Two inspirational biographies that everyone should hear (or read)

Since the fantastic Neverwhere which I blogged about several weeks ago, I've listened to several other audiobooks, some of which were good and two of which were particularly memorable. The two brilliant ones have similarities in that they are both autobiographies of strong women, both from East Africa, and both tremendously inspirational. However, the women have endured very different lives.

Slave by Mende Nazer with Damian Lewis, read by Adjoa Andoh, tells of her childhood in Sudan, a mostly idyllic life until, aged twelve, she was torn from her family in the middle of the night by Arab raiders who kidnapped many children to sell them into slavery. Mende was sent to a wealthy household in Khartoum where she was subject to cruelty, psychological abuse and regular beatings. This is a recent story which makes it all the more shocking. Mende was twelve in 1993 but managed to retain enough hope and courage to make her dramatic escape to a semblance of freedom in London seven years later.

Keeping Hope Alive by Dr Hawa Abdi with Sarah Robbins, read by Robin Miles, is the life story of a Somalian woman of amazing determination, strength of mind and self-belief. Dr Hawa Abdi managed to go  to Ukraine to train as her country's first female doctor. Returning to her beloved Somalia as soon as she qualified, she stood against traditional misogyny to found a clinic for women which became a hospital and, as civil war swept through Somalia, a home for up to 90,000 displaced people. Her story is an almost unbelievable struggle to keep her hospital, her refugee camp and her own family safe through decades of civil war in Somalia. I loved this book!

If you like similar books to the ones I read, please feel welcome to swap follows on Shelfari. I keep a record of all the books I read there and am always on the lookout for new recommendations! 

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It's such a perfect day

Feeling inspired by Robert MacFarlane’s book The Old Ways, which I had finished reading the night before, I set out on foot on Saturday morning towards the great metropolis that is Eastbourne for an art exhibition. I was accompanied on my wanders by the poetry of A F Harrold - Cats Are Better Than Fish - and, once the traffic got too loud for spoken word, Rebecca Pronsky’s Only Daughter album. I love Harrold’s over-the-top use of rhyme in his poems. The Plankton Party is a fun example.

Under a little time pressure because Dave was cycling to meet me near the Art, I took a ‘short cut’ through Ocklynge Cemetery when non-stop traffic prevented me crossing the road. It’s a beautiful place, serene and calming and I like that some areas are neatly kept whereas others are wildlife havens  - all tall meadow grasses and flowers. The route change turned out to be a mistake though as the top pedestrian gate to the cemetery was open and the map showed exits, but, depressingly par for the course, the lower gate was securely padlocked with no obvious alternate way out. Back up the hill again then!

Dave & I liked Barry Wilson’s paintings at the Birley Centre although he was even less impressed by Dependent Rational Creatures at the Towner than I had been previously! We had a delicious lunch at the Barley Sugar café. Dave had garlic mushrooms on toast with delicate flakes of cheese and I had a salami, Emmental and gherkin sandwich. The bread was particularly good, very fresh and with a good flavour made by the Lighthouse Bakery?

On to +Waterstones where we struggled to find a second book to take advantage of their buy-one-get-one-half-price deal. Then Dave decided to set off home as the sky was darkening and the forecast rain looked imminent. It pretty much was. I just got to the +Oxfam GB bookshop door as the deluge began. Dave was still mid-journey and got drenched. Oops! Five book purchases later – always an interesting selection at Oxfam if you don’t mind your books second-hand – and rain was still pouring so I legged it across Grove Road to Beanzz.

I hadn’t been in since the cafe changed hands a short while ago, so was pleased that it still has the same welcoming atmosphere and high standard of coffee. For once, I managed to resist their cake – I had only recently had lunch. Beanzz is hosting an exhibition of John Hesse photography as well as showing four large Gillian Toft paintings. I hadn’t knowingly seen Hesse’s work before so need to do a bit of research for a +Theatrical Eastbourne post. It was sweet that when another customer popped out for a smoke, the staff rushed up with an umbrella for her to borrow. I finished my coffee as the rain ceased so I walked back home too. I loved seeing water vapour rising from walls and roads making them appear to smoulder. Plus I spotted happy sunflowers peeping over a fence which made me smile.

The evening saw us driving through yet more rain to The Palmeira in Hove (actually) for a sold-out Tom Russell gig. He is an amazing songwriter whose lyrics are about very different subjects to the norm. Several songs have a strong Mexican-Spanish vibe to them and the album we recently downloaded has great brass instrumentation. Sadly Tom had not brought the brass band with him but was instead accompanied by talented guitarist Thad Beckman. We hadn’t seen either musician before. Their harmonies were gorgeous and Tom has great stage presence – “Bastardos!” It’s a little bit of a trek, but I’ve Liked the Palmeira’s Facebook page. They specialise in Americana music and we will no doubt want to know about other musicians playing there.

So, in one day, I can tally eight miles walked, three art exhibitions visited, five books queued (plus borrows from Dave), one poet appreciated, one album marched to, one gig danced through, two cafes and a pub patronised, and one soggy boyfriend (now dried out!) consoled.

Love my life!

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I've got to share this brilliant audiobook

I love my audiobooks. They make many an hour of dreary bus commuting into an exciting adventure, particularly over the last week or so when I have been eagerly awaiting the next installment of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. 

Set around the London tube map, Neverwhere is the fantastic story of ordinary Londoner Richard Mayhew. Having stopped to help an injured homeless girl, he finds himself made invisible to the normal London above and sucked into the world of London below. A frightening place of Black Friars and Angels, Ratspeakers and Assassins, the Court of a Medieval Earl and a girl who can open any door with just the power of her mind. Richard must stay alive long enough for Door to find the people behind the murder of her family. Then he might just be able to come home. The story is an amazing feat of imagination with innumerable I-didn't-see-that-coming moments. I found myself missing Richard and Door, Hunter and the Marquis when I wasn't listening to their tale and actually wishing myself back onto a Stagecoach bus so they could continue their journey! Gaiman writes well for realistic female characters and I do appreciate that, in his stories, women are rarely just adornments to male storylines. Indeed, in Neverwhere, the traditional male-female dynamic is almost totally reversed through Door and Richard.

Neverwhere is the fourth Neil Gaiman book I've listened to and he is definitely one of my favourite authors. I also love that he is an excellent narrator. Hearing an author read their own work means you know you're getting exactly the emphasis and tone they meant all the time but, of course, not all authors are good narrators so it doesn't always work out well. My first Gaiman audio was Anansi Boys read by Lenny Henry and I followed this a few months later with Coraline read by Dawn French. Both were entertaining but I don't expect I'll repeat them. I loved Stardust which is a wonderful modern fairytale written in a beautiful old-fashioned style. It is definitely an adult book and I was captivated from start to finish. This is one I will seek out again in a few years when I've forgotten enough of the storyline to make it fresh again. Fortunately, all my audiobooks are kept on Audible so it will just be a question of searching rather than re-purchasing. The Graveyard Book started my 2013. It's fun and I enjoyed it, but as it is aimed at older children, it doesn't get as dark as Stardust or, indeed, Neverwhere. And I do like darkness in a story.

If you're looking for a book to read or hear soon, I highly recommend Neverwhere. I'm rationing my Gaiman listening because I'm sure he can only write at a certain speed. His back catalogue is quite numerous but I'd hate to have heard them all and not have another to be looking forward to. Plus it would be awful to hear too many together and become - dare I say it - bored! So I shall turn to other authors for a few weeks and then perhaps attempt the mammoth 19 hour long American Gods.

I have an Audible membership which, for me, is great value because I normally download at least two audiobooks each month. They often have three-for-two offers and there is a tremendous variety of books now available. +Audible.co.uk is part of +Amazon.co.uk  and I believe it is possible to get the audio versions on Kindle so I've linked to the Kindle versions of books I'm mentioning in this post. I don't have a Kindle though. I use my trusty SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 4GB MP3 Player which I've had for about three years now and is only recently beginning to show signs of wear. I've finally managed to knacker the spring on the clip though the player itself is still fine. I am on my third set of headphones. My first, a pair of Sony Mini/Lightweight Headphones had nice sound but the foam pads wore through quickly and I found I needed to wear them under hats to keep the phones secure while walking around. I then got a pair of £4.99 Karrimor Band Earphones which are bright pink! The sound quality isn't great but they certainly stay put and, for the price, I was very happy with them. I still use them when running but have recently inherited my Mum's Skullcandy Lowrider Headphones for everyday wear. They're gold! Very bling and totally not the sort of thing I would have bought for myself. However, they're comfortable and the sound quality is excellent. Probably compared to properly expensive headphones they wouldn't hold up, but I really like them.

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Another blog?

Another blog?

Yes!

If you don't know me, I already write for Theatrical Eastbourne, a daily blog of all things cultural in the Eastbourne area. This takes an hour or two of my time pretty much every day so the thought of embarking on another such enterprise might seem overkill. It probably is, but I am finding there are are things about which I would like to write that don't fit within the confines of Theatrical Eastbourne. Sometimes I just want to write for the hell of it.

That's what this blog will be for.

And it's going to start with the revelation of a guilty pleasure!

I've just finished an audio book that I especially enjoyed. It was an abridged version of The Convenient Marriage by the queen of Regency novels, Georgette Heyer, and the best part of the experience is that it was read by Richard Armitage. You might know him as Guy Of Gisborne or Lucas North, or even Thorin Oakenshield if you had the misfortune to sit through The (bloody) Hobbit. You might not know him as a fabulous narrator. But he's really good - recognisably different voices, tons of emotion and definitely swoon-worthy on some of Heyer's more melodramatic lines!
The storyline twists and turns, throwing up a few surprises along the way. Unfortunately, being abridged the supporting characters' storylines are missing, but this does make for a fast-paced listen with lots of action. Expect abductions, highwaymen, duels and plenty of misunderstandings caused by English stiff-upper-lippedness!
This is the second Armitage-read Heyer I've bought and liked, the other being Sylvester, and unfortunately there's only Venetia left to hear. I'm rationing myself but am not sure how long I'll wait ...


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