JO MARCH & THE HEROINE LOVE

Who's your favourite heroine? Have you got one? The first I've ever admired was Jo March from Little Women. I admired her greatly when I was only 9. No other has ever taken her special place,  though I've had other favourites later on.

The main character of Little Women, Jo is an outspoken tomboy with a passion for writing. Her character is based in large part on Louisa May Alcott herself. Jo refuses Laurie’s offer of marriage, despite the fact that everyone assumes they will end up together. In the end, Jo gives up her writing and marries Professor Bhaer, which can be seen either as a domestic triumph or as a professional loss, since Jo loses her headstrong independence.

Because she displays good and bad traits in equal measure, Jo is a very unusual character for nineteenth-century fiction. Jo’s bad traits—her rebelliousness, anger, and outspoken ways—do not make her unappealing; rather, they suggest her humanity.
I've spent my  childhood reading about her (my favourite one was Little Men, 1871,  in which she's a teacher and runs Plumfield School with her husband , Professor Bhaer) and  I dreamt of being  like her. I was a tomboy too loving reading and writing very much. Dreaming of writing and publishing the story of my large family during the war (grandparents, great-uncles and great-ants). 
I've learnt much from Jo, as I learnt from any  great woman I met in the pages of a great book. But  you can't become Jo March, you must be born Jo March. You must be smart, independent, strong-willed, you must love what you do and do it thoroughly, you must be ready to love others till the sacrifice of your own beautiful long hair, of your lifelong dream even. You may think Jo is someone who tends to be unambitious and rather conventional in her final choice, someone who is contented with little, a bit of a quitter. But I'm convinced she's a very successful woman because she understood something I truly believe in and learnt from her as a child: happiness is not in getting what you dream of, happiness is to be happy with what you have and especially to love everything you do.

Celebrate your love of literature’s greatest heroines along with Erin Blakemore and 12 incredible bloggers as they write love letters to the women who changed their reading lives.

 Join The Heroine’s Bookshelf for Heroine Love Feb 1-18
Celebrate literary heroines with guest posts from 12 amazing book bloggers
Win audiobooks, autographed copies, and more every week day
Qualify for a Grand Prize Pack on Feb 18…just enter a weekday giveaway!*

To know more about this great event  just click here

AT THE CINEMA - IL DISCORSO DEL RE (THE KING'S SPEECH)

When there's so much fuss about something I am usually disappointed in the end. Not this time. I saw  "The King's Speech", just released in Italy as "Il discorso del re" and nothing disappointed me. Colin Firth even succeeded in touching my heart with his sober but forceful performance, he was the most human king I've ever seen on screen. Excellent! What do you think? Did  Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth,  check how Tom Hooper represented her father in this film and, above all,  did she like it? I'm so curious to know her reaction to the movie. I'm sure she wanted to see it. She is lovely represented in it , as a sweet  little girl with her sister Margaret.

RA-NDOM THOUGHTS : BLAMING & PRAISING MR LOVELINESS

Few days ago I was reading this article following  one Ali's (www.richardarmitagenet.com) updates :  "Casting The Hobbit" on www.TheNational.ae. Well, I got furious, I couldn't stand reading the following claims from a senior staff member  of The Tolkien fansite:

"So far, the biggest controversy among fans with the casting of The Hobbit has to be the casting of Richard Armitage as Thorin," says Pat Dawson, a senior staff member of the Tolkien fansite TheOneRing.net. Armitage, best known for a major role in the BBC spy drama Spooks, is considered by many to be a somewhat handsome gentleman, and certainly not "grim-faced" as Tolkien described his dwarfs. And it's this that is causing the upset.

"It would, quite frankly, ruin the movie if the dwarfs are portrayed as anything more or less than what they are: short, strong, muscular, slightly over-weight, bearded and 'grim-faced'," one commenter on the site exclaimed. "Authenticity is very important."

WHAT I'VE BEEN WATCHING - THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH

I read the book and...

 When I read it, not long ago, I liked this story very much  because of  my love for historical fiction, but also and above all,  because it is the story of  men who dreamt to achieve something extraordinary, something sublime, something which would let them beat Time. I know there have been plenty of  literary heroes whose deeds went through and beyond Time, but,  in this special case the heroes are humble people,  poor-but - talented creatures achieving very high goals. A master builder and his step son, Tom and Jack, dream of getting high, as high as the top of a gothic cathedral. The  older of them will not see his dream come true, but the younger one will. What a great epic story!

The key idea of literally building a new church has its symbolical correspondence in Prior Philip's dream of building a new higher Church at a spiritual level. His complex character, with a strong , not-flawless,  personality, is so humane and touching.

 After many years from the huge success of Ken Follet's book, The Pillars of the Earth was made into  an eight-part  TV miniseries.

CLAUDE & CAMILLE. A NOVEL OF MONET

You know how much I love Monet's art and also his own personal history - his and his friends' , the other well-known Impressionists. I wrote about that on various occasions (HERE and HERE, for instance) . This is why I'm so happy and honoured to have Stephanie Cowell as my guest. She loves Monet at least as much as I do and has dedicated to him her latest book, "Claude and Camille: A Novel of Monet". 

 

THE 2011 BOOK DRUM TOURNAMENT

If you particularly love a book and would like to bring it to life online, this project is just for you! Read carefully what follows and  click on the links to know more about it.  

www.bookdrum.com is a community website that aims to be the perfect companion to the books we love, bringing them to life with immersive pictures, videos, maps and music. So far this project has assembled comprehensive illustrated profiles of over 100 important books, including several school set texts that are already proving very useful to teachers and students alike.  Book Drum’s unique approach has been praised by authors as distinguished as Sarah Waters, John Banville, Khaled Hosseini, Anne Rice, Paulo Coelho and Peter Godwin.

They are now launching the 2011 Book Drum Tournament, with US$3,500 in cash prizes on offer.  This follows the highly successful 2010 Tournament, won by Victoria Hooper.  Book Drum was able to give writing commissions to eight talented Contributors on the strength of their 2010 Tournament entries. 

As a teacher, reviewer and blogger, I like this  project very much and  I decided to  bring Book Drum and the Tournament to your attention. And of course I’d be delighted to enter myself!  If only days were 48 hours long!

More information can be found at  

The 2011 Book Drum Tournament

ANN SWINFEN, THE TESTAMENT OF MARIAM - MY REVIEW

This book is both very gripping and moving, both very  familiar and extremely new, both poetic and definitely credible. Ann Swinfen was very brave at making up her mind to write Yeshua's story from a new point of view. Yeshua (Jesus) is a very human figure, a young man who deeply changed the world,  a rebel, a dreamer, whose revolutionary message  started a new era for mankind.
Yeshua's compelling story is told from his sister's point of view, Mariam. Her first-person account turns the New Testament events  into an amazingly involving novel. 

Mariam is quite a modern character. She grows up in a hard-working peasant community, mutinous, impatient, unwilling to accept the traditional role of women in her society. Running away from home, against all conventions and propriety, to follow her charismatic brother Yeshua and his best friend Yehuda, Mariam shares in the excitement, the fear and mystery, but at last witnesses the apparent betrayal of the one and the tragic and brutal death of the other. The bond that connects Mariam with the two men from childhood till beyond death is the heart of the story which begins in Roman Gaul where old Mariam is a refugee from far-off Judah. She has turned her back on the past and lives there with her family. For more than thirty years she has kept her secret but now news from her native country and her illness start weakening her strength and her past comes back to haunt her.

Mariam is an admirable strong woman who follows her heart with no fear nor regret, who risks everything she has-  her dignity and respectability- to follow and support the two people she most love in her life, her brother and her betrothed.

SCHOOL CAN BE FUN . AT LEAST, FOR THE TEACHER.

(I've been so busy with my job these days I couldn't read, watch or get informed about other topics much. This is why I decided to blog about my school activities. I hope you don't find it too boring!)

 I know most of  my students won't agree with me (see first part of the title). They all think school is stressing, boring, the worst experience in their lives. I'm sure they will change their minds but, for now, I must accept their "verdict". I didn't use to like school either,  when I was a teenage student . I started enjoying studying at university, actually.

Now, even after teaching for 20 years, I find school can be great fun, especially if you teach something you deeply love. As a teacher of the English language I am free to choose among the infinite materials  existing among the so-called realia: I can find them on magazines, DVDs, music CDs, films and videos, and especially, the Net. One of my most involving (and successful ) recent lessons has been about ...unrequited love: who in his/her life has not experienced that piercing sorrow?  All of us, I guess.

      Once I announced the topic of our conversation class in the lab, my students were surprised and amazed but  ... so interested! Shy, at first, but soon after , so into it that they even forgot they were talking to me, their teacher. My warm-up questions were  "Unrequited love is  a painful situation each of us has experienced at least once in his/her life. How do you usually cope with it? Does it make you feel very sad? How do you try to distract yourself, to overcome the pain?      Many poets have written touching lines about this theme. Do you remember/know any?"

 

Afterwards , we watched two music videos and discussed how differently the two protagonists reacted to being unwanted by the girl they loved. One gets drunk with his mate but his pain doesn't stop, the situation is even worse (Nothing, The Script)

STRIKE BACK: GREAT NEWS !

Yes,  you are right ... first news about Strike Back 2  have started spreading about and here we have the new protagonist, an American actor, Sullivan Stapleton. The article introducing him as the new lead in the upcoming  series states:

Excuse me,  do you know where John Porter is ? New Zealand? Under cover?

" Strike Back, co-produced with Sky in Britain, is based on the action novel by former soldier Chris Ryan. The first series, which starred Brit Richard Armitage, was received well by critics and fans, but Armitage had to drop out to accept the role of Thorin in The Hobbit". 
 He had to? Well , he wanted to ... he'd rather  to ... But we also read he would be in some episodes . Not as the protagonist , but  of course as a link to the previous series,  he will appear as John Porter also in this second series.   At least these were the rumours some time ago.

Leaving for New Zealand but ... I'll be back. Watch your back, man!

 What is great news then, you must be wondering. None of the above. Not to me at least. "My great piece of  news" is that after months of insistent but kind suggestions, my husband accepted to see Strike Back! He has got the flu, actually,  and has been at home for a few days now. He was looking for something to watch to pass his idle time in bed ...and I moved in to attack! Well, he surrendered. He had strenuously resisted for months but the flu must have weakened his will and... Antonio saw his first whole work with Richard Armitage. Do you remember my interview with him about Richard? How he played the tolerant, not very jealous, understanding husband ? He is indeed tolerant and understanding but ... jealous HE IS too!!!
Read among the lines and beyond the words of the short review he accepted to write for FLY HIGH!


ANTONIO SAW STRIKE BACK WITH ... RICHARD ARMITAGE

MG (and not only she!) insisted and insisted until I had to give in : today I've seen Strike Back! It was not that I was prejudiced against this TV series or its protagonist , ehm ... but I didn't feel like watching it, not at all. I can't explain exactly why.
However, I put the DVD on and I had to put up with darling good Richard for about 6 hours.
I'm not going to write about the plot or the cast ( I bet MG already did that and you all are better informed than me). 

I'll just say: beautiful the 3 different locations for the 6 episodes, good quick pace in the narration, high-level performances and fairly good scripts. No boring moments in the plots, I followed the whole of it with interest. There were even surprises, unexpected twists and ... imaginative solutions to hide a pocketknife  you may need in danger.
I can't deny the protagonist, you know who I mean, has got a great figure and skills, though his character does speak very little! Very few words for the tough action hero. He never speaks for more then 10 seconds.
My impression on the whole is positive, then.
Only I've got a personal message for RA and I'm going to use Masuku's words: "It'll be better once I'm in heaven,  I won't discover you are not yet there!"

Gosh, Anto! What do you mean by that? Poor RA! Do you want him die? 

"No, I don't want him still around for you once I'm no longer here ... OK... don't get angry ...  Just joking!"

RA-NDOM THOUGHTS - ANY SUGGESTIONS?

I've noticed that  many of you , RA ladies and girls , are re-watching old stuff: North and  South, Vicar of Dibley, Inspector Linley (In Divine Proportion), Robin Hood (Guy is Guy!) , Strike Back and don’t know what else. 

Then I've also seen that  the RA chatting club on twitter ( the adoRAbles) is always very active and the same happens on facebook.  Other RA bloggers are planning great events.

I'm here,  instead,  rather apart, watching the others'  enthusiasm and waiting for ... what exactly, I can't say. I feel in an "expectation  mood" . 

What am I expecting at this point? Some very good RA news.  The Rover? Richard as Dickon? A new  hero in costume? Those are my dreams actually together with ..."Something all about love" , as Richard  said in his interview while filming Spooks 9. Many of his fans like him as a baddie or a tough guy, I prefer him mild: Harry, Lucas, Alec Track, John Standring. However, I can't resist his Guy's undeniable charm. The only happy event in the RA fandom which gives me new "fuel" is Prue Batten's "Gisborne",  (previously, The Sheriff's Collector) her story in weekly instalments at Mesmered's Blog.

I know Richard has  disappeared somewhere in New Zealand  and is very busy making his fortune as an international star, but that gives me great anxiety. Please, send us some pics from the set, news about your health, a short message  ... 2012 is really too far! 

Captain America in July? I don't think there's enough RA in it to  live on till the release of “The Hobbit” . Strike Back 2? I fear there won't be enough Richard there either and ... please don't  kill John Porter too! I said: PLEASE!

How can I improve my awkward mood? I need something RA-related but new, since re-watching seems not the cure for me.

Maybe... I should listen to the only thing I haven't listened to yet : The Lords of the North

Maybe ... I should  start reading The Rover and The Hobbit 

Maybe … I should start a course on creative writing and invent my own stories with RA or his characters (I'd be a terrible pupil, I'm not very good at writing stories,... I'm not very good at writing, full stop)

Maybe …

Any suggestions?

Someone is whispering “Become a Colin Firth fan. There’s plenty of him on the press and on screen these days!”

A betrayal? 

Never.

Give me another, please.

"Look at your RA fav pics and stay positive, stay positive, stay positive"
This is better.
Any other?