I have had a very productive morning!
My local library, South Yardley, had Annie Murray speaking at their monthly coffee morning, so I went along. Apart from the librarians, I was the youngest person by about thirty years. I can see why Murray's books would appeal to the older generation. In my case, I like that I know intimately the streets the characters walk on; someone older than me could picture them at the right time, as well.
I got my copy of My Daughter, My Mother signed. Soldier Girl is actually my favourite, but I don't own a copy. Also, My Daughter, My Mother is special to me because it's about two single mothers, one of them originally from India/Pakistan, in Birmingham in 1984. I'm half Indian, and I was born in Birmingham in '88. As I said when she signed it, that book is the one that's most about me. Most recently - as in, I finished it at half one this morning - I read Chocolate Girls, about three women living around Bournville/Selly Oak during the second world war and the decade or so afterwards. I liked it. It was a bit hard to push through at first, but it really picked up near the end, and I read the last two hundred or so pages in one go.
I had a nice chat with the cute librarian on the way out. I found a graphic novel of I Am Legend, so we started talking about that. He hadn't read it or seen all of the film. I am disappointed in the cute librarian (not really). I told him that I liked that the main character was black, even though it was Will Smith, who is the black guy who doesn't scare white people. I like white people - my mother is one - but, I swear to god, you could pick up any book in the average British library, and some ridiculous percentage will have a white person as the main character.
Then we talked about The Hunger Games. I started to point out that olive skin isn't freckly, but then remembered that I am olive-skinned and currently have freckles on my shoulders, so I shut up on that point. We agreed that the outcry over Rue looking exactly as she was described - ie, black - was ridiculous, and he conceded that the casting call for Katniss specifying a white actress was a bit much.
My local library, South Yardley, had Annie Murray speaking at their monthly coffee morning, so I went along. Apart from the librarians, I was the youngest person by about thirty years. I can see why Murray's books would appeal to the older generation. In my case, I like that I know intimately the streets the characters walk on; someone older than me could picture them at the right time, as well.
I got my copy of My Daughter, My Mother signed. Soldier Girl is actually my favourite, but I don't own a copy. Also, My Daughter, My Mother is special to me because it's about two single mothers, one of them originally from India/Pakistan, in Birmingham in 1984. I'm half Indian, and I was born in Birmingham in '88. As I said when she signed it, that book is the one that's most about me. Most recently - as in, I finished it at half one this morning - I read Chocolate Girls, about three women living around Bournville/Selly Oak during the second world war and the decade or so afterwards. I liked it. It was a bit hard to push through at first, but it really picked up near the end, and I read the last two hundred or so pages in one go.
I had a nice chat with the cute librarian on the way out. I found a graphic novel of I Am Legend, so we started talking about that. He hadn't read it or seen all of the film. I am disappointed in the cute librarian (not really). I told him that I liked that the main character was black, even though it was Will Smith, who is the black guy who doesn't scare white people. I like white people - my mother is one - but, I swear to god, you could pick up any book in the average British library, and some ridiculous percentage will have a white person as the main character.
Then we talked about The Hunger Games. I started to point out that olive skin isn't freckly, but then remembered that I am olive-skinned and currently have freckles on my shoulders, so I shut up on that point. We agreed that the outcry over Rue looking exactly as she was described - ie, black - was ridiculous, and he conceded that the casting call for Katniss specifying a white actress was a bit much.
