The Bookworm - Spring 2013

The Bookworm Books, cinema and more for KS4 students and 6th formers

Let’s talk about Luurve

Mr Smith interviewed; Sufiya Ahmed Visit; 30 words or less: the books and films that make you cry; Sylvia Plath; The Movie Doctor: Chavs, and loads of YOUR recommendations.

Editorial Welcome to the shorter, snappier Bookworm; less input from staff and more from you. Spring has sprung and so our theme for this issue is LOVE. We also have your reviews of the best in new YA fiction plus some contemporary classics. HUGE thanks to all the students that contributed. Special thanks to Farwah, who has read AND enjoyed Titus Alone. You made my year! Special thanks to Mr Stock for being grumpy especially for The Bookworm (see P62) - he isn’t really you know. Thanks to Neelam, Elli, Sarah and Ella (amongst others) for regularly trying some of the books that I suggest.

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Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate, That Time will come and take my love away.

Shakespeare—Sonnet 64.

Contents 30 words or less

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Where members of staff ALWAYS use more than 30 words. Argh!!!

Your reviews Prize News Stuff

10 26 28

30

6 degrees of separation

Author Visit

30

Sufiya Ahmed visits Swanshurst

Centenary

34

Remembering Sylvia Plath

Extreme Reading

36

Mr Smith interviewed

Non-fiction

58

40

Multiculturalism, Chavs and more

Luurve Cinema Club The Movie Doctor

44 50 58

He’s cooler than Johnny Depp and knows more than Mark Kermode

Dark Corners

6o

Slightly random? Maybe! Mr Stock, Ms Hopkins, Mr Beniston and, um, Patrick Ness

Final Words—Sing-a-long! 62

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A note on the front cover—these are the film stars that YOU chose after some fairly extensive polling on my part (except for the old pairings of Grace Kelly with Cary Grant etc). If pop stars and TV stars had been allowed then Zayn, JLS and the male cast of Merlin would all be there and so . . . .never let it be said I’m not prepared to play the populist card.

Dr Hopkins and Rukhsaar showing attention-seeking behaviour (as usual)

6th formers and Yr 11s enjoy discussing The Perks of Being a Wallflower during Progression Fortnight Melissa, Momina, Rukhsaar and Sarah did us all proud when they went to London for the Red House Book Awards. Here they are with Patrick Ness about to award the prize.

Mr Smith considers a new career . . .

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“Please get away from me —you’re lowering my IQ” (overheard in the library)

Mr Smith gets two!

Les Miserables: emotionally drained after having my heart pulled in many directions, Mrs Smith came out of the cinema singing 'Do you hear the people sing...' The tears flowed again.

Waterloo Bridge (1940): I was in my mid twenties and I LOVED Vivien Leigh. She dies at the end—too much!

Watership Down: When you think Hazel has died, the ghostly Black Rabbit and other dead bunnies swirl around the screen to ‘Bright Eyes’. Enough to make me blub as a child – not anymore! Muwhahahaha (evil laugh!). [Ms Hopkins]

With the release of Les Miserables and The Impossible it seems everyone is crying at the cinema so this issue’s In 30 Words or Less features books and films that make YOU cry. I’ve discovered that many of you are hard nuts and rarely cry at anything - maybe I should listen to Ms Hopkins the next time she tells me to ‘man up and stop blubbing’.

Wristcutters: A Love Story – a romance beyond death and the doldrums of purgatory! [Ms Arif]

Towards the end of Cinema Paradiso you get to watch a montage of cinema kisses from the 30s, 40s and 50s set to Ennio Morricone’s beautiful score. Heart-breaking! [Mr B]

Ha lo hi m

It’s a family tradition in Allberry Towers to watch It’s a Wonderful Life every Christmas and still I can’t stop the tears. This film will melt the stoniest of hearts. [Mr Allberry]

A tear shed is… the sign of a good book.

Katniss Everdeen is contained in one such book, or rather three. Love, hope and danger combine in The Hunger Games.

[Eleanor Burgess]

I love Jane Eyre’s reunion with Mr Rochester following the destruction of Thornfield Hall. It is his fear of her revulsion coupled with Jane’s noble determination to marry him that causes the tears to flow. [Ms Hanke] Anything with animals! The book and film The Incredible Journey (1963).

At the end the young dog and cat were safely back & then the old dog suddenly stumbles into shot too – I’m welling up now!! [Ms Bridger]

arry Potter and the Deadly Hallows—when Harry ooks at Snape’s memories after Voldemort has killed im. It is the realization that Snape loved Harry’s mother but was the cause of her death. [Mr Allen]

Love Story with Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw. I saw this when I was at a very impressionable age and sobbed for hours, it really made me understand that life does not go on for ever. [Ms Cashmore]

Schindler’s List makes you reflect, sadly and regrettably, on how a significant proportion of human beings are able to persuade themselves that completely inhuman actions are in some way justifiable [Mr Embrey].

“Baby mine, don't you cry Baby mine, dry your eyes Rest your head close to my heart Never to part, baby of mine” Up! Disney is usually so uplifting, so having a scene about love blossoming and being lost at the start of the film caught me by surprise and was very poignant.

[Ms Taylor]

Mrs Jumbo cradles Dumbo tenderly in her trunk and rocks him through the bars of her cage. Branded a ‘Mad Elephant’ for defending him yet still her first instinct is to soothe her child…. [Ms Lea]

Moulin Rouge - I love the flamboyance of the costumes, the acting, how each frame of the film would be a magnificent photograph. I cry at the loss of a lifetime of love between two people. [Ms Beckford]

1797. The time of the trade. When equality needed an army; needed those who dared to believe in change; who dared to believe they were the ones to bring it. [Shannon Jones]

The moment at the end of E.T. when E.T. lifts his bony finger to Elliot’s head and assures him “I’ll be right here” is sad, uplifting and as pure an expression of love as you’ll ever see [Ms Yates]

Lars Von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark—the whole audience remained seated, silent, sobbing & incapable of movement after the end of the film.

Steer clear if you like happy endings!

Billy Elliot follows his heart and [Ms Wild] dreams against all the odds. The

pride in his father’s eyes when he watches his son’s achievements at the end makes me cry.

[Ms Clinton] Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian can still reduce me to tears. It’s a lovely story about the experiences of an evacuee during World War II when he is placed in the care of an elderly man. [Ms Pollard]

Made in 1945, you might think Brief Encounter with Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard is too old-fashioned but it gets me every time. All that simmering unfulfilled passion—best film ever! [Ms Smith]

Your reviews

Laini Tayler’s new novel is that rare thing—a book beloved by critics AND it’s getting a huge readership. Sarah Dimia investigates.

This book is the kind of novel you cannot miss. It is an experience you cannot neglect, it is a must. It will complete your life.

Let’s begin!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is about a girl, Karou, whose main problem in life is to keep the balance between her two lives. On one side she is a university student in Prague, with an obsessive ex-boyfriend who thinks he’s a really sexy vampire and anyone who doesn’t want to be bitten by him should seriously get checked by a doctor (I wouldn’t mind getting bit by Kaz—seriously).

But when a gigantic black crow comes up from hell, she knows she has to leave everything and transform into a part time assassin/full time collector of teeth, at the order of the most tyrannical boss you will ever encounter… Brimstone (he never says please either!).

But Karou doesn’t complain; her only goal, searching for her true identity…

NOW, please enter the devilishly gorgeous angel, Akiva.

He is the signal for war, He seems to know a little bit more about Karou than she does…. Akiva on the other hand, has only one goal, to destroy Karou and Brimstone by burning with a black curse only known from the worst Warlock their only way of communication; the magic portals.

The war involves two clans that have despised each other since time began, Seraphim vs. Chimaera.

This war will change Akiva’s and Karou’s destiny, forever.

Charlie is a freshman who has just joined the school. He is shy and socially awkward but extremely intelligent and the whole book is written from his perspective as he writes a series of letters, addressed ‘Dear friend’. It shows Charlie making new friends, who are higher up in the school and his journey through adolescence as he tries new things and experiments with drugs, alcohol and sex. The book also shows Charlie’s life at home and his relationship with his family. Charlie begins to realise that whilst living on the outside and looking in, it may be easier, but there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a touching and realistic coming-of-age story. It will make you sad and happy as well as making you think and making you laugh. Whatever genre of writing you enjoy, I genuinely believe that this book is for everyone.

[Ida Willock-Creese] Noun: (1) an uncomfortable sensation on the skin that causes a desire to scratch (2) a restless or strong desire to do something.

Verb: the site or cause of an itch.

I guess you could say all AND none of these apply to the Itch I’m talking about. I’m talking Itch the boy. Itchingham Lofte is just another (almost) ordinary boy; I say ordinary in as much as he hates school, has more than his fair share of bullies focusing on him, and of course he has to have a collection. But I suppose if you met him he would also be the most extraordinary person you ever met, possibly most noticeably due to his missing eyebrows.

So, if you ever wondered how to poison half your school using wallpaper and a greenhouse, or what it would be like to be the most protected person in the country, you’ll be well on your way when you scratch the surface of this book. [Eleanor Burgess]

Your reviews

If you like dark romance and gothic novels you should try the brand new book by James Dawson, Hollow Pike. It’s the story of a town with a fascinating history of witchcraft and of Elizabeth (Lis), a newcomer to the town. She is in for some big surprises.

On the outside Lis looks like your average teenage girl, but then she starts to have dreams that someone is trying to kill her. So maybe the fact that she’s moving to a new place is good; a fresh start.

But she is totally unaware of Hollow Pike’s haunted past. After the murder of a girl at her school, Lis knows there is something fishy going on. The clues are scattered everywhere but none of it makes any sense! The one thing Lis is 99% sure of—she is the next target.

Lis starts to make new friends and they start to investigate what might be going on. Like any girl starting a new school Lis has her difficulties; part of the drama of the book, and my favourite part, is of Lis not wanting to get a bad reputation and of finally accepting the group of friends she really belongs with.

I would recommend this book to all teenagers because of its intriguing story and how Lis finds somewhere she belongs and faces up to her nightmare [Iqra Saeed] I really liked this book and would happily read it again. I like the way that grief and teenage pregnancy were presented in a really original way without sensationalism or repetitiveness.

You’ll really like the characters, even the ones we don’t meet—you start to feel like you know them all. Sara Zarr is a really talented author— definitely one to watch. [Evie Kobo]

If you’re a historical fanatic like me then you’ll love the Stravaganza series by Mary Hoffman. It’s set in two separate worlds; there’s this one, and then there’s Italy in the sixteenth century. The first book is called City of Masks, which is Venice in modern day Italy. It revolves around one family’s goal to take over the whole of the country and a boy called Lucien, who suddenly ends up five hundred years in the past in an alternative Italy called Talia.

The plot centres on lies, deceit, murders, treachery, greed (think Assassin’s Creed, but with fewer assassins) ... and if that weren’t enough, it also covers issues that teenagers have in the twenty-first century like cancer, bullying, body image, insecurities and family relationships.

But it’s not all doom and gloom; Hoffman manages to insert love and romance (which brings about jealousy and hatred) between the two protagonists and there are moments that make you feel all warm and fuzzy before you’re reintroduced to the blood and gore.

Yes, I know I’m making the books sound all dark and depressing (that’s definitely what made me read them) but Mary Hoffman writes in this way that’s really light and entertaining. I think the characters are the best part about the stories. There’s a new protagonist in each novel and it’s their flaws that make you relate to them – you even end up liking some of the ‘baddies’. You get to see events unfold from all the major character’s points of view so you always know what’s happening and who’s on whose side even when other characters don’t.

It’s an amazing series, fast-paced and easy to read, and the books are available for you to read and loan right now in Upper Library so go get them before someone else does! [Atiqah Bibi]

Insight

There are SO many books out there. Good ones, bad ones, happy ones and sad ones. So many that even the most prolific readers will only manage to read a small percentage of what’s out there in their lifetime.

I like to think that most of the ones that get published are well written but the question is: ”How did these writers get to be good? To those of us who enjoy writing and want to get better it’s a really important question.

The answer is really very simple. Maya Angelou, a brilliant African-American poet and writer says: “ “What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat,’.... And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.”

Similarly P D James says “Don’t plan to write— write”. Bali Rai gave the same advice when he visited Swanshurst last year and indeed most authors say the same thing—practise makes perfect. The more you write, as long as you try to critically evaluate what you’re doing and be honest with yourself, the better you’ll get.

The other piece of advice that authors stress is to keep reading, especially when you’re young. It’s the best way of developing your taste and you can learn about structure, character, pacing and all the other elements of writing a good story The internet has made it possible for everyone to write, from students to people in their forties with a family; lots of people are now posting their stories online for others to read. Livejournal.com is such

a website. Over 2 million people write about anything and everything. Another site, that many of you will have heard of is Wattpad.com. Here people write their own books and post them chapter by chapter.

There are about 1.3 million registered users. You might imagine that people are often cruel about other people’s work or that trolls are everywhere, being nasty, but actually most people try to be sensitive and give constructive criticism.

At the moment these sites are getting a lot of coverage in the press. Canadian author Margaret Atwood and British author Naomi Alderman are writing a book together about zombies and posting it chapter by chapter on Wattpad. Such a famous writer doing this . . . questions were raised: Why online? Why on Wattpad? WHY? Attwood responded in The Guardian explaining her reasons: first of all, she felt there was a lot of angst, most of it unwarranted, about young people not reading, and secondly, a lot of that angst was that they weren’t reading what adults thought they should be reading. She goes on to say that her college teacher had told to let the young begin with whatever interests them.

It clearly is the case that many people are interested in the likes of Wattpad . . . So why not?

Finally one other good thing about this is that you don’t necessarily have to reveal your name if you’re not confident enough. Many people use pseudonyms for their username.

Happy reading and writing!

[Yusra Mian]

New Books

6th form

Neelam Narshi gets to grips with a modern classic.

‘Watch your step. Keep your wits about you; you will need them. This city I am bringing you to is vast and intricate, and you have not been here before. You may imagine, from other stories you’ve read, that you know it well, but those stories flattered you, welcoming you as a friend, treating you as if you belonged. The truth is that you are an alien from another time and place altogether’ In Michael Faber’s brilliant novel you are introduced to the streets of London in 1875 and yes, as it quite rightly states, you are an alien from another time and place altogether because what you will find in this story are things you will never have been prepared for. This gripping tale of madness, intimacy and vengeance shows the real aspects of London and its constituents in some of their worse times.

First I need to warn you—this book is not for the faint hearted, for it contains scenes of a sexual nature, (in some detail), and violence. You have been told!

The Crimson Petal and the White is a novel about Sugar, William and Agnes. These three characters are put together into an exciting, twisting plot and an explosive surge of events will lead to the climax. The book tells us the story of Sugar, a well-known prostitute trying to climb up the social hierarchy. She meets William, a weak man, yet to take up his place in the world, and changes her fate forever. Sugar becomes William’s treasure and gives him the confidence to take hold of his father’s perfume company, allowing him to become a well-known figure all around the world.

Meanwhile Agnes, William’s wife, is diagnosed as mad and grows more desperate for her angel— ironically, our well-known prostitute—to save her.

As William and Sugar grow closer he removes Sugar from the brothel and allows her to enter his house as a governess for his daughter, Sophie. All this time Sugar is writing her own book, a book which specifically shows

her getting her revenge on the male species, a book she describes as a ‘knife’! However as she gets closer to William the book ceases to exist as she has less need for revenge, for she has found her saviour, hasn’t she?

Sugar forms a strong bond with Sophie and gets hold of a number of Agnes’ diaries allowing her to see Agnes’ inability to come to terms with her maturing body. Sugar, however, starts losing her hold over William and her position is threatened by Lady Bridgelow, whom William is growing fond of. Meanwhile Agnes’ impatience begins to grow overtime and William is told to put her into a madhouse by her consultant, Dr Curlew. But Sugar takes action before it is too late, putting everything she’s got on the line.

I really liked the voice of the narrator and the way you are led through the streets of London. It’s almost like the streets have their own stories and you get to imagine the lives of so many different kinds of people. Faber gives insights into all aspects of Victorian society—it’s seediness and sinfulness, it’s extremes of poverty and extravagant wealth, it’s diseases and it’s death, and so much more.

Faber is clearly keen to focus on women’s lives in particular. This is made clear when we are introduced to two further characters that have jobs forcing them on to the mean streets of London. They are Henry Rackham (William’s brother) and Emmeline Fox (Dr Curlew’s daughter). Henry is working to become a clergyman but forever failing due to his desire to commit ‘sins of the flesh’ with Emmeline. He then finds himself talking to a prostitute called Caroline, who is a friend of Sugar’s. All the while Emmeline works for the Rescue Society, a group of people who try to reform prostitutes and give them ‘honest’ work. As she has chosen to work, especially in such a difficult environment, English society would have viewed her with some hostility: Emmeline has a hard time in the novel.

The Crimson Petal and the White is 834 pages of pure genius from Michel Faber. You are pulled into the inner workings of Victorian London as well as being cast into a pit with a strong network of characters. I could happily read about them for another 800 pages. It’s an amazing book of passion and violence which has a truly innovative style of storytelling.

6th form When I heard J K Rowling had released her new novel I just had to read it and the book has most definitely lived up to my expectations!

Much to my surprise it was nothing like the Harry Potter series and I’ve been impressed to find that Rowling was more than able to shake off the label of a young children’s fantasy author. She has instead, written a fantastic novel based around the quiet town of Pagford and the lives of those who live there. The Casual Vacancy covers many social issues from drug addiction and domestic abuse to politics and the vicious divide between rich and poor.

Throughout the novel you find yourself forming complex relationships with each of the characters and are taken on a rollercoaster of emotions as you read about the not-so-perfect lives of each of them.

I can guarantee that from the moment you pick it up you won’t be able to put it back down until the shocking and tragic ending, which definitely brought a tear to my eye. It might not be ideal for younger readers who love Harry Potter—at some points it is quite gritty and deep—but it’s fine for students at KS4 or in the 6th form. It really is a fabulous read! [Chelsea Reynolds]

6th form Book Group will soon be introduced to Hilary Jordan’s brilliant new novel When She Woke. Here Ms Riglesford appreciates Jordan’s first novel, Mudbound.

The story is set in the Mississippi Delta in the period immediately after World War II. The theme is one of love and human nature and most of all, racism. It explores the deep rooted causes of racism – fear and ignorance - by focusing on the story of a black soldier who returned home after fighting in Europe. He was called a hero by his regiment and experienced a great deal of acceptance and warmth from the European civilians that he met. However back at home, working on his parents’ farm, he soon realised that the dark days of racism were far from over and that white folk were still liable to pour abuse both physical and mental on black people. He does find a soul-mate in the unlikely form of a white man, who was the son of the land-owner, on whose land his parents rented a farm. This white man had also served in the war and had experienced the danger and violence of battle alongside black soldiers and learned to respect and understand black people. His family, however, had not.

I won’t tell you anymore of the plot but the Klu Klux Clan do make an appearance. The hatred and wickedness of this barbaric group of people still manages to shock me—they were just as evil in real life as this novel portrays them. The violence is tempered by the warmth between the characters and the author’s reminder that there is goodness in human beings that will usually triumph over evil.

6th form

Everyone deserves a treat—even the 6th form! For that reason Ms Lea will soon be opening The Reading Spa. We’ve probably got the best fiction collection of any school or sixth form college in Birmingham so we want you to make the best of it. You’ll be able to book an appointment with your bibliotherapist in The Reading Spa. There will be cushions, nice smells and an atmosphere of luxurious relaxation.

You’ve never heard of a Reading Spa? Fear not—it’s basically a more sophisticated Book Doctor, as befits our sixth form students. Whatever your taste in books and films we’ll have some brilliant recommendations for you. You’ll be able to choose from our specially crafted spa menu. Here just one of the choices you’ll be able to make: The red Herring and the edge of the Cliff We have a collection of thrillers; psychological crime and mystery, as well as the very best detective fiction. If you like your excitement with a dose of espionage we can also supply.

This treatment is great FOR THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS AND CAN BE TAKEN FREELY AND AT REGULAR INTERVALS—WORK PERMITTING OBVIOUSLY! Adrenaline addiction Narcolepsy—you will not sleep! You will need to keep turning the page…

Look out for the posters around Centre Library. The Reading Spa will be open before Easter.

Many 6th formers will already have seen our new collections: lluminate your Mind encompasses popular writing about culture, racism, politics, history and more. Our Popular Science collection contains lots of bestselling science books that make sense of sometimes difficult abstract ideas.

If you missed it before Christmas there was a little Bookworm Extra with some fantastic stuff: Maham on Battle Royale; Khadija on Horror; Amal on John Green; Ella on Anthony Horowitz and more.

Nor should you forget The List, Ms Lea’s lovely selection of fiction to suit any 6th formers taste.

Congratulations to Frank Cottrell Boyce on winning the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2012.

Congratulations also to Sally Gardner, winner of the Costa Chilren’s Book Award. Maggot Moon was my favourite too and easily one of the best YA novels of the year.

The Costa Book Awards had some interesting nominees this time around. It was fantastic to see women take away all 5 awards. Two graphic novels were included on the shortlists of this prestigious book prize for the first time. Though it didn’t win, Joff Winterhart’s Days Of Bagnold Summer was up for Best Novel. It’s a funny tale of the relationship between single mum Sue and teenage son Daniel during a single summer holiday. The winner, and the winner of the overall prize perhaps inevitably was Hilary Mantel’s fantastic Bringing up the Bodies, sequel to Wolf Hall.

It was great to see Mary Talbot & husband Bryan win the biography award with Dotter of her Father’s Eyes. The judges called it “A beautifully crafted dual biography which crosses the boundaries between literature and the graphic genre with extraordinary effect. A gem of a book.”

It’s not the first time a graphic novel has contended for a prize. In 2001 Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware won the Guardian First Book award. Ware is an amazing artist and writer.

His latest, Building Stories, (left) is a collection of 14 smallish books and comics presented in a beautifully designed box.

Take a look at one of his books next time you’re in Waterstones or a comic shop and see if it appeals to you.

. . . you won’t find in the Daily Mail* It’s two years since the revolutions that rocked the Middle East and got rid of dictators like Mubarak and Ben Ali. BBC journalist Paul Mason’s most recent book about global protests gives you a fantastic sense of the bravery and resolve shown by millions of people. He shows how all kinds of social media (facebook, twitter, blogs, etc) were used to communicate and how mobile phones captured the action. It’s a great book but it also inspires you to search out stuff on the internet. For example on Jan 18th 2011, 7 days before the massive demonstration in Tahrir square, a 25-year-old graduate called Asmaa Mahfouz posted an amazing video blog on YouTube calling people to demonstrate. Elsewhere you find coverage of a huge crowd on a bridge being repelled by riot police using water canon and tear gas. An Imam kneels to pray and is joined by hundreds of others. Minutes later you see that the protesters have captured a water cannon.

Inspirational stuff, especially when you consider how many people around the world are still defying the odds in their fight for freedom.

This is the shortlist for the Waterstones Teen Fiction Prize—some excellent books for your perusal.

PLUS: Great John Green interview HERE and a nice Guardian Top Ten HERE on Steampunk.

*The Daily Mail website is the most used in the two Sixth Form libraries!

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If you’d like to do a very silly (but serious) 6 degrees of separation for the next Bookworm, apply now or next time I will try to prove I’m almost definitely best friends with Johnny Depp!

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or something like that Penelope Cruz was in a 2001 film with Gael Garcia Bernal called Don’t Tempt me (never seen it!).

Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States has excellent chapters on slavery, the American Civil War and Lincoln’s role. Hopefully Steven Speilberg read it when he was making Lincoln with Daniel Day Lewis .

The diminutive Mexican heartthrob was in the brilliant film Even The Rain (2010). It was written by Paul Laverty who in his introduction to the film pays tribute to legendary historian Howard Zinn.

Daniel Day Lewis also starred in The Last of the Mohicans, (see P58) a film directed by Michael Mann who first made his name with the ground-breaking 80s TV show Miami Vice. Mann later made a movie version starring Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell.

That’s right people. I once found myself standing next to Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin at Tate Modern and am therefore inextricably linked to Penelope Cruz!

Hollywood lothario Farrell once made a pass at Gwyneth Paltrow (allegedly)

Author Visit

We were fantastically lucky to have author Sufiya Ahmed visit Swanshurst on 12th February. Secrets of the Henna Girl is about only child Zeba, 16 years old, growing up in Yorkshire and excited about starting her A-levels. When her parents take her on holiday to Pakistan she is appalled to find that they want to force her to marry her cousin Asif. Sufiya Ahmed wastes no time in getting on with the plot. It’s tense almost from the first page as you share Zeba’s fear and indignation at being forced to marry for her family’s honour. That said it’s not an unrelentingly bleak book at all. Whilst waiting for the wedding Zeba stays with her ‘Grannyma’ (her mum’s mother), a wise, inspirational figure who does her best to protect Zeba. She also makes friends with Sehar, a young woman forced into a similar position.

When forced marriage and honour violence are discussed in Britain, especially in the mainstream media, the accounts often come with a measure of sensationalism. Ahmed, however deals with these sensitive issues fairly and delicately. Ahmed’s book is undoubtedly didactic—there is much that non-Muslims will learn about Islam and contemporary life in Pakistan and for Muslims with families in Pakistan there will be much they will recognise—but you never feel ‘issues’ take over the narrative. On the contrary, you’ll want to read till the end because you care about Zeba and want to share her journey.

If you like that then try these . . .

YA novelists have become increasingly skilled at talking about violence against women and children without being utterly depressing . If want to try something more complex we also have lots of rewarding novels in Centre Library.

Author Visit Violence against women is big news at the moment. In Britain fewer than 1 rape victim in 30 will see their attacker brought to justice. The gang rape and murder of a young woman in India has focused attention on violence against women across the whole subcontinent, and throughout the world, 1 in 3 women will be beaten or raped at some point during their life. So called ‘honour killings’ are also increasing in the UK and around the world.

Thankfully the campaign against violence is also big news. The women’s movement shows signs of growth, promising the courage and radicalism that forced change in the 1960s. This year Eve Ensler called for a global day of action on February 14th (chosen to challenge the commercialism of Valentine’s Day) to draw attention to violence against women and kick-start a campaign that can challenge sexism everywhere. A magnificent set of events took place all over the world. Check out the excellent coverage at the Guardian: One billion rising and don’t forget to look at our own guide to International Women’s Day (March 8th)

Girls: Smaller brains; different hormones; different neurology—just look at MRI scans; empathetic, caring; communicative.

Boys: Bigger brains: different hormones; different neurology—just look at MRI scans; logical, physical, functional.

Am I being deliberately provocative? Aren’t I just throwing stereotypes at you? For most of human history, of course, it’s been men that wrote about the differences between men and women. 99% of what was written, in books or in law, was to justify inequality. In the last hundred years or so two important things have happened. Men and women have won greater freedoms and greater equality whilst scientists have been able to explain more and more about the human body and mind. The weird thing is that the belief still persists—indeed its one of THE dominant ideas in society—that men and women ARE fundamentally different—they think differently and are ‘wired’ differently. The way most people become convinced of this is when they see the different ways boys and girls behave as they are growing up—even if their parents try really hard to treat them the same.

Trouble is, maybe it’s not true. Trouble is, it’s probably NOT true. Maybe women DO have slightly smaller brains; maybe they do have different hormones swirling around in their bodies and yes their MRI scans DO look different, but does that mean they are more empathetic and thus more suited to becoming a social worker rather than an architect?

It’s probably going to take more than me to convince you that men aren’t from Mars and women aren’t from Venus, I accept that, but that’s why you should dip into the brilliant selection of books we now have In the 6th form library that talk about women’s oppression and sexism. To think about this debate in particular check out Cordelia Fine’s fantastic, easy-to-read (meticulously researched) account of ‘neurosexism’, Delusions of Gender.

Centenaries

Sylvia Plath was a great American author and poet. She died in 1963, 50 years ago this February. She had suffered from depression since her teenage years and committed suicide aged just 31. Her marriage to the great British poet Ted Hughes has added to her fame but that should not obscure the deep and lasting effect her work has had.

She wrote poetry from the age of 8 and soon started writing short stories too. Many were published and won prizes long before her first collection of poems was published in 1960. She is best remembered for her poetry collection Ariel and her novel The Bell Jar. Both can be hard to read: they fictionalise and explore her own problems with mental illness and many other difficult themes yet they are startling, funny, exuberant and Mad Girl’s love Song profound too.

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my lids and all is born again.

(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red, And arbitrary blackness gallops in: I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. dreamed that you bewitched me into bed And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.

(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade: Exit seraphim and Satan's men: I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you'd return the way you said, But I grow old and I forget your name.

(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead; At least when spring comes they roar back again.

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

(I think I made you up inside my head.)"

A new centenary edition of The Bell Jar has just come out. It’s new cover (above right) has caused quite a stir.

Some people REALLY hate it. For others it has been the inspiration for parody.

Does the new cover trivialise Plath’s novel? Does it try to sell it as ‘chick-lit’? Certainly if you pick the book out expecting more Confessions of a Shopaholic you are going to be SERIOUSLY disappointed. On the other hand if it gets more young women to read such a great book is that such a bad thing?

What do you think?

There have been some excellent coverage in The Guardian. Try here and here.

Everyone at Swanshurst loves and respects Mr Smith for all the amazing things he does and for being a brilliant teacher. The Bookworm is privileged to welcome him into these pages.

TBW: Can you remember the first books you read?

MrS: I love books and always have done but actually I was a slow reader and put in some pretty low groups when I was in Infant School and early Junior School. I think they equated slow reading with ‘not being very bright’! Why was I a slow reader? I’m not certain although it may have been slight dyslexia. It didn’t stop me being interested in books as I was read to firstly by my mother and then by an uncle. I loved the Mary Norton books: The Borrowers, Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Uncle Alf brought me my first proper book: Doctor Doolittle’s Zoo by Hugh Lofting. This was about a man who could talk to animals and lovely because it is what I would have liked to do.

In the later years of the Junior School when my reading had ‘caught up’ my brother and I would walk to the Swan Library on the Coventry Road and regularly take out books. I loved the Viking stories

by Henry Treece and the history adventures of Geoffrey Treace, especially Cue for Treason, which is still in print. I also loved Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, which is all about pirates and is really good! Even then I was fascinated by history.

TBW: Is there one book that you identified as your favourite during these years?

MrS: I am very close to my brother, who is two years older than me and one day he brought me a book from his secondary school library. It was called

Swallows and Amazons and was written by Arthur Ransome. If a book can change your life then that one certainly did because it is still my favourite book and Arthur Ransome is still my favourite author. It is set in the late 1920s and features a family of four children, the Walkers, who are allowed to sail a boat on their own and to spend their holiday camping on an island in the middle of a lake. They meet two girls who call themselves the Amazons and then have lovely holiday adventures together. I was reading it at a time when my brother who had been the companion of my childhood, was growing away from me. I think that I felt lonely and here in Swallows and Amazons I had six new friends who have stayed with me for all of my life. It didn’t bother me that the children were middle class whilst I was working class from Birmingham and had never been in a sailing boat; I just loved their friendship. My mother bought me the book for Christmas and it is still one of my most treasured possessions. One of the advantages of being a slow reader was that I didn’t ‘burn out’ at 12 or 13 as a lot of young people seem to do and instead my appetite for books increased and I still am an avid book reader.

TBW: So what do read now?

MrS: I obviously still love history books and these can be fiction or nonfiction. I love the books of Michael Morpurgo and have recently read Warhorse and Private Peaceful. Again they are written for children but they both affected my deeply. You probably know about Warhorse, which is just beautifully written and so accurately explains about conditions in the First World War. It reminded me very much of Black Beauty by Anna Sewell as it is written from the horse’s point of view.

The last few chapters will have you in tears. The First World War is also the theme of Private Peaceful.

The early chapters are lovely as they describe the childhood of Thomas, Charlie and Molly. It reminds me of another really great book, Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee in the way it describes young Thomas’s first days at school and his friendship with his brother and love for the older Molly.

TBW: What about ‘adult’ literature?

MrS: I really enjoy detective fiction because they involve a puzzle and prefer older authors such as Dorothy L. Sayers, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Josephine Tey but also enjoy Ruth Rendell and Ian Rankin.

TBW: Do you read much non-fiction? One of things we’ve been doing in the library is to encourage the girls to read some of the bestselling popular science, history and politics titles.

MrS: My non-fiction books often are often dependent on what I am bought. One of the strangest was called Cod by Mark Kurlansky, which was about the history of cod fishing and why they should be protected. My mother-in-law bought me My Heroes by Ranulph Fiennes which was a collection of short biographies of people whom he admired.

At the moment I am reading Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth. It is beautifully written and is funny, informative and sad. I think that, were it not for the fact that I faint at the sight of blood, I could deliver a baby with the knowledge gained!

TBW: Any final words?

MrS: Books feed the mind and give you instant pictures without having to plug anything in. They require no batteries and give you 3D pictures with you as part of the story. Read books and feed your minds!

Our first Bookworm came out in the Spring.

There are articles on Dytopias, Horror and ‘books for rebels’. The Book Doctor recommends crime and thrillers. Ms Quayum writes about Stephen King. Ms Moody and Ms Osgood write about their favourite classic and a favourite contemporary novel plus Mr Beniston interviewed.

Our summer edition has two main features—one on comics and graphic novels with brilliant articles from Ms Russon and Mr Stock and another recommending novels that have featured in the Booker Prize shortlists. Ms Osgood and Ms Arif fight over the Brontes. Ms Hopkins interviewed. Momina Khan kicks off our movie section plus Anisa Younis on Dickens.

The autumn edition has Harry Potter in 30 words.

Ms Hardwick on Philip Pullman, Ms Osgood on Cornelia Funke, Eleanor Burgess on Tolkein, Ms Moody on Dianna Wynne-Jones, Ms Bridger on Alan Garner, Ella Crabtree and Ms Arif on Terry Pratchett.

Shannon Jones on Hardy. Mr Stock on Final Fantasy VII. New section on non-fiction books featuring scientist Brian Cox. Mr Beniston gets angry plus an extensive movie section.

Non-fiction

I study A level sociology and I found this book extremely helpful because it helped me understand a lot more about multiculturalism from all sides and understand further aspects of sociology in my lessons. I became more confident in answering questions and having debates in class.

Defending Multiculturalism is a vibrant, hard-hitting and informative collection of essays that sets out to defend Britain's multicultural way of life.

The contributors challenge David Cameron and others' statements that multiculturalism is to blame for dividing society. The best thinkers and writers in politics, academia and activism tackle questions such as 'Has Multiculturalism Failed?' and 'Are the White Working Class Excluded?'

This book contains all the arguments, information and context, historical and contemporary. It has twenty-three contributions including poems, photos, cartoons and short articles from people like politicians Peter Hain and Ken Livingstone, mainstream academics such as Tariq Modood to activist thinkers such as Salma Yaqoob, Liz Fekete and Billy Hayes. This collection makes a very accessible educational tool for anyone needing to understand racism in all its guises and the possibilities for resisting it.

In the 1970s and ’80s multiculturalism was a kind of a formal uncommitted term describing people’s right to their culture and customs. The concept avoided the more difficult idea of anti-racism which begged questions about class, power and justice. This book answers all the questions which were avoided back then and helps us to understand multiculturalism in more detail. [Marwa Safi]

How many of you are interested in politics?

Phrased like that I’m not sure many of you would say “YES! Politics is fascinating” So I could ask different questions.

Are you worried about getting a job when you leave school?

Are you worried about being in debt when you leave university?

Do you think Britain should have gone to war in Iraq or Afghanistan?

I’m sure most of you would have an opinion on all of those things and we would have interesting debates. So yes you probably are interested in politics. Now I’ll ask you three more.

Have you ever called anyone a Chav?

Has anyone called you a Chav (and if so how did that make you feel)?

Do you consider yourself working class or middle class?

In truth the word chav is probably government used slightly less now than it was a and the press as couple of years ago but Owen Jones’ they seek to brilliant book goes on to talk about convince us that much more. individual flaws So who is a chav? (and laziness) A chav is supposedly a member of the are the root (white) working class, known for cause of all our social problems (rather wearing hoodies; for being poor; for than government policies and the being loutish and stupid; known for endemic greed of the ruling class being on benefits. You get the idea. This within the capitalist system). is an image that is promoted by the Thus Jones doesn’t want us to stop media—especially the tabloids but also using ‘Chav’ because it’s politically by comedians and popular shows. incorrect but because it has become a Jones identifies two closely related concept weighted with meaning trends: the use of the word chav to contempt and derision for other human demean and belittle ordinary people beings and part of a deliberate strategy and secondly, the demonization of to ‘divide and rule’. working class men and women by the

Jones draws on the work of academics like Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson (authors of The Spirit Level) and Danny Dorling, who have done so much to expose the link between inequality (the massive gaps between rich and poor) and social problems. Remember that in Britain the richest 1% own 23% of all the wealth while the poorest half of our population owns just 6% of the nation’s wealth. He sums up the attitude of successive governments since the 1980s: “Those at the bottom are supposedly there because they are stupid, lazy or otherwise morally questionable. Demonization is the ideological backbone of unequal society” Politicians of all the main parties like to tell us “We’re all middle class now” but as Jones discusses, that’s about the only time the politicians or the media do mention class. They’d rather we didn’t think about class and inequality at all. Yet with numerous outrageous quotes and solid facts Jones shows how the ruling class are vigorously practising class war on us (to paraphrase GB Shaw).

Jones’ book is partisan. He’s from a tradition that call itself Old Labour. That means he is openly on the side of working class people and believes that they need to fight and campaign for a more fair and equal Britain. He doesn’t try to hide that fact. His excellent research and command of facts and

David Walliams and Matt Lucas both went to public school so Jones is not sure what they know about working class life. Do their creations promote stereotypes ?

concepts mean that his book is well argued. Reading his book you can’t help but think how this approach is much more honest and objective than many academic texts that conceal or cannot acknowledge their own prejudices and are invested in preserving the status quo.

Chavs is the kind of book that throws up debates wherever you go. For instance, his understanding of class is much closer to that of the 19th century thinker Karl Marx than it is to a modern sociological understanding. You might not agree with everything Jones says but it doesn’t matter because it will help you to clarify your own ideas and inspire you to find out more. It makes politics feel alive and important. A quick look at the current cabinet would make you think you have to be a millionaire to make a difference in the world. Jones’s book gives you a sense that it doesn’t and shouldn’t have to be that way.

Love

Love made me laugh and cry, but never did I write except in fire, in water, or in wind; Often I found that mercy Was cruel, always feeling myself die as others lived.

Sometimes from a darker abyss I rose to the sky, Sometimes I fell down again; Here at last I make my final stand!

Giovambattista Strozzi. 1593.

Princess Leia “I love you “ Han Solo “I know”

Soul meets soul on lovers lips.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

I pray you, do not fall in love with me, For I am falser than vows made in wine.

William Shakespeare (As you like it)

Favourite love stories? Try some of these recommendations from the English Dept

Jane Eyre: I love the fact that the hero and heroine are so unconventional but their passion is so intense and visceral. I also love it that when Jane eventually gets her man, she is the one who is in charge! [Ms Dowsett] Favourite love story: Persuasion. The final chapter in particular is amazing. In fact, I quite often just re-read the last chapter to relive how glorious it is. I always cry, of course I do. I think what I really love about it is the way Jane Austen plays with the reader—there are points in the book when you think that Anne and Captain Wentworth are finally going to be together, but she keeps pulling them apart. [Ms Moody] My favourite love story: Little Women. Okay, not officially a ‘love story’, but the stories deal with love in all its form, romantic, familial and friendship. I defy anyone to read these and not laugh and cry with each of the characters through all of their loves and losses . [Ms Osgood] The Remains of the Day: Unrequited love, 50 shades of suppression and the preservation of dignity at all costs makes this beautiful novel by Kazuo Ishiguro one of my all time favourites. The much-too-late realisation of what might have been is heartbreakingly sad. [Ms Ramage] I love the love the nine year old boy Oscar has for his father in Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close It’s very moving, sweet and true. [Ms Russon] We’ve already recommended some of the great love stories in previous issues of The Bookworm. You can read of Miss Osgood’s love for The French Lieutenant’s Woman; Shannon writes about the ill-fated Tess of the D’urbervilles and I write about The English Patient.

[The links for previous Bookworms are on P37]

Love All the romance you could ever need? Check out the lists at Good Reads. The Guardian has a Romance section and there are Zillions of blogs out there too.

At Swanshurst we have all the contemporary classics with love stories at their heart (see above) and Ms Lea regularly buys new stock—she can always offer great advice so don’t be afraid to ask.

Most stories deal with love and relationships in some way—lots of your favourite YA novels have romance and relationships at their heart (see above), or on the periphery (see below), of their stories.

I’ve always thought the label ‘chick-lit’ was a little bit demeaning; a bit snide, but I suspect neither the writers or the readers of these novels care too much. It has to admitted that some of these novels aren’t very literary— the writing style is basic and they’re very much shaped by the demands of plot. Equally, some of the writing is very good.

Undoubtedly some deal in wish-fulfilment and fantasy; others get stuck into the thornier side of love and relationships. Lots of these names may well be familiar to many of you - Adele Parks, Jane Green, Katie fforde, Marian Keyes, Freya North, Nicholas Sparks and Sophie Kinsella are all regularly at the top of the bestsellers’ lists. There are lots more—Joanna Trollope is an excellent writer, Philippa Gregory writes historical fiction but with a strong element of romance and if you want your fantasy laced with a dash of love and lust try Diana Gabaldon’s huge epics.

We have all of these writer’s books in Centre library . . . and parents you don’t need to worry: we don’t stock 50 Shades of Grey!!

Love

Lots of the rubbish people spout about LOVE can be fairly vomit inducing or ends up sounding like the kind of doggerel you get in greeting cards. The other difficulty is that words spoken earnestly or passionately in real life, or combined with music in a song, can sound very clichĂŠd when taken out of context. This, I freely admit, is a very random selection* taken from various sources.

Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering.

As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable. Bruce Lee We found love in a hopeless place. Rihanna You said I killed you - haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!

Emily Bronte (from Wuthering Heights) Un-break my heart, Say you'll love me again Toni Braxton The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out, You left me in the dark, No dawn, no day, I’m always in this twilight ...

Florence and the Machine (Cosmic Love)

Their lives were ruined,he thought; ruined by the fundamental error of their matrimonial union: that of having based a permanent contract on a temporary feeling.

Thomas Hardy (from Jude the Obscure) It’s just another day without you.

Jon Secada Oh, come to me in dreams my love!

I will not ask a dearer bliss; Come with the starry beams my love, And press mine eyelids with a kiss.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley What do you get when you kiss a guy?

You get enough germs to catch pneumonia.

After you do, he'll never phone you.

I'll never fall in love again Bert Bacherach and Hal David Lets do it, lets fall in love. Cole Porter Thou art to me a delicious torment.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Perhaps all romance is like that; not a contract between equal parties but an explosion of dreams and desires that can find no outlet in everday life. Only a drama will do and while the fireworks last the sky is a different colour.

Jeanette Winterson (The Passion) Take me out tonight Because I want to see people and I Want to see life The Smiths (There is a light that never goes out) *See the final page for a special sing-a-long-a-love-song!!!

Superheroes are everywhere. Look at the Top Ten grossing films o 2012 and you’ll see their phenomenal appeal. Huge success for The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man means that 2013 will be another big year for heroes. Iron Man 3 is out in April; Thor: The Dark World in October; Man of Steel and The Wolverine will be two of the big summer blockbusters, out in June and July.

Why does Hollywood love these films so much? Doh! - They make lots of money (even when they’re rubbish—such is the power of marketing); Marvel, DC and the film companies make billions out of the merchandising—toys and games, etc and finally they lend themselves to sequels. To be fair it’s also clear that a number of directors like Christopher Nolan, Bryan Singer and Zach Snyder

of aspire to bring a seriousness and something of an art-house e sensibility to these films too.

Secondly, and much more interestingly, why do we love these films so much? Certainly the biggest audience for these movies remains e boys and young men and so we can perhaps guess that a certain level of wish fulfilment is involved. Furthermore, we all love a blockbuster (well most of us) - they are full of action, thrills, e excitement and romance; they make optimum use of everimproving special effects and they include elements—fantasy and f sci-fi—central to the success of Hollywood over the last 35 years.

More than anything though I suspect they appeal to all manner of conflicting and complex desires within us.

Next issue: ‘The Politics of Superheroes’ - I bet you can’t wait!

Title Studio Worldwide gross 1 The Avengers Marvel Studios / Disney $1,511,757,910 2 The Dark Knight Rises Warner Bros. / Legendary Pictures $1,081,041,287 3 Skyfall MGM / Columbia $1,023,204,366 4 Ice Age: Continental Drift Fox / Blue Sky Studios $875,230,845 5 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Warner Bros. / MGM / New Line $824,834,893 6 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 Lionsgate / Summit Entertainment $813,833,356 7 The Amazing Spider-Man Columbia / Marvel Entertainment $752,216,557 8 Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted Paramount / DreamWorks $742,110,251 9 The Hunger Games Lionsgate $686,533,290 10 Men in Black 3 Columbia $624,026,776

CINEMA CLUB Mark Kermode I know quite a few of you already listen to Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo on Radio 5. There’s now a brilliant archive of their reviews on Youtube here and a great list of their Films of the Week here. Just a quick look at Kermode’s selections for 2012 will show you what a fantastic year for film it was.

The Baftas Did you all see Jennifer Lawrence blow me a kiss at the Baftas? That was for me. Me, me, me!!

A way into films I suspect that most of the film fans at Swanshurst don’t want to start analysing films and ‘taking them apart’ in the same way you analyse stories and poems in English. A lot of you say that it takes away the pleasure. I must admit I’ve never felt that way. If a book is good enough then it will stand up to scrutiny and if anything the satisfaction will be greater.

Films are a little different though. We generally aren’t taught at school about how films are put together, about how close ups, music or fast editing might influence how we feel and what we feel. Even reviews in the broadsheet newspapers rarely talk about structure and form. For that you have to read magazines like Sight and Sound or even do Film or Media Studies at A level or Uni. Most of you probably won’t get the opportunity to do that. There are however, alternatives.

One way would be to check out The Story of Film, made by film critic Mark Cousins. It’s a brilliant set of DVDs that I wish had been around when I was a teenager, falling in love with the movies. It’s a series of 15 one-hour episodes that charts the history of film from its beginnings in the last decade of the 19th century right through to the present day. Along the way you learn about all the innovators and innovations, the great directors and the great stars.

Cousins shows us how the story of film has been a global story—not just one confined to Hollywood— and he’s brilliant at giving you the basics of film theory without you even noticing it. Immediately you start to have slightly different insights when you’re watching a movie—it’s very exciting. The downside is that it is quite expensive—£37—so you’d have to look upon it as an investment and a treat.

New films Have you seen Warm Bodies yet? Funny, satirical AND romantic. 1 part Romeo and Juliet, 1 part Night of the Living Dead and 1 part of a John Hughes comedy from the 1980s. Amazingly good!

Just out on DVD is Ruby Sparks. I think it will appeal to fans of films like 500 Days of Summer and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In other words it’s not the familiar romantic comedy the trailer suggests it might be. Written by it’s young star Zoe Kazan, the movie takes you into much darker territory—think Frankenstein meets Pygmalion. It was made by the directors of Little Miss Sunshine so you know you’re in good hands.

Brilliant film

Brilliant book

Romantic movies, buddy movies, friendship movies—love can be found in all it’s guises on the Big Screen. (Clockwise from top-right) Robert Redford & Paul Newman are best of friends in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, as are Elliott and the alien in ET; Kristin Stewart & RPatz; Maggie Cheung & Tony Lau In the Mood for Love; Louise Brooks; Douglas Fairbanks Jnr.

Love stories have been central to the movies since their beginning. The magic of cinema means that it’s not just the love stories on screen that we fall for but the movie stars themselves. Movie fans adored stars like Douglas Fairbanks and Louise Brooks during the silent era and our front cover testifies to the on-going love story with Hollywood stars. If you’re looking for romance you should definitely check out this list of The Greatest Romantic Films Ever Made. My favourite comes in at number 3 on that list: A chance meeting between two strangers on a train speeding through Austria is the set-up for the charming 1995 movie Before Sunrise. American tourist Jesse (Ethan Hawke) manages to persuade French student Celine (Julie Delpy) to get off the train with him and spend one day wandering the streets of beautiful Vienna. They walk, they talk, they walk some more, and what seems a rather thin set-up for a full movie turns out to be a compelling meeting of hearts and minds.

The knowledge that this brief encounter will probably be the only one somehow frees the two to open up in a way that it is hard to imagine in more conventional circumstances. Wide-eyed Jesse hasn’t yet found full expression for his philosophy, and Celine is a somewhat cynical romantic, but the way the two relate to each other, bonding ever more closely, is captivating.

Even a trip to a record store and the act of listening to an old folk song through headphones in a booth becomes laden with significance. After all the talking, the moment where they simply stop and listen somehow speaks loudest of their true yearnings.

A huge question mark is left at the end of the movie. I had to wait nine long years for the sequel, Before Sunset (2004), to find out what happened to Jesse and Celine. This equally beautiful movie picks up the characters in Paris and we discover their fate. Those fortunate enough to be discovering the series for the first time need only wait until later this year for the conclusion to the trilogy, Before Midnight.

[Ms Yates]

Love

Jennifer Lopez, then aged 20, and proving that she could be a great movie star, even if she would barely manage to pick a good role again. Out of Sight is a romantic comedy wrapped in a thriller. Clooney is a bank robber, Lopez the cop he inadvertently meets; they sizzle and snap, their chemistry palpable. The two hours flash by. Now open a new packet of popcorn and dive straight into Up in the Air (2009).

Clooney is much harder to like initially in this one. He’s Ryan, a charming loner; an executive who flies across America sacking people for other companies. Is his life empty and shallow? You decide. He meets Alex (Vera Farmiga) Let me introduce myself. I am The she just might be his soul mate. Next a Movie Doctor. I was around way beyoung woman, Nathalie (Anna fore Ms Hopkins stole the idea for The Kendrick) joins the firm and Ryan must Book Doctor (and I’m SO much cool- show her the ropes. The two women er). I’m here to beat orthodoxy to get under his skin—maybe Ryan wants death with a pointy stick and suggest a different sort of life after all. . . Up in some brilliant romantic films. the Air gets better with each repeated For my first double bill I give you . . . viewing.

George Clooney. In 1989 Clooney was But maybe this is the night you’re 28; his co-star in Out of Sight was after something more classically romantic. Fear not I have the answer for that too.

Bright Star (2009) is the best film by the New Zealand auteur Jane Campion. Ben Wishaw plays the romantic poet John Keats and Abbie Cornish plays Fanny Brawne, the independent, free–spirited young woman he falls for.

Keats died when he was 25 so don’t

More realistically, just out on DVD are two of last year’s best films. Rust and Bone features an AMAZING performance from Marion Cotillard whilst Jennifer Lawrence is equally good in Silver Linings Playbook.

They’re both complex, satisfying films. expect a happy ending. Ah well, give yourself 30 minutes of quiet contemplation—it IS a beautiful, enigmatic film—and then begin again.

The Artist (2011) is the movie that swept up at all the award ceremonies last year. It harks back to the classics of silent cinema and the feel-good charm of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Yes it IS a silent movie but the soundtrack will get you dancing along, the jokes will make you laugh and you’ll be desperate for the gorgeous stars, Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo to get together at the end.

So it’s Sunday, there really is nothing else to do. What’s our final double bill?

Should we could get a little pretentious? I already am and you lot are allowed. Maybe an afternoon of the French New Wave is in order, films to get the blood racing of any burgeoning movie buff: Jean-Luc Godard’s exhilarating Breathless (1960) followed by François Truffaut’s beguiling, mysterious noir, Mississippi Mermaid (1969). If anyone does watch these films, make sure you tell me!

Finally, because I can, I’ll suggest two of my all-time favourite films. First Out of Africa (1986) - how I wanted to be Robert Redford when I was 16! (I know—it’s sad). Even better is Last of the Mohicans (1992) with the heartstoppingly beautiful Madeleine Stowe falling for Daniel Day Lewis. It gives us these lines: “I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you” So there.

Ms Hopkins: Evil genius You may think that Mr & Mrs Twit are a miserable married couple because of how horrible they are to each other, but I would argue that they’re misunderstood—their cruelty is actually a manifestation of their affection. Plenty of people love a good prank (or nasty trick – depending on your sensibility) and the Twits are pros; wormy spaghetti, a glass eye at the bottom of his beer jug and, my personal favourite, Mr Twit making Mrs Twit think that she’s shrinking – genius! Secretly, I think they enjoy trying to outwit each other and have a great deal of respect for each other’s cunning. They also work together as a team to try and catch birds for their pies demonstrating a perfect partnership! Yes, they’re nasty, horrid characters who hate everything except, I think, each other.

Because if they REALLY hated each other, surely one of them would have left, or worse!

Some relationships thrive on things like bickering, tension or drama and The Twits are a fine example of this. The key is that they BOTH enjoy this trickery otherwise it would just be plain nasty. (Besides, who could resist a man who keeps cornflakes, sardines and stilton in his beard – Yum!)

Mr Stock: Misanthrope I feel I need to raise a concern, especially as we’ve just had Valentine’s Day: love, sentimentality, tears?

What on earth is coming next? Flowery decorations and pink ponies? Not that I have a problem with people falling in love. Go for it; let the chemical reaction occur in your brain and the relationship unfold. Indulge in the Hallmark holidays and watch your pocket empty, wasted on flowers that will inevitably die on your windowsill like the very relationship itself they represented. What will be left at the end of this journey? A broken person, a shell of their former selves, someone with no love for anything in the world. A misanthrope, you could say. Not that I’m one or anything.

Mr Beniston: Angry Every Christmas, I’m obliged to sit down with some part of my family and watch something I would normally avoid. This year it was the Inbetweeners Movie that had, during 2011, broken box office records. Having seen a couple of episodes on TV I’d guffawed a couple of times but figured I only had to listen to the conversation in a school playground for this level of wit. The film manages to be worse—the boys are obnoxious and vile, and worst of all, the girls are pathetic to put up with them. Fans of the film won’t care about my opinion but they generally defend it in two ways: Isn’t this how teenage boys are? Well yep, I’m sure some are but is that to be celebrated? Really? Secondly, they’ll claim I’m missing the point, that it’s actually ironic—you laugh at the boys BECAUSE they are so pathetic—not at they’re sexism, homophobia and borderline racism. Not true: watching Ted at the cinema, it’s the sexism and the homophobia that got the biggest laughs. To be fair this strain of irony, or what purports to be irony, is to be found everywhere: from Jimmy Carr to Keith Lemon, from the films of Sacha Baron Cohen to Chris Moyles. That you can find it everywhere doesn’t make it funny or OK, it just reinforces and naturalises the poisonous atmosphere of sexism that pervades our society.

Patrick Ness: Genius Everyone loves Patrick Ness and if you don’t — ughhh: there’s probably something wrong with you and you need to see a doctor. Thus Mr Ness will always get a dark corner in The Bookworm.

Dates for your diary: The Crane’s Wife, his first ‘adult’ novel for some time will be released in April.

Then in September …… a new YA novel AS WELL! It’s called More Than This. Ness hasn’t told us yet what it will be about but you can check up for regular updates on his website.

If I was a flower growing wild and free All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.

And if I was a tree growing tall and green All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves All I want is you, will you be my bride Take me by the hand and stand by my side All I want is you, will you stay with me?

Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall, The rumble of your water would be my call.

If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow Just as long as you were with me, when the cold winds blow.

All I want is you, will you be my bride Take me by the hand and stand by my side All I want is you, will you stay with me?

Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you If you If you And if

were a wink, I'd be a nod were a seed, well I'd be a pod. were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

All I want is you, will you be my bride Take me by the hand and stand by my side All I want is you, will you stay with me?

Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you If you If you And if

were the wood, I'd be the fire. were the love, I'd be the desire. were a castle, I'd be your moat, you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.

All I want is you, will you be my bride Take me by the hand and stand by my side All I want is you, will you stay with me?

Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

Barry Louis Polisar (from Juno)