Book a Week 2015 - W17: Poem in your Pocket

[Violet Crown]

This is my pocket poem of the moment, because I had to hunt it up for a friend. It's recited at the end of the St. Anthony chaplet, a long devotion that I think must be for when you've misplaced something fairly major like your final draft of The Great American Novel or a nuclear submarine. It's in Very Late Latin and is clearly meant to be sung; I couldn't find a tune for it, but "Buffalo Gals" turned out to fit the meter and the sentiment pretty well, and now I can't get it out of my head.

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

Si quaeris miracula

Mors error calamitas

Daemon lepra fugiunt

Aegri surgunt sani.

 

(Ant:) Cedunt mare vincula

Membra resque perditas

Petunt et accipiunt

Iuvenes et cani.

 

Pereunt pericula

Cessat et necessitas

Narrent hi qui sentiunt

Dicant Paduani.

 

(Ant:) Cedunt mare vincula (etc.)

--------

My very loose translation: If you're looking for miracles: death, disastrous mistakes, various calamities, demons, even leprosy all run away from St. Anthony. And the sick rise to health!

 

Refrain: The sea and your chains give way! Lost things, including limbs, restored! Youngsters and graybeards ask, and receive!

 

Perils perish, the worst wants go away--those in the know will tell you. So say all Paduans! [drinking glasses presumably hoisted here]

[Angel]

Oh, how was that?

Well, I loved it!  I also loved her first book Juliet.  Fortier writes a present day story that revolves around and connects to a past story.  In Juliet, the past story was Romeo and Giulietta in Verona.  In The Lost Sisterhood, the past story revolves around Myrina, an Amazon warrior and the journey she takes.  I enjoy the way that Fortier seamlessly weaves the stories together.  

 

Fortier is usually on my most recommended list, and everyone I've recommended her to has loved her (except one friend who thought it was too racy, but her book standards are stricter than mine ... shocking, I know, I bet no one expected that to happen  :lol: ).  Now I know we don't have exactly the same taste in books  :laugh: however, I think you like a strong female lead character, and Fortier's books usually have two great ones.  

 

 

A pocket poem that no one who knows me will be surprised by:

 

in Just-

spring          when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles          far          and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it's

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far          and             wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's

spring

and

         the

                  goat-footed

balloonMan          whistles

far

and

wee

 

--e.e. cummings

 

Aly shared this e.e. cummings poem today in our Poetry wrap-up for co-op!  I gave the girls a list of 34 poets and told them that they needed to read some of each poets' poetry and pick their favorite.  Today they shared their favorite poems and poets.  Aly's favorite poem was The Panther by Ogden Nash.  Her favorite poets were Ogden Nash and Edgar Allen Poe.  Her least favorite was Maya Angelou.  e.e. cummings was Aly's friend's least favorite author along with Christopher Marlow.  Neither of the girls liked what I consider the "romance" poets - Shelley, Keats, Byron.  It was fun to see the poems they chose.  

[Kareni]

This looks like a fun (FORTHCOMING in August) book for those who like to read and cook ~

 

Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way through Great Books by Cara Nicoletti

 

"Cara Nicoletti has been an avid reader since childhood, and she is an equally enthusiastic eater and cook. Here she combines her passions in a delicious literary feast, essays on beloved books and the food scenes that give their characters texture and depth. Nicoletti also includes her own original recipes--inspired by the books--at the end of each chapter.

She discovers the perfect soft-cooked egg in Jane Austen's Emma, makes Grilled Peaches with Homemade Ricotta in tribute to Joan Didion's "Goodbye to All That," and even creates a recipe for Fava Bean and Chicken Liver Mousse (and a nice Chianti) after reading Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs.

Voracious is a book-lover's delight and a foodie's feast that explores the literary and culinary roads to happiness."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[Mom-ninja.]

I read Anansi Boys by Gaiman and liked it. So far I haven't found a Gaiman I don't like. 

[Violet Crown]

Rosie,

 

Interesting that the adjectives are outdated. I wonder if they were still in use when the book was written, or if the author was using them to set the time? The part of the book where they turn up is right before the Great War--the Australian participation in which has just been in the news of course--and The Aunt's Story was published in 1948. Any thoughts?

 

Jane,

 

Excellent choice.

[Rosie_0801]

Rosie,

 

Interesting that the adjectives are outdated. I wonder if they were still in use when the book was written, or if the author was using them to set the time? The part of the book where they turn up is right before the Great War--the Australian participation in which has just been in the news of course--and The Aunt's Story was published in 1948. Any thoughts?

 

I'm waiting to hear back from my grandmother. :)

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, I loved it!  I also loved her first book Juliet.  Fortier writes a present day story that revolves around and connects to a past story.  In Juliet, the past story was Romeo and Giulietta in Verona.  In The Lost Sisterhood, the past story revolves around Myrina, an Amazon warrior and the journey she takes.  I enjoy the way that Fortier seamlessly weaves the stories together.  

 

Fortier is usually on my most recommended list, and everyone I've recommended her to has loved her (except one friend who thought it was too racy, but her book standards are stricter than mine ... shocking, I know, I bet no one expected that to happen  :lol: ).  Now I know we don't have exactly the same taste in books  :laugh: however, I think you like a strong female lead character, and Fortier's books usually have two great ones.  

 

 

 

Yep, I like strong female leads, and I can do racy! Thanks for the suggestion, I put both books on hold. Shannon and I are reading Romeo & Juliet right now, so Juliet is appealing.  And I love me some Amazons!  ;)  :D

[Violet Crown]

I'm waiting to hear back from my grandmother. :)

Can't you just use your time machine to research for me? I'm pretty sure I read that in the southern hemisphere the time stream rotates backward.

 

ETA: Which actually would explain a lot of this book...

[Nan in Mass]

Rosie, have you read The Last Continent? The author appears to have been traumatized by Australia.

 

Nan

[Rosie_0801]

No I haven't, Nan. Would it be fun?

[Rosie_0801]

Ah. It's Terry Pratchett! My life will be a tragedy and stuff until I get my hands on this book!

[Kareni]

I just finished an enjoyable read ~ Something True (An Out in Portland Novel) by Karelia Stetz-Waters.  It's a contemporary romance featuring two women, and it's set in Portland, Oregon.  I've visited Portland, so I recognized some of the places mentioned.  Powell's Books!  (Some adult content.)

 

"Tate Grafton has a tough exterior, but underneath she's kind, caring, and fiercely loyal. That's why she first started working at Out in Portland Coffee-it was her way of repaying the shop's owner for taking her in as a homeless teenager. Nine years later, the coffee shop is floundering and Tate feels like she's letting life pass her by . . . until she shares an unforgettable night with a beautiful stranger. When the mysterious woman disappears the next morning, Tate doesn't even know her name.

Laura Enfield was supposed to be in Portland for only a few days-just long enough to oversee a simple business deal before joining her conservative father on his political campaign. But when the closeted Laura romances an employee of the coffee shop her company is shutting down, things get suddenly complicated. Now, the lies she's told for years are beginning to unravel, and her biggest secret is about to be exposed. Laura can't stop thinking about the barista with the soulful eyes, but after a lifetime of deception, can she finally embrace something true?"

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Loesje22000]

It seems I can't have acces to page 2 of the thread.

But just letting know I've finished 'The Castle of Elmina' last night.

The book isn't translated into English as far as I know, but I translated the title :)

 

The Castle of Elmina is written by a Dutch journalist and is somewhere in between a history and a travel book.

He writes about the journey in Ghana, his search in Dutch and American archives.

What hit me most was his discovery that African American and African African people have such a different point of view on their slavery history.

 

His writing style is diverse: sometimes descriptive, narrative, but also sometimes very factual.

I think that that hits the author the most: the way people were described as 'items' on a transportlist.

[Loesje22000]

Mmm poem in the pocket.

I will share the only poem I know by heart:

 

Je hebt iemand nodig

Stil en oprecht

Die - als het er op aankomt-

Voor je bid

Of voor je vecht

Wanneer je iemand hebt

Die met je lacht

En met je grient

Dan pas kun je zeggen:

Ik heb een vriend.

 

Translated:

One needs somebody

Silent and honest

One - who when is needed-

Will pray for you

Or fight

When you find someone

To laugh and to cry with

Then you can say:

I found a friend

[Nan in Mass]

Loesje, I like your poem. And your description of your reading. I learned about the different outlooks when a West African friend talked about slavery. He was new to the USA and must have been struck by the same thing because he pointed it out in one of our first conversations. He could barely speak English. It was that obvious and important.

 

Nan

[Nan in Mass]

No I haven't, Nan. Would it be fun?

Yes. GRIN. Such fun. One scene in particular is still causing my husband to say, "Remember the part in that book where..." I expect you will have no trouble recognizing the bit when you get there. I don,t think I would have recognized the Australian references until I got to the Man from Snowy River one if we hadn,t listened to the Bill Bryson book about Australia a few years ago on a cross country drive. (My husband thought I was recommending that one to you and said it might be better not to because you might be insulted. He was happy I meant the TP one.)(We listened to BB,s A Short History of Nearly Everything also also on that trip. Some of us had read it before and wanted to share it with others of us. Both made good driving listening for our family although the second one did cause some upset with youngest when we announced the next stop was Yellowstone lol. All was explained when we reached the geological part of the book later, in Michigan.)

 

Nan

[Butter]

Dd's love the Princess Academy books.  Have you read The Goose Girl series by Shannon Hale?  They are also favorites.

 

Yes!  Has your daughter ever done the read along chapter by chapter on Shannon Hale's blog?  She's done it every July for three years now I think.  It's so fun to read her insights and ask questions and read her answers.  http://oinks.squeetus.com/

[Angel]

Yep, I like strong female leads, and I can do racy! Thanks for the suggestion, I put both books on hold. Shannon and I are reading Romeo & Juliet right now, so Juliet is appealing.  And I love me some Amazons!  ;)  :D

:hurray: Hopefully you won't be disappointed!  Reading Juliet after Romeo & Juliet was fun!  We did that Skye's senior year.  

 

Yes!  Has your daughter ever done the read along chapter by chapter on Shannon Hale's blog?  She's done it every July for three years now I think.  It's so fun to read her insights and ask questions and read her answers.  http://oinks.squeetus.com/

Not that I know of!!  I will definitely pass this along.  Skye has been wanting me to read The Goose Girl for a few years now.  I need to get to that this year.

[Little Nyssa]

Loesje, can you say more about the differences in the views of slavery?

[Mom22ns]

I only missed one week between posts this time. I am currently Reading Canticle and Dragon Avenger. I just finished The Martian Chronicles which I really didn't like and I'm not into either one of my new books yet, so reading has slowed lately. 

 

So far this year I've read: 

The Martian Chronicles

The Sentinels

The Shadowmask

The Stowaway

Sea of Swords

Romeo and Juliet

The Wishsong of Shannara

The Spine of the World

Dragon Champion

The Silent Blade

Passage to Dawn

Siege of Darkness

Starless Night

The Memory of Earth

The Return of the King

The Two Towers

The Fellowship of the Ring

The Legend of Drizzt (collection of short stories)

The Legacy

Earthbound 

The Halfling's Gem 

The Kings & Queens of Roam 

Streams of Silver 

Son 

Messenger 

The Familiars 

The Crystal Shard 

Songmaster

 

[redsquirrel]

This looks like a fun (FORTHCOMING in August) book for those who like to read and cook ~

 

Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way through Great Books by Cara Nicoletti

 

"Cara Nicoletti has been an avid reader since childhood, and she is an equally enthusiastic eater and cook. Here she combines her passions in a delicious literary feast, essays on beloved books and the food scenes that give their characters texture and depth. Nicoletti also includes her own original recipes--inspired by the books--at the end of each chapter.

 

She discovers the perfect soft-cooked egg in Jane Austen's Emma, makes Grilled Peaches with Homemade Ricotta in tribute to Joan Didion's "Goodbye to All That," and even creates a recipe for Fava Bean and Chicken Liver Mousse (and a nice Chianti) after reading Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs.

 

Voracious is a book-lover's delight and a foodie's feast that explores the literary and culinary roads to happiness."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

The exactly my idea of a fun book!  I have a total weakness for books that include recipes, lol. I like fiction ones that have recipes inspired by the stories or have recipes cooked by the characters. I also like memoirs or books about travels etc that have recipes, you know, like it's half cookbook and half stories about how the person got the recipe or whatever.  

 

 

I read Anansi Boys by Gaiman and liked it. So far I haven't found a Gaiman I don't like. 

:iagree: 

 

I am actually holding off on Anansi Boys because I am running out of Gaiman books. He has taken to writing novellas etc, which is fine for him, but I want moooore! And seeing as his wife is expecting a baby, I am not holding my breath for a nice thick novel any time soon. :toetap05:  :lol:

 

And in case you needed any more proof, I am apparently insane. I have started Doris Lessing's "The Golden Notebook". It is almost 700 pages long, so I'm going to be busy for a while. It is a book with an interesting structure, often referred to as experimental, so we'll see how I do with it.

[Stacia]

The exactly my idea of a fun book!  I have a total weakness for books that include recipes, lol. I like fiction ones that have recipes inspired by the stories or have recipes cooked by the characters. I also like memoirs or books about travels etc that have recipes, you know, like it's half cookbook and half stories about how the person got the recipe or whatever.  

 

You need to read Cooking with Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson. It's a send-up of all the wish-you-were-here travel/foodie/memoir style books. I was actually chortling out loud in a coffee shop when I read it a few years back. Oh, and it does have recipes. Probably not ones you really want to try, but recipes nonetheless. :lol:  This is definitely a book that would be fun for summer reading!

[Junie]

Read Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.  I'm working on creating a lit crit class for my dc using Newbery books.  This was one that I have never read before.  I'm wondering what I did read when I was in school?  Certainly not much that is memorable...

[Loesje22000]

Loesje, can you say more about the differences in the views of slavery?

According to the book, african tribes had a slave culture before European sailors made a business of it.

African tribes could 'sell' a family member as slave if they couldn't pay their debt.

Then the debt was fullfilled.

These slaves were more comparable to 'servants': The slave could be swapped for another or payed back when the family had the money.

African tribes would have fought a lot, and once you won, you could take ownership about the tribe who had lost, one could kill, marry or sell them.

The European business of slavery stimulated these wars.

according to the book african american can be pretty emotional about their slavery history and even pointing 'you sold us'.

In the eyes of the african africans the journalist spoke with, they did just what they always did:

To kill, marry or sell the war prisoners and when the Netherlands, UK and others stopped their slave trades, these particular tribes continued their 'culture' of selling slaves, that is what they always did ( until the British won a certain battle and forbid the tribes to trade in slaves)

If you can sell your own family, why not a stranger you overwon?

Everybody did...

 

The author is clear he doesn't accept the idea it might be possible to see or use people as sellingitems. he became pretty shocked and ill when he read the Dutch trade archives, these are the pages he citate the archives and let speak the facts for its selves.

he got earlier confused when the touristguide in the castle had two stories:

One for american and european, one for the african african and they were not the same.

Not at all.

It became the startingpoint of this book.

 

I don't think I'm very clear.

i'm still chewing on the book.

But I hope it is enough to get an idea.

 

Good to know:

The author never says it is the same for all african africans, but this point of view seems to be more common in the goldcoast and slavecoast areas (are these old geographical names the same in english?) he mades notes that other tribes have the saying: the xyz would even sell their own mother , so this causes friction even in the Netherlands today when people seem to think 'african = african'

[Kareni]

My bus book today was the romantic suspense novel Beyond Limits (Tracers) by Laura Griffin.  It's the eighth book in the series, and enjoyed it.  Each book features a new set of main leads; however, characters from previous books often make a return appearance.

 

"An FBI agent and a Navy SEAL race against time in New York Times bestselling author Laura Griffin’s newest Tracers novel. “Griffin delivers the goods!†(Publishers Weekly)

FBI agent Elizabeth LeBlanc is still caught in the aftermath of her last big case when she runs into the one man from her past who is sure to rock her equilibrium even more. Navy SEAL Derek Vaughn is back home from a harrowing rescue mission in which he found evidence of a secret terror cell on US soil. Elizabeth knows he’ll do anything to unravel the plot—including seducing her for information. And despite the risks involved, she’s tempted to let him. Together with the forensics experts at the Delphi Center, Derek and Elizabeth are closing in on the truth, but it may not be fast enough to avert a devastating attack…"

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[Butter]

Read Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.  I'm working on creating a lit crit class for my dc using Newbery books.  This was one that I have never read before.  I'm wondering what I did read when I was in school?  Certainly not much that is memorable...

 

I read that one with my oldest a couple years ago.  I loved it so much (and I love the author... so much so that her Anastasia Krupnik series is why I gave my daughter the name Anastasia).

 

All I remember reading in school (I was homeschooled so my mom picked them) are To Kill a Mockingbird, Fahrenheit 451, and some Shakespeare plays.  I know I read other books, but those are probably the only ones I remember because I still love them today.

[Chrysalis Academy]

At Kareni's suggestion, I read The Phantom of Manhattan.  I really enjoyed it! It got terrible reviews on goodreads, but then the people who reviewed it badly seem to have liked Leroux's novel, which I did not.  So go figure.  This book was really a sequel to the Andrew Lloyd Webber opera, rather than a sequel to the Leroux novel, so it was very true to the characterization in the Opera version.  It was quite good, except for one totally annoying change:

 

 

So the whole premise of this story is that Christine had a son by the Phantom. I guess in order to make that totally clear, the author has Raoul emasculated by an accident suffered before he even met Christine. Which is so dumb, and doesn't fit with his character or the story in the Opera at all. I think this was an unnecessarily heavy-handed and silly plot device. Let Christine and Raoul be in love and have sex, for goodness sake! So silly. We all can count, we can get how the son could be Erik's . . .

 

 

Ha, I've been wanting to try that feature!  Anyway, thanks for the suggestion, Kareni.  I cried like a little girl! Very cathartic.

[Little Nyssa]

Thank you, Loesje! Very interesting!

[Kareni]

At Kareni's suggestion, I read The Phantom of Manhattan.  ....

Ha, I've been wanting to try that feature!  Anyway, thanks for the suggestion, Kareni.  I cried like a little girl! Very cathartic.

 

I'm glad that you enjoyed it, Rose.  It was my daughter who read and enjoyed it while she was a high schooler.  (Of course, she also liked Leroux's novel ....!)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[redsquirrel]

You need to read Cooking with Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson. It's a send-up of all the wish-you-were-here travel/foodie/memoir style books. I was actually chortling out loud in a coffee shop when I read it a few years back. Oh, and it does have recipes. Probably not ones you really want to try, but recipes nonetheless. :lol:  This is definitely a book that would be fun for summer reading!

 

Thanks! I've made a note of it.

[Kareni]

Sarina Bowen's very enjoyable new adult romance The Year We Fell Down (The Ivy Years Book 1)  

is currently available free to Kindle readers.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[redsquirrel]

I forgot to add that over the weekend I read "The Wasteland" by TS Eliot. I have no idea why, I just suddenly wanted to reread it.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I started The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.  Well, I read the first chapter, and am already reduced to sobbing.  Is the whole thing going to be like this? It's beautiful, and poetic, and heartwrenching, and I don't know if I'm going to make it through.

 

"doing fine, thank you, I would say, never knowing how to talk about what I do.  If I could talk about it, I would not have to do it.  I make art, sometimes I make true art, and sometimes it fills the empty places in my life. Some of them. Not all."  I have a feeling this is going to be The Quote for this book.  Because I'm hearing Truth here.

[idnib]

I started The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.  Well, I read the first chapter, and am already reduced to sobbing.  Is the whole thing going to be like this? It's beautiful, and poetic, and heartwrenching, and I don't know if I'm going to make it through.

 

"doing fine, thank you, I would say, never knowing how to talk about what I do.  If I could talk about it, I would not have to do it.  I make art, sometimes I make true art, and sometimes it fills the empty places in my life. Some of them. Not all."  I have a feeling this is going to be The Quote for this book.  Because I'm hearing Truth here.

 

Now I'm scared to start! Actually I was already a bit scared because I bought the book and DH read it when it arrived. He likes to talk about books but doesn't want to talk about this one much. I think it affected him.

[mumto2]

Sarina Bowen's very enjoyable new adult romance The Year We Fell Down (The Ivy Years Book 1)

is currently available free to Kindle readers.

 

Regards,

Kareni

Thank you!

[Violet Crown]

I forgot to add that over the weekend I read "The Wasteland" by TS Eliot. I have no idea why, I just suddenly wanted to reread it.

Your post just makes me happy. :)

 

Finished 22. The Aunt's Story. Wikipedia tells me Patrick White was the first Australian to win the Nobel Prize for literature, so shameful of me never to have heard of him. Apparently known for his "florid prose and stream of consciousness technique." Hm, yes.

 

And just in time, the ever-reliable clearance shelf yielded a collection of Hilaire Belloc's essays, and Vainglory by Ronald Firbank, of whom I had not before heard and which looks very promising.

[TeacherZee]

I finished The Mistake by Elle Kennedy and am now reading Hold Me by Susan Mallery. The Mistake was good, sweet and very funny. Hold Me is actually failing to hold me.

[mumto2]

Hold Me is actually failing to hold me.

:lol:

[Nan in Mass]

I started The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. Well, I read the first chapter, and am already reduced to sobbing. Is the whole thing going to be like this? It's beautiful, and poetic, and heartwrenching, and I don't know if I'm going to make it through.

 

"doing fine, thank you, I would say, never knowing how to talk about what I do. If I could talk about it, I would not have to do it. I make art, sometimes I make true art, and sometimes it fills the empty places in my life. Some of them. Not all." I have a feeling this is going to be The Quote for this book. Because I'm hearing Truth here.

I woke up this morning thinking about art and wondering whether it is true art if it isn't born out of that feeling of desperation, and if it isn't, wondering what it is?

 

Nan

[Butter]

I finished Anne of Green Gables this morning.  Fritz and Cameron are going to cry when they read it (somehow I managed to assign that book to the boys for 4th and 8th grade next year).  It was going along so lovely and everything was being wrapped up so prettily and then the bank failed and Matthew died.  What?!?!  How could Ms. Montgomery do that to me.  At least Anne and Gilbert ended up friends (at the minimum) at the end.  Oh, the pain and, as my 15 year old daughter would say, the feels!

[Kareni]

Last night I finished an enjoyable contemporary new adult romance ~

Make It Right: A Bowler University Novel by Megan Erickson.

 

"Max Payton lives by two rules:
Size and strength win any fight, and never show weakness.

When a rash of assaults sends Bowler University for a tail spin, Max volunteers to help teach a self-defense class. One of the other instructors is the beautiful pixie-faced girl he keeps butting heads with...and who challenges everything he thought he knew. 

Lea Travers avoids guys like Max - cocky jocks who assume she's fragile because of a disability caused by a childhood accident. She likes to be in control, and something about being with Max makes her feel anything but. But during the moments he lets his guard down, Lea sees a soul as broken inside as she is outside. Trusting him is a whole other problem...

When the assaults ramp up and hit close to home, Lea and Max must learn, before it's too late, that true strength can come from vulnerability...and giving in to trust is sometimes the only way to make things right."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

I finished Bone Cold by Erica Spindler during the night, insomnia is back. It was a good suspense novel but the ending was irritating. It was one of those really.....that was the best you can do endings. Disappointing but I will say I figured it out but could not believe I was right.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/418619.Bone_Cold

[Stacia]

Since I sometimes post about free speech/writing/literature topics, here are a couple of timely posts as the PEN awards gala will be held May 5....

 

Six PEN Members Decline Gala After Award for Charlie Hebdo

(The withdrawing writers listed in the article are: Peter Carey, Michael Ondaatje, Francine Prose, Teju Cole, Rachel Kushner and Taiye Selasi.)

 

PEN's response: Rejecting the Assassin's Veto

 

(FYI, PEN is...)

For the last 90 years, PEN American Center has been working to ensure that people everywhere have the freedom to create literature, to convey information and ideas, to express their views, and to make it possible for everyone to access the views, ideas, and literatures of others. Together with our colleagues in the international PEN community, we have been bringing down barriers to free expression and reaching across borders to celebrate, through writing, our common humanity.

 

Known globally for our efforts to defend writers endangered because of their work, and for the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, PEN American Center runs a full range of programs to expand the freedom to write and celebrate the vital and universal power of literature. In doing so, we are building on a tradition begun in the years following World War I and carried forward by thousands of American writers.

 

[Jane in NC]

Since I sometimes post about free speech/writing/literature topics, here are a couple of timely posts as the PEN awards gala will be held May 5....

 

Six PEN Members Decline Gala After Award for Charlie Hebdo

(The withdrawing writers listed in the article are: Peter Carey, Michael Ondaatje, Francine Prose, Teju Cole, Rachel Kushner and Taiye Selasi.)

 

PEN's response: Rejecting the Assassin's Veto

 

(FYI, PEN is...)

 

I would like to quote from the first of Stacia's links:

 

 

But Salman Rushdie, a former PEN president who lived in hiding for years after a fatwa in response to his novel “The Satanic Verses,†said the issues were perfectly clear. Mr. Ondaatje and Mr. Carey were old friends of his, he said, but they are “horribly wrong.â€

 

“If PEN as a free speech organization can’t defend and celebrate people who have been murdered for drawing pictures, then frankly the organization is not worth the name,†Mr. Rushdie said. “What I would say to both Peter and Michael and the others is, I hope nobody ever comes after them.â€

 

Perhaps Pen should schedule a panel discussion with a couple of the six members listed above and several who are of a different camp.  I think this is a good opportunity to discuss some of the complexity of censorship.  The issue cannot be reduced to press releases. 

 

[Stacia]

The issue cannot be reduced to press releases.

 

Agreed. It's a worthy cause to discuss, as the cause of 'freedom of expression' is far-reaching & can even be fatal.

 

Combating the Multiplying Challenges to the Right of Free Expression

 

And, just this week...

PEN outraged by targeted murder of Pakistani rights activist

 

For fans of Art Spiegelman's Maus...

Russian Censorship Sweeps Maus Off Shelves, Chills Expression

[Robin M]

I finished Raising Cain by Kelli Ireland yesterday and it was so good I want to read it again.  Paranormal/urban fantasy blend with Angels and Demons duking it out over the one they consider a key to saving the world.    Never did I expect to find something so profound in a fantasy novel.  It's not considered a christian novel and Ireland writes hot steamy harlequins most of the time (which I haven't read) 

 

 

 "No matter what, Dani, remember that faith never abandons hope, particularly in its darkest hour."   This one stopped me in my tracks and I had to write it down and contemplate a while before getting back into the story.   

 

"And remember we all make the decisions that define who we are in a way that is louder and more permanent than words, ours' or other's ever will.  In the end we leave a legacy of choices."

 

It was non stop intense action from beginning to end - no steamy sex or sex of any kind but some language.   Now I have to wait patiently until the 2nd book comes out at the end of the year.   Boo.

 

However I discovered book # 7 Vengeance of the Demon in Kara Gillian Demon novels was released April 7th.   Yeah!  Reading it now.

 

 

[Violet Crown]

Part way into A Conversation With an Angel and Other Essays* and intrigued to find that Belloc knew about flame wars and trolling back in the 1920's.

 

-----------

 

Then, somewhere about the third or fourth letter or controversial article, fermentation begins, and with it the fun. One of them accuses the other of lying, or ignorance, or both. The other answers by marvelling how any human being could be so stupid as to have misunderstood his simple phrase, or so bestially blind to the texts. In a little while they are hurling insults at each other as violently as if each had murdered the other's child. Then there comes the stage when the anger is speechless, 'too full for sound or foam.'

 

The average honest man coming across controversies of this kind is bewildered; the very good man is saddened. As for me, I am enormously amused.

 

...

 

Just before the antagonists get to the speechless stage, barge in with some grossly ignorant suggestion; the sort of thing which you might get out of a popular Universal History of the World. It is wise to do this under an assumed name.... Then the two boxing men will forget their quarrel in order to throw off their gloves, and turn upon you and rend you with their views. It is no bad fun, after you have led them on a little, to admit you know nothing about it, and that you were only joining in the game because it seemed so exciting.

 

"On Academic Hate"

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

 

*No, not that kind of book; the imagined conversation is with a clueless statue of an angel that works days as a sundial. It is a strange essay.

 

ETA: Jane, wasn't there something we were both going to read? Was it Smollett?

[Jane in NC]

ETA: Jane, wasn't there something we were both going to read? Was it Smollett?

Yes, Peregrine Pickle which I need to order.

 

I have a hectic May ahead. How about June or July?

[Robin M]

Tell me no lies

 

Tell me a story, I'll tell you no lies

Everyone lives and no one dies

Life as we know it,

Will go on, so don't blow it.

 

Riddles, rhymes, limes and dimes

a plot out of sorts, a day out of time.

Riddle me this, riddle me that.

I know who did it - maybe the cat.

 

Fill it with rats, cats and bats.

No one's whom they seem, who the heck is that?

Fill it to the brim with hers and hims

and we'll run a few sims.

 

Give them diamonds, give them furs.

Brawny males with voices that purr.

Flouncy females full of laughter and tears.

Scary sights to drive up the fear.

 

A screech, a scream, a bellowing yell.

Well, that theory has been shot to hell.

Tell me a story, I'll tell you a lie.

Everyone lives and no one will die.

[Stacia]

My ds already has his book that is assigned for summer reading (for his upcoming 9th grade AP Human Geography course). And, he's already read it & really liked it. Thought I would mention it since I know there are non-fiction fans on here. I haven't read the book myself, but ds has talked a lot about various parts of it over the past few days that he spent reading it. It gets a definite thumbs-up from him.

 

They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan by Benson Deng 

 

Benjamin, Alepho, and Benson were raised among the Dinka tribe of Sudan. Their world was an insulated, close-knit community of grass-roofed cottages, cattle herders, and tribal councils. The lions and pythons that prowled beyond the village fences were the greatest threat they knew.

 

All that changed the night the government-armed Murahiliin began attacking their villages. Amid the chaos, screams, conflagration, and gunfire, five-year-old Benson and seven-year-old Benjamin fled into the dark night. Two years later, Alepho, age seven, was forced to do the same. Across the Southern Sudan, over the next five years, thousands of other boys did likewise, joining this stream of child refugees that became known as the Lost Boys. Their journey would take them over one thousand miles across a war-ravaged country, through landmine-sown paths, crocodile-infested waters, and grotesque extremes of hunger, thirst, and disease. The refugee camps they eventually filtered through offered little respite from the brutality they were fleeing.

 

In They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, Alepho, Benson, and Benjamin, by turn, recount their experiences along this unthinkable journey. They vividly recall the family, friends, and tribal world they left far behind them and their desperate efforts to keep track of one another. This is a captivating memoir of Sudan and a powerful portrait of war as seen through the eyes of children. And it is, in the end, an inspiring and unforgettable tribute to the tenacity of even the youngest human spirits.