01 Sep 2017

Susannah Authors, Books, Newsletter 20 Comments Permalink

About Dutch Literature

Susannah 1 September 2017 20 Comments

Why the Dutch are Different

I have just recently enjoyed some days in Amsterdam – such a beautiful, vibrant city. I had the pleasure of giving a talk to a group of Jane Austen readers at the English-language bookshop there, and now welcome some Dutch friends to my newsletter list. While in the Netherlands, I read and very much enjoyed Why the Dutch are Different by Ben Coates, an Englishman who went to Rotterdam, fell in love with a Dutch girl, and stayed. His book discusses various aspects of Dutch history and society, from football to WWII, but made almost no reference to literature, and it left me speculating about Dutch writers. Holland has produced far more than its fair share of internationally renowned artists, but its literary star is not nearly as bright. Why is it that some countries suddenly flourish in one particular area of the arts, but fail to shine in another? Read more

01 Sep 2017

Susannah Authors, Jane Austen, Movies, Newsletter, Screen versions 18 Comments Permalink

Film Adaptations of the Classics

Susannah 1 September 2017 18 Comments

More filmed versions of classics we can look forward to include The Aspern Papers, a Henry James novel set in Venice, which is being made into a movie starring Jonathan Rhys Myers, Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson. It is many many years since I read the book, so I’ll add it to my re-reading list. And the producers of the hugely popular Poldark series have bravely decided to make a new TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, promising a less ‘bonnety’ version that does justice to Jane Austen’s “dark intelligence”. It will be ready to screen 25 years after the iconic Colin Firth / Jennifer Ehle adaptation (oh dear, that does make me feel old!). Read more

01 Aug 2017

Susannah Books, Newsletter 12 Comments Permalink

Books for a Special Grandchild

Susannah 1 August 2017 12 Comments

I am so terribly excited. In early December this year I am to become a grandma!!!! My daughter Elinor and her husband Craig are expecting their first baby. Of course, as soon as I heard the news my thoughts turned to literary associations. If this baby really wants to get off to a good start with its grandmother, it will arrive on 16 December (Jane Austen’s birthday). And I’d love little Jane or little Austen to be given a nice literary name – not that I have any say at all in the matter, but one can always hope. Read more

01 Aug 2017

Susannah Authors, Books, Newsletter 36 Comments Permalink

Celebrating Enid Blyton

Susannah 1 August 2017 36 Comments

Enid Blyton’s work has long been controversial, but she told good stories and has been much loved through the generations.

Read more

01 Aug 2017

Susannah Authors, Newsletter 18 Comments Permalink

Christopher Robin Milne

Susannah 1 August 2017 18 Comments

Christopher Robin Milne with Pooh. Surely the most loved bear in fiction.

Being the child of a famous author is not easy. Being the child that a famous author has included in his books is virtually a nightmare. Christopher Robin Milne certainly found it horrific.

His early years were happy ones, but once his father included him and his toys in Now We are Six and Winnie-the-Pooh, the boy was mercilessly teased and lived under a spotlight of media attention. He came to loathe the poem Vespers (“Christopher Robin is saying his prayers …”) because he was so endlessly teased about it, while the lines “Christopher Robin goes hoppity hoppity hoppity hoppity hop …” drove him almost to distraction. Read more

01 Aug 2017

Susannah Newsletter, Poems, Poets 6 Comments Permalink

Seamus Heaney & Digging

Susannah 1 August 2017 6 Comments

I recently visited the fabulous new Seamus Heaney Homeplace in the village of Bellaghy in Ireland. There, along with all my tour group, I absolutely fell in love with Heaney. He was a stunning poet and an incredibly nice man. The new centre is superb – interactive and informative, it brings his works alive for the visitor. In the village is a wonderful new statue, depicting a man digging peat. It is an illustration of one of Heaney’s most famous poems:

Digging by Seamus Heaney

Read more

15 Jul 2017

Susannah Books, Events, Jane Austen, Media, Newsletter 14 Comments Permalink

“I have lost a treasure” wrote Cassandra

Susannah 15 July 2017 14 Comments

“I have lost a treasure”, wrote Cassandra Austen on the death of her sister Jane. The literary world too lost one of its brightest treasures when Jane Austen died on 18 July, 1817, aged only 41. Around the world those who love her six novels will mourn her loss and celebrate her legacy. Read more

01 Jul 2017

Susannah Books, Jane Austen, Newsletter 14 Comments Permalink

Jane Austen’s Death

Susannah 1 July 2017 14 Comments

“You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love … Jane Austen”

July is an extremely important month in the literary world. On 18th July it will be 200 years since Jane Austen died, at the tragically early age of 41, in Winchester. She left us a legacy of six completed novels, two unfinished ones, some juvenilia, letters and a few poems and other small pieces. The world will be marking this important anniversary in many ways. There will be exhibitions, talks, dances, guided walks, conferences, afternoon teas, trivia nights, and events hosted by Jane Austen societies in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Czech Republic, England, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, North America, Pakistan, Scotland, Singapore and Spain. Read more

01 Jul 2017

Susannah Authors, Books, Newsletter 20 Comments Permalink

I do Love a Nice Garden

Susannah 1 July 2017 20 Comments

Is there a word in the English language that is the opposite of ‘green-fingered’? If so, I’d love to know what it is? If not, there should be, because it describes what I am – very good at killing plants.

But while I might be useless at growing things, I do love a nice garden, and I also like to read about gardens. Recently, in preparation for giving a talk on Frances Hodgson Burnett, I re-read The Secret Garden. I’d forgotten just what a lovely novel it is. Published in 1911, the novel became an instant best-seller. It tells of two psychologically damaged children who find happiness and purpose when they restore an old garden. It was said that you could actually learn to prune roses from its pages. Read more

01 Jul 2017

Susannah Authors, Newsletter 12 Comments Permalink

The Thrill of Awards

Susannah 1 July 2017 12 Comments

I was very honoured last month to be awarded an Order of Australia Medal for Services to Literature. I share this award with all of you who attend my talks, come on my tours, and read this newsletter. It was such a thrill to receive it. And on top of that I was also last month made a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW. This is primarily a scientific body, but they are extending into the arts and I was lucky enough to be chosen as a Fellow. Read more

01 Jul 2017

Susannah Newsletter, Poems, Poets 4 Comments Permalink

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow & Killed at the Ford

Susannah 1 July 2017 4 Comments

Killed at the Ford by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

HE is dead, the beautiful youth,
The heart of honor, the tongue of truth,—
He, the life and light of us all,
Whose voice was blithe as a bugle call,
Whom all eyes followed with one consent,
The cheer of whose laugh, and whose pleasant word,
Hushed all murmurs of discontent. Read more

01 Jun 2017

Susannah Books, Newsletter 43 Comments Permalink

What Books Make You Laugh?

Susannah 1 June 2017 43 Comments

Do you often laugh over books? I mean a real belly-laugh, with tears in your eyes?

Humour is a very individual thing. A friend recently lent me a book which he told me he’d nearly died laughing over. For me the book failed to even raise a smile. Another friend adores Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim and says it never fails to make her laugh out loud. I quite like it, but have never laughed over it. I do laugh over E.F. Benson’s fabulous novel Secret Lives, Bill Bryson can usually have me chuckling happily, and some of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels have made me literally ache with laughter (these books are not worthy literature – in fact, they are rather foolish books, but they do make me laugh). Read more

01 Jun 2017

Susannah Authors, Jane Austen, Newsletter 4 Comments Permalink

Charlie Lovett

Susannah 1 June 2017 4 Comments

Charlie Lovett

Have you come across an American novelist called Charlie Lovett? He’s a writer, teacher and playwright and his books have been on the New York Times bestseller list.

I really loved his mystery novel First Impressions about a girl called Sophie who works in the antiquarian book business and gets drawn into a mystery that connects her to Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice. It was so cleverly written. I also loved The Lost Book of the Grail which is set in Barchester, a fictional county dreamed up by Anthony Trollope. Read more

01 Jun 2017

Susannah Authors, Books, Newsletter 2 Comments Permalink

Harry Potter Turns 20

Susannah 1 June 2017 2 Comments

J.K. Rowling reads from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

On 26 June 1997, a novel for children was published without any great fanfare. It was the first in a planned series of books featuring a boy with wizarding powers called Harry Potter. Ten years later the 7th book in the series was published and by that time there cannot have been many people in the world who had not heard of the boy, the books and the author, J.K. Rowling. Read more

01 Jun 2017

Susannah Authors, Newsletter 6 Comments Permalink

Alan Titchmarsh

Susannah 1 June 2017 6 Comments

Alan Titchmarsh, England Our England

Alan Titchmarsh is best known as a gardener and TV presenter, and for being regularly voted one of the world’s sexiest men, but he is also a writer. He has written many gardening books, and some fiction. I enjoyed his light but rather charming novel Rosie (2004).

But my favourite of his productions is a CD, England, Our England. It’s a fabulous celebration of English traditions, landscape and weather, through the words of various writers. Read more