Book

I don’t think there is actually an official book trailer for this one; if there is, I couldn’t find it.

Now, I have a confession to make. Before this blog series, I had never really wanted to read these books, mainly because of the incredible hype surrounding them, so I came to the party over a decade late.

My first impressions are of a charming children’s story about a young boy who learns there is more to life than we can believe. I’m intrigued to see how the CGI and special effects will help or hinder this story’s transitions to the film medium.

I sniggered enough while reading on the bus that the driver nearly missed a green light because he was staring, waiting for me to tell him what was so amusing. 

The world building is fun and allows the characters to get up to plenty of mischief. The Quidditch games were fast-paced, as one would imagine them to be, and there is no way a film could down-play the excitement generated in the book and still remain a box office success.

I picked up my battered and bruised copy of The Philosopher’s Stone at Lifeline Book Fest in January for 50 cents, so I won’t make judgement on the cover.

Paperback, 223 pages

Published June 30th 1997 by Bloomsbury Publishing (first published 1997)

ISBN 0747532745 (ISBN13: 9780747532743)

Let’s get on with watching the movie, shall we?

The Film

The film brought to life some of the more complicated moments in an extravagant way. Fluffy was a stand-out for me. Considering I came from the era of George Lucas experimenting with some of the first computer animations in film, this adaption was extremely entertaining. The use of green screen is becoming less and less obvious, and this really makes anything seem possible.

I was surprised to see some of my favourite actors/ comedians who include but are not limited to Zoe Wanamaker (My Family), Warwick Davis (Willow), and John Cleese (Fawlty Towers). There’s also an uncredited part played by one Zoe Sugg (Yep, Zoella was in it). It’s really no surprise that the box office was bursting at the seams when this film made its debut in 2001.

The verdict – I think I’ll go against the norm here and say the book was better, hands down. I did like the film; it was a rollicking good time, but I think the power of the page wins out here. Perhaps the filmmakers didn’t want the dark elements to take over in something aimed at families, but I think those parts needed a bit more exposure.

Get Gorgeous is a boutique and online fashion outlet right near where Marianne lives in Brisbane. We’ve spotted some very cute clothes on their website. See what you think. Click on the images to see more or to order.

It’s her first day of Grade Nine and Clementine Darcy is struggling. Her brother, Fergus, disappeared into his room a year ago, dropping his family, job, and life behind him. Her sister, Sophie, is always angry, and her friends at school seem to moving in a different direction and leaving her behind.

The one hope she has of understanding how her previously charmed life has fallen apart so entirely is to take the philosophy class that had helped her sister so much when she was in school. Perhaps, the great thinkers of their age can make more sense of Clementine’s life than she can. However, Ms Hiller is not an average teacher. Rather than expounding upon the complexities of Foucault or discussing the ideas of Alain de Botton, she asks her class to write.

Kate Gordon’s novel starts with quite a beautiful premise. Clementine is lost. She knows herself better than most girls her age do, and better than some people ever will. Who she doesn’t know are the people around her. Sophie seemingly has it all, but she’s nowhere near as happy as Clementine. Fergus, her wonderfully irrepressible brother, doesn’t talk anymore – or do much else for that matter. Her friends are suddenly all about the boys. With Ms Hiller’s philosophy class, Clementine is hoping to change all of that. While she wants someone to explain everything to her; however, the class teaches her that she needs to reach out and search for answers herself.

For a novel made up entirely of letters to a teacher, Ms Hiller is a curiously absent character. She steps in twice at pivotal points in Clementine’s life, but doesn’t change anything on either of those times. Despite the fact that Ms Hiller is the catalyst for Clementine to really examine her life, keeping her absent from the story emphasises that the only person who can affect change is Clementine herself.

Writing Clementine tackles that difficult teenage time when everything is changing so fast that it no longer makes sense. Anyone who has been through it will recognise some part of their younger selves in this inspirational novel; anyone who is going through it will probably relate to a lot of the emotions Clementine is feeling.

While this doesn’t read as an ‘issues’ novel, it does take a good, hard look at a lot of the problems affecting Australian teens. Ranging from trying to be yourself in this increasingly media-driven world, to sexual assault, and depression, Writing Clementine doesn’t baulk at the realities of life. It does tackle those truths with careful consideration, offering plenty of hope but never going with the easy way out.

Writing Clementine is a lovely, insightful coming-of-age novel that explores some difficult teen dilemmas but manages to stay light-hearted. With an array of lovely characters and a large dose of emotional truth, this is a sweet story that’s not too fluffy.

Writing Clementine – Kate Gordon

 Allen & Unwin (July 2014)

 ISBN: 9781743316634

So, a couple of weeks ago, I made and blogged the recipe for ‘Not-So Rocky Road’ – a twist on the old favourite with gummy bears and popping candy. Now it seems lots of you liked that one – I think a lot of that had to do with how deceptively simple it is to make. I’ve since had a couple of requests for more Rocky Road ideas, and thought I’d start with this one. More for grown-ups than kidlets, this one is super-rich and rather decadent…

What You Need:

For the Chocolate fudge:

• 400g of dark chocolate. Use the best quality (with the highest cocoa percentage) that you can, chopped finely. I used a mix of 100g of Lindt and 300g of Nestle Plaistowe.
• 50g butter, cubed (don’t use margarine *shudder*)
• 1 x 385ml can of condensed milk. I used the skim version this time, only because that’s all I had in the pantry (also, ‘skim’ is not skim when it comes to condensed milk. The calorie count is still obscene. May as well use the real stuff!)

For the rocky in the road:

• 1 cup of marshmallows
• ½ cup of shelled walnuts
• ½ cup of salted pistachios, shelled
• ½ cup of glace cherries

Grease and line a slice tin – aprox 18cm x 18cm – and randomly place around half of your nuts, marshmallows and cherries. Then, to make fudge, in a medium saucepan over a very low heat, melt butter into the condensed milk.

Stir continuously as it can stick to the bottom. Once the butter has melted, add all the chocolate at once, stirring vigorously. It gets thick very quickly, so use your muscles! Add fudge to the slice tin, as well as remaining nuts, cherries and marshmallows.

Use the back of a dessert spoon or a knife to smooth as much as possible. Refrigerate for at least an hour, then using a super-sharp knife, cut into pieces. Because this one is so rich, I cut it into smaller pieces than I normally would.

Ruth Cohen tried out a recipe (courtesy of Kathy Knudsen) for these individual sticky date puddings. A perfect winter’s night dessert that looks delish!

Ingredients

• Melted butter, to grease
• 285g (1 3/4 cups) pitted dates, halved
• 250ml (1 cup) boiling water
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 80g butter, at room temperature
• 100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 115g (3/4 cup) self-raising flour, sifted
• 75g (1/2 cup) plain flour, sifted
• 185ml (3/4 cup) pouring cream
• 160g (1 cup, lightly packed) brown sugar
• 60g unsalted butter, chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush six 185ml (3/4-cup) non-stick muffin pans with melted
butter to lightly grease. Line the bases with non-stick baking paper. (I use silicon muffin trays
which require no greasing or paper though)

Combine the dates, water and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes to
soften. Use a fork to coarsely mash. (The consistency should look like a chunky jam with fruit bits)

Use an electric beater to beat the butter and caster sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy.
Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in the date mixture and the
combined flour. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pans and smooth the surfaces.

Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until the surfaces spring back when lightly tapped. Set
aside in the pans for 5 minutes to stand before turning onto a wire rack to cool slightly.
Meanwhile, place the pouring cream, brown sugar and unsalted butter in a saucepan over
medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until smooth.

Serve with your choice of custard, ice-cream, or double cream 🙂