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Polka Dot Rock

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  1. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi "Now in one volume, both parts of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi's brilliant memoir-in-comic-strips about growing up in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution." - Blurb from the back cover The narrative of Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel appears to be a basic one: Part One details her childhood from the age of ten, encompassing her relationship with her family and her family's history, all against the backdrop of the Islamic revolution and war with Iraq. It ends with her leaving Iran at fourteen, after her family decided that it would be best for her safety (and liberal sanity) if she continues her education in Europe. Part Two picks up from this point, with Satrapi in Austria. The first half of Part Two shows how Satrapi battles her isolation and cultural identity, only to end up on the streets and very depressed. At hitting bottom, she concludes that she must return to her family in Iran. However, upon returning she discovers that her isolation and identity problems are not exclusive to Europe... The rest I'll let you read for yourselves if you should so wish! Satrapi's graphic novel has had a lot of press attention, not least because it tackles the issues surrounding contemporary Iran. In this respect, Satrapi pulls no punches and her perspective allows an understanding and empathy that many written accounts of Iran have not been able to convey. The issue of the veil is ever-present throughout, as Marjane must adapt to wearing it twice: once as a child, then again upon her return, after years of not wearing it. I enjoyed both parts of Persepolis, although I found Part Two especially riveting as Marjane struggles with adapting to life in Iran again and relating to other Iranian women. Despite the serious and occasionally harrowing themes of Persepolis, it is wonderfully funny and very witty - particularly the young Marjane. One of the central philosophies of Marjane's life appears to be "If you don't laugh, you'll cry". The illustrations are deceptively simple; bold, monochrome, line drawings. Yet, like the understated prose, they capture a whole wealth of feeling and detail. I'd wholeheartedly urge everyone to read Persepolis, particularly if you're interested in Iran, as Satrapi's novel really helps you understand the history of modern Iran, as well as the religious and political tensions, in a ridiculously easy-to-digest way. I also think that it'll be a great starting point if you fancy delving into the wonderfully varied world of graphic novels, as it was a straight-forward narrative and it's very traditional in it's lay out and style. I managed to finish it in three days, and I was pacing myself! On a personal note, after reading this and Art Speigelman's Maus (one of my favourite books), I think I have an idea of what I'd perhaps like to research for my future studies, which is auto/biographical graphic novels. 9/10
  2. Ah, I love Mr Men! And Little Miss, of course. When I was little, my favourite was Mr Bump. Poor Mr Bump... I had a T-shirt from Urban Outfitters with Little Miss Christmas on, that I wore with pride throughout December
  3. Staffordshire's/the Potteries' most famous writer was Arnold Bennett, whose work I keep meaning to read. He wrote mainly about northern Staffordshire, which is where I hail from. Virginia Woolf couldn't stand him as she was a terrible snob, and hated the fact he was from a working class background, writing primarily about working class people. I love Virginia Woolf but that story just makes me laugh so much.
  4. Actually... I think I wanted to be Timmy... Look, I was a tomboy who loved animals! (See previous post on Dick King Smith for evidence). I remember that whenever I got roped into playing 'Family' at infant school, I invariably elected to be the family dog! At least it was my own choice!
  5. It's true that Enid Blyton hasn't been completely left behind by subsequent generations: I've met a lot of people my age who loved Enid Blyton (mostly girls, unsurprisingly). Perhaps a lot of my not really enjoying with her was to do with the fact that I was a tomboy, as I remember loving George (and Timmy!) but wanting to push the rest of them off the nearest cliff! (Perhaps they'd have landed on one of those smugglers' cave they always seemed to stumble onto...) Sugar - glad we are Children's Fiction twins, lol. I also read a lot of Goosebumps (oh yes!). Even now, I think I'd be scared if I read Night of the Living Dummy again... *shudder*
  6. If that kept happened to me, I'd be quite tempted to fashion a huge pop-up boxing glove for the first page, and after if banged them on the nose, say "That leap out enough for ya?"
  7. My personal 'cure' is a toasted cheese sandwich. No matter how rough I feel, I'm always a little better after a toasted cheese sandwich (heavy on the cheese). Oh, and lots of water and a smoothie for that virtuous feeling, lol. I can't drink the day after I've had a heavy night tho', it makes me incredibly tired and grouchy. And gives me pangs of guilt towards my liver.
  8. Winnie-the-Pooh most definitely, I really enjoyed them when I was a child. I also loved When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six, A.A Milne's poetry collections. I think I was quite modern in my young tastes: I hated Enid Blyton, but I loved Jacqueline Wilson - I remember devouring The Story of Tracy Beaker in a day! Wilson's stories and characters have really stayed with me, especially The Suitcase Kid and The Bed and Breakfast Star. My other favourites were definitely Colin Dann (The Animals of Farthing Wood series and Just Nuffin' in particular) and Dick King Smith. God, I think I must have read most of Smith's output by the time I was 11! I started with The Guard Dog, went onto The Sheep-Pig and Harry's Mad, all the way to The Fox Busters (GREAT book, v feminist-vigilante as I remember, lol). There was a fantastic one about an Ostrich which I loved, but I can't remember what it was called Oh, and Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch series I really enjoyed at the time, too. Of course, the ultimate literary hero of my childhood was - and probably still is - Roald Dahl. My favourites were, and remain, Matilda, The BFG, George's Marvellous Medicine, Fantastic Mr Fox, Dirty Beasts and Revolting Rhymes, and The Giraffe, The Pelly & Me. Never liked Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, mind you.
  9. Hello Dupin! I saw that you mentioned McTeague by Frank Norris: it's brilliant, do read it! I studied it for the first year of my degree, and I loved it. It's very dark, dismal and grisly but compulsively so. I want to read Don Quixote too, particularly the new version of it as the artwork is super sexy. Err, I mean, the translation's meant to be excellent *ahem*
  10. I did! It was great! Did you think it was quite violent? That's Phillip Pullman for you: pulls no punches... I haven't read the Sally Lockheart series, but was Billie's portrayl faithful to the books? After Doctor Who, I was surprised how quiet and thoughtful Sally was, especially in comparison to how gung-ho Rose was!
  11. I just noticed this, so thought I'd quickly fill it in... Birthday: 22nd January 1985 Age: 21 Starsign: Aquarius Single/Married/Other? Single Children? No, and not for a looooooooooooong time! Where do you live? Stoke-on-Trent, at the mo. Hmm. Do you work? Yes, started my new job last week. It's a bit dull but the pay is v good. Hopefully studying an MA in 2007. Favourite author? Angela Carter Favourite book? Wuthering Heights, I think. How did you get here? I googled "book club forum"
  12. Oh yeah! My dad had that as a present one Christmas, and I sat down and read it in about 3 hours. Compulsive stuff! The writing really seemed to reflect the 'trashiness' of it all.
  13. This year, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer kept causing me to burst out laughing, usually swiftly followed by a little sob. Very funny, very moving - ever noticed how a lot of humourous books are usually both those things? What's that old quote, comedy is just tragedy plus time? I think I mentioned elsewhere (Reviews board) that Angela Carter's Wise Children is very chortlesome. Bawdy in the extreme!
  14. I'm a huge Angela Carter fan and I LOVE Wise Children - definitely one of the funniest novels I've ever read, I chortled all the way through it. Bagpuss - If you can bear it, after having to re-read WC again, then Carter's Nights At The Circus is fantastic. Quite different from WC, the humour is a lot darker and rather gothic. Fevvers is probably my favourite literary character!
  15. I watched it last night - thought it was fantastic! I didn't build up my expectations too much, just in case, but it was really well done. I like the fact that there were quite a few 'in' references with the 'new' Doctor Who series thus far. As a Buffy fan, I've come to love it when shows do that. I'll be careful as I don't want to spoil it for anyone (plus I'm a newbie so don't want to hack off anyone straightaway, lol)... But wasn't the hand in the jar interesting? I have a theory about that... *strokes chin*
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