Three Men In A Boat

When I was younger, I asked my mum what her favourite book was. I don't know what I expected the answer to be but "Three Men in a Boat" was a little perplexing. I'd never heard of it and I couldn't for the life of me imagine how a story about three men in a boat could possibly be as interesting as books about dragons and spaceships and adventures.

I'm sorry to say that I never made the effort to find out. So, when I saw that there was a Radio 4 Classic Serial version coming along, I knew I had to listen. Even more so when I found out that it starred Steve Punt, Hugh Dennis and Julian Rhind-Tutt <insert swoon>.

I truly laughed out loud when listening and I'd recommend giving it a go if you're similarly ignorant. Now I have to know how much of that is down to the dramatisation and how much to the original material. I may not have had the sense to take my mum's recommendation when I was little but Three Men in a Boat is definitely on my reading list now.

The Chrysalids

Well, this is  my one-hundredth post. No one is more surprised than me, I didn't imagine that I'd manage to keep this up past four or five. No comments about how photos of yarn or random things don't count.

Anyway. A few months ago we were discussing books in work. I'm pretty devoted to my books. I'm far too over-protective about the condition of the covers, I don't lend them to anyone and the idea that I might get rid of a book once I'd read it is utterly unthinkable. The person I was talking to is the complete opposite and the argument he put forward was: "You only read 1000 books in your life time, why would you go back to the same book twice?"

At the time, I couldn't clearly frame my reasons for reading some books over and over. It's easy enough to try to make an analogy like, "You watch films more than once" or "You go back to the places that you enjoy more than once". But it's more than that. Reading is an experience that depends as much upon the reader as the book. I return to books because, although they may be the same, I'm not.

I don't return to every book but there are three or four that I go back to every few years and one of these is The Chrysalids, a novel by John Wyndham that was dramatised on Radio 4 a couple of weeks ago (sorry, it's already fallen off iplayer). It's the story of a young man with telepathic-like powers in a world that fears and punishes any difference from the norm.

I'm not sure exactly how old I was when I first read it but I was probably around eleven. It wasn't the first book for adults that I'd read but it was the first time that I read a book and realised that, while I enjoyed it, I was only seeing one facet of the story. To an eleven year old girl, it's an adventure story about a boy with special powers who works with his friends to escape the dangers of their village. But every time I've re-read the book, I've found something more in it. As a teenager it was a story about not fitting in. As an adult it's a story about the terrible things that people can do when they believe that they're right.

There was an adaptation of the Chrysalids in 1981, broadcast in the last year on 4 Extra but it felt like a dramatisation of my eleven-year-old understanding of the book. The recent two-hour version captured the atmosphere of fear, paranoia and secrecy that I came to recognise in the book as I grew older.

With a core set of characters that are children growing to young adults, it'd be easy to concentrate on these aspects but the play focused on the implications of their 'deviations' and the tyranny of the society that feared them. Obviously there's a lot of detail that is missing from any adaptation but it didn't feel missing. Despite knowing every inch of the plot I still thoroughly enjoyed the play.

Representing their thought-shapes into words over the radio is bound to be a bit of a simplification but it was well handled. Just confusing and noisy enough to remind us that it's not exactly words but clear enough to be clearly understood. The overall effect was to draw you into their world and drive home the uniquely close relationships between main characters as they shared their thoughts and feelings. Something that definitely passed me by when I first discovered the boo

I'd recommend listening to The Chrsysalids if it's broadcast again. And if not then I'd recommend the book, regardless of your age. It's a story that will grow with you.

Personal History

I wish Plantagenet had been on in the nineties. History is a subject I couldn't warm to in school, it never seemed particularly real or important to me. Would that have been different if I'd had an enthralling radio drama to transform those names into people? Ummmm... Probably not. I really, really disliked history.

But, as an adult, I was more thoroughly drawn into the life of Henry V while listening to Plantagenet than I ever was during history lessons. Or, for that matter, during English GCSE as our unfortunate teacher tried desperately to make us love - or at least quietly tolerate - Shakespeare's Henry V. It was easier after we'd been to the RSC and seen a production starring a rather good looking actor as Henry, but that was not entirely the point.

If you've not heard Plantagenet before, please give it a go. Particularly if you think you have no interest in history. It's in its third series and, from what I gather on the BBC site, this is the last (no surprise really as they must be running short on Plantagenet kings by now). 

The first thing to say is that this is not a history lesson. What's the top fact that most people know about Henry V? That he won the battle of Agincourt. Well, Henry V: True Believers completely skips that and concentrates on two aspects of Henry's life: the time before he became king; and his marriage with the French princess, Catherine.

I don't remember much about Shakespeare's Henry V. It was about war and Shakespeare was setting out what it meant to be a good king. Also, I think there were some french puns. But, after listening to Plantagenet yesterday, I wanted to read the play again. I had never really understood that those events at Agincourt sat in the context of a wider and far more interesting life.  An arrow to the face? Burning old friends to death? Perhaps a victory in France is one of the less interesting thing about him.

I've loved Plantagenet since I heard the first series, it never fails to bring its historical figures to life. That's not to say that the story should be confused with cold, hard history. Far from it. One of the strongest themes of True Believers was the myth drawn up around Henry V which carved a path through the history books. It began before he took the throne and ended long after his death. Taking Mike Walker's version of Henry to heart would be as misguided as trusting to Shakespeare's fiction of Prince Hal, debauched youth reborn into a noble and exemplary king.

But this is drama. And it's spectacular drama. It makes you care, it makes you understand. It takes those dusty historical figures and throws them at you covered in mud and blood, wreathed in passion and hatred. A drama like this brings to life a world that would otherwise stay buried under half-remembered GCSE texts and the dry dates of history.

I'll take dramatic licence every time.