WPL Reads

Every so often I get a hankering to watch a bit of British telly.  Even if I’m feeling knackered and the kids are getting a little barmy I can always look forward to a good sit down in the evening with Sherlock, dear Chummy or the people of Downton Abbey.  I suppose my love of all things Brit is due to the fact that I love their cheeky sense of humour (their wonderful jargon, obviously) and feel rather posh when watching their programmes.

If you’re in the mood for some British TV but don’t know where to find it, don’t get your knickers in a twist or get the collywobbles!  WPL has a great selection of British TV DVD titles that may just leave you gobsmacked and itching for all things Brit.

Some of my personal favourites:

Call the Midwife (seasons 1-3) – an outstanding series that is based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth, a nurse living in post-WWII London.  Endearing, funny and touching it is a truly wonderful series with unforgettable characters.

Sherlock (seasons 1-3) – The highly talented Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock. Enough said.

Downton Abbey (seasons 1-4) –  Follows the trials and tribulations of the Crawley family as well as their staff in the post-Edwardian era.  The Duchess (played by Dame Maggie Smith) is utter perfection as the cantankerous and quite humourous matriarch.

Other popular titles:

Land Girls (seasons 1-3) –  Follows four girls as they support Britain in the Women’s Land Army during the War.

Lark Rise to Candleford (seaons 1-4) – A trilogy of semi-autobiographical stories about life in a small 19th century English village.

New Tricks (seasons 1-10) – A comedic drama that showcases the fictional Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad (UCOS) in London which is comprised of retired police officers who have been selected to solve ‘cold cases’.

Dalziel and Pascoe (seasons 1-9)

Doctor Who  (several different series)

Inspector Lynley Mysteries (seasons 1-6)

Lovejoy (seasons 1-6)

Monarch of the Glen (seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7)

Ballykissangel (seasons 1-6)

All Creatures Great and Small (seasons 1-6)

Keeping Up Appearances (seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8)

The Office

I love the coincidences that come from working in the library.  A patron will return a book and then 30 minutes later another patron will come in and pick up the same book from the Holds shelf and remark about how much she is looking forward to reading that same book.  The serendipity of working in an environment that is filled with people and books can be so pleasant.  When I find that same kind of coincidence in the material I’ve been reading I can’t help but wonder whether there is a reason behind it.

Well, with my recent reading topic I certainly hope not!  Two Dystopian novels with terrifying self-proclaimed prophets – what kind of message is behind that coincidence?  Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven and Edan Lepucki’s California had been on the list of things I wanted to read for quite a while and their similarities just made the reading more interesting.  I have always enjoyed books that try to illustrate how society will rebuild after catastrophe (remember Stephen King’s The Stand? – still one of my all-time favourites).  It’s that whole idea of how it’s possible to safely think though scary thoughts in books because you know you aren’t really experiencing it – like how a roller coaster gives you that feeling of intense fear but you know you are safe within the car the whole time – that makes post-apocalyptic fiction so much fun.  Really, musing about the end of the world has been popular for a very long time.

Reading two novels that have similar themes so closely together gave me a chance to compare the styles of writing, the way the two authors felt we might try to rebuild our world and consider whether their choices might match up with the ones I might make (all from the safety of my striped chair).  California brings us into the lives of Cal and Frida a few years after they’ve adjusted to the destruction of the world they used to know and are firmly in the routine of hunting, farming and trading to try and keep themselves safe.  In Station Eleven we have the chance to get to know the cast of characters a few weeks before their worldwide disaster strikes and then they try to find a way to survive without refrigeration and mass distribution of food and consumer goods.  In both novels the main characters find objects or memories that they protect, helping to connect them with the homes and families that they have lost.  These small coping mechanisms seemed so real to me and I felt like it built a stronger connection between the reader and the story.  Maybe I would have chosen the same things in a way to feel closer to what I had lost?

I like a book that gives you a lot to think about.  I like a book that gives you a lot to talk about also – with library patrons or at home with my family.  It’s very easy to sit back and wonder how it would be possible to rebuild a community or how you would find enough to eat but to actually do that is another thing.  I am amazed (and thrilled) that both authors took such different approaches to similar stories.  The world their characters knew has ended but in each novel – despite creepily similar obstacles – there are distinctly different moments of beauty.  Their imagination and ability to create a new and terrifying world on the pages was incredible.  It all felt very real.  It was a scary but gripping roller coaster ride to read both of these novels.  True, there is much to fear in the new worlds these two young authors have created but you are left with a sense of something good to come.  You really do get the feeling that it might be ‘the end of the world as we know it, (but I feel fine)’.

What do you think?

– – Penny M.