Kooky: ‘Strange or eccentric’.
Stumped for ideas once again as to what I personally find strange and eccentric, I cast my net upon the world wide web, curious as to what hits I’d get if I put in ‘strange’ and ‘eccentric’.
One of the first things that popped up was Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen by Clifford Pickover.
“In this unusual and penetrating work, Clifford Pickover… takes us on a wild ride through the bizarre lives of brilliant, but eccentric geniuses who made significant contributions to science and philosophy. Unveiling the hidden secrets,[he] delights us with unexpected stories of their obsessive personalities and strange phobias.”
Sounds like my kind of book. I’m fascinated by the inner workings of people’s minds and all their little quirks. This will be going on my birthday list.
The next thing to catch my eye was a Rough Guides article: ‘Five strange and uniquely British experiences’. I’m not sure these 5 would be what many people would pick, but I investigated.
- The Chap Olympics
Participants dress up in clothing from the Victorian era to the 1940s, apparently, to take part in events like Umbrella Jousting (on bikes) and the Cucumber Sandwich Discus, held in Bedford Square, Bloomsbury. This year it’s on Saturday 12th July, noon to dusk, and you can get tickets here if it sounds like your, er, ‘bag’. - The Summer Solstice at Stonehenge
As Stonehenge is in Britain, this can’t help but be uniquely British! It seems a shame that hype and drunken revelry have been allowed on the same bill as people celebrating an important day in their religious calendar, but then it’s unsurprising; in somehow it’s become socially acceptable to mock those trying to practise Paganism, a religion with roots far older than Christianity. Ironic when you consider how many people moan about ‘Eastern’ religions ‘usurping’ English traditions – usually around five seconds before they say, ‘after all, you don’t get Christians murdering people in the name of their religion, do you!’
Closely followed by me rocking in the corner and/or banging my head against a brick wall, mumbling ‘Crusades, Inquisition, Cathar Massacres’ over and over again… - Morris Dancing in the Isle of Wight
Why in the Isle of Wight? Morris dancing is practised throughout the UK in ye olde villages everywhere. It has to be there, the writer says, because ‘the Isle of Wight is a hotbed of morris madness, with no less than six active troupes’. I see. Although I’ve been there twice without seeing so much as an ankle bell or funny hat… - The Cotswold Olimpicks
No that’s not a spelling error. Apparently these games have been going on since the seventeenth century on a hill outside Chipping Camden. Games vary from year to year but shin-kicking is very popular… ooh, I can’t wait (? ouch!). Tickets aren’t available yet, but this year it’s on 30th May 2014 at 7 pm. - Shetland’s Viking Ritual
NOW you’re talking. Finally, a ‘unique British experience’ that I’d actually like to, er… experience. Officially called Up Helly Aa, it takes place in Lerwick, Shetland on the last Tuesday in January. More about this in W for Wacky.
Kooky enough for ya? 😉
For a long time I’d have named Raymond Feist as my favourite fantasy author, and I’m still following this never-ending, spin-off producing series of series which all started with Magician. 
Love, love, love Robert Silverberg. I think we’ve reached my mid to late twenties now. I love all the different races, a huge world that’s so similar to ours in some ways and so different in others. Some intriguing ideas (having your morals tweaked in your dreams?) and the sense that he’s making subtle statements about real life (something I enjoy in TV sci-fi and fantasy as well. I’m often surprised the USA aired the Canadian produced Stargate – some of the criticism wasn’t that well-hidden!).
I think I was 13ish when I started reading these, and 28 when I stopped with the publication of the last one, The Rivan Codex, in 1999. I loved them, particularly the last 3 (I prefer ‘spin-offs’ to prequels, as they also cover events you’ve already read about, just from a different point of view – a bit like Lion King 3!) The characters were well-portrayed and the books were full of humour, although sometimes Eddings did seem to lose his way a little. One day, I’ll read them all again (if I can wrest them from ArtyDaughter). I tried a couple of books from his next series but felt he’d lost it – as though he’d created all the characters he ever could and was just presenting them again, re-jigged and renamed. I was mad with him when he eventually revealed that his wife co-wrote them; she finally got her name on the cover in 1995, with the first spin-off, Belgarath the Sorcerer.
Brilliant. Read right through to the end and I guarantee you many ‘er…what?’ and ‘OMG!’ moments. It starts off a a simple tale of human outcasts from the near future travelling through a time gate to the Pliocene era to start again and live the simple life. Enter early hominids, aliens, funky mind powers, betrayal and enough twists and turns to make your head spin as though you’ve been sleep-walking and accidentally drunk all the Scotch again. These series truly hover on the sci-fi/fantasy border, but her other famous series (yes, ‘she’s’ a girl and Julian is her real name) are a little easier; The Rampart Worlds books are sci-fi and the Boreal Moon trilogy is fantasy. But they’re all… brilliant! Oh… I already said that. These four series took me from 14 to 35.
21 to 27ish. I think these are one of the few sets of fantasy novels I’ve turfed out as some point – or perhaps they’re in the loft. There are fifteen novels but I think I only read the first 10 or 11. They zip back and forth between different incarnations of the characters – similar events happening again and again until things were put right. Fascinating stories, but I think it started to feel a bit long and drawn out – perhaps that’s why I stopped reading them?
