Bradford Libraries' Blog

Tag: writing

  • Book Review – Hidden Fires by Sakinah

    Today’s reviewer is Sakinah, who loves reading, walking in the woods and gardening. She also loves catching up with friends or family over a cup of tea and cake. Her favourite cake is lemon drizzle.

    Title: Hidden Fires

    Author: Saarish Hussain

    Genre: Adult Fiction

    Summary: Ruby is a teenage girl struggling with anxiety, body image and self harm. Her father, an over- worked social worker and carer of his wife, who suffers from a long term illness, does not have much time to spare for his only child, Ruby.

    When Ruby’s grandmother passes away in Spain her father decides to leave her in the care of her paternal grandfather Yusuf, in another city. Ruby is perturbed by the idea of living away from home with her elderly grandfather who she barely knows. His religious rituals and old fashioned ideas are enough to drive her to the edge.

    However, over time, she comes to realise that she is not the only one facing internal struggles. Her grandfather, she discovers is battling with deep seated trauma and horrific memories of his own.

    During the short time they spend together, Ruby and Yusuf establish a wonderful bond that leads to emotional healing for the pair of them.

    Verdict: I enjoyed this book because the author covered a variety of different themes that are current issues of contention in today’s society, such as over-worked parents, stretched social services, self- harm, anxiety and bullying amongst teenagers and loneliness and isolation amongst the elderly.

    I particularly enjoyed the author’s coverage of Yusuf’s traumatic memories of living through the partition of India and Pakistan in a sensitive yet informative manner.

    I felt that the author also broke many of the age-old stereotypes of British Muslim families, which was refreshing and encouraging to read.

    You can find Hidden Fires here Search Results for Hidden Fires

  • Author Mandy Sutter’s Festive favourites

    Author Mandy Sutter (Ted the Shed) has appeared regularly at Bradford Libraries. Today she shares her favourite 19th Century festive reads.

    In my day job, I record stories for the sleep and meditation app, Insight Timer. I write some of these myself. But there are also plenty of classic stories that can’t be beaten, especially at Christmas.

    One of the most beloved Christmas stories is ‘A Christmas Carol,’ by Charles Dickens. This comes in five instalments, or ‘staves’ as Dickens calls them, and if you’ve never read it, or only seen the film, it’s a must. You may be surprised to find that it’s extremely funny and that Scrooge, even at the beginning before his nocturnal transformation, is witty and even a little bit likeable. Dickens is sometimes credited with inventing Christmas as a time of generosity and joy and this story was a powerful force for social justice in its day.

    Next comes ‘The Gift of the Magi,’ by O Henry, which tells of a young American couple, much in love but very hard up, who try to buy each other a special Christmas gift. I won’t give away the ending, but it is touching and heart breaking all at once and makes you shout ‘nooooo!’ at the dog, or the cat, or at O Henry himself.

    There is a great Sherlock Holmes story set at Christmas, ‘The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.’ It’s quite a romp, involving a missing diamond, a thief and a Christmas goose. As you may know, Sherlock’s opinion of the police is never very high and here, Arthur Conan Doyle has his hero decide for himself whether to turn the culprit over to the police or not.

    Another place you might look for a good Christmas story is in the Just William books, by Richmal Crompton. All her stories (and there are an amazing number of them) deal with the rascally young William and his adventures. The great appeal of William is that he is thoroughly authentic and always sees through, and challenges, the hypocrisy of adults. In ‘William’s Christmas Eve,’ with a deliberate nod to Dickens, his good-heartedness shines through.

    But my favourite Christmas story of all time is Truman Capote’s ‘A Christmas Memory.’ Written in 1965, it’s an autobiographical story about a special friendship.

    ‘I am seven; she is sixty-something, We are cousins, very distant ones, and we have lived together—well, as long as I can remember. Other people inhabit the house, relatives; and though they have power over us, and frequently make us cry, we are not, on the whole, too much aware of them. We are each other’s best friend. She calls me Buddy, in memory of a boy who was formerly her best friend. The other Buddy died in the 1880’s, when she was still a child. She is still a child.’

    Capote beautifully reconjures their Christmas preparations, such as gathering pecan nuts, baking fruit cakes and even stealing a Christmas tree.

    However you choose to do it, reading even just one of these stories will enrich your Christmas.  Happy reading and Happy Christmas!

    Search Results for A Christmas Carol

    Ted the shed – Mandy’s book. Do check it out…it’s both funny and poignant!

    Search Results for Sherlock Holmes

    Search Results for Truman Capote

    You can find out more about Mandy Sutter here www.mandysutter.com

  • The Lonely Life of Being A Writer

    (A Realistic Amusing Guide to Solitary Greatness)

    Karen Stead member of Keighley’s Lonely Writers (which meets weekly, Saturdays 10am-1pm in the Library).

    If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a writer, imagine voluntarily entering a long-term relationship with your own thoughts … except your thoughts are dramatic, unpredictable, and tend to show up at 2 a.m. asking if you’ve considered rewriting chapter three again.

    Welcome to the gloriously lonely life of being a writer. Pull up a chair, there’s plenty of room. No one else is here.

    ☕ Solitude Level 1: The “I’ll Just Write for an Hour” Lie

    Every writer knows this classic trap:

    You sit down with a warm beverage, ready to be productive. You open your laptop. You stretch your fingers. You stare at the blinking cursor.

    Then suddenly you’ve accidentally researched medieval pig-keeping for two hours, your drink is cold, and you’ve written exactly one sentence, which you no longer like.

    And you did all this alone. Because no one else in your life wants to hear you say the words, “Wait, do you think this fictional dragon has emotional issues?”

    📚 Solitude Level 2: Conversations With Imaginary People

    Writers spend a lot of time talking to themselves, doesn’t everyone? But writers have found a loophole:

    We call them characters.

    If anyone overhears us saying things like: “Okay, but why would she stab him with a spoon?” or “No, Marcus, you cannot adopt the raccoon. Stay focused,” we simply smile and clarify, “It’s for my book,” as though that makes us sound more sane.

    Spoiler: it really doesn’t. Those looks you get from people who cross the road when they hear you talking to yourself are genuine.

    ✍️ Solitude Level 3: The Revision Spiral

    Writing the first draft is lonely. Revising the first draft is lonely and painful. It’s similar to finding an old photo of yourself and saying, “Why did I think this was a good idea?”

    Except the photo is 300 pages long.

    You edit alone because no one else wants to watch you:

    · mutter angrily at your screen,

    · change one word,

    · change it back,

    · decide the entire plot no longer makes sense,

    · eat an unhealthy snack,

    · and declare you’re quitting writing forever (again).

    😌 Solitude Level 4: The Strange Joy of It All

    Here’s the secret: writers complain about the loneliness, but deep down… we love it.

    We love the quiet. We love the weirdness. We love the magic of taking a blank page and turning it into something alive.

    Being a writer means you’re never truly alone, you’re just surrounded by people who technically don’t exist, but feel real enough to annoy you anyway.

    🌟 The Final Truth

    The lonely life of being a writer is actually a life full of worlds, ideas, jokes, stories, heartbreaks, and triumphs. Sure, we might sometimes look like silent gremlins typing in dark rooms, but in our minds?

    We’re busy building a whole new universe.

    And honestly? That’s a pretty great way to be alone.

    Karen Stead, M.F.A

    Author, Writer, lonely with my thoughts to keep me company.

    The Unexpected Monet is my first novel available on Amazon and I’m still working on my second novel, Small Island Ancestors. It’s keeping me awake at 3am.

    IF YOU would like to join The Lonely Writers at Keighley Library, just turn up! We usually meet upstairs, every Saturday at 10am where we write for an hour and fifteen minutes, take a break, then write some more. The group isn’t led, you can enter and leave as you please. Often there’s biscuits, there’s always tea and coffee and sometimes…just sometimes…there’s cake!

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