What Do They Wear in Wonderland?

From an original joke by Genevieve Freedman

Why It's Important To Read To Your Children, Even When They Can Read

Garden of the New Year: Genevieve Freedman aged 9

My seven year old son can now read fluently, which prompted a suggestion by my husband that, instead of me reading to him every night, he start reading to me.

Tragic Magic: The Silver Potato Heads of Paris...

... Are sadly not there any more. But what could be more magical than eight feet tall silver potato heads with teeth?

'Possession' and obsession

The first time I read "Possession" by A.S. Byatt, I was entranced. Narrated by English literature student Roland Michell, the book unravels the secret romance and mutual obsession between two Victorian poets, Randolph Ash and Christabel LaMotte, the first thread of which is discovered by Roland as a draft of a love letter from Ash to an unknown woman tucked into the jacket of one of Ash's notebooks.

Christabel is a fascinating character. Although a minor poet, she is championed by feminists such as Maude Bailey for her work, which focuses on legends and fairies, popular in Victorian times, and for her proud refusal to marry. However as Roland pieces together clues from Ash's and LaMotte's poetry, a different picture emerges. LaMotte's most celebrated poem is about the fairy Melusine, who is cursed when her curious husband spies on her as she takes her bath, and sees that she is not human as she appears, but a mermaid, with a writhing serpent's tail. Through Roland's sleuthing, we discover that LaMotte herself, fairy-like in appearance, with silver-blonde hair, pale skin and green eyes, is also not what she seems, and as Blanche, her domestic companion discovers through spying on LaMotte's letters, she has a passionate affair with Ash, who is married.

The affair is consummated when Ash travels to the Yorkshire coast for a month's expedition to study the natural history and sea creatures of the region. Since his wife Ellen is indisposed and Christabel, after being confronted by Blanche, has left their home, she joins him for the trip, wearing a ring for appearance's sake. Ash's detailed study and dissection of anemones and other sea creatures symbolizes the union of his passion for science and Christabel's fascination with mythical creatures, and is reflected at that point in their lives, in each achieving their finest poetry, influenced and inspired by one another.

Christabel conceives a child, Maia, as a result of the affair, who is raised as her niece by her sister, and thus Maude discovers that she is the direct descendant of both LaMotte and Ash. Despite Maia's poetic origins and the ash-blonde hair that she inherits from her mother, she turns out to be a very prosaic little girl who is not the least part fanciful and prefers to be known as May.

A Small Town in Germany

Like all great titles, is from somewhere else, in this case John Le Carre's book of that name, part of his famous spy series. I turned my nose up when my Dad read these, back when I knew more than he did, but later enjoyed them myself. If you like your espionage  with Cold War ambiance and a mouth full of old school marbles, these are for you. They do require some concentration to stay abreast of the plot, and what you read in the hinterland before sleep gobbles you up, you may have to read over again - although I read them whilst still nursing my second child, early in the upswing after my thrilling descent from Quality Lit through Hard-Boiled Detective Lit, Soft-Boiled Chick Lit, Airport Novels, Glossy Magazines, and finally Department Store Catalogs (still the best bang for my buck) - so perhaps I am overestimating the difficulty.

Colmar

Colmar, France, which is about an hour by car or train from where we live, is situated along the Alsatian wine route. It is the city of Frederic Bartholdi (1834 - 1904) who designed the Statue of Liberty, and there are many fine museums and places of interest.
In another post I'll do the beautiful buildings justice. In the meantime, here are some of the other sights.

A hat shop

What's Magical in My Life Right Now: Betty Freedman

Here is the first in a series of invited blogs on the subject: "What is magical in my life right now?" from Mrs Betty Freedman, Age 88.

For me that's a no-brainer. MY FAMILY. My husband of 63 years, our 
two children, their spouses, and our eight grandchildren -- living their lives
with them makes my life magical.

Self-Publishing: The Light At The End

A published Book from AWordWithYouPress.com


To those  who say that the hardest thing about writing fiction is getting published, I say: think again. The hardest thing about writing fiction is not getting published.

The Magic of Mont Blanc

Really, it is impossible to vacation at the foot of Mont Blanc without mentioning it in one's blog.

We caught the beginning of the storm that killed 58 people in Europe, manifest here as a sickening swaying of the gondolas, and a vigorous blowing around of powder on the slopes.

Beast of the Post: Rokchik

Beast of the Post: Scorpohamster

Heropic Fiction: Why Reading will Survive

Asking why people will continue to want to read when entertainment and information are  freely available via moving images and audio is like asking why people would ever want to walk or run when there are less effortful forms of transport. We like the exercise; and its results.
And I don't mean just decoding words and sentences. A novel interacts with its reader; the imagination supplies much of the content; discovery, thesis and synthesis all happen, and people enjoy this (at least some of us do).
Of all our creations, the written word is the most magical, courtesy of its imaginative scope.
Now, I am not one to disdain a screen of any size. Among the most treasured memories of my medical student years are late night double bills (Frankenstein and BladeRunner) at Glasgow's Grosvenor cinema, and our trusty DVD player has coaxed us through many of the darker days  this past Swiss year. But a movie, requiring less investment, rarely has the sticking power of a book - you just don't value what you haven't paid for.

Beast of the Post: Roktopus

This is the point

The point is that magic is essential. It is why we go to the movies, why we read books by Isabel Allende and Penelope Fitzgerald, why we buy sparkly, ruffled cardigans from J Crew (well, some of us do).

I am talking about Bright Magic, the fluffy sister of the black, sticky kind; it exists not as explanation for the frightening or strange, not as an instrument of aggression or control, but as extra mind-space, of freedom and possibility, beyond physical limits. 
Bright Magic has been with us for millenia. You can see it in ancient, illuminated texts and stained glass windows; in those maps of the possible world that are littered with fabulous creatures. It flows freely through literature and art, and informs the culture of science, which is rich in metaphor and in wonder. 
A long time ago, I wrote a novel called Morag's Monsters, and even completed it, though not to my final satisfaction. The extra space it brought was busy with attractions (husband, babies, odd little added-on-to house in California). The Monsters, neglected, huffed a bit and eventually went to sleep.
Years later, they are stirring again. These posts are my commitment to keeping them awake, by celebrating the bright magic that sparkles in my days. 
Already I'm excited by this collaboration with my friend Janet, who writes about the Legend of the Phoenix. I'm hoping to connect online with other users and pushers of magical fiction.
So if you treasure the modern magic in your life - in your friendships, your studies, your closet - drop a line, do; tell us where you find yours.

The Legend of the Phoenix

Across centuries and across civilizations flies the Phoenix – a legendary bird symbolizing rebirth and renewal as it rises from its own ashes. The ancient Egyptians knew the Phoenix as the Bennu bird, and according to priestly tradition, the newly reborn Bennu would gather the bones of its forebear from the ashes with its talons, fashion them together with myrrh into an egg, and fly with the egg in its feet to lay it at the sacred altar at the temple of the sun god Ra, in Heliopolis.

In Asia the sacred bird is known as Garuda, who first burst forth from his egg in a raging inferno, and later went on to rescue a divine elixir of immortality guarded by snakes and fire. And across Europe, in Russia, is told the legend of the Firebird, which grants it captor a blessing and a curse.

What lies behind the ubiquity of such a myth? Do all human societies recognize the wheel of time, how history repeats itself? Do we all yearn for renewal and new beginnings? What connects us to the past may provide a key to our future.