Yes folks, it's finally arrived. As you probably know, Simon and I are joint hosts of this exciting event (you can see his welcome post here), and we are hoping to gather together many posts on Muriel and her wonderful and varied output.
I've read four of her novels in preparation for it all, and reviews will be appearing through the week -- we are alternating our own review days so you will get Simon tomorrow, Thursday and Saturday and me on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. But really it's over to you, and we are hoping that you will send us links to your reviews in the comments. And of course if you haven't got a blog but would still like to tell us something about your reading of Spark you can do so in the comments on either or both our blogs. I've spotted a couple of reviews already -- A Far Cry from Kensington, by Darlene of Roses Over a Cottage Door, and a great whizz through Spark by Thomas at My Porch, which includes an amazing graph of the 'Quirktensity' [yes, really] of Spark's novels -- and he should know as he has read 13 of them.
At the end of the week there's be a round-up of everything that's appeared, and by that time we will all be very learned and well-informed about a great many novels we didn't know anything about until recently.
The novels I've read for this week are: The Driver's Seat, The Finishing Schoool, A Far Cry from Kensington and, last but not least, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. But I've also been reading Muriel's poetry, and I thought I might give you a sample every day as a sort of aperitif for the main course. So here's one that caught my eye and that I thought might be a good place to start, as it's about writing.
'To the Gods of My Right Hand'
Whoever the gods may be that come to occupy
the lodging of this limb, of them I make supplication
for the health of my right hand, waxing now
to her proper appointment; let them never forsake
her wrist's contrivances that strike at last
the waters of the Word where Babylon
enjoys no more her songs. Whoever the gods,
let them enter my right hand, never
to forget her cunning in the first and the last encounter.
Finally, as I've read a few of Spark's other novels in the past couple of years, I'm going to republish those reviews as well. The first one's coming up right after this.
Happy reading!
