Frankenstein, me and Pip Adam's podcast

Pip Adam, who, if you don't already know, is a really interesting New Zealand writer, all-around lovely and interesting person, and my virtual neighbour (she lives just down the hill from me) has recently started a podcast with the rather perfect title: Better off Read.

I was initially rather alarmed when she asked to talk to me about Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, because I'm really not expert (or very well-read) in 19th-century literature, and it must surely be at least a decade since I've read Frankenstein. But when she said that I shouldn't  re-read it, and that it was our memories of it we would talk about, I started feeling a little calmer. Also, once I listened to a few of her previous podcasts, and understood that the book is just a place to leap off from to other related subjects, I started to feel that I could perhaps actually manage this.

We recorded the podcast on Friday, and it turned out to be actually very fun. It was just like having a really good conversation with Pip, as I do every time we do have a conversation, except that I was a bit more self-concious about a) not coughing (I am recovering from a cold) and b) not rambling (which I have a tendency to do).

As well as Frankenstein the novel, we also talk about its author, Mary Shelley, about movie versions, about a poem I wrote inspired by Mary Shelley and her novel, about other of my poems, especially in My Iron Spine and Cinema, and some other random stuff I expect.

If you're interested, you'll find it here: https://betterreadnz.wordpress.com/2014/12/13/frankenstein/, and do listen to her other ones too. I haven't previously been a listener of podcasts - I didn't see quite how they could fit into my life - but I've started listening to them while doing dishes. Nice to be learning something while doing housework. Makes it less tedious (the housework - not the learning).

A book that caught my eye: I'm Working on a Building by Pip Adam

Recently I had the opportunity to write a piece for the Book Council about a book that had caught my eye, design-wise. After a few days considering what I wanted to write about, I settled on a book I'd finished reading (twice - once forward, once backward). This isn't so much about the graphic design of the cover, but more about the physical/structural design of the cover, and how how it reflects the novel inside.

A book that caught my eye: Helen Rickerby

It isn’t until you hold the book in your hands and begin to read that you’ll really get just how disorienting the cover design of I’m Working on a Building by Pip Adam is.

We all know how book covers work: there’s a back and a front and a spine. The spine is on the left of the front cover, and the right of the back cover. We know how novels work: characters move through time chronologically (even if there are flashbacks); there’s a beginning, a middle and an end – in that order. But let go of what you think you know…

Read the rest on the Book Council site...