Compulsive Colour Addiction

Following on from my last feast of fairytales, I've dug out all my lovely old and battered copies of Andrew Lang's Coloured Fairy Books. If you have never read one of Lang's collections, you're in for a treat - he writes so elegantly and the collection is so diverse, you can never get sick of them. They are compulsive reading for all lovers of fairy tales.

I wish I owned the complete collection. I have most of them but never managed to get my hands on The Yellow Fairy Book, which is ironic as it's my favourite colour. Nothing makes me feel as covetous as a beautiful book.

More old friends

The covers can't reveal how much pleasure the stories inside have delivered to their readers, especially me. The book on the left is my oldest edition of Hans Christian Anderson's complete stories. It's a
Nelson's Classic, cloth-covered and originally cost 1 shilling and sixpence, though I'm not sure when it was published. When I was a kid, I used to keep it under my pillow.

'The Old, Old Fairy Tales' is a collection of French fairy tales, edited by 'Mrs Valentine'. I think it's a 19th century edition. It includes classics like Graciosa and Percinet by Madame D'Aulnoy, Prince Fatal and Prince Fortune by La Princesse De Beaumont and a swag of stories retold by Charles Perrault including Fortunatus and the Wishing Cap. Mmmmm.... lovely.

Old Friends

I'm having a big week indulging in fairy tales. I'm not getting a lot of writing done but I'm having a great time trying to think up justifications for why I need to re-read yet another old collection of fairy tales. I could pretend it's because Jack Zipes is coming to Melbourne this week to speak about his work at the CBCA Conference on Friday. But I suspect it's just nostalgia.
On the right is a picture of my most loved, though sadly degraded copy of The Complete Grimm's. Thirty years ago, when I lived in Southern California, Rick, a beautiful, golden-skinned young hippy, gave it to me in exchange for my copy of Eugene O'Neill's play 'Long Day's Journey into Night'.

Rick and I both lived in a very alternative indoor-outdoor share-house owned by a man called Sundancer. It was lit with fairy lights and had 'roll-up' plastic walls. One night, we sat up late in the flickery darkness and I told him some of my favourite fairy-tales. Amazingly, Rick, who was from Tennesee, had never heard a fairy tale in his life. A week later, he turned up with this giant copy of Grimm's that he'd shoplifted from a bookshop in San Diego. Maybe it was his guilty conscious or maybe he was daunted by the sheer weight of the book, but it was his idea to exchange my O'Neill for his Grimm's. I definitely got the better deal.

Annotated Everything

I never fully recovered from my childhood addiction to fairy tales. When I was a teenager suffering from insomnia, I'd read fairy tales for hours in an attempt to lull myself to sleep. It didn't usually work but it gave me a very grown-up appreciation of those precious, old stories we often take for granted. Even now, I love sitting up half the night re-reading old favourites.

Recently, I borrowed two collections from my daughter, Ruby, and they've been keeping me company into the small hours. I actually gave her both these collections on two separate Christmases but I think I'll have to go out and buy my own copies 'cause I'm not looking forward to having to part with these. They're beautiful editions and much nicer to hold than my battered old 'Complete Grimms' or my much-loved but badly foxed copies of Andrew Lang's coloured fairy books.

I'm not always a fan of annotated editions of books. Sometimes the notes can interrupt the flow of the stories but I like the way these books are laid out. You can ignore the annotations and go back to them or you can skim through the annotations and chew over the ideas. And there is so much to think about with a really good story, especially these ones that have survived the test of time.

The writer who conquered historical fiction

I love Jackie French's historical writing. She has such a great eye for detail, for capturing the minutaie that lends her stories their authenticity.

Her latest book is set in Ancient Egypt, long before the building of the pyramids. It's a great adventure story which isn't slowed down in the slightest by the huge amount of historical fact that she's worked into the backdrop. It takes real skill to make history come alive like this and with each new book, Jackie French does it better. Pharaoh, the boy who conquered the Nile has been shortlisted for the CBCA Older Readers Award but it doesn't need a prize to confirm that it's a really great read.

Anzac Day

When I was growing up, I never went to an Anzac Day Parade, even though eight of my great-uncles had served during WWI. By the end of that war, all my family had very conflicting views about military service. One of my grannys had lost her only brother to the trenches. Some of my other great-uncles came back permanently scarred by their experiences. My father's family became pacificsts. My mother's family, who had suffered the worse losses, viewed things differently. WWI cast its shadow across the generations.

David Metzenthen's new book Black Water is a very lyrical telling of what happens to young Farren Fox when his older brother returns wounded from WWI. Black Water has been shortlisted for heaps of prizes this year, including the CBCA Older Readers Award and the NSW Premier's Award and it's easy to see why.

Sometimes, when I'm reading David Metzenthen's work, I can hear the echoes of my grandfather's voice - a very poetic, intrinsically Australian voice. When I was a small child, I used to go and stay with my war veteran grandfather in Canberra and a visit to the War Memorial was always an important part of our time together. Next month, I'll be going up to Canberra on a May Gibbs Creative Fellowship. Though my grandfather is long dead, I'm sure I'll hear his voice there again. Some people whom we've loved and lost never really leave us.

Short and sweet

There's probably a lot of Australian writers blogging about this little book at the moment. It's 'a collection of interesting short stories and other stuff from some surprising and intelligent people' - including me.

The royalties from Short are to go to the very worthy Big Brothers Big Sisters, a charity that finds mentors for young people. I liked the connection and I like the collection. It's got lots of fun and quirky bits and pieces between the covers and a very cute design. Very desirable on every front.

The story that I contributed is called 'The Rat Swallower' and is based on a true and fairly disgusting incident in a sideshow alley. But there are dozens of interesting bits and pieces from all sorts of writers. I especially liked Kate Constable's ghost story, 'The White Boat' and the very bizarre adventures of 'Pickle Man' by Connor O'Brien. Keep an eye out for this collection. It's worth buying, owning and reading.