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I took the opportunity of being in Dublin for Roger Waters’s concert to visit one of my favourite bookshops. I was a bit worried as someone had recently told me that he had seen that shop across from Trinity College (on College Green), but that it had closed down. To my relief, I found out that the shop was still there and open, and I could leave my feelings of mourning behind. I consequently felt it was my duty to buy a couple of books and did not feel too guilty about spending.
What is it that I like so much about Books Upstairs? Hard to say… The shop in itself is not that extraordinary, although I really like that little mezzanine.
I feel comfortable in this small cosy shop and love browsing books there. They have an excellent selection of books and a good choice of fiction that entice to discovery. I have often bought books there that I was not looking for and have enjoyed them. This is where I bought my first Carver! Before the few shelves dedicated to fiction, you will find two whole shelves of discounted new books. The prices of those books are more than decent and you will thus be less reluctant about buying a book you have never heard of.
I also really like their non-fiction selection, especially in literary criticism. I guess this is due to the fact that they are located near Trinity College. You won’t find the usual Oxford Very Short Introduction series, which you can find in any major bookstore, but you will find books from Routledge and others at affordable prices. For someone like me, who buys a lot of literary criticism books, it can become expensive and I tend to buy them second-hand on the internet. However, here, I have the pleasure of flicking the pages before buying, and they always have a few on sale.
You will find books that you don’t find everywhere, and I guess that’s what I like. Of course, they have some bestsellers and main stream new titles, but you might come across a gem you weren’t aware of. They also have some chapbooks and various journals, which is something you don’t see everywhere. If you’re ever in Dublin, I highly recommend you pop in and spend a few euros.
I was chatting to the lady working there and actually discovered that they also sell online. Their website is down at the minute, but you can find them on Amazon.
As I said, their choice of discounted books is amazing and you will be more willing to buy a book you do not know of. I treated myself with three books. The first is just a German phrasebook for my forthcoming trip; I was grateful to finally find one that costs less than a fiver. The second is by an author I have never heard of before: Denis Hamill. The title of his novel, Fork in the Road, caught my attention. After a quick look at the synopsis and reading the first page, I was convinced.
I also bought Amulet by Roberto Bolano. He is not an unknown author as his novel 2066 is much talked about, but I have not read anything by him. I was glad to find this book which is less intimidating than 2066 and tickled my curiosity.
I’m delighted with my findings and look forward to reading them!
About 20 years ago, when I was a teenager, I was looking for something to keep me busy for the afternoon while on holidays at my Mum’s house. I picked up a video called The Wall. This was the beginning of a strong and stable love affair with Pink Floyd. I became what you can call a fan and this is the one band that has always stayed with me. I have all their albums and still enjoy listening to them.
So, when, last October, I read Zhu’s post about her going to see Roger Waters performing The Wall in Ottawa, I was extremely jealous (have a look at her pictures). After a bit of browsing online, I discovered that Roger Waters would be coming to Dublin in May. I rarely go to big concerts – they are often to expensive for my tight budget and I like small venues – but this is The Wall we are talking about. Moreover, I already have a Pink Floyd-related regret. In 1994, I bought a ticket to go to see Pink Floyd’s tour The Division Bell. However, I was still young, the concert was far away and I was supposed to go there alone, plus I didn’t like the latest album, so I sold my ticket. I have since seen the Pulse dvd; little did I know then that a good portion of the concert would be Dark Side of the Moon. Thus, this time it didn’t take me long to spend the money and buy a ticket; I knew I would regret it if I didn’t and one can do a little excess every so often, no?
I thus headed for Dublin on Monday. It was a bit of a trek to get there as it was also the day Obama chose to visit our capital. However, it was well worth every effort. I parked outside the city and took the Luas to get in. I was lucky to catch one of the last trams actually going into the city centre , as afterwards they were stopped because of road closures. After a brief stop at my hostel, I had to wait for another tram to bring me to the venue. The streets were really busy and it was amusing to try guessing who was there for Obama or for Waters, although not that difficult. The tram was delayed, so when it finally arrived, there were a big crowd getting in. We were all going to the same place. It was packed, but there was a great atmosphere. A group started singing “Vera” and I could feel the excitement growing in me.
Waiting for the show to begin...
I still had a bit of free time before the start of the concert, so I was able to explore the room and find the spot I would probably occupy later. I came across some friends I hadn’t seen for a while; I was getting even more hyper! Then… the lights went down… and the show began with a bang!
This is a video of the opening and “In the Flesh”; I didn’t make this one as I was to far from the stage at the time and decided to leave my friends to go back to my elected spot, close enough to the stage on the left hand-side (the down side was that I couldn’t see the screen in the middle of the stage). It seems to have been a good choice as my friends later complained of the sound’s poor quality: the sound did not travel well under the seated area…
"One of My Turns", Roger Waters
What can I say? How can I say it? It was brilliant! I cried, I laughed, I sang, I screamed, I danced… It was just fantastic and I’m still under the spell. This is what you call a show! I also must say that it was quite appreciable to get a mature audience. Most of us were old fans and there was a sort of electricity going through the room; we were all sharing this amazing moment.
For the second half of the concert, I managed to get even closer to the stage and look who appeared from the wall only a few meters in front of me singing “Nobody Home”:
The 2010-11 show is very faithful to the one Pink Floyd put up 30 years ago. During the first half of the concert the wall is progressively build up until complete. The second half happens in front of a complete wall until it is finally torn down. Tear down the wall, tear down the wall, …
The wall at the beginning of the concert
Second half of the concert, the wall is complete.
The props were there: the flying pig and the giant teacher muppet.
"Run like Hell", flying pig"The Happiest Days of Our Lives", giant teacher
The lights and animations were incredible. There were projections on the wall from the Alan Parker film, but also extracts of past concerts.
The planes on "Goodbye Blue Sky"
"The Trial"
I found the situation somewhat ironical and paradoxical: a crowd of fans cheering a star who performs a satire of totalitarianism. However, the impact of experiencing Pink’s concert live was powerful and maybe even more significant.
- “Run like Hell”
I made a few short videos, especially during the 2nd half because, although I was close to the front, there was a giant in front of me and, sometimes, I could see better with the camera! Have a look and enjoy!
A classic:
The wall is complete and the crowd is singing:
Lights searching the crowd:
Waving goodbye:
“Outside the Wall”:
Photo set of the show:
Ok, these are not the best, I’m still practising on the photo shooting, and, as you might guess, I can’t wait for the dvd release!
As a third writer representing Ontario, I chose Jane Urquhart, whom I saw reading a few weeks ago. She was born in 1949 in Ontario, where she still lives. At the reading, I asked Urquhart to discuss her relationship with the short story. She explained that she had been writing poetry but that her poems were getting increasingly narrative and she consequently experimented with the short story, although she noted that she never excelled in this genre and was more suited for the novel. Storm Glass is consequently her only collection of short stories. It was first published in 1987.
Overall, I find the prose in the three stories I read very poetic. The stories are more focused on language than on plot. Although they are agreeable to read, they are, perhaps, less accessible than other stories. Consequently, they might at first appear as unsatisfying as stories. However, I think that they evoke successfully the feelings of their characters and create an atmosphere that will stay with the reader.
“The Death of Robert Browning” is the opening story in the collection and imagines what Robert Browning did the day of his death. We enter the consciousness of Browning and share his dreams and thoughts as he is about to die. This idea was in fact reused for the frame narrative of her novel The Whirlpool. I indeed felt that it was more an exercise in style than a short story. It is pleasant to read, but did not stay with me for any length of time.
“John’s Cottage”, which is the second story in this collection, is my favourite of the three stories I have read so far. The story is told in the first person by a woman who moves to Northern England in order to escape the affair she has with John, her married lover. She tells us about her relationship with him and how she is always followed by his shadow. Ironically, the house in which she moves in is called “John’s cottage”. We then see how the narrator replaces John’s shadow with another idea: the idea she makes of the other John, who lived in the cottage before. There is very little difference between the two John despite the fact that one is only based on the stories she has heard rather than on a real relationship. However, it seems that the second John gives her more satisfaction than the actual John. Although I found it difficult to get into this story, I ended up enjoying it immensely. It is quirky enough to appeal to me and I like its atmosphere of weirdness, while still dealing with feelings any of us might have encountered.
“Storm Glass” is the closing story of the collection and, like the first story, is concerned with someone facing death. The character on whom the story focuses, only referred to as “she”, remembers her past while lying in bed looking at the lake that is part of so many of her memories. In particular, she recalls that summer when her children were looking for pieces of glass eroded by the water on the shore. The story contrasts her immobility with the passage of time and subtly evokes her relationship with her husband who has become distant since she has been ill. This story is in a way painful but evokes the imminence of death beautifully.
Short Story Monday is held by John at The Book Mine Set.
Do you know that May is the month to celebrate the short story?
This might not necessarily have an impact on the amount of short stories I will read this month as I already have a few books lined up, including Italo Calvino’s short story collection Numbers in the Dark, but I know it will increase my to-be-read list. Indeed, I expect a few bloggers will be celebrating by actively posting about short stories, which will surely tempt me…
For the occasion, the Fiction Writers Review is organising a community giveaway, The Collection Giveaway Project, asking bloggers to recommend a recently published collection they like and offer it as a giveaway. The idea is to share our interest in this too often disliked genre.
Presently, I tend to read stories randomly, rather than whole collections. The reason is simple: I am relatively new to the short story and I try to taste a bit of everything before immersing myself again into whole collections. This can have its drawbacks as reading entire collections can enhance the experience of reading as they might have been carefully arranged, thus offering additional levels of meaning.
Consequently, I am a bit stuck with this giveaway as I have not necessarily read many entire collections (except those by Margaret Atwood and a few others). However, I think I might have an idea and I will post about this again soon…
Meanwhile, you can visit the blogs of Short Story Slore (avid short story reader) and Charles E. May (short story theorist), who are both taking part in this giveaway.
This month, two collections of short stories are being published by Virago: Perfect Lives by Polly Samson and The Doll by Daphne du Maurier. To celebrate, members of their team have been posting about why they love short stories. They are also offering a discount to their readers. You can find all the links here.
April also saw the publication of an anthology I have been looking forward to: The Best British Short Stories 2011, edited by Nicholas Royle and published by Salt. The good news is that it is a very affordable collection and Salt is offering a 30% discount to their fans on facebook until the 22nd of May.
I also lately discovered at Bella’s Bookshelves that 2011 is the year of the short story! So, what are you waiting for? Give it a try!
“En Mai fait ce qu’il te plait!”
This is another French idiom, which means that in May one should do whatever one likes! I might not be able to take this idiom too literally as I must get back to my thesis after a month spent travelling, going to conferences, catching up with family and friends and doing some work in the garden.
As you can see, my stretch of road is becoming quite green. The weather has been lovely here and the flowers are blossoming. The air offers so many fresh smells of flowers; it’s delightful.
The clematis in my garden
As today is the 1st of May, I offer you all a stem of Lily of the Valley from my garden, a traditional lucky charm given in France on this date. I brought back the offsprings from my grandfather’s garden two years ago and this year I am glad to have got three stems.
Enjoy the sunny days of May!
Thanks to those who participated to the recent giveaway I organised to celebrate the 10000 mark on this blog.
France (the country where I was born): In a couple of posts, I mention things I miss from France; can you name one of them (no, it’s not wine!)? The answer is the Lily of the Valley! I would also have accepted “salt”, which I mentioned briefly in a post. The good news is that I do not miss these two things anymore as I now bring back salt each time I go to France and I got some Lily of the Valley offsprings from my grandfather’s garden and they are now thriving in my own garden.
Ireland (the country where I live): In one of my posts, I pay a tribute to something that always amazes me in Ireland; what is it? I just love “The big Irish sky” (see my header picture as well).
Canada (a passion): What big event brought me to Canada last year? The 11th International Conference for the Short Story in English was the reason why I went to Toronto last June.
And the winners are….
Mel U at The Reading Life wins The Little Prince by Antoine St Exupéry.
The Little Prince by St Exupery (edition may vary)
Barbara at Words, Words, Words wins That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern.
That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern
Dragonflyy419 at Dragonflyy419 Attempts to Combat Boredom wins Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood.
Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood (edition may vary)
Congratulations and happy reading!
C'est la vie! 