I had to move the small bookcase where I keep the old books I’ve bought at jumble sales and such over the years, to have a new carpet laid.  When I looked at these books (for the first time in a very long time), I had to admit that I probably wouldn’t ever read most of them. I’m never going to be the person who sits down with James Joyce’s Ulysses, or Lavengro, or Dorothy Osborne’s Letters. And I certainly don’t ever want to read The House with Green Shutters again, as it’s surely the world’s most depressing book. As for 23 volumes of Walter Scott… They’re quite decorative on the shelf, but totally unreadable (I suppose that could just be me, though). I don’t suppose I can sell them, so Oxfam bookshop, here I come…

On the other hand, I did find a 2nd edition of Darwin’s Descent of Man in there, which is worth considerably more than the 7/6 sale price pencilled inside it…

I’ll definitely be keeping the Flight of the Heron trilogy, and the Dante, and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and the Henry James that I didn’t even know I had. And look! Now there’s some empty shelf space. Perhaps when I’m in the Oxfam bookshop…

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You may have noticed the radio silence over the last week. That’s because I’ve been on holiday in Sicily, which is a truly wonderful place, steeped in the mythology of a number of civilisations.

One of the places I visited was Mount Etna, which according to Sicilians was the place where Odysseus tricked the Cyclops Polyphemus and saved his companions from ending up as the giant’s lunch.

The Greeks were convinced they had found skulls of a number of Cyclops, and you can see why.

However, all was not what it seemed… Far from belonging to giants, these skulls were actually from pygmies: pygmy elephants which had roamed the island in prehistoric times. No one seems quite sure when they actually became extinct on the island.

No wonder this one looks cheesed off… being misidentified as a mythical one-eyed giant… Harrumph!

But just to add to the confusion, in the mosaics in the Villa Casale, Polyphemus has three eyes, which must be fairly unusual for a cyclops.

It’s all too confusing. I’ll just have to go and catch up on the last 2 episodes of Game of Thrones to relax. I’m sure that’ll be just the thing to ensure a good night’s sleep.

 

 

Well, it took 3 hours on ferries and 13 hours on trains over 2 days, but it was worth it – I had a fantastic time visiting Mallaig and Muck.

Actually, all those hours on the train aren’t too bad when you can look out the window at scenery like this…

Thanks to everyone at Mallaig Primary for a great visit and tremendous questions on DNA: there were definitely some budding scientists in the audience.

Eigg and Muck Primary pupils made me very welcome. I even got to play Zombie Tig with them, and that’s a first for an author visit! Here they are after being thoroughly zombified…

Add to that porpoises, seals and Minke whales on the way back to the mainland, and it was a pretty special trip…

One of the very best things about writing for children is that you get invited to go into schools to talk to them, and this sometimes means you get to visit exciting new places.

Tomorrow I am off on a mini-epic trip by train and ferry, firstly to Mallaig Primary to talk about DNA, and then to the isle of Muck to talk to pupils from Muck and Eigg primary schools about the human body.

This means I get to travel on the fantastic train line to Fort William, and go over the Glenfinnan Viaduct (aka route of the Hogwarts Express), and on Friday I get not one, but two ferry trips – and the chance of some whale watching.

So, Mallaig  – if you read this – do you think you might be a clone? And Muck and Eigg – have you ever thought just how like a doughnut you really are? You’ll find out soon!

The Once and Future King by T H White

I was a gobbler of myths, moving from Greek to Norse and then to the Matter of Britain. I loved the legend of King Arthur in the numerous forms it took, from the Disney film of The Sword in the Stone to Rick Wakeman’s album The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and the musical Camelot. (Don’t judge me too harshly…), My favourite version of all was T H White’s The Once and Future King, which preserved the intensity  and tragedy of the legend, and also managed to make it vivid with people who leapt off the page as being real flawed humans, and not just heroes. And that’s what still makes me return to them – the fact that the seeds of the tragic ending (No other musical ends with all the characters heading for death in battle) are sown years before by what Arthur and the others have done in their youth – the terrible, inescapable funnelling of their actions towards doom, just as though it was another Greek myth.

Well, I’m very excited, because today I got the first sight of my latest book, Balloon to the Moon (which comes out on June 27th). It was great fun to write – I found out so much  I didn’t know while I was doing the research – and Christopher Nielsen has given it a fantastic retro look that reminds me of the books I read as a child during the 1960s, which is highly appropriate.

When I’m doing events, I’m often asked what my favourite childhood books were, and for some reason, my mind tends to go blank, so the next few posts are partly an aide memoire for myself. On the other hand, it was reading those books, plus many more I can’t remember, that set me on the path to being a writer, so hopefully they’ll be of some interest to others too!

Tales of the Greeks and Trojans by Roger Lancelyn Green

I was given this book as a10th birthday present by my older brother who, handily, had a holiday job in the local bookshop (James Thin, for those with long memories). I loved any sort of myths and I read it so often that even now, I can call up the distinctive illustrations in my mind’s eye.

This one is Odysseus, returned home and about to kill Penelope’s suitors, with the bow that only he can string and draw. It was the combination of great stories and wonderful pictures (now joined, as I sniff the pages, by that irresistible ‘old book’ smell) that captivated me then and still does.

I’m used to talking to audiences of primary pupils in gyms and assembly halls, where they sit cross-legged on the wooden floor as I talk. but today I found myself talking in the altogether more impressive surroundings of Newbattle Abbey College, in this amazing room (and it had chairs in it too!).

At the end of the event, I had the following conversation with a pupil…

Small Boy ‘Are you famous?’

Me ‘No.’

Small Boy ‘You’re an author, you must be famous.’

Me ‘Have you ever heard of me?’

Small Boy ‘No.’

Me ‘Then I can’t be famous, can I?’

Small Boy, turning to teacher and pointing at me ‘She’s not famous!’

Me (to his retreating back) ‘And I’m not rich, either’

That sound you can hear as you read this? Another dream shattering….

Sometimes when I can’t sleep, I imagine I’m on Desert Island Discs and choose my  tracks, book and luxury, as I’m sure many other people do. Lately I’ve also taken to interviewing myself along the lines of those quick-fire questions you see as part of interviews in the weekend papers. So, since no one is likely to ask me for real, here is my quick-fire interview with myself.

Champage, gin or beer? Why is there an ‘or’ in that sentence?

High street or designer? Don’t be silly, I’m an author. You mean High street or charity shop.

Coffee or green juice? Coffee. Green juice sounds like what oozes out of the bottom of my compost bin. And why doesn’t anyone make ‘Supercaff ‘, with all the extra caffeine they take out of decaf? I’d buy that.

Favourite football team? Hahahahahahaha

Cats or dogs? Cats, obviously. A cat considers itself your intellectual superior and will happily keep you in your place.

I couldn’t get through the weekend without… Now, this is a very stupid question. In my experience the weekends get through themselves just fine, and very quickly. It’s how to get through the week that ‘s the tricky bit. I couldn’t get through the week without writing.

Now it’s your turn. Quickfire answers from you, please!

Well, Dr Doug aimed the wildlife camera at Mrs Doug’s shoes overnight and the peanut hoarder was indeed a mouse. Dr Doug was in favour of a capital sentence, but Mrs Doug decreed that this should be commuted to permanent banishment. M. Mouse was duly live-trapped and freed on Blackford Hill to frolic with the rabbits. And owls. And stoats. Possibly not for very long…