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Mary Poppins: In Books and On Screen

Mary Poppins [DVD] 

I vividly remember watching Mary Poppins as a child. I loved all the songs, but had no idea the concept had originated as a series of books written by PL Travers. I discovered this recently when I watched Saving Mr Banks, a fantastic film about how Mary Poppins was brought to the big screen.

Travers was born in Australia and had a traumatic childhood. She began writing about Mary Poppins as a way to escape her difficult life; imagining a magical world similar to her favourite book, Peter Pan.

Saving Mr Banks [DVD] 

Saving Mr Banks showed the battle Walt Disney faced trying to persuade Travers to give him the rights to the film. Travers was a wonderfully bitter author, viciously protecting her work. I loved seeing her character develop over the course of the film and the way she stood up to Disney. It was so heartwarming to watch and is probably the best thing I’ve seen so far this year. It inspired me to get a copy of the original book, so I could see how Travers portrayed the magical nanny I knew so well. 

Mary Poppins - The Complete Collection (Includes all six stories in one volume) 

Mary Poppins , the book, was interesting to read but it felt dated. I was planning to read it to my children, but a quick scan of the first few pages made me realise it wasn’t for them. It was made up of a series of short stories (another reason I didn’t enjoy it) and captured a period of English life that no longer exists. Each short story revolved around a simple concept (eg. a trip to the butchers) and involved Mary Poppins taking the children along, producing the occasional magical moment.

The wind, with a wild cry, slipped under the umbrella, pressing it upwards as though trying to force it out of Mary Poppins’ hand. But she held on tightly, and that, apparently, was what the wind wanted her to do, for presently it lifted the umbrella higher into the air and Mary Poppins from the ground. It carried her lightly so that her toes just grazed along the garden path. Then it lifted her over the front gate and swept her upwards towards the branches of the cherry trees in the Lane.

It was charming (another adjective I avoid in books!) but so simple it was boring. I’m pleased I now have knowledge of this children’s classic, but have no desire to read the rest of the series. This is one of those rare cases where the film is better than the book – in fact where two films are better than the book!

Have you read Mary Poppins? Did you enjoy it as an adult/child?

 

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2014 Audio Book Recommended books

An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield (Audio Book)

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth Source: Library

Five words from the blurb: astronaut, training, success, survival, think

Chris Hadfield is an inspirational man! I don’t remember how I first heard of him, but I do know that every piece of media that features him leaves me feeling empowered. Last year I saw that he was coming to the UK to promote his photo book, You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes, and so booked tickets to see him live. He had the entire room in the palm of his hand and is easily the best public speaker I’ve ever seen. I immediately went home and reserved a copy of his audiobook from the library. It is every bit as good as I hoped it would be and I urge you to go and get a copy.

An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth is basically an autobiography, explaining how Hadfield became an astronaut. But he also uses the book to show how everyone can benefit from the things he learnt along the way. He reinforces his belief that you should use every spare moment to become a better person – making small changes every day to improve your chances of achieving whatever you want:

Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you, and start moving your life in that direction. Every decision you make, from what you eat to what you do with your time tonight, turns you into who you are tomorrow, and the day after that. Look at who you want to be, and start sculpting yourself into that person. You may not get exactly where you thought you’d be, but you will be doing things that suit you in a profession you believe in. Don’t let life randomly kick you into the adult you don’t want to become.

He also believes that being independent is the key to happiness. Knowing that you have the ability to fix anything around you gives you more confidence. His passion almost persuaded me to take a course in plumbing – but I predict trying to fix a broken pipe would lead to much more stress in my life as I’m not very good at practical tasks!

Hadfield mixes these life-building plans with entertaining anecdotes about his experiences. It was fascinating to learn how problems are dealt with in space and I thought he managed to strike exactly the right balance between technical information and humour. I especially loved hearing about how he coped with becoming blind whilst on a space walk and what landing a Soyuz is like.

The audio is read by the author; further injecting his passion into every word. It’s probably amazing in print, but I highly recommend the audio version.

An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth gives the reader a slightly different perspective of the world, showing how we can all work together to make things better. It highlights the fragility and beauty of our planet, but also how powerful individual people can be when they work towards a goal. If you only buy one self-help book in your life, this should be the one you get.

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2015

Quicksand by Steve Toltz

Quicksand Source: Free review copy received from publisher

Five words from the blurb: friendship, failure, misfortune, writer, society

Quicksand is the story of two men: Liam is a failed writer who decides to become a policeman; and Aldo is a failed entrepreneur, who is continually asking Liam to bail him out of difficult situations. The book concentrates on the dynamics of their relationship, using them to show how society reacts to failure and suffering.

The book started brilliantly. The first chapter is probably one of the funniest things I’ve ever read. It was intelligent and insightful, creating exactly the sort of dry humor that I love:

Shamefully, doctors neglect to tell new parents that an increasingly common postnatal complication is that a small percentage of babies will grow into anthropologists in their own homes, as if they’d been conceived in order to study and then record the dreadful failings of their mother and father, who’ve no idea they’ve invited this cold-hearted observer into their lives. All these parents wanted was to produce cuter versions of themselves, poor bastards; instead they’re saddled with an unsympathetic informer who won’t hesitate to report them to the lowest authority – the general public. In other words, it is as the poet Czestaw Mitosz once said: When a writer is born into a family, that family is doomed! (Exclamation mark mine.)

I wanted to highlight almost everything and at one point was beginning to think that too many punchlines were crammed onto each page. I worried that I’d get face-ache from laughing too much.

Unfortunately that didn’t happen. The jokes began to thin out and without their lightness I found the book far less interesting. The writing was outstanding throughout, but I wasn’t interested in the macho aspects of this book. The casual way the protagonists talked about prostitutes, and their general attitude towards women annoyed me. It was realistic, but I’ve read similar things many times before and longed for the fresh wisdom of the opening sections to return. 

I’m sure that this book will be loved by many (men) and it will probably be longlisted for the Booker Prize. I just wished that Toltz had made the entire book as good as the first few chapters. 

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Other

May Summary and Plans for June

Book of the Month: Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin

Golden Boy

This book about the difficulties of facing puberty as an intersex teenager was eye-opening and emotional. Recommended to anyone looking for a gripping page-turner. 

Books Reviewed in May:

Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin 

Colorless Tsukuru and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami 

Brilliance by Anthony McCarten 

Out in the Open by Jesús Carrasco 

School Blues by Daniel Pennac 

Euphoria by Lily King 

In the Beginning Was the Sea by Tomás González 

Demons by Wayne Macauley 

The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall 

Plans for June

I’m continuing to read Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It is outstanding and I’m sure it will become one of my all-time favourites. 

I have recently finished Quicksand by Steve Toltz, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield and  Mary Poppins by PL Travers and hope to review them soon. 

I also plan to try most of these books in the near future:

The Hunting Gun by Yasushi Inou

In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

Under The Skin by Michel Faber

Professor Andersen’s Night by Dag Solstad

This House is Not for Sale by EC Osondu

I hope that you have a wonderful June!

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Other

Books in Brief: Euphoria, School Blues and In the Beginning Was the Sea

School Blues Source: Personal Copy

Translated from the French by Sarah Ardizzone

School Blues by Daniel Pennac

Five words from the blurb: teacher, saved, pupils, education, dunce

School Blues is an important book about engaging with all children, no matter how intelligent they are. There is a lot of wisdom in here, but it is let-down by the language used. Many of the proverbs don’t translate into English well and I found the overuse of words like “dunce” irritating. The differences between the British school system and the French one also means that much of the information is irrelevant/hard to follow. There are some great messages in here, but I’m afraid you have to wade through a lot of text to find them.

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 Euphoria Source: Library

Euphoria by Lily King

Five words from the blurb: anthropologist, Margaret Mead, sexual, culture, adventure

I decided to read this book because many people listed it as one of their favorites last year. It is a fascinating story, based on the real life of a famous anthropologist. Unfortunately I think my enjoyment of this book was reduced by the fact I’d recently read The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanigahara, an outstanding book with a similar premise. Euphoria just felt like a watered-down version of The People in the Trees and, although it contained some fantastic passages, the plot was too simple to excite me. 

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  In the Beginning Was the Sea (Pushkin Collection) Source: Library

Translated from the Spanish by Frank Wynne

In the Beginning Was the Sea by Tomás González

Five words from the blurb: relocate, Caribbean, decaying, relationship, horror

In the Beginning Was the Sea was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. It is a novella about a couple who move to the Columbian Caribbean coast with a romantic notion of living a simpler, happier life. I read this book in a single sitting and enjoyed many of the passages about trying to cope in run-down surroundings. Unfortunately I failed to bond with the couple and found the story too predictable. It was OK, but I don’t think I’ll remember much about it in a few month’s time. 

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Discussions Other

Why I Don’t Always Want My Favourite Book to Win the Prize

Last night I went to the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Award ceremony. It was a lovely evening, especially because everyone was gathered there to support fiction in translation.

Everyone wants their favourite to win, except me

But one thing that stood out was that everyone wanted their favourite book to win the prize. Everyone that is, except me. I wanted the best book to win and I recognised that the best book and my favourite were two separate things. I don’t think many people grasp the nature of subjectivity as there was a tendency for people to assume that their favourite was the best.

Taking last night as an example (although I see this pattern repeated as every book prize is about to be announced).

The shortlist was:

My favourite from the list was Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, but I can see that this is because I have a penchant for Japanese literature and I happened to read this book the week after I saw some school friends I hadn’t seen for 16 years – exactly as happened in Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki . This coincidence meant the book resonated with me in a way it wouldn’t with anyone else. I can see that the book had flaws, but I was happy to overlook these as it meant so much to me in other ways.

The best book on the list was The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck. I didn’t really enjoy it, but could see that the writing quality was outstanding and the concept behind it was original. I know that I often struggle to bond with books that move forwards and backwards in time and those that are more experimental in nature. The fact I prefer a more conventional narrative style doesn’t mean I instantly dismiss everything else as terrible. Many people at the ceremony thought I was a bit odd for supporting a book I didn’t really enjoy.

IFFP

As the night drew on it became clear that everyone was happy. The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck won the IFFP. It was the favourite of almost everyone in attendance and I was equally pleased to see it take the crown. But as I travelled home after a wonderful evening I began to wonder if I’m a bit odd.

Do you always want your favourite book to win the prize?

Have you ever supported a book you didn’t really enjoy?

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