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Du Maurier called the house her “rat-filled ruin.” It wasn’t hyperbole. Rats, dozens of them, scuttled along the house’s floors at night. Bats flit in and out. It was freezing, too, even by the stoic standards of the time, and damp, with a hard, nipping cold rising off the sea. Scarves and hats were routinely worn indoors.
— I wrote about Daphne du Maurier and the Manderley estate she bought with her Rebecca $ at the new Gawker Review of Books! It was so much fun to write—I’ve loved du Maurier forever and wanted to write about her life since coming across this picture of her last year.

Each summer, Oxford University Press USA and Bryant Park in New York City partner for their summer reading series Word for Word Book Club. The Bryant Park Reading Room offers free copies of book club selections while supply lasts, compliments of Oxford University Press, and guest speakers lead the group in discussion. On Tuesday 8 July 2014, Rebecca Mead, author of My Life in Middlemarch, leads a discussion on George Eliot’s Middlemarch.

What was your inspiration for choosing Middlemarch?

I first read Middlemarch at seventeen, and have read it roughly every five years or so since, my emotional response to it evolving at each revisiting. In my forties, I decided to spend more time with the book and to explore the ways in which it seems to have woven itself into my life: hence my own book, My Life In Middlemarch.

Did you have an “a-ha!” moment that made you want to be a writer?

Not exactly, but getting my first story published in a national newspaper at the age of eleven in a contest for young would-be journalists—and getting paid for it—must have been a motivating factor.

Which author do you wish had been your 7th grade English teacher?

The best book I can think of that gets into the mind of a thirteen or fourteen year old is Huckleberry Finn, so please may I have Mark Twain?

What is your secret talent?

I used to be able to charm children with my ability to walk on my hands. Then I had my own child, and ever since my balance hasn’t been what it used to be. Luckily, my son doesn’t require charming.

With what word do you most identify?

“perhaps”

Rebecca Mead is a staff writer for The New Yorker. She is the author of My Life in Middlemarch and One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding. She lives in Brooklyn.

For over 100 years Oxford World’s Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford’s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. You can follow Oxford World’s Classics on Twitter and Facebook. Read previous interviews with Word for Word Book Club guest speakers.

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Image credit: Rebecca Mead. Photo by Elisabeth C. Prochnik. Courtesy of Rebecca Mead.

The post Five questions for Rebecca Mead appeared first on OUPblog.

        

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By Rebecca Lane

The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Stephen Fry. With his hilarious accents for all the different aliens I enjoyed it far more than if I’d read it. I’m glad I finally know why the number 42 is so important.

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Beautifully written, this story centres around memory, reflections on the past, and the regret that comes with age. The first part recounts the narrator’s school days and idealistic expectations of life leads and then jumps ahead forty years when he is an unexceptional middle-aged divorcee, still learning about the past.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The first book I read on my Kindle — one I’d struggle to lift in print at over 1,000 pages! This book has everything — love, adventure, rags to riches — but it’s the story of betrayal and revenge spanning a lifetime that I found so fascinating.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

As haunting as its reputation promises, I loved this eerie story of a second wife trying to deal with the suffocating presence of her predecessor and the mystery that unfolds.

When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman

I thoroughly enjoyed this funny yet touching story of family life and the impact external events have on these vital relationships. It also includes a talking rabbit, which sounds odd, but it definitely works.

Rebecca Lane is a Commissioning Editor in Reference & Dictionaries at Oxford University Press.

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The post Rebecca Lane’s top 5 books of 2012 appeared first on OUPblog.

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WHY DID A SPOT OPEN UP AT MANDERLEY ACADEMY?

I hadn't wanted to go, but my parents were so excited…. So here I am, the new girl at Manderley, a true fish out of water. But mine's not the name on everyone's lips. Oh, no.

It's Becca Normandy they can't stop talking about. Perfect, beautiful Becca. She went missing at the end of last year, leaving a spot open at Manderley-the spot that I got. And everyone acts like it's my fault that infallible, beloved Becca is gone and has been replaced by not perfect, completely fallible, unknown Me.

Then, there's the name on my lips-Max Holloway. Becca's ex. The one boy I should avoid, but can't. Thing is, it seems like he wants me, too. But the memory of Becca is always between us. And as much I'm starting to like it at Manderley, I can't help but think she's out there, somewhere, wat

11 Comments on Waiting on Wednesday: New Girl by Paige Harbison, last added: 11/3/2011

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Carina said, on 11/2/2011 2:37:00 AM

Wow, this sounds really, really great. Have to add this to my to-read list immediately.

Thank you so much for sharing,
Carina @ Fictional Distraction

Books For All Seasons said, on 11/2/2011 2:48:00 AM

Very interesting book! The cover looks intriguing. Great pick! Thank you for sharing!

Sam

Krazzyme(Young Readers) said, on 11/2/2011 2:57:00 AM

This one sounds really good! I hope it's as good as it sounds!


Feel free to check out my WOW
Krazyyme @ Young Readers

Giselle said, on 11/2/2011 5:09:00 AM

I haven't read Rebecca but I'm really intrigued by it it's been on my TBR list for months. This one sounds wonderful as well.

Giselle
Xpresso Reads

Creations by Laurel-Rain Snow said, on 11/2/2011 6:31:00 AM

This one sounds good! Thanks for sharing.

Here's MY WOW POST and
MY WEBSITE

Lauren M said, on 11/2/2011 10:31:00 AM

I haven't read Rebecca, so I'll still have the element of surprise, luckily! New Girl sounds really creepy! Definitely looking forward to it. :)

Grace Fonseca said, on 11/2/2011 6:39:00 PM

WOW. I love the blurb for this book. Sounds wonderful. Great choice. Come visit me as well.

Livre De Amour-Books of Love Blog

A. Knight said, on 11/3/2011 4:06:00 AM

Is this a companion novel to Rebecca? Sounds like it. This sounds creeptastic, and I'm going a little gag for the possible romance (really, is that anything new? Wait, how would you know? *lol*). Excellente.

- Asher (from Paranormal Indulgence)

eden.kaye said, on 11/3/2011 9:41:00 AM

how did you get the NaNoWriMo word count button thingy? I can't find it!! :D

danya said, on 11/3/2011 4:00:00 PM

LOL, I've read this description before and apparently didn't clue into the fact that it was a retelling of Rebecca. *facepalm* Now I am definitely more interested!!

Casey (The Bookish Type) said, on 11/3/2011 9:07:00 PM

@eden -- I found the word count bar here: http://www.languageisavirus.com/nanowrimo/word-meter.html

They should have one up on the NaNo site eventually, but so far no dice :\

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    A few weeks ago, Ben Mikaelsen came to our school as this year's visiting author.  Ben was a delight, and I'll write more about his visit in another post, but for now, I want to concentrate on his philosophy about writing. 

    "Writing," he said, "is storytelling." 

Of all of the things that I got out of Ben's visit, and there were many, this simple sentence resonated with me in a way that I never would have expected. It stuck in my brain and kept tap, tap, tapping through my thoughts. You see, in some fantasy world of mine, I consider myself a writer.  I always have, from the time I was very young, around seven or eight years old.  It's all I wanted to do.  Well, that and read.

    So, why did the utterance of this sentence have such an effect on me?  I think I figured it out. See, the thing is, as much as I love to write, I am not much of a storyteller. What Mr. Mikaelsen was talking about was just letting go of the notion that every word needs to be weighty and special and telling the story you want to tell.  That has always been so incredibly hard for me.  When I write fiction, I gnaw my knuckles over every syllable and twist of phrase.  I get so caught up in trying to make every word the perfect word, I end up writing in nothing but fits and starts. Sometimes I even give up, thinking that it'll just never be perfect so why bother.

    Even now, as I write this post, I'm stewing about words.  How does one overcome that?  Because I think Ben is absolutely right.  The story is much more important than the words themselves.  If you can tell a great story, you can get around to fixing the words later.  Maybe in one of the fifteen full revisions that Ben says he does to each of his books!

    I have actually written a book, a YA novel called The Power of Merit Ruhl, which took me two years to write. I'm proud of it. I had a story I wanted to tell, and I told it.  But I agonized over words the whole time.  Now, I want to try to tell more stories.  I want to write a sequel to my book, and even make it into a series.  I have the stories to tell, the arc for each of the four major characters, in my head.  The question is will I be able to set aside my obssession with words and just tell the stories? 

    My favorite books tell really amazing stories. Donna Tartt's The Secret History is a good example of this. If you've never read it, go out right now and get yourself a copy.  It's the story of a small group of friends at a private college who do a terrible thing and then have to hide their mess.  This story left me breathless.  There is one point of such delicious suspense that I practically ripped the book because I was holding it so hard.  Another example of spectacular storytelling: Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier, a book that, though I've read it many times and even taught it, can still keep me enraptured to the very last page.  I don't necessarily remember all of the fancy phrasing and uses of foreshad

A new version of Jane Eyre will be hitting movie screens soon. Don't think for a minute that I wasn't aware of it just because I hadn't mentioned it.

Slate carries a run-down of Jane Eyre adaptations. I totally agree with the author about the splendors of the 2006 version.

Why are there so many film treatments of Jane Eyre? This is a question made far more interesting to me because I am one of those who believe Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is a Jane Eyre variation, and that thing gets a film remake in England very regularly.

Yeah, what's that about?

Janet Maslin spills all kinds of juicy gossip in The New York Times about J.M. Barrie in For Starters, A Satanic Svengali, a review of J. M. Barrie, the Du Mauriers and the Dark Side of "Peter Pan" by Piers Dudgeon. But the line "But his real evil, in Mr. Dudgeon’s view, was more satanic than sexual, and “Neverland” goes into overdrive when it unveils Barrie’s cloven-hoofed side" left me going, "Which was? What? What was it?"

The monster of Neverland: How JM Barrie did a 'Peter Pan' and stole another couple's children by Tony Renell in The Daily Mail gets into a lot more dirty detail. And guess what--There's a Peter Pan/Rebecca connection.

Two of my favorite obsessions are linked. How marvelous is that?

Spring is definitely HERE.
The weather is absolutely perfect today on this Easter Sunday.
I thought I'd take a few pics of the wonderfulness going on in my yard.

Irises. I love how they look before they unfurl themselves too.

Azaleas. Pretty!

A little ladybug on the daisies. See her in there?

The tall skinny thing on the left is a fig tree that sprouted itself. How cool!
The others are a giant rose and a lilac.

Awww, daisies. Bless their hearts, they bloom all year round, even in nasty winter storms.

And there are things sprouting inside the house too! Right there on the kitchen counter.