TUESDAY NIGHT MISCELLANEOUS POSTING

20TH OCTOBER: THE DAY OF WRITING

One of the many interesting blogs I regularly follow, NO TELLING,  has posted about the National Day of Writing. National refers to the US, but I think it is a very good suggestion  that we can celebrate internationally. The suggestion is "to  find a fast pen, a few sheets of paper, and a little quiet time during the day or night. Not all celebrations require fireworks. Everyone everywhere should be scribbling, typing, scratching, slamming out a few words". As you can see, after reading the post I immediately started doing it...scribbling , I mean. I felt like celebrating this American Day of Writing. If you are interested in the celebration and want to contribute, officially, something of yours, you can take part in the CONTRIBUTE YOUR WRITING GALLERY.

One of my dreams when I was just 10, after reading Little Women, was to become a writer like Jo March. She ended up teaching and so did I. Actually, I've never stopped writing.

A NEW UPCOMING BBC PERIOD DRAMA: SMALL ISLAND

One of the historical period I love most reading about or watching films set in is WWII, as I have already told you on other occasions (see my review of CHARLOTTE GRAY, for instance). Now I've just discovered BBC is going to broadcast a new series adapted from Andrea Levy's best-selling award-winning novel, SMALL ISLAND. The two-part drama is an epic love story about the determined pursuit of dreams in the face of seemingly insurmountable barriers. See BBC PRESS PACK.

Among the protagonist RUTH WILSON, BBC latest JANE EYRE (2006). Do you remember her? I thought she did very good  as Charlotte Bronte's heroine with Toby Stephens as Mr Rochester.

 In this new drama she will be like this....

The key cast includes:

Naomie Harris – Hortense

David Oyelowo – Gilbert

Ruth Wilson – Queenie

Benedict Cumberbatch – Bernard

Ashley Walters – Michael

Hugh Quarshie – Narrator

Karl Johnson – Arthur

Nikki Amuka-Bird – Celia

Shaun Parkes – Winston

Denise Black – Auntie Dorothy

 

From the heat and hustle of life in Forties Jamaica through to the devastation of London in the Blitz, Small Island is an ambitious yet personal tale, which deftly touches on the weighty themes of empire, prejudice and war with a gentle touch and a warm, uplifting generosity of spirit.

READING GASKELL

As you can see in my right column, I'm currently reading WIVES & DAUGHTERS by Elizabeth Gaskell. Mrs Gaskell has been one of my favourite Victorian writers since I first discovered her novels thanks to a colleague of mine, teacher of History and Philosophy, who suggested me to read her MARY BARTON (1848). Then NORTH AND SOUTH and RUTH followed. Reading Wives and Daughters can be a rather time-consuming activity: 915 pages! It is Mrs Gaskell's last and unfinished work,  which I'm trying to cope with, in my very little spare time. I love it, it is a real delight but I think you'll have to wait on for quite some time for my review: 446 pages still left!