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Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination

The boy and I recently wandered on down to the British Library on a Sunday - which meant, sadly, that access to all the lovely books was shut down. Luckily we discovered an amazing little exhibition they're putting on called Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination.

The exhibition takes you through the origins of the gothic novel, starting with Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (who knew the son of the first prime minister imagined the first ever gothic novel?). It winds through to hand-written drafts of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Percy's comments written in the sidelines), bringing you into the Victorian era of gothic tales - in which writers like Dickens and the Bronte sisters brought horror to the present day. With Jack the Ripper and Penny Dreadfuls, it was hard for the the Victorians to separate the realness of present day terrors from the horrors which stemmed from their imagination.

The exhibition illustrates modern day horrors with commentaries from Neil Gaiman, Sarah Waters and Ben Wheatley. There are even costumes by Alexander McQueen, movie memorabilia (including a puppet from Walace and Grommit's Were-Rabbit), and a section dedicated to goth bands and the Whitby scene (Bauhaus darkly sounding from the overhead speakers).

The exhibition only costs £10 (free if you're under 18!) and is perfect for the run up to Halloween (it ends 20th January).

Go ahead and book here.

Plenty More

Yotam Ottolenghi's vegetarian cookbook is taking it's turn in our kitchen at the moment (sorry Jamie). This week we took a stab at the tagliatelle with walnuts and lemon, and boy was it scrumptious!

This book would be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of any of you veggies or friends of veggies for that matter.

Sneak Into My Room