Book a Week 2015 - W15: Haiku for you

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday dear hearts:  We are on week 15 in our quest to read 52 books.  Welcome back to our regulars, anyone just joining in, and to all who follow our progress. Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 books blog to link to your reviews. The link is also in my signature.

 

52 Books Blog - Haiku for You:  One of the most important traditional forms of Japanese poetry is the Haiku.  I fell in love with Haiku when my son and I read Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho while doing Five in a Row.  So much fun to read and even more to write.  Although I'm not a poet, still find joy in putting together Haiku's which lead to exploring other forms.   Haiku seems simple enough.  Three lines of poetry with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line and 5 syllables in the third line. They don't have to rhyme but traditionally should have a seasonal word to indicate the season. It doesn't necessarily have to be autumn, winter, spring or fall but a word that represents the season.  
 

Basho

 

Temple bells die out.

The fragrant blossoms remain.
A perfect evening!

 

or 

 

Masaoka Shiki

 

Night; and once again,
the while I wait for you, cold wind
turns into rain. 
 

Check out Haiku for People which lists all the old masters plus samples of their poems.

My challenge to you this week is to write haiku.  Here's mine:

 

Morning glory blooms
Harkening Spring's coming soon
Purple majesty

 

*************************************************************************************

 

History of the Medieval World - Chapter 18 Orthodoxy (pp 120 - 124)

 

************************************************************************************

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

 

Link to week 14

[Robin M]

Currently reading Hounded by Kevin Hearne (ebook) and Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis. 

[idnib]

Currently reading On Politics (year-long read), The Most Dangerous Book, and Authority (2nd book of the Southern Reach Trilogy).  I've had trouble finishing Authority because the first half of the book was dull and strange. The second half has picked up the pace. I think this trilogy could have been two larger books with some of this middle book edited out. But I guess trilogies are the money-making trend these days.

 

I'm also trying to do a little research into a good translation for The Inferno for next month. And the Western Canon goodreads group starts The Pilgrim's Progress on Wednesday so I'll be adding that too.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Currently reading On Politics (year-long read), The Most Dangerous Book, and Authority (2nd book of the Southern Reach Trilogy).  I've had trouble finishing Authority because the first half of the book was dull and strange. The second half has picked up the pace. I think this trilogy could have been two larger books with some of this middle book edited out. But I guess trilogies are the money-making trend these days.

 

I'm also trying to do a little research into a good translation for The Inferno for next month. And the Western Canon goodreads group starts The Pilgrim's Progress on Wednesday so I'll be adding that too.

 

Oh good, tell me what you decide is the best, Inferno-buddy!

 

I finished Perelandra last night. I found it quite a slog to get through.  I'll have more to say if a discussion happens . . . I also finished The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym and will move on to Verne's sequel, The Sphinx of the Ice Palace.  I found the ending of Pym unsatisfying, clearly, and will be interested to see what Verne does with the story. Pym was kind of disturbing all the way around, particularly the description of the "savages" in the southern polar regions. I get it, it was a product of its time, but it's always disturbing to read black=savage=bestial=backwards=evil.  I'm also reading I, Tituba, another disturbing exploration of slavery, racism, colonialism and violence, sexual and otherwise.  So between those two and Out of the Silent Planet, I'm feeling a general sense of outrage at the moment.

 

I do want to read That Hideous Strength, it sounds from the description like I'll like it more than Perelandra.  I have a bunch of other things on my stack but I need to finish some things before I start anything else.

 

Oh, I did finish Restoration Agriculture, and  :001_wub:  loved it! It's how I want to farm.  It makes me dissatisfied with my tiny urban lot, even though we do have 9 fruit trees and as many vegies as possible crammed into every nook and cranny.  It's just not the same, though!

[Loesje22000]

I read Malacandra ( Out of the Silent Planet), skipped Perelandra ( read it already 2-3 times) and am working on Thulcandra (3rd book)

 

Seen the fact I had terrible headaches this week not too bad.

 

I watched The Eagle and read The Eagle of the Ninth in Dutch, I'm not convinced the book is too hard for dd.

I think she should try a little bit harder...

It's a pity we only have 'old' translations from Rosemary Sutcliff, and it is a pity all libraries are getting rid of them :(

[Stacia]

I read Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood. It's one I heard about on this thread (maybe from the Flufferton/cozy mystery readers?) & requested from my library awhile ago. They had it on order, but didn't yet have the actual book. It finally came in yesterday, so I picked it up & read it. (It's pretty short.) This is apparently the first book of an Australian series starring Phryne Fisher; other books have been published in the US, but not in order, so for those that like series, now the first book is out here in the US. (And, it looks like the Kindle version is currently $0.99.)

 

 

1920s lady detective Phryne Fisher storms the Melbourne social scene with moxie while on the trail of a suspected poisoning, a back-alley abortionist, & the head of the cocaine trade. It also has some fabulous fashion (what else could be expected in the 1920s?) & forward feminist tones too boot. The pace was lively enough, the characters interesting enough, & the overall story entertaining enough; nothing super memorable but a reasonable, fluffy read that hit the spot.

 

2015 Books Read:

Africa:

• Rue du Retour by Abdellatif Laâbi, trans. from the French by Jacqueline Kaye, pub. by Readers International. 4 stars. Morocco. (Poetic paean to political prisoners worldwide by one who was himself in prison for “crimes of opinionâ€. Explores not only incarceration but also readjusting to a ‘normal’ world after torture & release.)
• Nigerians in Space by Deji Bryce Olukotum, pub. by Unnamed Press. 4 stars. South Africa & Nigeria. (Scientists lured back home in a ‘brain gain’ plan to start up Nigerian space program. But, things go awry. Is it legit, a scam, or something more sinister?)
• Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor, pub. by Viking (Penguin Group). 3 stars. Nigeria. (YA fantasy lit in the vein of HP but with a West African base of myth & legend.)
• Under the Frangipani by Mia Couto, trans. from the Portuguese by David Bookshaw, pub. by Serpent’s Tail. 3 stars. Mozambique. (Murder mystery that ultimately examines the things that kill a people, a country, a place; told through a magical realism lens of the living & the dead, traditions vs. modern mores, colonization against freedom, & war facing off against peace.)
• Gassire’s Lute: A West African Epic, trans. & adapted by Alta Jablow, illus. by Leo & Diane Dillon, pub. by Dutton. 4 stars. West Africa, incl. Ghana & Burkina Faso. (Children’s poetic book [part of the epic of Dausi], telling of Gassire who gives up his noble lineage & warrior life to become a bard/griot.)

Asia:

• The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami, a Borzoi book pub. by Alfred A. Knopf.  4 stars. Japan. BaW January author challenge. (Creepy campfire style story; thought-provoking ending made me rethink the entire story.)
• The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire by Jack Weatherford, pub. by Crown Publishers. 4 stars. Mongolia. (Non-fiction. Even with gaps, fascinating pieces of lost &/or censored history.)

Caribbean:

• The Duppy by Anthony C. Winkler, pub. by Akashic Books. 3 stars. Jamaica. (A duppy [ghost] relates ribald & amusing anecdotes of Jamaican heaven.)

Europe:

• The Affinity Bridge by George Mann, a Tor book pub. by Tom Doherty Associates. 3 stars. England. (Entertaining steampunk with likeable characters.)
• Extraordinary Renditions by Andrew Ervin, pub. by Coffee House Press. 4 stars. Hungary. (Triptych of stories in Budapest touching on the Holocaust, racism, corruption, the power of music,…)
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, pub. by Scribner Classics. 4 stars. France & Spain. (Lost generation of post-WW1 expats living, loving, & arguing in France & Spain.)
• Kismet by Jakob Arjouni, trans. from the German by Anthea Bell, pub. by Melville House (Melville International Crime). 4 stars. Germany. (Tough Turkish-German PI in the middle of a turf war as a Croatian organized crime group tries to take over territory of Albanian & German mobs in Frankfurt. Darkly funny & nicely paced.)
• The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham, pub. by Penguin Books. 5 stars. France. (Interlinked stories of friends in post-WWI France as they move through life & each finds his or her own version of success.)
• Cat Out of Hell by Lynne Truss, pub. by Melville House. 3 stars. England. (Creepy, frivolous fun horror/mystery mash-up… and a cat who wants Daniel Craig to voice him if there’s a movie version.)
• Orlando by Virginia Woolf, pub. by Harcourt Brace & Company. 4 stars. England. BaW March author challenge. (Woolf’s love letter to Vita Sackville-West; story of man/woman Orlando spanning over 300 years of English history. Wordy but redeemed by flashes of profound beauty & brilliance.)
• Missing Person by Patrick Modiano, trans. from the French by Daniel Weissbort, pub. by David R. Godine (a Verba Mundi Book). 4 stars. France. (After WWII, an amnesiac tries to piece together the people & events of his past. A lyrical, yet spare, examination of identity & history.)

Middle East:

• The Jerusalem File by Joel Stone, pub. by Europa editions. 2 stars. Israel. (Noir detective tale re: jealousy. Ambiguous, unsatisfactory ending.)
• Goat Days by Benyamin, trans. from Malayalam by Joseph Koyipally, pub. by Penguin Books. 3 stars. Saudi Arabia. (Simple tale of enslaved Indian forced to herd goats in the Saudi Arabian desert.)

North America:

• The Good Lord Bird by James McBride, pub. by Riverhead Books (Penguin Group). 5 stars. USA. (Sharp satire, historical fiction & folly, standing on top of heart, soul... & freedom.)
• No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, pub. by Vintage International. 4 stars. USA. (Spare & brutal tale of stolen drug money in Texas. Classic themes which are hard & beautifully-crafted.)

Oceania:

• Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood, pub. by Poisoned Pen Press. 3 stars. Australia. (1920s lady detective Phyrne Fisher storms the Melbourne social scene with moxie while on the trail of a suspected poisoning, a back-alley abortionist, & the head of the cocaine trade.)

[TeacherZee]

I've had a wonderfully lazy Easter break and am NOT looking forward to going back to work tomorrow.

 

I have continued reading my brain candy, finishing off the currently out Portland Storm books and then another freebie hockey romance (it was okay, but I won't be buying the rest in the series). Then I got the next Ivy Years book and it was great (still working on the review). With 65 days left until the end of term I don't see myself reading anything meatier until I go on summer break, I just know that my brain won't be able to handle it. Oh well I am working through Matthew in my C.S. Lewis Bible and I am finding his writings thought provoking, even if I am not a Christian. I thought his reflection on perfection (hey alliteration) in Matthew 5:43-48 from Mere Christianity was very interesting. He basically says that God isn't asking us to be perfect but rather to work towards perfection, and he will help us and challenge us to that. Even as a non-Christian I found that this is something I could take to heart (Being UU I believe that there can be truth in many writings :))

 

This week I am looking forward to the next book in the Portland Storm series which is out on Tuesday (with my favourite characters finally getting a book of their own, yay!)

 

Read so far this year

1. The Child Catchers by Kathryn Joyce
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
3. The Understatement of the Year by Sarina Bowen
4. The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen
5. The Year We Hid Away by Sarina Bowen
6. Blond Date by Sarina Bowen
7. A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
8. Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson
9. After the War is Over by Jennifer Robson
10. With Every Letter by Sarah Sundin
11. Falling from the Sky by Sarina Bowen
12. Obsession in Death by J.D. Robb
13. Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen
14. Än finns det hopp by Karin Wahlberg
15. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
16. Shooting for the Stars by Sarina Bowen
17. The Deal by Elle Kennedy
18. Coming in from the Cold by Sarina Bowen
19. The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan

20. All Lined Up by Cora Carmack

21. All Broke Down by Cora Carmack

22. On the Fly by Catherine Gayle

23. Breakaway by Catherine Gayle

24. Taking a Shot by Cathrine Gayle

25. Light the Lamp by Catherine Gayle

26. In the Zone by Catherine Gayle

27. Delay of Game by Catherine Gayle

28. Double Major by Catherine Gayle

29. Comeback by Catherine Gayle

30. Bound by Brenda Rothert

31. The Shameless Hour by Sarina Bowen

[TeacherZee]

Oh and since you ladies have been so supportive with the headache issues, I had a doctors appointment right before Easter. He did some simple neurological tests (walking with my eyes closed, touching my nose, reflexes etc.) and they showed nothing (thank heavens since if they showed something it would be serious). He did some blood tests and I have an appointment for a CAT scan on Friday so we will see what comes of that. Continued good thoughts/vibes/prayers are always appreciated.

[Stacia]

:grouphug: , TeacherZee. Hope they can figure out a way to get rid of the headaches for you.

 

Also, :grouphug: , Loesje for all your headaches this week too.

[mumto2]

:grouphug: to Loesje and Teacherzee. I am glad the Dr's appointment went well.

 

I finished Out of a Silent Planet. Overall I enjoyed it and am very glad to have read it finally. I have had a Lewis 5/5 for 2 years with this series in mind....now for Prelandra.

 

I read a new to me book by one of my favourite mystery author's Dorothy Hughes. She is an old but very good, very noir. I read the Scarlet Imperial. Here is a good reviewhttp://mysteriouspress.com/products/hard-boiled/the-scarlet-imperial-by-dorothy-b-hughes.asp.

[Stacia]

Blah. Just wrote a whole post & then lost it because the WTM site keeps messing up for me. I also can't get multiquote to work now. I'll try to write a shorter summary of my lost post....

 

Idnib & Rose, I may read The Inferno along with you next month. I have Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's translation sitting on my shelves. I don't know that his is the best version, but I became interested in reading his translation after reading The Dante Club years ago.

 

Rose, I can understand your dismay & outrage over Pym, esp. alongside I, Tituba. Your comments made me think of other books I've read that (serendipitously) complemented/expanded each other in some way. I recommend trying Langston Hughes' The Ways of White Folks alongside Helen Oyeyemi's Boy, Snow, Bird sometime.

[Violet Crown]

While internet-deprived this week I finished 17. Graham Greene, Our Man in Havana and 18. Henry James, The Europeans. And further progress through St. Francis de Sales.

 

External adventures dictated my next choice. When out hiking one morning, my desert-dwelling relative decided we would leave the boring trail and go straight up to a rocky outcropping. As we picked our way through the ocotillo and prickly pear, I noticed Wee Girl in front of me had just passed or stepped over a flattish gray patch. I thought, Huh, how oddly round OHMYGOD RATTLESNAKE!!!!!!1111!!!!

 

And then part of my brain started saying quickly, definitely rattler, classic triangular head and rattles, only about a foot long uncoiled, not rattling and head down so still sluggish from the chilly night, that's why it didn't protest Wee Girl being so close

 

And another part of my brain was saying

 

!!!!!!!!!!!11111111!!!!!!!!! RATTLESNAKE !!!!!!!!! and running in tight little circles inside my skull.

 

Now and then I still get a clear mental image of the critter and Wee Girl's chubby little legs right by it, in easy striking distance, and then I don't feel so good.

 

So in honor of this week's adventures, I've started J. Frank Dobie's Rattlesnakes, a collection of Southwestern rattler lore and stories. If I were a real self-respecting Texan, that snake would be six feet long and a Diamondback or a Mohave Green, rearing up with a fifteen-ring rattle giving warning. But honestly it was just a sleepy little prairie rattler. Still.

 

 

Edited for seasonal haiku:

 

Gray leathery coils

Spring dawn warms cold reptile blood--

Desert citizen.

[Stacia]

:eek: , Violet Crown!!!!

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

 

Rose, I can understand your dismay & outrage over Pym, esp. alongside I, Tituba. Your comments made me think of other books I've read that (serendipitously) complemented/expanded each other in some way. I recommend trying Langston Hughes' The Ways of White Folks alongside Helen Oyeyemi's Boy, Snow, Bird sometime.

 

 

I'll put those on my list.  It's my favorite way to read - a series of books with some sort of topical or thematic connection.  It feels more like a (G)reat conversation that way, doesn't it?

[TeacherZee]

:svengo: :willy_nilly:  <- Me at Violet Crown's adventure

[Jane in NC]

Eric Kaplan's volume Does Santa Exist? is a meditation on what it means to exist but, because a comedy writer penned the book, it has its humorous moments. This is one of those books that I would not recommend to most (not sure it would grab them) but I would love to know what someone else thinks.  (Hint, hint, Pam.) It gave me pause--in a good way.

 

I continue to read Thirkell's Private Enterprise, pure comfort for me. 

 

The poetry of Corsino Fortes has more going on in it than I understand.  But I loved this bit from Message to Umbertona:

 

Message!  Go and tell

           The people of Tchuba Tchobe

That if the stones on the earth are letters

The soles of my feet are a school

                                  Because

My feet are broad

                       My feet are big

And the world

          is a thimble on one of my toes.

 

 

[Kareni]

I had fun yesterday at my neighboring city's library's very large used book sale.  I found a couple of Korean books for my husband as well as a book by one of my daughter's favorite authors.  My husband got his books right away; however, since it's prohibitively expensive to mail packages to South Korea, my daughter will get her book when next she's home.

 

I overheard a couple of the volunteers comment that significantly fewer books had been donated this year.  It made me wonder if people are trying to sell their own used books and/or whether more people are reading e-books and thus have fewer books to donate.

 

I'm currently reading and enjoying the latest book in Ashley Gardner's Captain Lacey Regency Mystery series ~ Murder in Grosvenor Square (Volume 9).

 

"Captain Gabriel Lacey begins Spring 1818 preparing for a duel. But while he focuses on the affair of honor, darkness, greed, and death stalk the streets of London and bring tragedy to a family Lacey has grown close to. With the aid of Lucius Grenville, London’s most famous dandy, and Brewster, a ruffian employed by an underworld criminal, Lacey’s investigation takes him from the elegant mansions of Grosvenor Square to the squalid lanes of Seven Dials, to houses that practice a highly illegal trade, spelling ruin and possible hanging for those caught within. Lacey once again comes into the sphere of James Denis, a crime lord, when what appears to be a simple crime of hatred turns out to be far more complex."

 

This series is best read in order.  The first volume is still available free to Kindle readers ~ The Hanover Square Affair (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Book 1).

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Negin]

I read:

The Silkworm - 4 Stars - I enjoyed this second book in the Cormoran Strike series more than the first. We get to know the characters better and I felt a greater connection to them. Rowling has a real knack when it comes to characters, as well as in plot. Both of those factors – feeling a connection to the characters and a fabulous storyline – are what I crave most in a good book.

 

Book Lust to Go - 4 Stars - The author, one of America’s top librarians, who appears on NPR’s Morning Edition, has a series of Book Lust books and I look forward to reading more. This one is a travel-based book and helps you choose books based on locations throughout most of the world. I wish that I had time to read all of the books that I want to read!

 

   

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

 

My Good Reads page - if anyone feels like joining/adding me as a friend.

[Onceuponatime]

Currently reading Freakonomics. I never read it when everyone else was talking about it a few years ago and am finding it fascinating. I keep reading bits aloud to anyone who walks by.

 

pink magnolia

red bud, plum, cherry, dogwood

Virginia blooms

[melmichigan]

Headaches and rattlesnakes, Spring is in the air!   :willy_nilly: I get headaches every Spring, but at least I know my allergies are to blame.   :grouphug: to all the headache sufferers.  

 

Can I join the Inferno read-along too?  I'm trying to read this version along with listening to the Yale Open Course lectures for Dante in Translation so that I can do this with DD next year.

 

I got sidetracked this last week by recommendation from the last thread so I read the Irin Chronicles by Elizabeth Hunter, and one off my new release list- Dark Heir by Faith Hunter.  I loved the Irin Chronicles, and hope to find more stories to come.  Jane's still kicking it for me after almost five years, so I'll continue to pre-order that series too.

[NoseInABook]

Holy cow VC, my heart is beating fast reading that.

 

I finished up White Witch, Black Curse and Mr. Wicker. I was hoping to like Mr. Wicker more than I actually did. She had some descriptions that had me laughing out loud when I don't thiiink she necessarily meant that. :p Starting Alex Marwood's The Wicked Girls.

[Guest]

Plays:

 

Miss Evers' Boys by David Feldshuh: At the center of this play is a (fictionalized) nurse involved in the Tuskegee syphilis experiment.  She begins in good faith, but is faced with increasingly impossible choices. 

 

Voyage by Tom Stoppard: This didn't take my breath away the way Arcadia did, but it was a fascinating blend of the personal, the political, the historical, and the philosophical... and it does leave me wanting to read the next two parts of the trilogy.  (Though I am wondering how this works in production?  Is there a market for stage trilogies?)

 

Shoemaker's Holiday by Dekker: part of my self-chosen Shakespearean contemporaries challenge.  As with all the others, it isn't Shakespeare, but there is so much less mysogyny here than in the others I've read so far this year... and it is, overall, a sweet play.

 

A Chaste Maid in Cheapside by Thomas Middleton: Another entry for the Shakespearean contemporaries here - and also refreshingly not poisonous about women's "chastity" (despite the title)  This and Shoemaker's Holiday both emphasize romantic factors in marriage and a woman's choice.

 

Poetry:

 

Poems of Love and War: This is a collection of Tamil poetry from some classic collections, but arranged thematically (so all the new love poems are together, all the martial ones are together, etc).  There were some gems here - and now I want to search out more Tamil literature...

 

The Killing Floor by Ai:  I've read this slim chapbook in occasional pieces over months... I keep almost discarding it, but then trying again.  There are some powerful, intense, raw, brutal images here... but nothing I connected with.

 

John Brown's Body by Benet: Unlike in this chunkster.  I had no memory of the content of this (it is distressing how many reading experiences seem to fall out of the back of my brain), but I think I was too young when I read this (early teens, I believe).  I don't know what this would be like for someone who isn't already familiar with The (US) Civil War, but knowing the players, the plot, and the various mythologies, reading this was amazing.  It manages to contain so many perspectives, so many truths, so much heart, so much information, while holding on to what I see as the central truths, the heart.

 

Other:

 

Welcome to the Heavenly Heights by Rina Miller: Loosely follows a small group of American olim (imigrants to Israel) in a "West Bank settlement".  Not brilliantly written or compelling, but an sporadically engaging and at times moving.

 

The Return of Martin Guerre (thank you, Stacia!): I saw the French movie the author consulted on (with the ubiquitous Gerard Depardieu!) and a US remake set in the (US) Civil War, but this is far more fascinating.  I kept wishing it were just a bit more in depth, a bit more scholarly, but overall it was quite interesting.

 

The Way We Lived by Rems Umeasiegbu: The first half is a description of Ibo customs, the second half Ibo folktales.  What I found most engaging is the tone give by the author, who is from a generation that lived with these customs and stories as a young child, but grew up in a more Westernized world. 

 

One-of-a-kind Yanky - I read this with my little guy. It's a sweet book, with the Orthodox Jewish setting mostly in the background.

[Jane in NC]

Eliana's post reminds me that I have Stacia's copy of Martin Guerre that I would be happy to forward to another reader in our group.  Anyone interested?

[Pam in CT]

ACCCKKK, Violet Crown!!!  :willy_nilly:

 

https://youtu.be/7FPELc1wEvk

 

 

 

Eric Kaplan's volume Does Santa Exist? is a meditation on what it means to exist but, because a comedy writer penned the book, it has its humorous moments. This is one of those books that I would not recommend to most (not sure it would grab them) but I would love to know what someone else thinks.  (Hint, hint, Pam.) It gave me pause--in a good way.

 

 

I'm on it!  It just arrived Friday, along with Seeing Trees.  They're both still in the Amazon box until I finish up Sacks' The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning, which I do believe you would enjoy...

 

 

And Stacia, can I just say how much I appreciate your mini-reviews in your ongoing list?  I'm getting Akata Witch to try with my 12 year old.

[Stacia]

I'm starting C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet. I'll admit that I know very little about C.S. Lewis & haven't read all of the Narnia books either. (I feel like both those facts put me in the minority around bibliophiles.)

 

The copy I have has the following note in the front of the book:

 

Note: Certain slighting references to earlier stories of this type which will be found in the following pages have been put there for purely dramatic purposes. The author would be sorry if any reader supposed he was too stupid to have enjoyed Mr. H. G. Wells's fantasies or too ungrateful to acknowledge his debt to them.
                                                                                                                               C.S.L.

 

Is it just me or is that a slightly pompous way to acknowledge the famous writers that have preceded you & from whom you have taken inspiration (or more)? It seems like such an odd note to put at the beginning of his book....

 

Scratching my head here....

[Stacia]

Pam, I am scared to click your youtube link since you put it under a reference to VC's adventures. Please tell me it doesn't link to a video of snakes....

 

I hope you & your dd enjoy Akata Witch. I thought it was a decently-done YA book. (I'm not usually much of a fan of YA lit, but liked this one well enough.)

 

Yay, glad my little descriptions are helping more than just me, lol! I got the idea from others on the thread & always liked the little reminders of what the books are about.

[Pam in CT]

:lol: No worries, Stacia.  Monty Python, not a real snake, silly.

[Guest]

Now and then I still get a clear mental image of the critter and Wee Girl's chubby little legs right by it, in easy striking distance, and then I don't feel so good.

 

 

Gaaah!!

 

:grouphug:  

 

 

 

 

Rose, I can understand your dismay & outrage over Pym, esp. alongside I, Tituba. Your comments made me think of other books I've read that (serendipitously) complemented/expanded each other in some way. I recommend trying Langston Hughes' The Ways of White Folks alongside Helen Oyeyemi's Boy, Snow, Bird sometime.

 

Rose,

 

Langston Hughes' poetry might appeal as well.

 

A Tempest by Aime Cesaire reworks Shakespeare's play from a native perspective.

 

The other titles that come to mind, I'm not quite sure why, in response to the Pym narrative: Dream in a Polar Fog, Wingless Victory (and a number of the other Medea versions I read last year), and L'Engle's Other Side of the Sun (which I haven't read in over 20 years, but keep thinking about revisiting)

 

Oh and since you ladies have been so supportive with the headache issues, I had a doctors appointment right before Easter. He did some simple neurological tests (walking with my eyes closed, touching my nose, reflexes etc.) and they showed nothing (thank heavens since if they showed something it would be serious). He did some blood tests and I have an appointment for a CAT scan on Friday so we will see what comes of that. Continued good thoughts/vibes/prayers are always appreciated.

 

:grouphug:   Hope you find some (mild, soothing) answers that lead to less pain!

 

Seen the fact I had terrible headaches this week not too bad.

 

I watched The Eagle and read The Eagle of the Ninth in Dutch, I'm not convinced the book is too hard for dd.

I think she should try a little bit harder...

It's a pity we only have 'old' translations from Rosemary Sutcliff, and it is a pity all libraries are getting rid of them :(

 

:grouphug:   Hope your pain eases soon!

 

I find it so painful when libraries discard older, harder to find children's books. 

 

I also finished The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym and will move on to Verne's sequel, The Sphinx of the Ice Palace.  I found the ending of Pym unsatisfying, clearly, and will be interested to see what Verne does with the story. Pym was kind of disturbing all the way around, particularly the description of the "savages" in the southern polar regions. I get it, it was a product of its time, but it's always disturbing to read black=savage=bestial=backwards=evil.

 

Deeply disturbing, yes...though, I found it a little bit helpful that by that point in the book I was viewing Pym as a highly unreliable narrator.

 

 

 

I'm also trying to do a little research into a good translation for The Inferno for next month.

 

What is your goal? 

 

Ciardi has a beautiful, poetic translation with enough annotation to get your through, but it lacks the depth and accuracy of, for example, Mandlebaum's.  (And I find his translations of the second two completely unusable, ymmv)

 

The Hollanders have a lovely translation with a wealth of notes (especially valuable for Purgatorio and Paradiso)

 

There are other fine translations, but those are the three I would consider.

[Stacia]

:lol: No worries, Stacia.  Monty Python, not a real snake, silly.

 

Whew! I can handle that! :lol:

 

And here's one for you...

https://youtu.be/zeTceAZvCtI

 

[Kareni]

Currently reading Freakonomics. I never read it when everyone else was talking about it a few years ago and am finding it fascinating. I keep reading bits aloud to anyone who walks by.

 

I enjoyed Freakonomics some years ago.  Another book I read about the same time that also engendered some "Let me share this with you" moments and some great dinner conversations was Richard Wiseman's

Quirkology: How We Discover the Big Truths in Small Things.

 

"For over twenty years, psychologist Richard Wiseman has examined the quirky science of everyday life. In Quirkology, he navigates the oddities of human behavior, explaining the tell-tale signs that give away a liar, the secret science behind speed-dating and personal ads, and what a person’s sense of humor reveals about the innermost workings of his or her mind—all along paying tribute to others who have carried out similarly weird and wonderful work. Wiseman’s research has involved secretly observing people as they go about their daily business, conducting unusual experiments in art exhibitions and music concerts, and even staging fake séances in allegedly haunted buildings. With thousands of research subjects from all over the world, including enamored couples, unwitting pedestrians, and guileless dinner guests, Wiseman presents a fun, clever, and unexpected picture of the human mind."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Loesje22000]

I'm starting C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet. I'll admit that I know very little about C.S. Lewis & haven't read all of the Narnia books either. (I feel like both those facts put me in the minority around bibliophiles.)

 

The copy I have has the following note in the front of the book:

 

Is it just me or is that a slightly pompous way to acknowledge the famous writers that have preceded you & from whom you have taken inspiration (or more)? It seems like such an odd note to put at the beginning of his book....

 

Scratching my head here....

lewis can be a little bit pompous , just a little :)

[Just Robyn]

I finished Lyric Poems by John Keats and have only the appendices left in How to Haiku: A Writer's Guide to Haiku and Related Forms by Bruce Ross. I am still reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. It's slow-going right now because I've been scoring for Pearson.

 

Here's a haiku of my experience just a few minutes ago.

 

rain pats the windshield

I read while waiting, then, ah!

so much fresh bird sh*t

 

And a scifaiku

 

empty planet

you take a step and the dust

comes to life

[Jane in NC]

ACCCKKK, Violet Crown!!!  :willy_nilly:

 

 

 

 

 

I'm on it!  It just arrived Friday, along with Seeing Trees.  They're both still in the Amazon box until I finish up Sacks' The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning, which I do believe you would enjoy...

 

 

And Stacia, can I just say how much I appreciate your mini-reviews in your ongoing list?  I'm getting Akata Witch to try with my 12 year old.

 

The Great Partnership is now on my list.

 

Thank you.

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

I'm starting C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet. I'll admit that I know very little about C.S. Lewis & haven't read all of the Narnia books either. (I feel like both those facts put me in the minority around bibliophiles.)

 

The copy I have has the following note in the front of the book:

 

Is it just me or is that a slightly pompous way to acknowledge the famous writers that have preceded you & from whom you have taken inspiration (or more)? It seems like such an odd note to put at the beginning of his book....

 

Scratching my head here....

 

:lol: Kind of like the frontispiece of the 2nd book, where it said something like, "This is not an allegory."  :confused1:

[Stacia]

:lol: Kind of like the frontispiece of the 2nd book, where it said something like, "This is not an allegory."  :confused1:

 

Lol. I guess his note strikes me the wrong way & makes me already like the story less because of it. I'm also not especially fond of his 'tone' when writing -- describing the people in the 3rd person, yet often also resorting to using 'we'. I'm a third of the way through & am trying to keep an open mind to the story, though. There are definite, strong parallels to The Time Machine. (However, Wells doesn't come across like a pompous donkey, imo, so I'm more inclined to think favorably of Wells' book than Lewis' book....) Years ago (prior to reading The Time Machine), I read

, which was greatly inspired by & indebted to The Time Machine; as such, it also has quite a few parallels to this book too.

 

Personally, I'm finding Out of the Silent Planet quite creepy.

[Negin]

 

I read Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood. It's one I heard about on this thread (maybe from the Flufferton/cozy mystery readers?) & requested from my library awhile ago. They had it on order, but didn't yet have the actual book. It finally came in yesterday, so I picked it up & read it. (It's pretty short.) This is apparently the first book of an Australian series starring Phryne Fisher; other books have been published in the US, but not in order, so for those that like series, now the first book is out here in the US. (And, it looks like the Kindle version is currently $0.99.)

 

 

 

The Kindle version is only 99 cents. Just got it. :) Love the cover, btw. 

[mumto2]

 

Personally, I'm finding Out of the Silent Planet quite creepy.

Especially the first third!

 

VC -- Oh, wow. I am no good at emoticons and the keyboard ones don't work for me but you deserve a whole row.

 

While we were in Florida dd kept spotting rat snakes. I admire your calm because my dd freaked out every single time! She managed to find a slightly different version each time so she didn't recognise the NOT poisonous part. I just remembered the not poisonous but couldn't name the type so she was sure I was wrong.

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

 

Rose,

 

Langston Hughes' poetry might appeal as well.

 

A Tempest by Aime Cesaire reworks Shakespeare's play from a native perspective.

 

The other titles that come to mind, I'm not quite sure why, in response to the Pym narrative: Dream in a Polar Fog, Wingless Victory (and a number of the other Medea versions I read last year), and L'Engle's Other Side of the Sun (which I haven't read in over 20 years, but keep thinking about revisiting)

 

 

 

Deeply disturbing, yes...though, I found it a little bit helpful that by that point in the book I was viewing Pym as a highly unreliable narrator.

 

 

 

What is your goal? 

 

Ciardi has a beautiful, poetic translation with enough annotation to get your through, but it lacks the depth and accuracy of, for example, Mandlebaum's.  (And I find his translations of the second two completely unusable, ymmv)

 

The Hollanders have a lovely translation with a wealth of notes (especially valuable for Purgatorio and Paradiso)

 

There are other fine translations, but those are the three I would consider.

 

Thanks for those suggestions - particularly A Tempest, as we're about to tackle the play.

 

My goal is mostly getting through it - I am less well read in medieval era literature than in any other era, and many of the classics I have no desire to read. But I've always wanted to tackle Inferno.   I have an older translation by Cary on my shelves, but I'm not married to reading that one.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Lol. I guess his note strikes me the wrong way & makes me already like the story less because of it. I'm also not especially fond of his 'tone' when writing -- describing the people in the 3rd person, yet often also resorting to using 'we'. I'm a third of the way through & am trying to keep an open mind to the story, though. There are definite, strong parallels to The Time Machine. (However, Wells doesn't come across like a pompous donkey, imo, so I'm more inclined to think favorably of Wells' book than Lewis' book....) Years ago (prior to reading The Time Machine), I read The Sparrow, which was greatly inspired by & indebted to The Time Machine; as such, it also has quite a few parallels to this book too.

 

Personally, I'm finding Out of the Silent Planet quite creepy.

 

Yes, I like Wells better too. The War of the Worlds is a favorite of mine, and I think it goes nicely with Out of the Silent Planet - shows the same attitude but with Earth on the receiving end.   I actually checked out The First Men in the Moon, because I think it's the one Lewis owes the biggest debt to. I've never read it.

 

Ah, The Sparrow - still makes my skin crawl, even years later.  The best book I've ever hated, or the most horrible book I've ever loved, or something like that. I'm not sure which.

[idnib]

What is your goal? 

 

Ciardi has a beautiful, poetic translation with enough annotation to get your through, but it lacks the depth and accuracy of, for example, Mandlebaum's.  (And I find his translations of the second two completely unusable, ymmv)

 

The Hollanders have a lovely translation with a wealth of notes (especially valuable for Purgatorio and Paradiso)

 

There are other fine translations, but those are the three I would consider.

 

After reading a lot of information, I have a pre-goal, which is to not go crazy trying to pick a translation.  :laugh:

 

Hmm. After looking at about 15? translations, I think my goal is to find a post-WWII translation that's a good balance between poetic and accurate. These two seem to be at odds with each other. The Hollanders translation feels like a lot of notes! (I have tendency to get sidetracked in notes.)  I've been reading this thread at goodreads because I found out that the Western Canon group read Divine Comedy last year.

 

The thread made me question whether it was a good idea to get a translation that also has an audio recording. Another consideration is whether I can use the translation for the other two books. I think some translators only have done a portion. Or as you said in the case of Mandlebaum, how usable all 3 are.

 

I noticed from that thread that The Teaching Company recommends Musa. Any thoughts on that?

 

Anyone who wants to join the reading is welcome!

[Guest]

After reading a lot of information, I have a pre-goal, which is to not go crazy trying to pick a translation.  :laugh:

 

Hmm. After looking at about 15? translations, I think my goal is to find a post-WWII translation that's a good balance between poetic and accurate. These two seem to be at odds with each other. The Hollanders translation feels like a lot of notes! (I have tendency to get sidetracked in notes.)  I've been reading this thread at goodreads because I found out that the Western Canon group read Divine Comedy last year.

 

The thread made me question whether it was a good idea to get a translation that also has an audio recording. Another consideration is whether I can use the translation for the other two books. I think some translators only have done a portion. Or as you said in the case of Mandlebaum, how usable all 3 are.

 

I noticed from that thread that The Teaching Company recommends Musa. Any thoughts on that?

 

Anyone who wants to join the reading is welcome!

 

I feel very meh about Musa's translations, but ymmv. 

 

I would strongly discourage trying to use Ciardi for the other two, but his Inferno is delightful.  Purgatorio gets heavier and more philosophical, and Ciardi, imnsho, can't carry that weight.  (I used his Inferno in my Dante reread last year, and tried to go on to his Purgatorio, but loathed it, which was a blessing, because I ended up with the Hollander, which made me very, very happy.)

 

I'm not an annotated version kind of gal in general, but I adored Hollander's Purgatorio - I didn't use all of the notes, but dipping into them kept me reading with the kind of focus and angle of view I wanted.

 

I think Hollander and Mandlebaum both have poetic beauty and are reliable texts that don't sacrifice meaning for a turn of phrase.

 

 

..but it is amazing how much a text can sometimes manage to shine through a non-optimal translation!  Joe Sachs discusses this re: Homer at some length in the introduction to his new translation of the Odyssey.  I have mixed feelings on the topic -  I have seen translations that would have driven me away from a work if I didn't already love it, I have seen ones which obfusticate what I feel is the heart of the work, which have a tone so foreign to the culture from which they originated that they feel like adaptations rather than translations... and yet.... Waley's Gengi has some beautiful aspects, and has drawn many to delve further into Japanese literature... but... oh, but, when you compare it to the Tyler translation, it is a different book. 

 

Good luck!  ...and remember that you aren't locked in!  If you get partway in and the translation isn't working for you, you can change your mind! 

 

Thanks for those suggestions - particularly A Tempest, as we're about to tackle the play.

 

It has a very different balancing point than Shakespeare's Tempest, but is in dialogue with it in a powerful way.

 

Two other works, both by Latin American writers, which riff off The Tempest: Ariel and Caliban.

 

Here are blurbs about each of them:

 

First published in 1900 Uruguay, Ariel is Latin America's most famous essay on esthetic and philosophical sensibility, as well as its most discussed treatise on hemispheric relations. Though Rodó protested the interpretation, his allegorical conflict between Ariel, the lover of beauty and truth, and Caliban, the evil spirit of materialism and positivism, has come to be regarded as a metaphor for the conflicts and cultural differences between Latin America and the United States. Generations of statesmen, intellectuals, and literary figures have been formed by this book, either in championing its teachings or in reacting against them. This edition of Ariel, prepared especially with teachers and students in mind, contains a reader's guide to names, places, and important movements, as well as notes and a comprehensive annotated English/Spanish bibliography.

 

 

 

Roberto Fernandez Retamar -- poet, essayist, and professor of philology at the University of Havana -- has long served as the Cuban Revolution's primary cultural and literary voice. An erudite and widely respected hispanist, Retamar is known for his meticulous efforts to dismantle Eurocentric colonial and neocolonial thoughts. Since its publication in Cuba in 1971, 'Caliban' -- the first and longest of the 5 essays in this book -- has become a kind of manifesto for Latin American and Caribbean writers; its central figure, the rude savage of Shakespeare's 'Tempest,' becomes in Retamar's hands a powerful metaphor of their cultural situation -- both its marginality and its revolutionary potential. Retamar finds the literary and historic origins of Caliban in Columbus's Navigation Log Books, where the 'Carib' Indian becomes a 'cannibal,' a bestial human being situated on the margins of civilization. The concept traveled from Montaigne to Shakespeare, on down to Ernest Renan and, in the 20th century, to Aime Cesaire and other writers who consciously worked with or against the vivid symbolic figures of Prospero, Caliban and Ariel. Retamar draws especially upon the life and work of Jose Marti, who died in 1895 in Cuba's revolutionary struggle against Spain; Marti's Calibanesque vision of 'our America' and its distinctive 'mestizo' culture -- Indian, African, and European -- is an animating force in this essay and throughout the book.

 

[Violet Crown]

Loesje and TeacherZee, I hope you find alleviation for the headaches. :(

 

Don't all our threads come back somehow to Poe's Pym? I meant to give an excerpt from The Golden Bowl, which I finished a few weeks ago, with a Pym reference:

------------------

The Prince's notion of a recompense to women—similar in this to his notion of an appeal—was more or less to make love to them. Now he hadn't, as he believed, made love the least little bit to Mrs. Assingham—nor did he think she had for a moment supposed it. He liked in these days, to mark them off, the women to whom he hadn't made love: it represented— and that was what pleased him in it—a different stage of existence from the time at which he liked to mark off the women to whom he had. Neither, with all this, had Mrs. Assingham herself been either aggressive or resentful. On what occasion, ever, had she appeared to find him wanting? These things, the motives of such people, were obscure—a little alarmingly so; they contributed to that element of the impenetrable which alone slightly qualified his sense of his good fortune. He remembered to have read, as a boy, a wonderful tale by Allan Poe, his prospective wife's countryman-which was a thing to show, by the way, what imagination Americans could have: the story of the shipwrecked Gordon Pym, who, drifting in a small boat further toward the North Pole—or was it the South?—than anyone had ever done, found at a given moment before him a thickness of white air that was like a dazzling curtain of light, concealing as darkness conceals, yet of the colour of milk or of snow. There were moments when he felt his own boat move upon some such mystery. The state of mind of his new friends, including Mrs. Assingham herself, had resemblances to a great white curtain. He had never known curtains but as purple even to blackness—but as producing where they hung a darkness intended and ominous. When they were so disposed as to shelter surprises the surprises were apt to be shocks.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Darn it, my library doesn't have any of the Tempest-related books Eliana suggested.  Time to put in some requests!  :auto:  Because I only *buy* books for my children, apparently.  :001_rolleyes:

[Stacia]

Well, I just returned from an impromptu trip to B&N. Dd really wanted to go because she loved the book Throne of Glass (which she got last weekend) & wanted to go get the sequels... which I could have sworn they had on the shelves last weekend but, alas, nothing tonight. She ended up getting some sort of prequel by the same author, as well as a couple of Gail Carriger books.

 

I really, truly hadn't planned to get anything for myself, but I saw a Melville House book sitting on the shelf (the simple, silhouette covers are easy to recognize) & ended up buying myself The Dead Mountaineer's Inn by Boris & Arkady Strugatsky.

 

 

A hilarious spoof on the classic country-house murder mystery, from the Russian masters of sci-fi—never before translated
 

When Inspector Peter Glebsky arrives at the remote ski chalet on vacation, the last thing he intends to do is get involved in any police work. He’s there to ski, drink brandy, and loaf around in blissful solitude.
 

But he hadn’t counted on the other vacationers, an eccentric bunch including a famous hypnotist, a physicist with a penchant for gymnastic feats, a sulky teenager of indeterminate gender, and the mysterious Mr. and Mrs. Moses. And as the chalet fills up, strange things start happening—things that seem to indicate the presence of another, unseen guest. Is there a ghost on the premises? A prankster? Something more sinister? And then an avalanche blocks the mountain pass, and they’re stuck.
 

Which is just about when they find the corpse. Meaning that Glebksy’s vacation is over and he’s embarked on the most unusual investigation he’s ever been involved with. In fact, the further he looks into it, the more Glebsky realizes that the victim may not even be human.
 

In this late novel from the legendary Russian sci-fi duo—here in its first-ever English translation—the Strugatskys gleefully upend the plot of many a Hercule Poirot mystery—and the result is much funnier, and much stranger, than anything Agatha Christie ever wrote.

 

:D

[Stacia]

All roads lead to Pym! (How had I never even heard of the book before two years ago...???)

 

Thanks for the quote, Violet Crown.

[Kareni]

My challenge to you this week is to write haiku. 

 

Books falling open

Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall

Delight and please me.

 

and

 

The Book a Week thread

Join your fellow book lovers

Read, Discuss, Learn, Laugh.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Mom-ninja.]

Back from our long camping trip. We listened to Jim Dale narrate Peter Pan for our family audio book. I listened to Blink by Gladwell (found very interesting) on my ipod and read Pratchett's Nation which I loved. 

[idnib]

Windows opening

Warm clean air rushes smoothly

Fluttering my page

[Mom-ninja.]

I'm exhausted but this haiku formed in my head....

 

Mosquitoes buzzing,

 

Cold, wet, pounding rain falling,

 

Thank goodness dry tent

[Stacia]

My Book-a-Week pals,

Cheer my speedy retirement

From bad poetry!

 

:tongue_smilie:

 

:lol: