LAST SEEN: BBC GREAT EXPECTATIONS - WHAT A GREAT BELATED CHRISTMAS GIFT!

Estella : "I have been bent and broken, but — I hope — into a better shape." (from the book)

Let's start from the end. Yes, right from the end. I'm afraid this will be a major spoiler if you haven't read Dickens's novel yet. So, you are warned.  I've just finished watching this beautiful new BBC adaptation of  Great Expectations and I'm delighted  they've chosen Dickens's revised ending, unlikely the previous BBC version. This time Pip and Estella meet again at Satis House ...

"We are friends," said I, rising and bending over her, as she rose from the bench. "And will continue friends apart," said Estella. I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw no shadow of another parting from her". (from the novel)

RICHARD III : USURPER OR RIGHTFUL KING? GUESTPOST BY BARBARA GASKELL DENVIL

My quest in search for Richard III goes on thanks to another fortuitous meeting online. I was reading about a novel set in the years of the War of the Roses, "Satin Cinnabar" and it sounded so interesting that I immediately added it to my TBR list  and tried to get in contact with its author, Barbara Gaskell Denvil. She kindly accepted to be my guest here on FLY HIGH and to share with us the results of her research on Richard III and the events of the War of the Roses. Here's her article. Read and enjoy.

USURPER OR RIGHTFUL KING? That question could apply to many of history’s monarchs. After all, primogeniture was not, as is often supposed, always or exclusively the road to the throne. Indeed, sometimes who inherited the crown could simply depend on who had tempted who into bed, what lies and trickery were used, and who then found out about it.

Researching the life and times of a historical figure as intriguing as England’s King Richard III, is not too difficult to start off with. The hard work has been done for us. Historians and Ricardians have been delving the archives since before I was born. However, a surprising number of mysteries remain, largely due to the heavy hand of Henry VII who set out to eliminate all traces of the truth concerning his predecessor. Richard’s character has been buried beneath an ominous heap of accusations and slanders. Even actually proving him the villain would now be hard work, since the villainous reputation which survives is too inhuman to believe. Tudor propaganda always tended towards theatrical exaggeration. As such, I find it amazing that much of the world is still inclined to believe it.

I'VE SEEN DOWNTON ABBEY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Downton Abbey - Christmas Special

No spoilers, I'll resist the strong  temptation to tell you everything. And to do it, I won't write much, don't worry. I really don't want to spoil the pleasure for you to discover how this second season of Downton Abbey will end. It was a very good episode, full of emotions and great moments. I liked it very much. Brilliant finale! You will laugh, be moved and ... caught in the snowy, magical, festive atmosphere at Downton. A wonderful Christmas gift!  If you loved the first two series you won't be disappointed by this Christmas special. May I say just one little, little thing? No major spoiler promise: I missed the newly married couple. I hoped they were joining the family at least at the end of the episode. 

However, get ready to more scathing lines from Dame Maggie Smith, to be on the edge of your seat for Mr Bates facing trial for murder, to see an incredible Servants' Ball, to smile at Matthew dancing with Miss O'Brien and Mrs Patmore, to admire Lord Grantham more and more, to see someone throw a punch on someone else's face, to enjoy a dreamy finale under the snow.

Matthew and Mary's fate, you ask? I promise no spoilers, do you remember? Mr Bates and Ann? Wait and see.  There's a third series coming, you know? 

They'll start shooting it in February. Until next year then, for series 3!  And , by the way, at the end of the episode, they presented the trailer of the new costume drama written by  Julian Fellowes coming soon (in spring, they said) on ITV: Titanic. Are you going to watch it? 

FATHER CHRISTMAS IS EXHAUSTED! I'VE ASKED FOR TOO MUCH ...

Poor Father Christmas. Look at him! I've really asked for too much this year. But have a look all around him: he granted all my wishes. I've had a very satisfying, rewarding, thrilling year full of beautiful news, books, films and series, art and theatrical shows, experiences and journeys I could share with all of you. But,  mainly,  I've had the chance to meet and make the acquaintance of so many extraordinary people all over the world. An incredible, extraordinary, enthusiastic community of friendly people. They made me a better person in many ways and I'm so grateful to my little corner in the blogosphere which made all this possible! 

To all of you, in every corner of the world, who visit FLY HIGH & My Jane Austen Book Club every day or just from time to time, to you who contributed to their success with interviews, guestposts or articles, to all of you who write me lovely supporting e-mails and messages,  I wish the best of Christmas Time. May it be serene and full of joy, love, peace, sympathy, friendliness, gifts, generosity, forgiveness, goodwill and ... smiles.

With gratitude and friendship

Maria Grazia

P.S. Many thanks to my hubby, Antonio, for helping me realize the collage above and for bearing with immense patience and generosity all my passions, especially ONE. 

AT THE CINEMA: SHERLOCK HOLMES 2 - A GAME OF SHADOWS

What did you do last weekend? Christmas shopping? I hope you had as much fun as I did . I  went to Rome with my husband and we had a pleasant evening, only we were more trying to avoid the Christmas shopping crowd than joining them. So, we hid inside a ...cinema!

Avoiding the shopping crowd was not our only aim. We had seen the first Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes 2009 film  (my review) - we had liked it a lot - so we didn't want to miss the second one: Sherlock Holmes, A Game of Shadows. 

The worst of Victorian London is on screen from the first moments:  its smell of dirt and alcohol, the misty nights and the fights. If you've seen Holmes/ Downey Jr in the first film, you know he is not a bit the dusty, stiff, prim detective of the tradition, wearing a deerstalker and a trench coat, but a cool action hero, a smart dandy, free and easy, irresistible and unbeatable.  Either you love him or you hate him but seen the figures of the success of the  first installment, it seems very difficult to resist him!

RA-NDOM THOUGHTS : ... AND THE LEADER OF OUR COMPANY, THORIN OAKENSHIELD.

I haven't written much about "The Hobbit" on Fly High!, have I? I haven't written much about Richard Armitage recently, either.  Who knows me pretty well also knows nothing has changed in my interests and Mr Armitage can still count on my complete,  loyal support for what it counts. As I promised, to myself more than to others, I only wanted to write about "my one weakness" when I actually had something to say. So here I am, at last. And on a very special day. His Thorin Oakenshield has been  introduced to the world, in action and in an official presentation of the movie: the first trailer of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" has been released today.

I've read a great deal  of enthusiastic comments all over the Net, facebook is overcrowded with links to the Utube video,  and  twitter has gone trending #hobbittrailer all day long. Many Hobbit fans - and lots of RA fans among them- woke up in the middle of the  night to wait and see the longed-for Christmas gift from Peter Jackson as soon as it was online. What I want to contribute is only my personal reaction to today's news. Nothing special, I mean.

A SUMMER IN EUROPE BY MARILYN BRANT - GIVEAWAY WINNER

A Summer in Europe is Marilyn Brant's latest release. If you've liked her According  To Jane (2009) or Friday Mornings At Nine (2010), you  will surely love her new book! 

One of the commenters of Marilyn's last week's guestpost here on FLY HIGH! is going to get a signed copy directly from the author and I'm here to announce her name:

Congratulations to ... KELDA!!!

N.B: Please, Kelda,  you should contact me at learnonline.mgs@gmail.com in order to receive your prize.


Thanks a lot to Marilyn Brant for stopping by at Fly High on her blog tour and for granting a copy of her latest release.

AT THE THEATRE - SHAKESPEARE, THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

As usual once a year we organize a school trip to Rome for our fourth year students to see one of Shakespeare’s plays at the theatre (they have 16th /18th century  literature in their syllabus). Each year we see a different play and this time I found out (my colleagues in the Trips , Exhibitions & Shows Committee)  that they had chosen one of my least favourite plays: “The Taming of the Shrew”.

However, I didn’t mind the choice: it might actually come out  as an occasion to re-read and re-evaluate this comedy which I had last seen on stage 5 years ago in an awkward,  but not completely convincing, experiment of an all male company. 

This time it was different:  mixed experienced cast, sparkling and vivacious staging, very good performances and brilliant direction (Armando Pugliese) plus excellent music (Goran Bregovic).


The play 

In "The Taming of the Shrew", once again , Shakespeare chooses a

THE VAGABOND KING BY JAMES CONWAY - GIVEAWAY WINNER

James Conway was my guest last week and presented his novel The Vagabond King in his interview . One lucky commenter is going to get a kindle version of the book after entering the giveaway contest linked to that guestpost.

The name of the lucky winner is ...

Malvina Beatrice

Congratulations!!!

MARILYN BRANT - "A SUMMER IN EUROPE" ADVENTURE: VISITING PISA . GUESTPOST AND GIVEAWAY

First of all, many thanks to Maria Grazia for inviting me to visit Fly High!! It’s wonderful to be here today!

As some of you may know, I’ve been celebrating the release of my third women's fiction book, A Summer in Europe (http://tinyurl.com/3qk8nt8), by taking a journey around the web and talking about some of my favorite European sites, specifically the ones that appear in the story. I’d hoped to share a few personal memories of places I loved. Places that left their mark, not only on my heart and soul, but also inspired my writing.

This novel is about a character named Gwendolyn Reese, who gets a month-long tour through Europe as a 30th birthday gift from her eccentric Aunt Bea and her aunt's Sudoku-and-Mahjongg Club. She's hesitant to leave Iowa and her insurance-agent boyfriend behind for the summer, but she's never had an adventure overseas before and is soon convinced to go. Before long, she finds herself in Italy, and the adventure begins!

EMILY MAH TIPPETTS AND THE REGENCY CHARMS - GIVEAWAY WINNER

Quick post to announce the name of the winner of  EMILY MAH TIPPETTS ' s lovely Regency charm bracelet. Have you read her guestpost? Have you seen her awesome creations? Have a look HERE! 

First, I  want to thank Emily for being my kind guest here on FLY HIGH! . Then I 'll  reveal that her cute prize will soon be flying to Belgium,  since the winner is ... INGE D3.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: JAMES CONWAY + GIVEAWAY OF "THE VAGABOND KING" (KINDLE BOOK)

      Welcome on FLY HIGH, James! 

First I want to thank you for hosting me today,  Maria. It is very gracious of you.

                                                          
Did you always want to become a writer?

I think it was always assumed that I would become a writer. As a boy I moved thirteen times before I was nine. I was always the new kid at school, sometimes more than once in the same year. So I retreated to the sanctuary of books early on.

2    What author or book was  your first literary love?

Tolkien, without a doubt. He was the first one who showed me the   power that language has to stir emotions and elevate the human soul.

 .           What kind of reader are you? 

      Eclectic and vorascious! I have interests from astro archeology (the practice of dating acient buildings based on their relationship with the stars) to zoology. I love mythology, quantum physics, Taoism, history etc. I try to belnd all my interests when I’m writing. For example The Vagabond King weaves mythology, astronomy, religion and the histories of Hungary, Africa and ancient Mesopotamia into a metaphysical mystery. The book I am working on now is a noir mystery narrated by a trickster god that blends baseball, poetry, quantum physics and the history of Chicago.

      I usually read more than one book at a time and frequently don’t finish them.

BREAKING DAWN PART I - MY VERY PERSONAL NOT - A REVIEW

My son stares at me, amazed. "What is it that you saw?!?" And "Why?" , he plies me with. 

What does he mean "why"? Why should I have a "why" to watch a film? Well, not any film. He meant "Breaking Dawn", the latest instalment of the teenage romantic saga "Twilight". 

 Fact is, he knows me quite well. Though he's quite wrong when he thinks I can't see anything different from  Shakespeare or Jane Austen adaptations. Moreover, I've actually seen the previous movies in this saga just with him, on TV. He can't have forgotten the experience,  I asked him so many questions about who was who the first time! 

But he was there, waiting for an answer to his "Why?"  Why does his not-any-longer-a-teenager  mother show so much interest in those YA romances?

I didn't actually answer him, if not mumbling briefly  "I was curious, that's all".

But he's right. There is a "why". There is always a reason when I decide to see or read something meant for teenagers. Especially if that something is particularly successful among them.

EMILY MAH TIPPETTS AND THE REGENCY CHARMS - GUESTPOST AND GIVEAWAY

When my friend and colleague, Stephanie Burgis got her first Kat Stephenson book published, I was in love (with the book. I like Burgis too, but not in that way.) It was Regency Era adventure for children, and for people like me who love Jane Austen but have very little formal knowledge of what the world was like while she was alive. Since I am a jeweller, and have long toyed with the idea of doing tie-in jewellery for books, I decided the first author I'd approach would be Burgis, and she was wonderfully supportive.

(Read Maria Grazia's interview with Stephanie on My Jane Austen Book Club)

I purchased a derivative works license from her and then got to work designing jewellery pieces. The first one we planned was a sterling silver charm bracelet with charms depicting Regency Era items that had significance in Burgis's book. And then silver prices began to skyrocket, so they ended up being in aluminium. We did our best to replicate the traditional silver that would have been used in the Regency Era. Designing this bracelet was an ideal experience to learn about common items from Jane Austen's world. The bracelet has nine charms in all.

JOHN PETER SLOAN : A TEACHER WHO BECAME A COMEDIAN, A COMEDIAN SUPPORTING TEACHING

You know how much I love teaching, but maybe you also remember how much I appreciate to go back to being a learner from time to time. This is why I attend teacher training courses and meetings hoping to renew my enthusiasm as well as to improve my teaching methods and my English. 

Today, for example, I've been in Rome again (after October updating course) for "Always Learning" , a teacher training one - day meeting organized by Longman Pearson Publisher. 

Guest star of this morning's gathering was John Peter Sloan, from Birmingham, an ex colleague, now a popular TV comedian, who's still enthusiastic about teaching, so much that he decided to support our work producing stimulating materials which are, first of all great fun both for teachers and learners. And fun we actually had while listening to him for two hours. His Anglo-Italian awkward way of communicating is hilarious, irresistible. 

Among his suggestions, he told us to treasure gaffes, to convince our students that if they don't learn how to speak English easily, it is because they are blocked by their fear of finding themselves in embarassing situations.

So, rule one: play down, minimize, laugh at gaffes

This is why he told us about his own gaffes when he had just arrived in Italy 20 years ago and tried to communicate in our language.

His rule two is "create a bond" with your students and always involve them, do not simply bombard them with information.

Third rule: make it fun. But that is something very simple for John Peter Sloan, a  natural talent in comedy, not anybody. I'm not as good as him at telling jokes, parodying, mimicing , making people laugh.

RICHARD III AT BOSWORTH. WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? - READING MILITARY HISTORY MONTHLY

In my quest in search for the true Richard III, I've found and read  an article from  Military History Monthly,  December Issue: "Bosworth. What really happened?"

I'm not a fan of wars, battles and military technical details at all, but this analysis draw my attention, starting from its title: What really happened? How was it possible that the smaller, weaker army led by Henry Tudor defeated the apparently well-equipped and more numerous contingent fighting on Richard Plantagenet's side? 

Last summer in July I visited the small  Church of St James at Sutton Cheney, in the tiny village of Bosworth Market, where King Richard is said to have prayed and heard his last holy mass before his death,  and I was also at Bosworth Field (see On the Footsteps of Richard III). The sense of sadness I experienced in those places, especially  facing that beautiful huge plain where the final battle took place, was deep indeed.  I'd really like to understand what happened there. What about you?

KATHERINE ASHE'S MONFORT SERIES - GIVEAWAY WINNER

Four e-books for one winner in this giveaway contest linked to Katherine Ashe's interview about Monfort . If you have missed it CLICK HERE, it 's a very informative post!

Now, here's the name of the reader who's won Katherine Ashe's  four novels in the Monfort Series:

Congratulations to JNCL at The Beauty of Eclecticism!!!

You can find Katherine Ashe's  four Monfort books on Amazon:

 1.  Montfort The Early Years 1229 to 1243 

 2. Montfort The Viceroy 1243 to 1253 

 3.  Montfort The Revolutionary 1253 to 1260 

4.  Montfort The Angel with the Sword 1260 to 1265 

LITERARY BLOG HOP - WHAT WORK OF LITERATURE WOULD YOU RECOMMEND TO SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T LIKE LITERATURE?

This interesting, thought-provoking monthly blog hop is hosted at The Blue Bookcase . It's my second post in this regular event joining book bloggers and fond readers (the first one is HERE) . It's a good occasion to share thoughts on reading literature, to discover new blogs and bloggers and to learn something new. This month's question is...

What work/s of literature would you recommend to someone who doesn't like literature? 

1. To read or not to read,  Ay, there's the rub !

When someone says he/she doesn't like literature in my experience it generally means they don't like reading very much. Because if you like reading novels for instance, if you are fond of reading  fiction, what you look for is  ... words , beautifully written words,  which all together make up a story. Stories is actually what you look for. And inside those stories emotions, feelings, thoughts, adventures, lives and people you can rely yourself to and sympathize with. How can you not love literature then? 

What would I recommend to someone who says he/she  doesn't like literature but actually  doesn't like reading? I can't answer. First I should know them, at least a bit. Recommendations are meaningless if you don't know tastes and dispositions, likes and dislikes of the person you recommend something to.