World Book Night '21

Coming around, going around, with a Shakespearean twist of calling on a triumvirate for inspiration, courage and resolve through difficult times and challenges. World Book night, the Feast of St George and the birth (and death) day of Wiliam Shakespeare.

I hesitate to mention Shakespeare, a name like that can be a block on what follows. It is here because today is his birthday, and curiously the day he died. The birthdate appears to be tradition, rather than substantiated, various sources give his date of baptism as the 26th of April. The 23rd may not be wide of the mark, infant baptism is an ancient tradition in English culture and provided for in the Books of Common Prayer, initially in 1549 and the book which accompanied the authorisation of the King James Bible. 

Concerns about the health and well being of the child would have prompted the familiy to baptise quickly and for many, like William, the baptism would be a default record of the birth, without recoding the actual date.

Records of the day would be penned into a convenient book. Baptism, marriage and burial listed chronologically until the system became more organised and separate books were required, and onwards to the present system where the records are pro forma. Date of birth included.

Greater changes were under way in Shakespeare's lifetime, in his late teens, the process began to switch Europe from the Julian to the Gregorian calender.

France, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain changed in 1582, Austria and the Catholic German states in 1583.  Ten days were removed from the calendar. England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, Canada and the colonies (including the American Colonies) finally made the switch in 1752, and lost 11 days.

The  change over took almost three hundred years, Turkey being the last country to change in 1926/27, and 13 days dropped off the calendar.

The intricacies are fascinating, and the oddities, Sweden and Finland celebrated a 30 day February in 1712 with a double leap year.  Sweden's calendar had dropped the leapday in 1700, and an additional day in 1712 brought them back in line with the Julian calendar. They made the switch to the Gregorian calendar a year after the United Kingdom.

Life must have been interesting in Germany with the Protestant and Catholic areas working with different calendars within the same country, for decades at a time!

Consolation? Whatever is happening with the current state of lockdown, or whatever the current regulations permit, there is only one calendar, however disconnected I might feel from it!

If you have the time, check out what's on offer on World Book night, or maybe plunge into Shakespeare?

Stay safe

Martyn

My book choice for WBN

Last post I pondered on the book I would give a friend on World Book Night and I had a title in mind. The story is Sir Walter Scott’s “Ivanhoe.”

Why?

The local connection, the first line places it geographically around me. The characters and events occupy that "pleasant district of merry England which is watered by the River Don," specifically the valley between Rotherham and Conisbrough. Familiar territory, albeit with the names changed, but with a little detective work the clues can be followed and the true identities revealed. Scott’s mediaeval romance has inspired numerous film adaptations, both live action and animated.

The tale unfolds in an England that is far from merry, Saxon pitted against Norman, suspicious of each other and of other races. A stark conflicted land, where even fathers and sons are at odds with each other for their choice of allegiance. Ivanhoe is disowned by his father for following Richard on his crusade.

I've had the book on my reader for a while, it tends to be a story I load whenever I change a device and although infrequently read it is familiar. I downloaded the text of Ivanhoe from Project Gutenberg.

If you're not familiar with Project Gutenberg, the site hosts digital versions of thousands of books now out of copyright. Imagine wandering among the shelves of a bookshop of over a century ago, when some we call classics were new releases.

Why Ivanhoe, and why now? A couple of weeks ago when I picked up the book it was a half-remembered thing, an echo of the turbulent times that form the backdrop to the story and as I plunged into Scott’s image of thirteenth Century England, drinking in the words and savouring the flavour of the times the news was full of Article 50.

Scott's imagination conjured a country at odds with itself, turmoil stalked the tracks and byways of the forests and the hills. The masses and the elites wrangled with each other, each trying to come out on top. The order was established. The Normans were top of the heap, but that didn't mean the Saxons were going to lie down and take it. Passive resistance and the polite slight, defiance in the simplest action.

Sir Walter was not intimately familiar with the area, not in the way he knew the landscape behind the Waverley novels and his other Scottish works. Through the dedicatory epistle at the front of the Gutenberg text he explains his desire to reveal an English hero to match Rob Roy and Wallace. The need to reach further back in time for the tensions and a wildness of life and landscape took him to the land of the Lionheart and Robin, the hooded man, his erstwhile ally against the wicked usurper, John.

It is believed that Scott spent less than a week in the area. Travelling from Sheffield he stayed overnight at the village of Sprotborough, near Doncaster. The Ship, the public house by the canal had for many years a chair beside the fireplace known as Sir Walter's chair. The very seat where the literary knight rested from his journey.

The story revolves less around the physical location than the landscape of the characters and how they reflect their times. Actions and reactions, choices and the consequences of those choices.

The valley described by Sir Walter lies east of the M1 at Sheffield, where the River Don winds towards and around the hill of Moorgate. The ancient centre of Rotherham stands at the Northern end of the hill; slightly to the South and perched on the edge overlooking the valley stands the hunting tower of the Earl of Effingham. Testimony to a familiarity with political tension. Boston Castle has been a notable landmark for over two hundred years, named to commemorate the Revolutionary Tea Party and a choice made by the Earl to support the colonists in their desire for representation. An advocacy that had him ejected from the House of Lords for standing against Parliament.

In a cabinet in the Minster Church at Rotherham stands a copy of the King James Bible. On the cover is stamped a date; 1774. The King James Bible was a gift, along with a Book of Common Prayer from the Earl to the church where he was Lay Rector.

In October 1774 people who felt they were being ignored by a distant overbearing government sent a letter outlining their grievances. That situation was not addressed to their satisfaction and two years later in 1776, they declared their independence. I can appreciate the sense of grievance inscribed in that document.

It has been said they were never more English than the moment they chose to go their own way. After years of conflict Congress ratified the preliminary articles bringing the war to an end on the 15^th April, 1783. The peace was finally delivered by the King’s acceptance of the Colonies’ independence on the 3^rd September 1783 with the Treaty of Paris.

Two hundred and thirty-four years later the Prime Minster of England delivered a letter to the leaders of the European Union and triggered Article 50 of the Treaty for European Union, more familiar as the Lisbon Treaty. Now with a snap general election on the cards, the next date to watch will be the 9th of June, the day after the vote when the results come in. 

All this from picking up Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott?

I shall have to be careful who receives the gift!

Getting closer - World Book Night

We are drawing nearer to the annual celebration of reading and literature on the anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, and death. The Patronal festival of the national saint of England, George, and the day dedicated to the English language by the United Nations - World Book Night.

One of the suggestions for the day is to give a favourite book to someone who is not an avid reader but an occasional visitor to the land of literature, or reads very rarely.

This person could be a work colleague,  friend, a relative, anyone. I seem to recall from a few years ago people leaving books in coffee shops, bus stations on trains, etc. for someone else to pick up, and enjoy.

It could be a bit counter intuitive, a book simply left behind might suggest that it isn't worth reading, that is has been dumped, like an ex-partner. Perhaps a friendly little note tucked inside the cover would be helpful?

I have a well thumbed anthology of poetry; Poems on the Underground,  (Published by Cassell, fourth edition 1994, ISBN 0-304-344449-4). A   collection of poetry displayed on the London Underground for travellers on the tube.   In it is a short piece entitled "London Airport"  by Christopher Logue, about a bin for unwanted literature and the poem he scribbled to drop in.

Not quite the idea of World Book Night. This is a more considered approach. I think the reasoning behind the selection of books available on World Book Night and handed out by relatively anonymous distributors is to take the edge off the gift.

Books,  like music, are the sort of thing we have visible around the home. There for all to see is an impression we want to give. You want to know about someone, examine their bookshelves, the ranked titles will be revealing. Not unlike the choice in music, and like music, giving the gift of a book can say far more than expected.

So which would I choose? The official site has the selection  for this year, my choice isn't on the list, and I do have a book in mind. I'm still unpacking why that one in particular..

World Book Night

 Eleven days to go

23 April, a portentious date in English literature, the birthdate, and the day he died, of William Shakespeare, shared with the festival of George, England's patron.

Shakespeare used the saint as a rally; Cry Harry, for England and St George.

It's time to rally the forces again on World Book Night, originally celebrated with World Book Day in March but recently as a stand alone, volunteers across the globe will be handing out books; as a gift, genuinely something for nothing.

Statistically, 36% of adults in England are said never to read, and along with World Book Day in March, World Book Night aims to put books into the hands of people who might not usually read

.

There is the official selection of titles, but what can we do as individuals, as authors and readers?

Share what we love, spread the words. The official selection may not be to everyone's taste, but there is something out there for everyone; a novella, an epic, a cracking good read. Put the imagination in gear and share a book with someone you know, a book you have read and loved, your choice, see if you can work out what they might like...

...and let the adventure rattle onwards!

World Book To-Night

Tonight is the night and the offer is still open, looking for a book for tonight. Iceline for free with the code NL36S here and Control: Escape with 50% discount code VK56T here.

Two days to World Book Night.

The offer still stands, Iceline for free to a good home with the code NL36S here and Control Escape for half price here with the VK56T. Available until Tuesday, World Book Night.

World Book Night - an army marches forward!

Look at someone's bookshelf and it it will tell you a lot about the person, what they like, dislike and occasionally what they would like to have more time to explore. The titles, genres and the authors give away so much of what we put inside our hearts and minds.

Books are precious, they absorb time; to plot, to write, to re-write, and work out the subtle twists and turns. The minutiae of structure ,plot and sub-plot that must hang together like the threads of a tapestry. Later when they reach out to the reader, the individual for whom all books are written, there is more time spent on deciding, is the cover enticing enough, does the first page grab you and drag you through the portal into a world you don't want to escape and your feet drift inexorably towards the bookseller and the cash till to make the purchase.

Next Tuesday World Book Night night books will be moving by the case, box upon box, stacked and packed with crisp fresh pages and newly printed ink. Thousands of people will savour that moment when you open the covers for the first time and the smell of the book reaches your nostrils. A perfume, and a promise, the scent of imagination and an invitation to intrigue, adventure and romance, brought by an army of volunteers

Will you have a date with the Girl with a Pearl Earring, play the high stakes at Casino Royale, be entertained by The Reader, or be summoned to an audience with The White Queen.

Are you to be investigated by the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, or will the encroaching night bring the sober news that Last Night, Another Soldier...

A selection of some of the books available on World Book Night,
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
The Reader by Bernard Schlink
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Last Night, Another Soldier by Andy McNab,

See what's available here and what's happening near you on the events page

Whichever one is given to you on World Book Night, I hope you enjoy it, savour it and add your time to that spent writing, producing and delivering it.

The Big One - World Book Night

One week to go, seven nights from tonight World Book Night will be with us! 

Have you anything lined up yet?

To celebrate;  Iceline, the first Grange novel is free to anyone who wants to offer it a good home here with NL36S for a 100% discount. Bag Control Escape for half price with VK56T here and take both home. Two thrillers for a dollar and a half, Have a good read.