News

At last we've got sunshine and warm weather, and coinciding with a Bank Holiday and Half Term, too - who'd have thought it?!

But, while it's a time for getting out in the garden, or being by the beach, we've also hit the season of book festivals.

I remember last year sitting in the shade with my laptop pumping out the latest talks from the Hay Festival, and I'm looking forward to repeating the experience in the next few days.

I've been enjoying and appreciating my garden much more in the past 18 months, so I'm particularly pleased to be talking to the gardening writer Anna Pavord at The Cut Halesworth later this month. I'll have details about this and other author events next week.

But tomorrow evening I wonder who might find a quiet corner of the garden from which to join in our book group discussion?

We didn't used to meet on a Bank Holiday and, with a lovely summery evening, perhaps you'll be tempted to go elsewhere, but if not, please reply to this email to receive the details on logging in. We'll be talking about 'Here We Are' by Graham Swift and I hope to see you there!

Although the easing of restrictions is welcome, it has still seemed rather strange!

I've been so used to the fact that theatres, cinemas, museums and galleries have been closed for so long that reading about performances and exhibitions has been almost like learning about things happening in another sphere, rather than something I might like to act upon.

There are many events and activities which look very appealing.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to take a trip to London, but The Woman Who Fell in Love with an Island is very tempting. It is all about Tove Jansson's home in Finland, and the fantastical world of the Moomins she created, told through the perspective of the Walthamstow Wetlands! There is an interactive trail and an exhibition in the Engine House, but the website also provides a wealth of information including a wonderful video of Jansson on her remote island.

And while Alice in Wonderland is the inspiration for another literary themed exhibition, this time at the V&A, it touches on how this children's story has influenced so many facets of life since its publication - everything from psychedelia to avant garde cuisine to quantum physics! Take a look at it here.

If you don't feel like venturing far, there are now an increasing number of book festivals streaming online throughout the summer months. This week, for example, it's the start of the Hay Festival which I found incredibly stimulating last year as I listened to many talks with authors I might otherwise not have discovered.

And we're approaching the end of the month, so I'll be distributing the log in details for our May online book group meeting this week. On Monday 31 May we'll be discussing 'Here We Are' by Graham Swift. Reply to this email if you'd like to take part.

Another milestone in the further easing of lockdown tomorrow is being met with some trepidation as we contend with variants of the virus.

But as we hope to move forward, it's been interesting to read articles and listen to discussions exploring the new challenges being met by society slowly coming together again.

Yesterday I caught Thought for the Day on Radio Four, presented by writer and journalist Martin Wroe. You can listen to it here (after 50 minutes).

He suggests that we are now entering the 'new awkward'. We've been given advice on how to hug safely, for example. And we are seeing the polarisation of character traits in different responses to the ongoing situation. Some people find rules bring freedom through clarity, while others find they are constraining.

He goes on to describe how the past year has given us an opportunity to consider the future. Was lockdown pressing pause or was it an opportunity for a reset button, he asks. If the new normal is not going to be just a vaccinated version of the old normal, we might need some different ways of living.

One consequence of the past year, of course, has been the rise in dog ownership!

If your new normal features a four-legged companion, you might be interested in hearing Simon Garfield speak about his latest book 'Dog's Best Friend' next Sunday. This is a fundraising event for The Cut in Halesworth. You can join online for free, but donations are encouraged to help support the reopening of this marvellous arts centre. Scroll down for details.

But with many things still in limbo and new behaviours to take on board, some people are naturally feeling uneasy about mixing freely again, as numerous articles about anxiety are addressing.

So I was interested to read a throwaway line in one magazine which stated that research has shown poetry may be a surprisingly effective antidote. Medical sociologists in the USA have been investigating its therapeutic effects in health conditions for the past decade. I haven't been able to discover more details or suggested poems or poets to try. Perhaps we need to devise our own list?!

This week has seen prospective candidates in no doubt whether they have succeeded or failed in their attempts to seek election for government. But how do we measure success in our own lives?

Many people have read 'The Midnight Library' by Matt Haig which I am discussing on BBC Radio Suffolk this week. It's topped the bestseller charts as hardback, paperback and now also as audiobook. This interesting and enjoyable story has much to say about regret and achievements, success and failure in life, and its message resonated with me.

"Too often our view of success is about some external idea of achievement," says Nora, the central character as she looks back on her life, considering what she believes were missed opportunities and poor decisions. Her life could have been about winning medals, having a family, earning well and being highly regarded in a career. But, she concludes "success isn't something you measure, and life isn't a race you can win."

There is a false assumption that "if we simply achieve more, the feeling of success will follow," says presenter and author Simon Sinek in his book 'Start With Why', which I describe below. "It rarely does...Achievement is something you reach or attain, like a goal. Success, in contrast, is a feeling or a state of being...Success comes when we wake up every day in that never-ending pursuit of WHY we do WHAT we do."

He goes on to describe how the best businesses and most inspirational entrepreneurs - companies like Apple, pioneers like the Wright brothers, and leaders like Martin Luther King - have all 'started with why'. 

These are very different books, but both have a great deal to ponder about motivation, purpose and fulfilment.

There'll be other suggestions for reading matter in the second series of the BBC book programme 'Between the Covers' which returns tomorrow at 7.30pm. One of the guests is Griff Rhys Jones, who has visited us in Woodbridge a number of times. You can read more about his connection to Suffolk here. Griff used to present his own book programme many years ago, called 'Bookworm' I think, which I remember very fondly!

Thank you for reading.

I've been thinking a lot about the life of the actress Helen McCrory since the news of her death a couple of weeks ago.

I'd always very much enjoyed and admired her work in the theatre and on screen and I've been inspired, but saddened, by the articles reporting her strength of character, and her joy of life.

One of the stories that has been told repeatedly is her determination to attend the Drama Centre school in London.

Despite failing the audition, she recognised that it was where she needed to be, so wrote to the director to say that she would apply every year until they accepted her, even sending him copies of the places she had won on other courses but had turned down waiting for his acceptance.

This determination and perseverance, and also a clear sense of destiny, is also apparent in the women who feature in my reading this week.

Beatrix Potter had a privileged but lonely upbringing, and had to contend with certain expectations of how she would live her life. But she recognised that she had created something very special with her stories for children, and she pursued publishers until they saw it too.

Lee Miller wanted first to be a model, then a photographer, and then a war reporter for Vogue magazine. Not able to secure a job, she attended the studio every day until they offered her work. She subsequently made an astonishing contribution to the magazine and invaluable historic records of that time.

How marvellous to be so sure of your goal and to be so confident and single-minded in its pursuit.

Thank you for reading.