The Language Magpie {The Ampersand}

Last week I was in Hobbycraft on the hunt for some autumn bits and bobs, and spotted their new range of copper wire letters. Thinking our initials would make a nice addition to our downstairs toilet (which is finally nearly finished!) I picked up a letter 'D', but in the absence of an 'E', I changed my mind and bought an ampersand. Cute isn't it!

The ampersand has become something of a household accessory staple. Most homeware collections seem to include this piece of punctuation among their range - cushions, candles, mugs and various other decorative objects - but I wonder how many people have actually thought about what the curly little symbol means apart from being a stylised alternative to the word 'and'.

So, this weeks The Language Magpie will be exploring just that...

The Language Magpie (A is for...)

Welcome to the the first instalment of 'The Language Magpie' - as I mentioned in last weeks Wednesday Wishlist every fortnight I will be collecting a shiny piece of language, be it a new word, an interesting anecdote or a forgotten rule, and sharing it it with you!

What better place to start than at the beginning with the letter A....

 

I came across the word anathema while reading The Simple Things magazine a few weeks ago having never heard it before. Apart from being able to tell from the context that it was negative, I had no idea of it's meaning, or how to definitely pronounce it, so I went and did some research....

Review: Big Magic - Creative Living Beyond Fear

Yesterday I finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert's most recent book 'Big Magic - Creative Living Beyond Fear.'

I've only read one other book of hers, the ubiquitous 'Eat Pray Love,' and I will always remember the weekend over which I both read the entire book and watched the film adaptation (I was still living with my parents and had an entire weekend in the house alone, burning candles, spending hours in the bath and if I remember rightly eating copious amounts of sweet potato chips and hot chocolate.)

I adored it, I finally felt like a grown up, and while lots of it became firmly entrenched into my very being, I didn't have the huge epiphanous feeling that my life had been changed forever that many people seem to experience after reading it. I didn't want to run away to Bali, and while travelling around Italy eating is incredibly appealing, I think it just made me feel quite satisfied with my own adventure at that time in my life.  

Big Magic has been very different though. Whether it has lined up perfectly with my life by mere coincidence, or if it has come to me just at the opportune moment by some kind of divinity I can't be sure, but the epiphanous moments have been plenty, and it had most definitely changed my life.

The Year In Books {March}

Reading my February choice for Circle of Pine Trees 'The Year in Books' post accidentally crept into March. This happened for a number of reasons, one being that unfortunately my life hasn't had much room in it for reading, as much as I've being trying to carve out the odd few minutes here and there, and secondly that I just stopped finding it compelling. 

When I first started reading, I was totally hooked, and found myself reading beautiful sentences aloud to my husband. However, in my February post I wrote that I was beginning to find the writing a bit irksome, and this feeling intensified the more I read. There's almost too much going on, simple sentences are fluffed out with lots of adjectives, and the smilies and metaphors (beautiful as many of them are) are so frequent I stopped appreciating their beauty and found they just got on my nerves. 

It's a shame, because the story is great and, as I said, Joanna Cannon has a real way with descriptive writing, but there was just too much flowery language, and not enough depth to the characters for me. I think if you're into a mystery, it's worth reading for the 'whodunnit' (which I won't give away) storyline and there is some really stunning imagery, but I didn't love it like I wanted to. 

So, onto my March choice! I can confidently say I am the only person reading this title this month (well, as part of the challenge anyway!) 

It's called 'Rut' and is the debut novel from my very talented, very best friend in the world Laura. She wrote it last November during NaNoWriMo (yup, 50,000 words in one month!) and I don't think I'm being biased when I say it's awesome! I'll review properly when I reveal my choice for April, but if you'd like to read some of Laura's work, you can find some short stories here.

The Year in Books {February}

As you may remember from my January post, this year I am taking part in Circle of Pine Trees 'Year in Books' project, a year long personal project, in which you challenge yourself to read one book (at least) every month, and share it online if you wish.

My January choice (post here) was The Island of Adventure, from Enid Blyton's Adventure series. Oh how I adored it, and reading it has rekindled an old love of mine too. When I was younger, I read and re-read the Famous Five series, and listened to The Faraway Tree stories on audio cassette every night while I fell asleep, but this was the first of the Adventure Series that I'd come across. Since reading The Island of Adventure, I've become a bit obsessed with Enid Blyton all over again, and have been listening to audio books I've found on Youtube non-stop.

I love the language used throughout all her books - "Oh, do let's go, what a fine time we shall all have together." I love that as an adult I can almost hear my grandparents talking about their own childhoods while listening to the adventures the various children encounter during the long summer holidays, allowed to play outdoors and explore the world on their own.

I love that a tea of plums with new bread with butter is described as a 'feast' (and why not!) and that every child in every story is expected to help out with the chores at home before being allowed to have time to themselves. It's interesting too, that 'George' (one of the Famous Five) who's full name is Georgina, prefers to wear boys clothes, use a boys name, and generally identifies as male, and nobody bats an eyelid, even referring to her affectionally as 'Master George.' For an author published in the 1940's, Enid Blyton was clearly ahead of her time!  

Anyway, onto my choice for February! At the beginning of the month, Laura (of Circle of Pine Trees) proposed that for one month only, everyone who fancied it bought/borrowed and read the same book, and joined her, and the author for a live twitter chat on the 14th of March. I scurried off and pre-ordered 'The Trouble with Goats and Sheep' by Joanna Cannon, and I'm enjoying it a lot so far! I'm totally gripped by the story, although the more I read the more I'm finding the sheer volume of descriptive smilies and metaphors a little tiring. It's not enough irksome enough to put me off reading, and don't get me wrong some of them are beautiful, but the awesome ones are getting a little lost among others that feel somewhat forced! I'll let you know in a week or so what I think when I'm finished!

I have next months choice lined up already too! I can't help feeling this year is just going to zip by before we know it!

The Year In Books

Since being more active on Instagram, I've stumbled upon a few new blogs that have become part of my regular reading list. One of which is Circle of Pine Trees, a blog written by freelance writer, editor and photographer Laura, for people who notice the beauty in life's little moments, full of kitchen stories and outdoor adventures.  It's beautiful and I've spent a good few hours reading back through posts and admiring Laura's wonderful pictures. 

Laura runs a project every year called The Year In Books. It's a project anyone can join in with and share on social media, and the idea is that everyone taking part makes time and space in their busy life to read at least one book every month. You can find out more about the project and how you can join in here. On the last Monday of the month Laura hosts a live twitter chat using the hashtag #theyearinbooks, where participants can discuss what they're reading, and get some recommendations for books to read in the coming months. 

I think it's a great idea! I've got books everywhere that I've been saying for months that I'll read, and I always seem to prioritise something else that feels more important. Reading, like art and music and all the other sometimes seemingly unimportant things are actually far more important than the other things we prioritise. They're the things that make us feel whole, that give us joy, that inspire us to cook and travel and write and give us that feeling that I've written about so many times before, the one you can't put into words but that makes you want to shout and laugh and cry all at once because something has touched you in a way you couldn't possibly explain. I am definitely guilty of getting too caught up in the everyday to remember how important it is to seek out that feeling at every opportunity! 

While it's not a traditional book club, and the idea isn't that everyone reads the same book, in February, Laura has suggested it might be fun for participants read The Trouble With Goats and Sheep, by Joanna Cannon. I've pre-ordered it so I can get started once I've finished my January choice.  

January's book is one I got for Christmas, The Islands of Adventure by Enid Blyton. 

My Mother in Law bought it for me knowing how much of an Enid Blyton fan I was when I was younger, and assuming I had read and it before and it would therefore be a nice trip down memory lane. However, while I read the Famous Five stories over and over for a good decade, and loved the Magic Faraway Tree series so much I wore out my audio cassette tapes, I hadn't ever read any of the Adventure Series! 

I'm nearly finished already, and I love it. I know it's not a challenging or thought provoking read, and I'm not going to glean any major new insights from it, but it feels like a big warm hug. The writing style is typical Enid Blyton, all 'golly gosh' and crumpets with tea, and children allowed to run wild on windswept beaches exploring caves with nobody to supervise them but a creepy housekeeper and a talking parrot. I've chuckled at the turns of phrase, and it reminds me so much of the way my Grandad writes (I'm midway through typing up his memoirs at the moment, and he writes in the same sort of voice, which makes perfect sense as he would have been roughly the same age as the characters when the book was written!)  

It' s been the perfect book to get an early night with and hide until the Spring, when the evenings are hopefully light enough to do a bit of that windswept beach walking and cave exploring that sounds so appealing! 

Please do head over to Circle of Pine Trees and join in too!