Oh my God, Carol is almost here and it looks AMAZING

“Everything comes full circle, and when it happens I want you to imagine me there to greet you.”

Before I say anything, before I even open my big fat mouth, look at this. LOOK AT IT.

Is that or is that not the most beautiful thing you have ever seen? Those costumes. Those colours. Cate Blanchett. A period drama with lesbians. I must have been super good this year, because Carol is gonna be one hell of a Christmas present. Forget James bloomin’ Bond, this is the highlight of cinema for 2015. Not even Suffragette got me this excited.

But Grace! You say. This is a book blog! Why do we care about some crappy movie? Because, reader, this film is an adaptation of one of my favourite books of all time. And unlike when they filmed Inkheart (WHY, BRENDAN FRASER, WHY!?) this adaptation looks like it’s going to be a good one. It’s already had some killer reviews (including this awesome one from Autostraddle, the leading authority on all things lesbian), and the teaser trailer is so beautiful I have watched it about 15 times and it still makes me well up.

I just watched it again. I don’t think I can wait another 5 weeks, my head may explode.

Based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel of the same name, Carol is the story of Therese, a young woman working in a department store over Christmas, who meets an older woman, Carol, buying a gift for her daughter. The two strike up an affair, but Carol’s rapidly deteriorating marriage becomes an obstacle. It’s hard to say anything else without major plot spoilers, but Highsmith’s talent for keeping the reader uncomfortable really comes into play, here. The book has the feel of the thrillers Highsmith is best known for, constantly driving you forwards, while showing you a romance between two women who found each other against all odds. Published under the pseudonym Claire Morgan in 1952, The Price of Salt, as Carol was originally called, sold over a million copies but, despite sales, Highsmith didn’t reveal her association with the novel until late in life because of its homosexual content. When I read it a few weeks ago, I absolutely adored it. The imagery is beautiful, and it is so wonderfully tense it keeps you on the edge of your seat right up until the last page. The ending is an interesting one considering the time that the novel was written, and homosexuality is treated without any suggestion of perversion or negativity, unlike many of the 1950s lesbian pulp novels which were its contemporaries, the problems they face coming from larger society rather than from within the women themselves. Highsmith is such a talented writer, it was always going to be awesome, and with a cast and crew this good I can’t imagine the film could go far wrong. BUT, only time will tell! Go, read the book. Mentally and emotionally prepare yourselves. I am off to watch the trailer on repeat and weep over the beauty of Cate Blanchett’s hair.

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Carol is released in UK cinemas on the 27^th of November 2015.

In other news, no post for the next couple of weeks as I am off graduating (screams into the abyss). I will return soon with more ramblings about books / book related doings / things that I’m excited about.

Image via Empire Online

Confession Time 2: Guilty Pleasures Edition

What’s that Grace? You were hideously unorganised this week and left everything to the last minute AGAIN, and now have less than an hour to write a blog post? How unusual. That’s not like you at all. Yes, I know leaving things to the last minute is how Caitlin Moran does it, but she’s cleverer than you and has much better hair. Let’s just get on with it, shall we?

Reader, we are gathered here today to talk about guilty pleasures. Or rather, one guilty pleasure in particular. I actually don’t have many. If I like something I tend to own it, get very excited about it, and go on about it endlessly until my girlfriend’s eyes glaze over. This happens quite a lot. But as a book seller, literature graduate, and literary fiction fan, this particular one is something that I tend not to talk about. I buy these books on my kindle and read them furtively on buses when no one is looking. My guilty pleasure is 1950’s lesbian pulp fiction. Specifically the work of Ann Bannon, lesbian pulp queen and all round awesome lady. The writing is bad (in a good way), the plots are melodramatic, and there is lots of sex and smouldering eye contact, and I absolutely Eat. That. Shit. Up.

Now, if I were being literary and pretentious, I could try to defend my love of lesbian pulp. I could say that historically they’re really interesting, providing an insight into the position of lesbians in post-war America at a time when being homosexual was still illegal, heavily stigmatised, and undoubtedly dangerous. It gives us a window into these women’s lives, the way in which they viewed themselves and their relationships. They are a piece of homosexual history. And yeah, this is all true, and very important, and yada yada yada. But we all know the real reason that dykes like me (and a large audience of straight men, for that matter) LOVE these books, even back when they had to be read super furtively and hidden under mattresses. Because they are FUN. I love Laura Landon and her unstable, tempestuous, and (later) abusive relationship with Beebo Brinker (get a load of that alliteration, guys). As someone who was just coming out at university, I loved reading about American college students falling in love with a sorority sister, the will-they-won’t-they of their relationship made even more tense by the social stigma and the risk of being expelled from school. They are great fun and my immediate go to if I want something that doesn’t require any kind of thought. Complicated, they are not, but interesting? Absolutely.

Because it’s true. They are a piece of history. The way in which homosexuality is talked about as something you can learn, something that is conditioned, but becomes inherent and impossible to change, is a far cry from the “Born This Way” attitude of many 21^st century homosexuals. Laura’s close, almost idyllic, friendship with homosexual Jack provides comfort to him when male homosexuality is shown to always end in heartbreak: though homosexuality is not seen as an illness, the relationships are seen as less enduring than heterosexual love. It blights the life of Bannon’s characters, leaving them drinking heavily, alone, once they reach middle age and younger lovers lose interest. In true pulp fashion, passion can drive people to madness, and a definite feeling of violence boils just under the surface of much of Bannon’s work. It can be dark. It’s not all sex and sunshine and rainbows. But it’s not all negative, either. Homosexual love is portrayed as real, homosexuality is not seen as a disease, and very progressive ideas such as interracial relationships and homosexual parenting are addressed in the later books.

But let’s face it. We’re not really here for the history. We’re here for the smouldering eye contact, smoking butches, and the sex. So go fourth, faithful reader. Give Ann Bannon a go. For history. For science.

(and for lesbians)

The Grace Booker Prize: And the Winner is…

Ah, reader, it’s finally here. The day you have all been waiting for. I know you are SUPER excited. You’ve had this in your diary for weeks, you’ve been checking back anxiously all day to see if it’s up yet, you are all on the edge of your seats. I expect you’ve been all aflutter. It’s understandable (you can’t see, but I’m nodding my head sagely) for today, I announce the winner of the landmark literary event that is the Grace Booker Prize: my number one fiction book of the year so far. I shan’t keep it from you any longer.

And the winner is…

*drumroll*

Asylum – Patrick McGrath

*applause, squealing, sounds of general excitement*

Yes! Ladies and gentlemen, my favourite fiction read of the year thus far is Asylum, a gothic and twisted story about the wife of a doctor at a mental institution who embarks on an affair with a long term patient. It is a wonderful book, brilliantly atmospheric and tense, that haunts you long after you’ve finished it. There’s also a pretty good film adaptation starring everyone’s favourite guy Gandalf *ahem* I mean, Ian McKellen. But the book is better. Obviously.

But Grace! I hear you cry. This is a feminist book blog! You only ever talk about books by women, who is this male infiltrator? I know, reader, I know. Looking back through my book journals I realised that I rarely read books by men. It’s not intentional, honest, it just usually turns out that way. Put it down to me being a man hater who always sides with the women on Come Dine with Me. But trust me, this book is a corker. Its portrayal of the position of women in 1950s Britain and the way that the mental health system was used to uphold patriarchal expectations of “natural” female behaviour (chastity, maternity, a love of cooking, all that shit) is absolutely fascinating, and would make an interesting comparison with The Bell Jar if I ever have the time/motivation/caffeine supply necessary to write it. So you can read this one without risking your feminist lit fan street cred (and I won’t tell them about the 10 year anniversary addition of Twilight you’ve got under the desk because WE ALL KNOW YOU’RE GONNA READ IT). The writing is fantastic, the story is gripping, the interplay between man/woman and patient/doctor roles gets all mixed up and turned around, and the narrator is so wonderfully creepy I can guarantee you will love it. If you love dark, twisted stories where everything goes wrong, that is. Mills and Boon this is not.

A big congratulations to the ACTUAL real life Man Booker Prize winner Marlon James for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings. The novel is also up for the Green Carnation Prize 2015, so best of luck to him.

Phew, all that excitement has quite exhausted me. Someone put the kettle on, I am in desperate need of tea.

Image via Google Books

5 Bookish Ways You Can Support Charity and Generally Do Some Good

It is a truth universally acknowledged that giving to charity is generally a pretty good thing. When you have a bit of spare money, you can part with it safe in the knowledge that it’s going to someone who really needs it (plus, you can bask in that fuzzy feeling you get when you know you’re doing something good, so it’s not totally altruistic). “But Grace!” you say. “Books must permeate every part of my life (obviously). Is there a way that I can give to charity and stay true to my bookish ways?” I am so glad you asked. Here are 5 ways you can incorporate your love of reading into your charitable doings. I google weird shit so you don’t have to.

Donate to a bookish charity!

This is probably the most obvious way to incorporate books into your charity contributions. There are loads of book centric charities you can support, working in the UK or abroad. Two notable ones are Book Trust (http://www.booktrust.org.uk/) who promote reading and education within the UK, and Book Aid International (http://www.bookaid.org/) who send brand new books to communities in need all over the world.

Send books to prisons!

Prison libraries are often understocked and it can be hard for prisoners to access reading material or vital course books that they need to complete educational courses. Books are also a wonderful comfort and means of entertainment and escape, so their value shouldn’t be overlooked and for many they are a vital part of rehabilitation. There are rules and restrictions as to what material can and can’t be sent, and the format that books should be sent in (no hard covers, for example), so it may be worth doing some research before you send anything off. The website http://sendbookstoprisoners.co.uk/ has lots of comprehensive information on donating to prisons, or you could donate money to Haven Distribution UK, a charity working to send prisoners the educational material they need since 1996.

Adopt a book at the British Library!

For a donation of £25 you could adopt a book at the British Library. You can choose from a list of classic titles, such as Jane Eyre and Little Women, and your donation will go towards conservation at the library. Plus, you get a book-jacket gift card. Win.

Take part in the Buy Books for Syria campaign!

Now, in the interest of full disclosure I do work for Waterstones, BUT even if I didn’t this is still a campaign worth getting behind. Waterstones have teamed up with Oxfam and a selection of well known authors (including personal favourites Neil Gaiman and our BELOVED Caitlin Moran) to donate 100% of the cover price of a range of books to Oxfam’s Syria crisis fund. These books will have a Buy Books for Syria sticker on the front and neither Waterstones nor the publisher will see a penny of the money, so it’s a really good way to give money to help refugees while feeding your love of literature. Oxfam also have several charity bookshops throughout the country, so keep an eye out for those.

Volunteer at your local library!

Unfortunately, due to hideous budget cuts and the removal of vital funding, many county libraries in the UK are relying on volunteers to keep their doors open. If you have time, volunteering at your local library could help keep these vital services going, and probably give you some fascinating stories to tell along the way.

So, reader, there you have it! Five bookish ways to do some good and earn you some extra karma points. Come back next week for the result of the Grace Booker Prize. I know you’re all on on the edge of your seats.