I have been watching a few series on books over the past couple of weeks. One of them I have mentioned before and is The Beauty of Books. This week it was about illustrated books, mainly about Alice in Wonderland but in general on how these books developed from illuminated manuscripts and how the interaction between the text of a book and the pictures can create a wonderful bocks if these elements work together well. The whole series traces the history of the books from its initial beginnings to... well, I guess we'll find out at the end of the series.
Another series I have been following is on BBC2 and called My Life in Books. I have to say that this has been a bit hit and miss. Anne Robinson is a bit repetitive in how she approaches her guests and in how she asks them about their choices but the guests usually make up for that. The people that have been on have been varied although some episodes have proven to be less interesting than others. Some people read some weird books! It was kind of interesting to discover that a number of guests have studied English and ended up in television.... maybe I need to start thinking about a change in careers?
The other good thing about the series is that you get to hear about all kinds of books. Some that I think I should really read and some that I think I will probably never read. Also, all of it has made me think a lot about what books have been important in my life and which ones I would like to take to a desert island. I'm not sure how big the suitcase would be that I could fill on the "trip" to the deserted island, but some books that I would like to take to keep me company are:
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Ghost Stories - MR James
Greek Myths - Robert Graves
Macbeth - William Shakespeare
Collected stories of Sherlock Holmes - AC Doyle
I might think of some more in a while......
NB: remember 5 March it is World Book Night!!!
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