Latest acquisition - the latest VMC

The daylight and the dust: selected short stories by Janet Frame is the latest Virago Modern Classic (number 552) and was kindly sent to me ahead of its publication by Sophie from Virago. I've come across Janet Frame before - her autobiography was also republished by Virago this year, and I wrote about it here, and here. So it is interesting to have the chance to peruse some of Frame's stories.

The back-cover quotes Frame: "I'm a short-story addict, both reading and writing them, and I always keep hoping for the perfect story". This belief is certainly evident in this new book; the stories contained within it are taken from the four collections of stories that Frame wrote over her life, and it's a difficult collection to sum up. The stories range in length, from a couple of pages to about ten, they range in theme from childhood, to old age, and the locations are as far apart as Frame's native New Zealand and London. I was expecting there to be more on the theme of "madness", reflecting on Frame's journey through mental illness, but perhaps not focussing on this was part of her method of escapism? Anyway, there are certainly some wonderful stories in the book, although as usual I struggled with such bitesized works of literature.

The volume is ably introduced by Michele Roberts, who has her own volume of short stories out this month, also published by Virago. It's called Mud, and although not a short-story lover, I did enjoy dipping in and out of this collection which also cover a wide range of topics, but primarily from a female perspective. Michele Roberts is also one of those authors who one feels should be part of the Virago Modern Classics list so I would certainly recommend looking out for this one too.

And one more acquisition...the new Janet Frame

I also have another book to mention:
Technically it arrived last week, but I didn't want to detract from gushing about my wonderful parcel from Fleur Fisher. It's An angel at my table by Janet Frame, and will be published by Virago this March. I actually reviewed this book last year, and you can find it here. It's nice to have my own copy, and reading the introduction by Jane Campion reminded me that I never got around to seeing the film and would love to do so.

An angel at the table; Faces in the water (Frame) 533, 538

An angel at the table and Faces in the water by Janet Frame are two books that I came across earlier this year before embarking on my Venture after I read about the release of the latter on the Virago website. I had not heard of Frame, but she is apparently an eminent novelist and writer from New Zealand.

These are wonderfully written, but quite disturbing, autobiographies, relating Frame's life and journey through mental illness and the importance of writing to her recovery. She was erroneously diagnosed as being schizophrenic, and spent a number of years insitutionalised. She was about to have a lobotomy when she received the news that she had won a major literary prize! I have to say that they are not hugely happy reads, but they are extremely inspiring.

Mental illness is something that I am hugely interested in, as a number of people close to me have been very ill and hospitalised with depression and other psychiatric disorders. This gives me the opportunity to give a quick plug for the swim that I am doing in order to raise money for Mind, the mental health charity, which seeks to support those with mental illness and raise awareness throughout the UK. I've already raised quite a bit of money, but would love to raise more - please see my justgiving page for more details!

Here are the covers of the books.