So, fellow readers, in my literary Christmas stocking are three books, two new and one not so. Down in the toe of the stocking is a small hardback, quite heavy with beautiful endpapers of butterflies. It is The Lost Spells with words by Robert Macfarlane and illustrations by Jackie Morris. If this all sounds rather familiar, you are not wrong. This is the follow up to The Lost Words published a couple of years ago. The idea is the same i.e. poetic writing and stunning art work, all entirely based on nature. However, the format is quite different.
The first book was seriously large whilst this one is slightly smaller than an ordinary paperback. I may be entirely wrong but it feels as if the publishers weren’t quite sure who their audience was; who would actually read this book? It was written up as a perfect gift for a godchild or favourite niece or nephew. I suspect actually far more adults read it, enjoyed it and now have this large book which doesn’t quite fit anywhere. My copy is standing between my bed and my bedside table. So I am far more in favour of their second effort and it’s at the bottom of the stocking as I am imagining it coming out on a quiet afternoon just after Christmas when nobody is going to object to you sloping of for a while. It is beautiful.
In the middle of the stocking is a quirky, one-off sort of book. It is Jeoffry: The Poet’s Cat – A Biography. Can a book be a biography if it is partially invented I wonder, but never mind, for it is cloth bound and printed on lovely paper. A delight. The cat in question is that of the 18th century poet Christopher Smart and the author is Oliver Soden. We met briefly at a Chiltern Festival singing day back in a previous life in March of this year. He had just written a tome on Michael Tippett and we were attempting to sing the spirituals from Tippett’s Child of our time. This time round his subject still has a musical connection as said cat is part of a long poem Rejoice in the lamb. It was lost for well over a century and then rediscovered in a private library in the late 1930s. Benjamin Britten set the poem to music a few years later, including the memorable line: ‘I will consider my cat Jeoffry’ and one I particularly like: ‘ For I am possessed of a cat surpassing in beauty.’
Anyway, Oliver Soden has taken the substantial amount of historical evidence available regarding the life of Smart and his cat and inventively and creatively woven it all together, filling in gaps where necessary. The action takes place in and around Covent Garden in London and also in a variety of lunatic asylums where history shows Smart was allowed to have his cat with him. Before I read the blurb about the author, it was already obvious that he was a cat lover. His writing shows this. It also demonstrates the skill of Oliver Soden in coping with so many disparate historical elements and sewing it into a satisfying whole. I learnt a lot about the 18th century and was also encouraged to look further into the writings of Smart. This would make a lovely Christmas present.
At the top of the stocking is a book that will actually need to be taken out each day in Advent: The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder. Unlike the previous two choices, this book has been around for many years now but I’d be sad if you didn’t know of it. If you are familiar with it, then I’m just reminding you to have another look. Gaarder gained literary fame with his book on philosophical ideas: Sophie’s World. However, I prefer this one. Someone asked me if it was a children’s book or not. After a pause I replied that it was simply a good book, one I had used with children from years 5 and 6 but had also lent to several adult friends. It is split into 24 sections, so you can just read it straight through or use it like an advent calendar and read one section each day up to December 24th which is what I prefer. The story is that of Christmas. It starts in Scandinavia and travels through time and space, encompassing an inner story, many biblical allusions and the childlike excitement and anticipation of December 25th itself. It really is worth getting hold of and if you are reading this well into December, no matter, you can always catch up. To Bethlehem, to Bethlehem!
Wishing you an enticing, literary, Christmas stocking,