life everyone adores so much.

xoxo Mandy

This is a behind the scenes look at The Shack by Paul Young; it provides insight into the story that follows Baxter in his relationship with the Holy Trinity. Using The Bible and various theories the meaning behind Young’s story is revealed and how it truly does affect our lives, even if we are unaware of it. While insightful I found it less inspirational than The Shack, I recommend this book if you have read The Shack and are interested in the reasoning and inspiration behind the story. I am uncertain how useful this book would be as a stand alone story.

Helen

I’m sure we all know the story from the books or the films, however I am only reading the books for the first time and I have completely fallen in love with the series. For those of you that have only watched the films, read the books! Being a Tolkien fan I used to criticise Rowling as a poor imitation, now I’ve read the books I realise that perhaps Steve Kloves (who wrote the screenplay for all eight films) failed to capture the distinct differences between the authors’ works.
This book was by far the most emotional of the series so far in my opinion (I still have two to read). I had to put the book down every few paragraphs because I couldn’t see through the tears after the return from the Ministry of Magic. The thing I love most about this series is the way the writing style matures with the characters and the readers; it really does encourage children to continue reading into adulthood. Again read it or read it again; Rowling has a fan for life in me.

Helen

I’m sure we all know the story from the books or the films, however I am only reading the books for the first time and I have completely fallen in love with the series. For those of you that have only watched the films, read the books! Being a Tolkien fan I used to criticise Rowling as a poor imitation, now I’ve read the books I realise that perhaps Steve Kloves (who wrote the screenplay for all eight films) failed to capture the distinct differences between the authors’ works.
This was my favourite film in the series, and so far it is my favourite book too. Again so much detail was lost when it was made into a film (like why Fleur didn’t have an accent in The Deathly Hallows). Rowling once again exceeded my expectations with this book and where I could never understand the fandom before I thoroughly can now. Again read this book, or read it again.

Helen

I’m sure we all know the story from the books or the films, however I am only reading the books for the first time and I have completely fallen in love with the series. For those of you that have only watched the films, read the books! Being a Tolkien fan I used to criticise Rowling as a poor imitation, now I’ve read the books I realise that perhaps Steve Kloves (who wrote the screenplay for all eight films) failed to capture the distinct differences between the authors’ works.
As for this book; words escape me. Not my favourite of the series, but still it has an amazing story and had me truly empathising with the characters. There is so much detail that was not included within the film, it is a must read. And if you’ve already read it, read it again.

Helen

This is the second book of a series of short stories where we follow Brie Bennett. The first book “Brie Learns the Art of Submission” takes place at the Submissive Training Centre. After Graduation follows her once she has been collared by Sir while still getting to grips with the life of a submissive. I found this series insightful, although the books do need to be proof read as there are a number of obvious errors which distracted me from the story. To me this series seemed rather farfetched, however, if you liked 50 Shades of Grey I recommend this.

Helen

This book is your typical “chick lit” as far as I’m concerned, if you like them you’ll love it, if you’re not a fan you’ll probably give it a miss. I read them occasionally and this one will probably stick with me; it had me laughing, crying, at one point it had me shouting at it and wanting to throw it out of the window (that was at the end of chapter 18, be warned). The story is of Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew; we meet them on St Swithin’s Day (15th July) 1988 and are given a one day snippet into their lives on they same day for the next twenty years.

Helen

This book is amazing! My emotions can be a bit of a rollercoaster depending on the circumstances that life throws at us, but since reading this book and putting into practice just a handful of the tips within its pages I find myself happier and more confident no matter what comes my way. Drawing teachings from North American tribes, it teaches us that when things in our life seem to be a negative they are actually just “sacred clowns” which are attempting to aid us in appreciating life more when it does go our way. This is a must read book, no matter who you are, it will help you feel happier in yourself and appreciate life so much more. I could not rate this book highly enough.

Helen

Rice claims this autobiography is her “spiritual confession”, which I feel seems appropriate. Discussing details from her childhood, her religion, that she lost her faith as she matured and then through writing The Vampire Chronicles found it again. I found the details of her life moving and inspirational; treated as an adult by her parents, often roaming the streets of New Orleans alone, it is easy to make comparisons between her and the vampire child Claudia. I suggest anyone that enjoys Rice’s work read this as it gives a deeper understanding of where she got her ideas for her work from. I feel honoured to have been given a snippet of her life, but I am a great admirer of her works.

Helen

This book is really useful with lots of tips and tricks from nutrition to training plans and everything in between for novices to people that have run before but wish to brush up or try something new. The training plans are what I found most useful as they provide a variety of exercises that are only required four days a week (most others I’ve come across suggest training six days a week), the book also gives detailed instructions on how to complete the exercises. I feel this is more relevant to today’s society with the constant pressure to achieve deadline in every area of our lives.

Helen

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was not what I was expecting at all, the only gripe I have about it is that the protagonist seems to have autism, yet imagines himself in different situations. In my experience with those with autism this is highly unlikely, however Christopher may well be an extremely remarkable boy or I may have had limited experience. I found this book extremely refreshing from the small details such as the chapter numbers being prime numbers to the small diagrams throughout. I thoroughly recommend this book to everyone.

Helen

Another major book of my childhood, Jo March was definitely part of the reason that I realised I could actually pursue my passion for writing.
Have another image, this is from the 1994 film of "Little Women", the prequel to "Good Wives".

The book follows the exploits of four sisters; Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. It is said that the four girls represent some of the basic traits a woman should have; Meg=doting and obedient, Jo=passionate and determined, Beth=kind and compassionate, Amy=talented and elegant.
Meg is married to Jo's best friend's tutor, and they have twins together; Demi and Daisy. She is blissfully happy being John's wife, although sometimes feels selfish in wishing he earned slightly more.
Jo is my favourite by miles. After realising her best friend is in love with her, she flees to New York to help him gain some closure and her some experience. She is a writer and has no time for gossip and nonsense.
Beth was sickly with scarlet-fever in the last book and is still quite weak, but she has no goals to leave home, being perfectly happy to remain with Marmee and Father.
Amy has serious ideas above her station, and is delighted when their Aunt March chooses to take her to Paris. She enjoys art and thinks she will marry rich one day.
This is the second in the series, and I would honestly recommend reading all of them.

Until next time,
Emerald Elizabeth.

This should just be called 'Reading out my closet'. During this readathon I have discovered so many books that I haven't actually read.

This is the second part of 'The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl' by Belle De Jour and as in the first book, it again focuses on Belle's life. I found this part of the series to be more 'educational' and more about general love than just sex - Belle delivered some insightful information about relationships. I do have to say that I enjoyed the first book a bit more, as I found the second book hard to focus on and often skipped some pages- the same way as I couldn't focus on other seasons of the Secret Diary of a Call Girl series. One thing I didn't like about this book is how at first Belle was a very powerful woman and later on got cheated on. But, hey, at least it's realistic, right?!

It still represents the escort job in a funny way, but once again, it's a bit of a light read - something to take on a holiday with you.
If you can't bare the 50 Shades of Grey fandom, but enjoy reading adult novels, full with sarcasm and humor, give this one a try instead, you might be surprised!

I don't usually read over hyped books, but since this is now quite an old book I finally decided to give it a try, and here's my take on it.
This book focuses on Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who is sentenced to 3 months of prison time because of a published article that attacked a large Swedish businessman. He later on gets hired by a man who wants to find out what happened to his 16 year old niece Harriet who vanished without a trace.
Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo (and piercings) is a private investigator and a hacker who joins forces with Mikael and tries to solve the case of mysteriously vanished Harriet.
I won't go into too many plot details but I found this book extremely action packed. It has many plots (which is what I was told about when I decided to get this book) but I found it very entertaining. It almost felt like a thriller and there were some parts over which I didn't necessary like, but I still managed to enjoy this book.
What I found extremely interesting was that I could've never guessed the plot of the book by just looking at the cover, which suggests it's quite seductive - in some moments it's quite the opposite. I very much enjoyed the language used in the book as it was very detailed and I could easily imagine all the characters and their personalities.
I read this in two days off work and I couldn't put it down, so I'd recommend taking some time off your usual activities because The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo WILL suck you in and steal your time. :)

Fun fact: The Swedish title of this book is 'Men Who Hate Women'.

xoxo Mandy

This little gem is part of my dissertation reading list and I absolutely adore it. I read it in two one hour lunch breaks at work (and I'll probably read it again).

The book starts with the typical Pride and Prejudice line"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a signle man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
I liked the way how the writing style isn't all that different from the original book, but yet it presents a so called "modern twist". I love how the characters stayed exactly the same (apart from a few), but became fond of their own gender rather than falling for the opposite.

I was worried that the book will suddenly contain all gay characters, but as I read it I was pretty happy who became gay and who straight. It definitely adds a different twist to the story but not to the point where the book would get annoying. There are a couple of variations of Pride and Prejudice, but I believe this is the best one.

Definitely worth a read!
If you love Pride and Prejudice as much as I do, I'd recommend watching the Youtube version of it called Lizzie Bennett Diaries. A very, very unique version of the original (I don't even think this sentence makes sense?)

After becoming borderline obsessed with the recently-adapted musical of Dahl's masterpiece, I decided to re-read this wonderful book. I'd forgotten how much I adore it, one of the best compliments I've ever received is someone comparing me to Matilda.

Matilda focuses on a young girl with extraordinary mental capabilities. She has been born to the least understanding family possible, by a stroke of bad luck both of her parents are hideous human beings.
She starts school, only to find that the headmistress is even more atrocious than her parents, but finds comfort in her teacher, who instantly recognises her as being brilliant.

GODDAMNIT I DON'T WANT TO POST ANYTHING THAT MIGHT SPOIL IT, SO HERE ARE SOME STILLS FROM THE FILM.


Until next time,
Emerald Elizabeth.
P.S. Matilda totally has a happy ending