Katheryn Thompson's Blog, page 21

"As long as she thinks of a man, nobody objects to a woman thinking." ~ Virginia Woolf

This blog post is a celebration of women in literature who break the mould of female stereotypes (warning: contains spoilers):


1. Medea in Medea, Euripides (c.431 BC)

Jason, leader of the Argonauts, leaves his wife Medea and their two sons for another woman, Glauce. Medea and her sons are banished from the city, but she is granted one day before she must leave, which she uses to plot her revenge. She kills Glauce, whose father then kills himself, and then she kills her, and Jason's, own sons. Medea then flees in a dragon-pulled chariot provided by her grandfather, the sun-god.

"Of all creatures that can feel and think,
we women are the worst treated things alive."


2. Amy Dunne in Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn (2012)

When Amy discovers that her husband, Nick, is having an affair, she devises an elaborate plot to frame him for her murder. From a recently increased insurance policy on Amy to faked diaries detailing abuse and neglect; from an argument overheard by a neighbour the night before to a faked pregnancy - Nick doesn't stand a chance.

"I'm the bitch who makes you a man."


3. Lieutenant Eve Dallas, introduced in the first of the series: Naked in Death, JD Robb (1995)

Having been systematically raped and abused by her father since the age of about 5, the 8 year-old Eve stabs her father to death. She is found with a broken arm, covered in blood, in an alley in Dallas, Texas, with no memory, and is given a name and a home by social services. As an adult, Eve is a fiercely dedicated and extremely capable Lieutenant in the Homcide Squad of the NYPSD.

"You had no right. No right to stand in front of me.' He turned back now, his eyes vividly blue with temper that had gone from frigid to blaze. 'No fucking right to risk yourself on my behalf'

'Oh really. Is that so?' She stalked forward until they were toe to toe. 'Okay, you tell me. You keep looking me dead in the eye and you tell me you wouldn’t have done the same if it was me in jeopardy.'

'That’s entirely different.'

'Why?' Her chin came up and her finger jabbed hard into his chest. 'Because you have a penis?”


4. Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare (1612)

Beatrice's first line of the play interrupts a coversation between Leonato (her uncle) and a messenger and is loaded with sarcasm. She is a strong and independent woman, fiercely protective of her more steretypical cousin Hero, a naive, chaste, and quiet young woman.

"I can see he's not in your good books,' said the messenger.
'No, and if he were I would burn my library.”


5. Lisbeth Salander, introduced in the first of the series: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson (2005)

A pale skinny woman with short hair, a pierced nose and eyebrows, and several tattoos, including one of a dragon on her back, running from her shoulder down her spine and ending on her buttocks, Lisbeth is a world-class computer hacker. The survivor of a traumatic childhood, Lisbeth is particularly hostile to men who abuse women, and takes special pleasure in exposing and punishing them.

"Consequently it was up to her to solve her problems by herself, using whatever methods she deemed necessary."


6. Edna Pontellier in The Awakening, Kate Chopin (1899)

Edna is married to Léonce Pontellier, a New Orleans businessman of Louisiana Creole heritage, and seen by everyone as the perfect husband. They have two sons. While on holiday, however, Edna falls for a charming young man who actively seeks her affection and attention, starting her emotional and sexual awakening. When she returns home, Edna begins to neglect her duties as a mother and wife, and finally moves out of her family home into a small bungalow, and begins a love affair with a man with a reputation for such affairs. Seeing no escape, The Awakening ends with Edna seizing the ultimate control and freedom, and drowning herself on the beach where the story began.

“The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth.”


7. Hermione Granger, introduced in the first of the series: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling (1997)

A highly intelligent, talented, and studious young woman, with Muggle parents, Hermione knows her own mind and is not afraid to fight for what is right. She makes the ultimate sacrifice in the final book by removing herself from her parents' memory in order to keep them safe.

"Harry and Ron both made furious moves toward Malfoy, but Hermione got there first - SMACK!
She had slapped Malfoy across the face with all the strength she could muster. Malfoy staggered. Harry, Ron, Crabbe, and Goyle stood flabbergasted as Hermione raised her hand again."


8. Athena in The Iliad/The Odyssey, Homer (c.C8th BC)

Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, born from the head of Zeus. In the Iliad, she plays a large role in the war, fighting on the side of (the eventual victors) the Greeks, even going so far as to disobey the will of Zeus. In the Odyssey, Athena is the primary divinity, guiding Telemachus and ultimately rescuing Odysseus.

"This only drew a smile from the Father of men and gods. But he called Golden Aphrodite to his side and said: 'Fighting, my child, is not for you. You are in charge of wedlock and the tender passions. We will leave the enterprising War-god and Athene to look after military affairs."


9. Kissin' Kate Barlow in Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)

Miss Katherine, the highly intelligent and popular schoolteacher, kissing Sam, a black man who works as a handyman. Due to his colour, Sam is sentenced to be hanged. Katherine tries to reason with the sheriff, who offers to save Sam if she kisses him. She refuses. After Sam is killed, Katherine shoots the sherrif, leaving a red lipstick mark from the kiss he asked for. She then becomes Kissin' Kate Barlow, a famous outlaw, robbing and killing multiple men and leaving a kiss on their cheek.

"He pointed his finger at her and said, 'No one ever says 'No' to Charles Walker!'

'I believe I just did,' said Katherine Barlow."


10. Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (1847)

A passionate and strongly principled woman, Jane values her freedom and independence and is not afraid to stand up for herself and what she believes in. Despite her love for Mr Rochester, when he asks her to go with him to the south of France and live as husband and wife, she refuses, because they cannot be married as he is already married. Instead she leaves in the middle of the night.

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”


Which fiesty fictional females would you add to this list?

So I was playing around with a few ideas for a piece of flash fiction and I began thinking about the importance of opening lines. This is mine (for now, at least): "What is the best type of gun for, I type into Google and the autocomplete suggestions are: a woman to carry, home defense, concealed carry, and deer hunting." As for the flash fiction, watch this space, and as for the opening lines, read on to see how it's done:


1. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger (1951)
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."

2. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde (1890)
"The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn."

3. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath (1963)
"It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York."

4. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
"I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975."

5. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier (1938)
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

6. Gentlemen and Players, Joanne Harris (2005)
"If there's one thing I've learned in the past fifteen years, it's this: that murder is really no big deal."

7. Nemesis, Agatha Christie (1971)
"In the afternoons it was the custom of Miss Jane Marple to unfold her second newspaper."

8. Strange Fits of Passion, Anita Shreve (1991)
"On my book tours, I am often asked a number of questions: Did he really do it? Do I think that she was justified? Did they do it for the money or for love?"

9. Ulysses, James Joyce (1922)
"Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed."

10. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien (1937)
"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."


What are some of your favourite opening lines of literature (either that you've read or written)?

"You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit." ~ Oscar Wilde

When I was writing my last blog post, "The characters I love to hate", I began thinking about all the literary villains I love. Here are some of the best:


1. Count Fosco in The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins (1859)

"I am thinking,’ he remarked quietly, ’whether I shall add to the disorder in this room, by scattering your brains about the fireplace."


2. The White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis (1949-54)

"But he still wanted to taste that Turkish Delight more than he wanted anything else."


3. Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, William Shakespeare (1611)

"Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be
What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great,
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it."


4. Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens (1837)

"It was a ghastly figure to look upon. The murderer staggering backward to the wall, and shutting out the sight with his hand, seized a heavy club and struck her down."


5. Count Dracula in Dracula, Bram Stoker (1897)

"But my very feelings changed to repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window, and begin to crawl down the castle wall over that dreadful abyss, face down, with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings."


6. Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter Boxset, JK Rowling (1997-2007)

"I killed Sirius Black!"


7. Satan in Paradise Lost, John Milton (1667)

“Better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven.”


8. Windsor "Win" Horne Lockwood III in The Myron Bolitar Collection: 9 Great Novels, Harlan Coben (1995-2011)

"You don't tug on Superman's cape
You don't spit into the wind
You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Win."


9. The Grand High Witch in The Witches, Roald Dahl (1983)

"She is all-powerful. She is without mercy. All other Witches are petrified of her."


10. Professor James Moriarty in The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle (1887-1978)

"I wanted to end the world, but I'll settle for ending yours."

"My gosh, Nick, why are you so wonderful to me?
He was supposed to say: You deserve it. I love you.
But he said, "Because I feel sorry for you."
"Why?"
"Because every morning you have to wake up and be you."
~ Gillian Flynn


1. Amy Dunne in Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn (2012)

I'll start with Amy, the character who inspired this blog post, since I recently read Gone Girl.

“I am a great husband because I am very afraid she may kill me.”


2. Achilles in The Iliad, Homer

I know it's controversial, but I feel like you're either Team Achilles or not. And I'm really not.

"Conquer your pride, Achilles. You have no right to be so stubborn. The very gods, for all their greater excellence and majesty and power, are capable of being swayed."


3. Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, JK Rowling (2003)

I doubt I'm the only one who wanted Umbridge dead more than Voldemort.

“Is it true that you shouted at Professor Umbridge?"
"Yes."
"You called her a liar?"
"Yes."
"You told her He Who Must Not Be Named is back?"
"Yes."
"Have a biscuit, Potter.”


4. Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

The Great Gatsby probably wins the award for the most hated characters in one novel, but out of them all Nick is definitely my least favourite. He has belief but no conviction. He observes but does not partake. He knows but does not reveal.

“I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.”


5. Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria in The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster (1614)

The villain of this play is hated all the more by me because of how much I love the Duchess.

"Whether we fall by ambition, blood or lust
Like diamonds, we are cut with our own dust."


Which fictional characters do you love to hate?

My shoes are new and stick to the tiled floor, where I peeled the label off this morning, as I walk down the aisle. It smells of furniture polish. It has been nearly twelve years since I was inside a church for any occasion other than a funeral. It was over twenty years since I came to an ordinary church service.

The church bells ring once. I run my fingers over the wooden grate, and notice that the knuckles on my right hand are still slightly swollen. The bells ring for a second time. I glance behind me to the arched doorway at the far end of the aisle. I take a deep breath. And I open the door. The bells stop echoing, and I close the wooden door behind me and sit down. The smell of furniture polish is even stronger in here.

The building is silent. And then I hear the harsh sound of footsteps against tiles. I stare at the elaborate wooden panel on the door in front of me. A door opens and closes. A wooden bench creaks slightly under someone’s weight. I can feel someone next to me. Subtle tones of lily, jasmine, and rose drift through the curtain-covered grate that separates us.

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Her voice is soft and slightly husky.

“Why did you agree to meet me?”

“Curiosity.”

“In that case, don’t you want to see what I look like? How I act, how I speak?”

“I already have.”

“And what’s your verdict?”

“Interesting choice of words.”

“What do you think of me? Do you think I’m up to the job?”

“If I did, I would be in a minority.”

She speaks slowly and evenly, her pronunciation exact, and her accent faintly exotic.

“You’ve been researching me, finding out about me?”

“Naturally.”

“Why?”

“For the same reason that you asked to meet me.”

“I asked to meet you, because I thought it would help me to stop you.”

“If that was true, then I would not have come.”

“Why not? Because you don’t want to be stopped?”

“You cannot stop me.”

“You’re wrong.”

“You are wasting your time.”

“I won’t give up, not until I stop you.”

“I do not doubt it.”

“So where exactly does that leave us?”

“I will continue, until I stop. Then I will vanish.”

“What, just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“When will you stop? Are you trying to achieve something? Is this something that can be
finished?”

“I will stop when I am ready.”

“You’ll stop when you’re ready? These are human lives we’re talking about. The lives of
ordinary, living, breathing people.”

“And that matters to you.”

“It doesn’t matter to you?”

“No.”

“It doesn’t matter to you that you ended the life of a nineteen year-old law student, an only child whose parents had just booked a summer holiday for the three of them; or that you killed a fifty three year-old woman, who worked in a bank, whose mother was in a nursing home, and who had a twelve year-old Labrador? You don’t care about the forty seven year-old, married man, who worked in a high school and was building a conservatory; or about the twenty five year-old dad of twin girls?”

“No.”

“So what does matter to you?”

“You care about lots of people. You care about your colleagues; Sofia whose marriage is breaking down, Joe who has not been able to sleep since the resolution of his last case, and Omar whose father has been diagnosed with cancer. You care about the victims of your cases, and their friends and families. You care about people you do not even know, like the woman who you saw in the supermarket yesterday with bruises hidden under long sleeves, and the man who you passed in the street last night, fighting back tears. And you care about Jack, and Alice and Samuel, more than you have ever cared about anyone since Laura.”

“But none of that matters to me,” she says.

“Why are you doing this? Why are you killing these people, people you don’t even know or care about, people who had lives before you snatched them away? What are you getting out of it?”

“It is a twist in my sobriety.”

"The summer night is like a perfection of thought." ~ Wallace Stevens

It might not be summer yet, but the weather where I am is currently gorgeous and I'm starting to get that build-up-to-summer feeling. So here are seven book recommendations for this summer:


1. The Odyssey, Homer
The ultimate tale of journeys.
"As I read it by the ocean in Australia, the story really came to life: I could see the water, feel the sun, hear the waves that wafted Odysseus onward in his journey to meet his destiny." (ML Stedman)

2. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
An emotional masterpiece, which is both suffocating and liberating at the same time.
The opening sentence: "It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they executed the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York."

3. Five Go Off in a Caravan, Enid Blyton
This carefree book about the famous five's summer adventure has always been my firm favourite.
“'I do love the beginning of the summer hols,' said Julian. They always seem to stretch out ahead for ages and ages.'
'They go so nice and slowly at first,' said Anne, his little sister. 'Then they start to gallop.'"

4. Ulysses, James Joyce
A beautifully chaotic, wonderfully weird reimagining of the Odyssey, ideal for summer reading not least because of its sheer size.
“The sea, the snotgreen sea, the scrotumtightening sea.”

5. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
Utterly irresistable.
"The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame."

6. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, Maggie O'Farrell
I finished this on the plane journey to Budapest a few summers ago, so it is always a summer read in my mind. My only warning? You may not be able to put it down.
“We are all, Esme decides, just vessels through which identities pass: we are lent features, gestures, habits, then we hand them on. Nothing is our own. We begin in the world as anagrams of our antecedents.”

7. And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
My favourite of all of Christie's wonderful creations.
"One little Indian boy left all alone; He went and hanged himself and then there were none."


What are you looking forward to reading this summer?

“You must know someone.”

I am lying on my back on the single bed, trying to work out what the damp patch above me looks like. It could be a dragon, making that patch in front of it flames coming out of its mouth, but then it would have too many legs.

“What do you mean?”

“To get me such a perfect view of a brick wall.”

I close my eyes as Peter laughs softly, and picture him sitting in his office; the knot of his ugly striped tie loosened slightly, his legs stretched out under his desk and his feet crossed over one another.

“In all seriousness, how is the room?”

“It’s even smaller than your office, but the owners have managed to cram more possessions into it than are in my entire house.”

“Not surprising, given that your house looks as though you’re in the process of moving in.”

“I’m not joking. There’s an ironing board on a hook on the back of the door, so that every time you open and shut the door it clanks loudly against it. I don’t even know why it’s here; I can guarantee that there is nowhere to put it up in this room, and the same goes for the clothes horse tucked away in the corner, by which I mean it needs to be moved to open and shut the curtains. And as if the ironing board isn’t enough, directly behind the door is a CD rack, boasting an impressive collection of Miki and Griff, Andy Williams, The Everly Brothers, and Matt Monro, so that unless you open the door carefully, it hits the CD rack and shuts in your face. On top of it all, there’s a shelf, which is literally a strip of wood resting on top of the bedframe and against the wall, jutting out over the bed.”

“You’re lucky that anywhere had spaces this close to Christmas, especially given your list of requirements.”

I trace the lumps and bumps on the ceiling with my eyes, joining them together in my mind like dot-the-dot (or is it dot-to-dot?). I never understood it, whatever it is called, because you cannot literally just join the dots together; you have to do it in a way that makes the picture. And even then the picture never comes out right.

“Thank you for doing this for me.”

“What are friends for?”

My eyes drift back to the damp patch directly over my head, and I am reminded of hours spent as a child lying in a field or someone’s garden finding animals and people in the shapes of the clouds.

“Not this.”

There is a clock on the wall opposite the head of the bed ticking loudly; one of those old-fashioned alarm clocks with the bells on top, but the size of a normal wall clock. What is the point of that?

“I am considering redecorating my spare room. Any décor tips in this five-star room of yours?”

“So many that I don’t know where to start. The curtains wouldn’t look out of place in a Chinese restaurant; paper-thin, varying shades of beige, and decorated with Chinese symbols. The wallpaper is classic faded-pastel floral, and peeling at the edges, but the gold-stencilled drawings of Victorian scenes, dangling from the walls, add a splash of colour. The bedding is also floral, but the pillows, sheets, duvet, and blanket are all different floral patterns, some with lace and some without; I imagine that each room is a little bit like Russian roulette. You can tell that the ceiling was once white, but it is now closer to grey and decorated with interspersed damp patches, one of which looks like a deformed dragon. The lightshade is salmon pink and heavily tasselled, and I knocked with my arm before when I took my jacket off and filled the room with so much dust that I felt like I was in Beijing with the smog. Oh, and the carpet is beige, although it was possibly pink once upon a time, and its contents could be displayed in a museum.”

“Great. I noted down everything you said, so next time you stay in my spare room I’m sure you’ll feel right at home.”

“This is not home.”

“It’s just an expression.”

I picture Peter’s face; his salt-and-pepper stubble, the sadness in his ice-blue eyes, the dark circles under them more pronounced than they should be, and his crooked half-smile.

“Are you tired from travelling? Have you been able to sleep?”

“You don’t need to tiptoe around me. We both know what you mean.”

The ticking of the clock seems louder than that of a normal clock. I wonder if that is oversized too.

“I am tired. I’ve tried sleeping but not very successfully. I might venture into town later and see if I can get some sleeping tablets from the chemists, but I don’t think I should just yet.”

“Be careful.”

“I am grateful, you know. For everything.”

“I know.”

“Let’s just hope it works.”

“It has to work.”

“I know.”

“Have you got enough to do? Enough to keep you distracted?”

“There’s never enough to do, but I’ve brought enough with me to try.”

I turn my head so that I can see the mountain of books on the floor, beside a stack of paper with a violin case balancing on top. On the tiny bedside table, which is wedged between the stack of tablecloth-filled-storage-boxes and the bed, is a pile of DVDs sat on my laptop. I turn back to face the ceiling.

“And if I get really stuck for what to do, there’s a sewing machine and a bizarre assortment of materials and accessories in my room, which I’m sure I could have some fun with. I might even make myself some better curtains.”

“Good, good.”

If the damp patch was an octopus then it would explain all the legs, but it would not explain that bit in front of it which, otherwise, was the fire coming out of the dragon’s mouth. Maybe a fellow sea creature?

“Just don’t overdo it, will you? That sewing machine sounds like a cause of stress all by itself.”

I try to remember the last time I laughed, not a brief chuckle like now, but actually properly laughed.

“Well, I’m sure you’ve got plenty of work to be getting on with. You don’t need me distracting you, even if I do have lots of witty anecdotes and useful décor tips.”

Peter laughs softly and I realise that I miss his laugh, his proper laugh, more than I miss my own.

“You’re sure you’re ok? You’ll be ok?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Good, good.”

“Give my love to Julie and the boys.”

“I will.”

What do we actually mean when we say that: give my love to…? Why do we say that? Is the person actually expected to tell the other person?

“I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“You don’t need to.”

“I know.”

I wonder how many people have ‘passed on’ their love to me via Peter.

“Like I said, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

I think of all the things that Peter could be doing instead of calling me.

“Take care.”

“I’ll be fine. Thanks for calling.”

“No worries. I’m always on the other end of the phone if you need me.”

“I know. Thank you.”

I bought Peter the phone in his office; it is an old-fashioned, chunky, square phone with a plastic, spiralling cord, and buttons in a circle on the front, like a traditional dial. And it is bright red. I saw it somewhere, I forget where, and bought it for Peter, because we always call him Mr President.

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

I hang up the phone, blindly place it on the shelf above my head, and push myself into a sitting position. The only noise is the ticking of the clock. I lift the pile of DVDs off the bedside table to retrieve my laptop from underneath them, and then put the laptop in front of me on the bed. I open the laptop and switch it on, catching sight of the CD rack on the opposite wall as I do. While the laptop loads, I swing my legs off the end of the bed and, trying not to think about the last time the carpet was hoovered (or should that be vacuumed?), step over to the CD rack. The selection is terrible, but anything is better than the incessant ticking of the creepily-oversized clock. I choose one at random and clamber back onto the bed, slipping the disc into my laptop as I try to get comfortable on the narrow, lumpy mattress. A window opens up on the screen and, with a shrug, I click on the ‘play’ icon.

"Dum-dum-dum-dumdy-doo-wah
Ooh-yay-yay-yay-yeah
Oh-oh-oh-oh-wah"

This B&B, run by an elderly couple and booked for me by Peter, does not, in accordance with my list of requirements, have a bar. It does however have a full bottle of Port at the back of one of the cupboards in the kitchen, sat innocently among bottles of elderflower cordial and sparkling water, presumably bought for Christmas, in that way people do.

"But only the lonely
Know why
I cry
Only the lonely"

I stretch out my arm to the left of my laptop and clasp the bottle of port. Roy Orbison croons as I twist the lid, and hear that satisfying crunch.

"Only the lonely
Only the lonely"

Having dropped the lid onto the bed, I pull the bottle closer to me and stare into the deep red depths.

I recently acquired a copy of The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, which is a collection of the final twelve Sherlock Holmes short stories, reminding me of how much I love Arthur Conan Doyle's violin-playing* detective. I already have a copy of The Best of Sherlock Holmes, which I have read and re-read many times (and will continue to do so). Excuse the geeky moment, but this blog post seemed especially apt because I have just re-watched the episode of Star Trek: Next Generation, where Data enacts his own Sherlock Holmes mystery on the holodeck. I think that part of Holmes's allure is his own mystery, and so I've compiled a list of 7 facts about the enigmatic Holmes:


1. While Holmes appears in all 60 of his cases, Watson only appears in 58, and Mrs Hudson in a mere 14. Moriarty, appearing in just 3 of the 60, barely gets a look in.

2. Unsurprisingly the most commonly committed crime is murder or attempted murder (or manslaughter), with 37 cases involving this crime. Interestingly, no crime is committed in 10 of Holmes's cases.

3. Only 60% of Holmes's criminals are British, whereas 98.9% of criminals in Victorian prisons were British.

4. The most common clue that Holmes discovers is newspaper articles and adverts, as happens in 29 cases, but curiously 10 cases involve clues from dogs.

5. Over 80 cases are mentioned by Watson but (unfortunately) never written up, including A Full Account of Ricoletti of the Club-Foot and his Abominable Wife, and The Affair of the Vatican Cameos. Someone should get onto that ASAP.

6. Perhaps surprisingly, 16% of Holmes's villains escape, and 22% are let go. Only 33% are handed over to the police.

7. Many of Holmes's cases are described as "singular", "curious", and "remarkable". Only 18 cases are described as all three, including The Red-Headed League, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Devil's Foot.


*Holmes actually only plays the violin in 8 of his 60 cases


Holmes himself has become even more of a mystery than Arthur Conan Doyle intended through embellishments added over the years, which have become associated with him. For example, Holmes never actually said, "Elementary, my dear Watson!" This was first used by PG Wodehouse in an affectionate parody. Holmes's deerstalker was also not one of Conan Doyle's creations, but was added by Strand illustrator Sydney Paget (as was his Inverness cape; Conan Doyle's Holmes preferred an Ulster).


Why do you love Sherlock Holmes so much, and which is your favourite of his cases?


Facts and figures from: http://www.theguardian.com/books/gall...

So I’ve finished The Iliad The Iliad and it was nothing like I expected (in a good way). Here’s why I loved it so much (and expect some spoilers):


1. The characterisation

In the first book of The Iliad, Achilles (the “hero”, and I use that term loosely) and Agamemnon (the leader of the Achaean army) fall out in a big way. Agamemnon refuses to hand over Chryseis, who he took for himself as a prize, to her father, Chryses (yes, the names do get confusing) in return for a generous ransom. Chryses, a priest, prays to Apollo, and the archer god attacks the Achaean ships in retaliation. Achilles demands that Agamemnon gives Chryseis up to appease Apollo, but Agamemnon refuses. It all kicks off, and Achilles refuses to fight for the Achaeans until Agamemnon apologises to him. To seal the deal, however, Achilles ensures (through the work of his mother, Thetis, who is handily a goddess) that the Achaeans will lose until he returns to fight. At first I was ok with this; Agamemnon seemed to be acting unreasonably, and Achilles had a point. But by the end, I was infuriated by Achilles’s churlish behaviour, which “sent the gallant souls of many nobleman to Hades”, and had no sympathy for him when his closest friend, Patroclus, was killed by Hector. It served him right. Now I’m firmly Team Agamemnon re the quarrel.

*Although, for the record, Odysseus and Diomedes are my favourites (and I have a soft spot for Telamonian Aias too).


2. The portrayal of the gods

Anyone who follows me on Twitter (@Katheryn97T) will know how much I LOVED the portrayal of the gods in The Iliad. Their constant bickering, in humanlike style of a family, as some supported the Trojans and some the Achaeans, brought humour to the otherwise fairly grim tale. Some of my favourites:
Artemis to her brother Apollo, the Archer-King: "What is the sense, blockhead, of carrying a bow you never use?"
Hephaestus to his parents Here and Zeus, the King and Queen of Olympus: “How can a good dinner be enjoyed with so much trouble in the air?”
Zeus, the supreme Olympian deity, to Thetis, about his wife Here: “You will make me fall foul of Here, when she rails at me about it, as she will. Even as things are, she scolds me constantly before the other gods”
And my absolute favourite – Zeus to his son Ares, the god of war: “But if any other god had fathered such a pernicious brat, you would long since have found yourself in a deeper hole than the Sons of Uranus.”


3. The ending

The Iliad ends not with the funeral of Achilles, the (arguable) protagonist, but with the funeral of Hector, the leader of the Trojans. The reader and characters know that Achilles is going to die soon, at the hands of Paris and Apollo, and that Troy will soon fall to the Achaeans, but it is the death of the noble Hector that the ending to The Iliad dwells on. This twist can be interpreted in different ways, but I like to think that Achilles, despite his strength, skill, and ancestry, simply cannot stand up to the true heroes of The Iliad, the brave warriors on both sides of the War. Hector stands outside the walls of Troy, even when the rest of his troops have retreated behind them, and faces Achilles. How can you not love a character who declares: “I have made up my mind to fight you man to man and kill you or be killed”? The Iliad needs to end with the death of a true hero, and that isn’t Achilles. Hector illustrates that beautifully.


If you’ve read The Iliad and have any thoughts you would like to add, I would love to hear them.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the superbly surreal Alice in Wonderland, and the revived interest in the tale (there have even been a set of stamps designed in Alice's honour: http://shop.royalmail.com/alices-adve...) reminded me of how incredible Carroll's creation is.


So here's 5 facts that you (probably) didn't know about Alice in Wonderland:

1. Mock Turtle Soup is real. It was a cheaper version of green turtle soup, quite popular in Victorian times, comprised of various odd parts of a calf.

2. The novels were banned in China in 1931, on the grounds that "animals should not use human language".

3. The Dodo is Carroll's self-parody, as his stammer meant that he introduced himself, his real name being Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, as Do-Do-Dodgson.

4. Queen Victoria loved Alice's Adventures in Wonderland so much that she asked that he dedicate his next book to her. And so his next book, An Elementary Treatise on Determinants, With Their Application to Simultaneous Linear Equations and Algebraic Equations, was presented to the Queen (much to her amusement, I'm sure).

5. To turn himself into Lewis Carroll, so to speak, Dodgson took his first and middle names, translated them into their Latin form, ‘Carolus Lodovicus’, reversed the words, and then translated them back into English. (A useful tip if you're struggling to think of a pseudonym for yourself.)


And finally, my favourite quote from Alice in Wonderland, although there are lots to choose from, is:
“Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don't much care where.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go."