Random Field Notes

so what have you done since your last post?

2008-06-28T11:09:00.003+01:00

I've read quite a bit, hung out with friends, went to Scotland for a few days, passed out in a coffee shop 3 times and spent some time in an ambulance, ate some really good expensive Japanese food... nothing much really!

By the way I'm fine I passed out after having a typhoid injection. I must have been hyped up about it and when I sat down to read a book and treat myself to a latte for having survived the injection I ended up knocking drink and book onto the floor. Then when one of the baristas went to get me a glass of water I blacked out again. A customer came to my aid and jokingly said that I must have been reading something sensational and I remember saying "No no I finished Fanny Hill last week". Ha! They jumped on the phone to the ambulance and I managed to call a friend to come help me out and must have blacked out again. I have a fear of needles and the adrenaline must have caught up with me. Unfortunately the book is ruined, a library copy of Cranford so I must hunt another copy down to replace it. Passing out is no fun and I apologized profusely because I was so embarrassed. I'm just glad I was in a public place where people were able to help me. And thank goodness ambulances are free in the UK!

Can't believe I only have 11 days left here! :( I'm trying to make the most of it. Off to see Prince Caspian in a bit and tonight I've been invited to a cocktail party. More good times to come!

. listening . the warmth . incubus . make yourself .

1001 books you must read before you die (2008 edition)

2008-06-27T18:22:00.007+01:00

That's right folks the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die published in 2006 has been updated with new editions! (any transcription errors are my own) The books I've read are in red.

* new to the list

: 117 Read : 884 To Go :

: Pre 1800 :
0001 : The Thousand and One Nights . Anonymous
0002 : The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter . Anonymous *
0003 : The Tale of Genji . Murasaki Shikibu *
0004 : Romance of the Three Kingdoms . Luó Guànzhong *
0005 : The Water Margin . Shi Nai'an & Luó Guànzhong *
0006 : The Golden Ass . Lucius Apuleius
0007 : Tirant lo Blanc . Joanot Martorell *
0008 : La Celestina . Fernando de Rojas *
0009 : Amadis of Gaul . Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo *
0010 : The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes . Anonymous *
0011 : Gargantua and Pantagruel . François Rabelais
0012 : The Lusiad . Luís Vaz de Camões *
0013 : Monkey: A Journey to the West . Wú Chéng'en *
0014 : Unfortunate Traveller . Thomas Nashe
0015 : Thomas of Reading . Thomas Deloney *
0016 : Don Quixote . Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
0017 : The Travels of Persiles and Sigismunda . Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra *
0018 : The Conquest of New Spain . Bernal Díaz del Castillo *
0019 : The Adventurous Simplicissimus . Hans von Grimmelshausen *
0020 : The Princess of Clèves . Comtesse de La Fayette
0021 : Oroonoko . Alphra Behn
0022 : Robinson Crusoe . Daniel Defoe
0023 : Love in Excess . Eliza Haywood
0024 : Moll Flanders . Daniel Defoe
0025 : Gulliver's Travels . Jonathan Swift
0026 : A Modest Proposal . Jonathan Swift
0027 : Joseph Andrews . Henry Fielding
0028 : Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus . Arbuthnot, Gay, Parnell, Pope, Swift
0029 : Pamela . Samuel Richardson
0030 : Clarissa . Samuel Richardson
0031 : Tom Jones . Henry Fielding
0032 : Fanny Hill . John Cleland
0033 : Peregrine Pickle . Tobias George Smollett
0034 : The Female Quixote . Charlotte Lennox
0035 : Candide . Voltaire
0036 : Rasselas . Samuel Johnson
0037 : Julie; or The New Eloise . Jean-Jacques Rousseau
0038 : Émile; or, On Education . Jean-Jacques Rousseau
0039 : The Castle of Otranto . Horace Walpole
0040 : The Vicar of Wakefield . Oliver Goldsmith
0041 : Tristam Shandy . Laurence Sterne
0042 : A Sentimental Journey . Laurence Sterne
0043 : The Man of Feeling . Henry Mackenzie
0044 : Humphry Clinker . Tobias George Smollett
0045 : The Sorrows of Young Werther . Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
0046 : Evelina . Fanny Burney
0047 : Reveries of a Solitary Walker . Jean-Jacques Rousseau
0048 : Dangerous Liasons . Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
0049 : Confessions . Jean-Jacques Rousseau
0050 : The 120 Days of Sodom . Marquis de Sade
0051 : Anton Reiser . Karl Philipp Moritz *
0052 : Vathek . William Beckford
0053 : Justine . Marquis de Sade
0054 : A Dream of Red Mansions . Cao Xueqin *
0055 : The Adventures of Caleb Willams . William Godwin
0056 : The Interesting Narrative . Olaudah Equiano
0057 : The Mysteries of Udolpho . Ann Radcliffe
0058 : Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship . Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
0059 : The Monk . M.G. Lewis
0060 : Camilla . Fanny Burney
0061 : Jacques the Fatalist . Denis Diderot
0062 : The Nun . Denis Diderot
0063 : Hyperion . Friedrich Hölderlin

: 1800s :
0064 : Castle Rackrent . Maria Edgeworth
0065 : Henry of Ofterdingen . Novalis *
0066 : Rameau's Nephew . Denis Diderot *
0067 : Elective Affinities . Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
0068 : Michael Kohlhaas . Heinrich von Kleist *
0069 : Sense and Sensibility . Jane Austen
0070 : Pride and Prejudice . Jane Austen
0071 : Mansfield Park . Jane Austen
0072 : Emma . Jane Austen
0073 : Rob Roy . Sir Walter Scott
0074 : Frankenstein . Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
0075 : Ivanhoe . Sir Walter Scott
0076 : Melmoth the Wanderer . Charles Robert Maturin
0077 : The Life and the Opinions of the Tombcat Murr . E.T.A. Hoffmann *
0078 : The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner . James Hogg
0079 : The Life of a Good-for-Nothing . Joseph von Eichendorff *
0080 : Last of the Mohicans . James Fenimore Cooper
0081 : The Betrothed . Alessandro Manzoni
0082 : The Red and the Black . Stendhal
0083 : The Hunchback of Notre Dame . Victor Hugo
0084 : Eugene Onegin . Alexander Pushkin *
0085 : Eugénie Grandet . Honoré de Balzac
0086 : La Père Goriot . Honoré de Balzac
0087 : The Nose . Nikolay Gogol
0088 : Oliver Twist . Charles Dickins
0089 : The Lion of Flanders . Hendrick Conscience *
0090 : The Charterhouse of Parma . Stendhal
0091 : The Fall of the House of Usher . Edgar Allan Poe
0092 : Camera Obscura . Hildebrand *
0093 : A Hero of Our Times . Mikhail Yurevich Lermontov *
0094 : Dead Souls . Nikolay Gogol
0095 : Lost Illusions . Honoré de Balzac
0096 : The Pit and the Pendulum . Edgar Allan Poe
0097 : The Three Musketeers . Alexandre Dumas
0098 : Facundo . Domingo Faustino Sarmiento *
0099 : The Devil's Pool . George Sand *
0100 : The Count of Monte Cristo . Alexandre Dumas
0101 : Jane Eyre . Charlotte Brontë
0102 : Vanity Fair . William Makepeace Thackeray
0103 : Wuthering Heights . Emily Brontë
0104 : The Tenant of Wildfell Hall . Anne Brontë
0105 : David Copperfield . Charles Dickins
0106 : The Scarlet Letter . Nathaniel Hawthorne
0107 : Moby-Dick . Herman Melville
0108 : The House of the Seven Gables . Nathaniel Hawthorne
0109 : Uncle Tom's Cabin . Harriet Beecher Stowe
0110 : Cranford . Elizabeth Gaskell
0111 : Bleak House . Charles Dickins
0112 : Walden . Henry David Thoreau
0113 : Green Henry . Gottfried Keller *
0114 : North and South . Elizabeth Gaskell
0115 : Madame Bovary . Gustave Flaubert
0116 : Indian Summer . Adalbert Stifter *
0117 : Adam Bede . George Eliot
0118 : Oblomov . Ivan Goncharov
0119 : The Woman in White . Wilkie Collins
0120 : The Mill on the Floss . George Eliot
0121 : Max Havelaar . Multatuli
0122 : Great Expectations . Charles Dickins
0123 : Silas Marner . George Eliot
0124 : Fathers and Sons . Ivan Turgenev
0125 : Les Misérables . Victor Hugo
0126 : The Water-Babies . Charles Kingsley
0127 : Notes from the Underground . Fyodor Dostoevsky
0128 : Uncle Silas . Sheridan Le Fanu
0129 : Alice's Adventures in Wonderland . Lewis Carroll
0130 : Journey to the Center of the Earth . Jules Verne
0131 : Crime and Punishment . Fyodor Dostoevsky
0132 : Last Chronicle of Barset . Anthony Trollope
0133 : Thérèse Raquin . Émile Zola
0134 : The Moonstone . Wilkie Collins
0135 : Little Women . Louisa May Alcott
0136 : The Idiot . Fyodor Dostoevsky
0137 : Maldoror . Comte de Lautréamont
0138 : Phineas Finn . Anthony Trollope
0139 : Sentimental Education . Gustave Flaubert
0140 : War and Peace . Leo Tolstoy
0141 : King Lear of the Steppes . Ivan Turgenev
0142 : Alice Through the Looking Glass . Lewis Carroll
0143 : Middlemarch . George Eliot
0144 : Spring Torrents . Ivan Turgenev
0145 : Erewhon . Samuel Butler
0146 : The Devils . Fyodor Dostoevsky
0147 : In a Glass Darkly . Sheridan Le Fanu
0148 : Around the World in Eighty Days . Jules Verne
0149 : The Enchanted Wanderer . Nicolai Leskov
0150 : Far from the Maddening Crowd . Thomas Hardy
0151 : Pepita Jimenéz . Juan Valera *
0152 : The Crime of Father Amado . José Maria Eça de Queirós *
0153 : Drunkard . Émile Zola
0154 : Anna Karenina . Leo Tolstoy
0155 : Martín Fierro . José Hernández *
0156 : The Red Room . August Strindberg
0157 : Ben-Hur . Lew Wallace
0158 : Nana . Émile Zola
0159 : The Portrait of a Lady . Henry James
0160 : The House by the Medlar Tree . Giovanni Verga
0161 : The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas . Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis *
0162 : Bouvard and Pécuchet . Gustave Flaubert
0163 : Treasure Island . Robert Louis Stevenson
0164 : A Woman's Life . Guy de Maupassant
0165 : The Death of Ivan Ilyich . Leo Tolstoy
0166 : Against the Grain . Joris-Karl Huysmans
0167 : The Regent's Wife . Clarín Leopoldo Alas *
0168 : Bel-Ami . Guy de Maupassant
0169 : Marius the Epicurean . Walter Pater
0170 : The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . Mark Twain
0171 : Germinal . Émile Zola
0172 : King Solomon's Mines . H. Rider Haggard
0173 : The Quest . Frederik van Eeden *
0174 : The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . Robert Louis Stevenson
0175 : The Manors of Ulloa . Emilia Pardo Bazán *
0176 : The People of Hemsö . August Strindberg
0177 : Pierre and Jean . Guy de Maupassant
0178 : Under the Yoke . Ivan Vazov *
0179 : The Child of Pleasure . Gabriele D'Annunzio *
0180 : Eline Vere . Louis Couperus *
0181 : Hunger . Knut Hamsun
0182 : By the Open Sea . August Strindberg
0183 : La Bête Humaine . Émile Zola
0184 : Thaïs . Anatole France *
0185 : The Kreutzer Sonata . Leo Tolstoy
0186 : The Picture of Dorian Gray . Oscar Wilde
0187 : Down There . Joris-Karl Huysmans *
0188 : Tess of the D'Ubervilles . Thomas Hardy
0189 : Gösta Berling's Saga . Selma Lagerlöf
0190 : New Grub Street . George Gissig
0191 : News from Nowhere . William Morris
0192 : The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes . Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
0193 : The Diary of a Nobody . George & Weedon Grossmith
0194 : The Viceroys . Federico De Roberto *
0195 : Jude the Obscure . Thomas Hardy
0196 : Effi Briest . Theodor Fontane
0197 : The Time Machine . H.G. Wells
0198 : The Island of Dr. Moreau . H.G. Wells
0199 : Quo Vadis . Henryk Sienkiewicz
0200 : Dracula . Bram Stoker
0201 : What Maisie Knew . Henry James
0202 : Compassion . Benito Pérez Galdós *
0203 : Pharaoh . Boleslaw Prus *
0204 : Fruits of the Earth . André Gide
0205 : The War of the Worlds . H.G. Wells
0206 : As a Man Grows Older . Italo Svevo *
0207 : Dom Casmurro . Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis *
0208 : The Awakening . Kate Chopin
0209 : The Stechlin . Theodor Fontane
0210 : Eclipse of the Crescent Moon . Géza Gárdonyi *
0211 : Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. . Somerville and Ross

: 1900s :
0212 : Sandokan: The Tigers of Mompracem . Emilio Salgari *
0213 : Sister Carrie . Theodore Dreiser
0214 : None but the Brave . Arthur Schnitzler *
0215 : Kim . Rudyard Kipling
0216 : Buddenbrooks . Thomas Mann
0217 : The Hound of the Baskervilles . Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
0218 : Heart of Darkness . Joseph Conrad
0219 : The Wings of the Dove . Henry James
0220 : The Immoralist . André Gide
0221 : The Ambassadors . Henry James
0222 : The Riddle of the Sands . Erskine Childers
0223 : The Call of the Wild . Jack London *
0224 : Memoirs of my Nervous Illness . Daniel P. Schreber *
0225 : The Way of All Flesh . Samuel Butler *
0226 : Hadrian the Seventh . Frederick Rolfe
0227 : Nostromo . Joseph Conrad
0228 : The House of Mirth . Edith Wharton
0229 : Professor Unrat . Heinrich Mann
0230 : Solitude . Víctor Català *
0231 : Young Törless . Robert Musil
0232 : The Forsyte Saga . John Galsworthy
0233 : The Jungle . Upton Sinclair
0234 : The Secret Agent . Joseph Conrad
0235 : Mother . Maxim Gorky
0236 : The House on the Borderland . William Hope Hodgson
0237 : The Old Wives' Tale . Arnold Bennett
0238 : The Inferno . Henri Barbusse
0239 : A Room with a View . E.M. Forster
0240 : Strait is the Gate . André Gide
0241 : The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge . Rainer Maria Rilke *
0242 : Howards End . E.M. Forster
0243 : Impressions of Africa . Raymond Roussel
0244 : Fantômas . Marcel Allain & Pierre Souvestre
0245 : Ethan Frome . Edith Wharton
0246 : The Charwoman's Daughter . James Stephens
0247 : Death in Venice . Thomas Mann
0248 : Sons and Lovers . D.H. Lawrence
0249 : The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists . Robert Tressell
0250 : Platero and I . Juan Ramón Jiménez *
0251 : Tarzan of the Apes . Edgar Rice Burroughs
0252 : Locus Solas . Raymond Roussell
0253 : Kokoro . Natsume Soseki
0254 : The Thirty-Nine Steps . John Buchan
0255 : The Rainbow . D.H. Lawrence
0256 : Of Human Bondage . William Somerset Maugham
0257 : The Good Soldier . Ford Madox Ford
0258 : Rashomon . Akutagawa Ryunosuke
0259 : Under Fire . Henri Barbusse
0260 : A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man . James Joyce
0261 : The Underdogs . Mariano Azuela *
0262 : Pallieter . Felix Timmermans *
0263 : Home and the World . Rabindranath Tagore *
0264 : Growth of the Soil . Knut Hamsun
0265 : The Return of the Soldier . Rebecca West
0266 : Tarr . Wyndham Lewis
0267 : The Storm of Steel . Ernst Jünger *
0268 : Women in Love . D.H. Lawrence
0269 : Main Street . Sinclair Lewis
0270 : The Age of Innocence . Edith Wharton
0271 : Chrome Yellow . Aldous Huxley
0272 : Life of Christ . Giovanni Papini *
0273 : Ulysses . James Joyce
0274 : Babbitt . Sinclair Lewis
0275 : Claudine's House . Colette *
0276 : Life and Death of Harriett Frean . May Sinclair
0277 : The Forest of the Hanged . Liviu Rebreanu *
0278 : Siddhartha . Hermann Hesse
0279 : The Enormous Room . E.E. Cummings
0280 : Kristin Lavransdatter . Sigrid Undset *
0281 : Amok . Stefan Zweig
0282 : The Devil in the Flesh . Raymond Radiguet
0283 : Zeno's Conscience . Italo Svevo
0284 : A Passage to India . E.M. Forster
0285 : We . Yevgeny Zamyatin
0286 : The Magic Mountain . Thomas Mann
0287 : The Green Hat . Michael Arlen
0288 : The New World . Heruy Wäldä-Sellassé *
0289 : The Professor's House . Willa Cather
0290 : The Artamonov Business . Maxim Gorky
0291 : The Trial . Franz Kafka
0292 : The Counterfeiters . André Gide
0293 : The Great Gatsby . F. Scott Fitzgerald
0294 : Mrs. Dalloway . Virginia Woolf
0295 : Chaka the Zulu . Thomas Mofolo *
0296 : The Making of Americans . Gertrude Stein
0297 : The Murder of Roger Ackroyd . Agatha Christie
0298 : One, None and a Hundred Thousand . Luigi Pirandello
0299 : Under Satan's Sun . Geroges Bernanos *
0300 : The Good Soldier's Svejk . Jaroslav Hasek
0301 : Alberta and Jacob . Cora Sandel *
0302 : The Castle . Franz Kafka
0303 : Blindness . Henry Green
0304 : The Sun Also Rises . Ernest Hemingway
0305 : Amerika . Franz Kafka
0306 : The Case of Sergeant Grischa . Arnold Zweig *
0307 : Tarka the Otter . Henry Williamson
0308 : To the Lighthouse . Virginia Woolf
0309 : Remembrance of Things Past . Marcel Proust
0310 : Steppenwolf . Hermann Hesse
0311 : Nadja . André Breton
0312 : Quicksand . Nella Larsen
0313 : Decline and Fall . Evelyn Waugh
0314 : Some Prefer Nettles : Junichiro Tanizaki *
0315 : Parade's End . Ford Madox Ford
0316 : The Well of Loneliness . Radclyffe Hall
0317 : Lady Chatterley's Lover . D.H. Lawrence
0318 : Orlando . Virginia Woolf
0319 : Story of the Eye . Geroges Bataille
0320 : Retreat Without Song . Shahan Shahnoor *
0321 : Les Enfants Terribles . Jean Cocteau
0322 : Berlin Alexanderplatz . Alfred Döblin
0323 : All Quiet on the Western Front . Erich Maria Remarque
0324 : The Time of Indifference . Alberto Moravia
0325 : Living . Henry Green
0326 : I Thought of Daisy . Edmund Wilson *
0327 : Farewell to Arms . Ernest Hemingway
0328 : Passing . Nellas Larsen
0329 : Look Homeward, Angel . Thomas Wolfe
0330 : The Maltese Falcon . Dashiell Hammett
0331 : Her Privates We . Frederic Manning
0332 : The Apes of God . Wyndham Lewis
0333 : Monica . Saunders Lewis *
0334 : Insatiability . Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz *
0335 : The Waves . Virginia Woolf
0336 : To the North . Elizabeth Bowen
0337 : The Thin Man . Dashiell Hammett
0338 : Journey to the End of the Night . Louis-Ferdinand Céline
0339 : The Return of Philip Latinowicz . Miroslav Krleza *
0340 : The Radetzky March . Joseph Roth
0341 : The Forbidden Realm . J.J. Slauerhoff *
0342 : Cold Comfort Farm . Stella Gibbons
0343 : Brave New World . Aldous Huxley
0344 : Vipers' Tangle . François Mauriac *
0345 : The Man Without Qualities . Robert Musil
0346 : Cheese . Willem Elsschot *
0347 : Man's Fate . André Malraux *
0348 : A Day Off . Storm Jameson
0349 : Testament of Youth . Vera Brittain
0350 : The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas . Gertrude Stein
0351 : Murder Must Advertise . Dorothy L. Sayers
0352 : Miss Lonelyhearts . Nathanael West
0353 : Call It Sleep . Henry Roth
0354 : The Street of Crocodiles . Bruno Schulz *
0355 : Thank You, Jeeves . P.G. Wodehouse
0356 : Tender is the Night . F. Scott Fitzgerald
0357 : Tropic of Cancer . Henry Miller
0358 : The Postman Always Rings Twice . James M. Cain
0359 : On the Heights of Despair . Emil Cioran *
0360 : The Bells of Basel . Louis Aragon *
0361 : The Nine Taylors . Dorothy L. Sayers
0362 : Auto-da-Fé . Elias Canetti
0363 : They Shoot Horses, Don't They? . Horace McCoy
0364 : The Last of Mr. Norris . Christopher Isherwood
0365 : Untouchable . Mulk Raj Anand *
0366 : Independent People . Halldór Laxness
0367 : Nightwood . Djuna Barnes
0368 : At the Mountains of Madness . H.P. Lovecraft
0369 : Absalom, Absalom! . William Faulkner
0370 : War with the Newts . Karel Capek *
0371 : Keep the Aspidistra Flying . George Orwell
0372 : Gone with the Wind . Margaret Mitchell
0373 : The Thinking Reed . Rebecca West
0374 : Eyeless in Gaza . Aldous Huxley
0375 : Summer Will Show . Sylvia Townsend Warner
0376 : Rickshaw Boy . Lao She *
0377 : Out of Africa . Isak Dineson (Karen Blixen)
0378 : In Parenthesis . David Jones
0379 : Ferdydurke . Witold Gombrowicz *
0380 : The Blind Owl . Sadegh Hedayat *
0381 : The Hobbit . J.R.R. Tolkien
0382 : Their Eyes Were Watching God . Zora Neale Hurston
0383 : Of Mice and Men . John Steinbeck
0384 : Murphy . Samuel Beckett
0385 : U.S.A. . John Dos Passos
0386 : Brighton Rock . Graham Greene
0387 : Cause for Alarm . Eric Ambler
0388 : Alamut . Vladimir Bartol *
0389 : Rebecca . Daphne du Maurier
0390 : Nausea . Jean-Paul Sartre
0391 : Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day . Winifred Watson
0392 : On the Edge of Reason . Miroslav Krleza *
0393 : The Big Sleep . Raymond Chandler
0394 : Goodbye to Berlin . Christopher Isherwood
0395 : The Grapes of Wrath . John Steinbeck
0396 : Good Morning, Midnight . Jean Rhys
0397 : At Swim-Two-Birds . Flann O'Brien
0398 : Finnegans Wake . James Joyce
0399 : Native Son . Richard Wright
0400 : The Tarter Steppe . Dino Buzzati
0401 : The Power and the Glory . Graham Greene
0402 : For Whom the Bell Tolls . Ernest Hemingway
0403 : The Man Who Loved Children . Christina Steed *
0404 : Broad and Alien is the World . Ciro Alegría *
0405 : The Living and the Dead . Patrick White
0406 : The Harvesters . Cesare Pavese *
0407 : Conversations in Sicily . Elio Vittorini
0408 : The Outsider . Albert Camus
0409 : Embers . Sándor Márai
0410 : Chess Story . Stefan Zweig *
0411 : The Glass Bead Game . Hermann Hesse
0412 : Joseph and His Brothers . Thomas Mann *
0413 : The Little Prince . Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
0414 : Dangling Man . Saul Bellow
0415 : The Razor's Edge . William Somerset Maugham
0416 : Transit . Anna Seghers
0417 : Pippi Longstocking . Astrid Lindgren *
0418 : Loving . Henry Green
0419 : Animal Farm . George Orwell
0420 : The Bridge on the Drina . Ivo Andric
0421 : Christ Stopped at Eboli . Carlo Levi
0422 : Arcanum 17 . André Breton
0423 : Brideshead Revisited . Evelyn Waugh
0424 : Bosnian Chronicle . Ivo Andric *
0425 : The Tin Flute . Gabrielle Roy *
0426 : Andrea . Carmen Laforet *
0427 : The Death of Virgil . Hermann Broch *
0428 : Titus Groan . Mervyn Peake
0429 : Zorba the Greek . Nikos Kazantzakis *
0430 : Back . Henry Green
0431 : House in the Uplands . Erskine Caldwell *
0432 : The Path to the Nest of Spiders . Italo Calvino
0433 : Under the Volcano . Malcolm Lowry
0434 : If This Is a Man . Primo Levi
0435 : Excercises in Style . Raymond Queneau
0436 : The Plague . Albert Camus
0437 : Doctor Faustus . Thomas Mann
0438 : Midaq Alley . Naguib Mahfouz *
0439 : Froth on the Daydream . Boris Vian *
0440 : Journey to the Alcarria . Camilo José Cela *
0441 : Ashes and Diamonds . Jerzy Andrzejewski *
0442 : Disobedience . Alberto Moravia
0443 : All About H. Hatterr . G.V. Desani
0444 : Cry, the Beloved Country . Alan Paton
0445 : In the Heart of the Seas . Shmuel Yosef Agnon *
0446 : This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman . Tadeusz Borowski *
0447 : Death Sentence . Maurice Blanchot
0448 : Nineteen Eighty-Four . George Orwell
0449 : The Man with the Golden Arm . Nelson Algren
0450 : Kingdom of this World . Alejo Carpentier
0451 : The Heat of the Day . Elizabeth Bowen
0452 : Love in a Cold Climate . Nancy Mitford
0453 : The Case of Comrade Tulayev . Victor Serge
0454 : The Garden Where the Brass Band Played . Simon Vestdijk
0455 : I, Robot . Isaac Asimov
0456 : The Grass is Singing . Doris Lessing
0457 : A Town Like Alice . Nevil Shute
0458 : The Moon and the Bonfires . Cesare Pavese
0459 : Gormenghast . Mervyn Peake
0460 : The 13 Clocks . James Thurber
0461 : The Labyrinth of Solitude . Octavio Paz
0462 : The Abbott C . Georges Bataille
0463 : The Guiltless . Hermann Broch *
0464 : Barabbas . Pär Lagerkvist *
0465 : The End of the Affair . Graham Greene
0466 : Molloy . Samuel Beckett
0467 : The Rebel . Albert Camus
0468 : The Catcher in the Rye . J.D. Salinger
0469 : The Opposing Shore . Julien Gracq
0470 : Foundation . Isaac Asimov
0471 : Malone Dies . Samuel Beckett
0472 : Day of the Triffids . John Wyndham
0473 : Memoirs of Hadrian . Marguerite Yourcenar
0474 : The Hive . Camilo José Cela *
0475 : Wise Blood . Flannery O'Connor
0476 : The Old Man and the Sea . Ernest Hemingway
0477 : Invisible Man . Ralph Ellison
0478 : The Judge and His Hangman . Friedrich Dürrenmatt
0479 : Excellent Women . Barbara Pym *
0480 : A Thousand Cranes . Yasunari Kawabata *
0481 : Go Tell It on the Mountain . James Baldwin
0482 : Casino Royale . Ian Fleming
0483 : Junkie . William Burroughs
0484 : Lucky Jim . Kingsley Amis
0485 : The Lost Steps . Alejo Carpentier *
0486 : The Hothouse . Wolfgang Koeppen *
0487 : The Long Good-Bye . Raymond Chandler
0488 : The Go-Between . L.P. Hartley
0489 : The Dark Child . Camara Laye *
0490 : A Day in Spring . Ciril Kosmac *
0491 : A Ghost at Noon . Alberto Moravia
0492 : The Story of O . Pauline Réage
0493 : Under the Net . Iris Murdoch
0494 : Lord of the Flies . William Golding
0495 : The Mandarins . Simone de Beauvoir *
0496 : Bonjour Tristesse . Françoise Sagan
0497 : Death in Rome . Wolfgang Koeppen *
0498 : The Sound of Waves . Yukio Mishima *
0499 : The Unknown Soldier . Väinö Linna *
0500 : I'm Not Stiller . Max Frisch
0501 : The Ragazzi . Pier Paolo Pasolini
0502 : The Recognitions . William Gaddis
0503 : The Burning Plain . Juan Rulfo *
0504 : The Quiet American . Graham Greene
0505 : The Trusting and the Maimed . James Plunkett
0506 : The Tree of Man . Patrick White *
0507 : The Last Temptation of Christ . Nikos Kazantzákis
0508 : The Devil to Pay in the Backlands . João Guimarães Rosa *
0509 : Lolita . Vladimir Nabokov
0510 : The Talented Mr. Ripley . Patricia Highsmith
0511 : The Lord of the Rings . J.R.R. Tolkien
0512 : The Lonely Londoners . Sam Selvon
0513 : The Roots of Heaven . Romain Gary
0514 : The Floating Opera . John Barth
0515 : Giovanni's Room . James Baldwin
0516 : Justine . Lawrence Durrell
0517 : The Glass Bees . Ernst Jünger *
0518 : Doctor Zhivago . Boris Pasternak
0519 : Pnin . Vladimir Nabokov
0520 : On the Road . Jack Kerouac
0521 : The Manila Rope . Veijo Meri *
0522 : The Deadbeats . Ward Ruyslinck *
0523 : Homo Faber . Max Frisch
0524 : Blue of Noon . Geroges Bataille
0525 : The Midwich Cuckoos . John Wyndham
0526 : Voss . Patrick White
0527 : Jealousy . Alain Robbe-Grillet
0528 : The Birds . Tarjei Vesaas *
0529 : The Once and Future King . T.H. White
0530 : The Bell . Iris Murdoch
0531 : Borstal Boy . Brendan Behan
0532 : Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon . Jorge Amado *
0533 : Saturday Night and Sunday Morning . Alan Sillitoe
0534 : Things Fall Apart . Chinua Achebe
0535 : The Bitter Glass . Eilís Dillon
0536 : The Guide . R.K. Narayan *
0537 : The Leopard . Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
0538 : Deep Rivers . José María Arguedas *
0539 : Breakfast at Tiffany's . Truman Capote
0540 : Pluck the Bud and Destroy the Offspring . Kenzaburo Oe
0541 : Billiards at Half-Past Nine . Heinrich Böll
0542 : Down Second Avenue . Ezekiel Mphahlele *
0543 : Cider With Rosie . Laurie Lee
0544 : The Tin Drum . Günter Grass
0545 : The Naked Lunch . William Burroughs
0546 : Billy Liar . Keith Waterhouse
0547 : Absolute Beginners . Colin MacInnes
0548 : Promise at Dawn . Romain Gary
0549 : Rabbit, Run . John Updike
0550 : To Kill a Mockingbird . Harper Lee
0551 : The Magician of Lublin . Isaac Bashevis Singer *
0552 : Halftime . Martin Walser *
0553 : The Country Girls . Edna O'Brien
0554 : Bebo's Girl . Carlo Cassola *
0555 : God's Bit of Wood . Ousmane Sembène *
0556 : The Shipyard . Juan Carlos Onetti *
0557 : Catch-22 . Joseph Heller
0558 : Solaris . Stanislaw Lem
0559 : Cat and Mouse . G¨nter Grass
0560 : The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie . Muriel Spark
0561 : A Severed Head . Iris Murdoch
0562 : Franny and Zooey . J.D. Salinger
0563 : No One Writes to the Colonel . Gabriel García Márquez *
0564 : Faces in the Water . Janet Frame
0565 : Memoirs of a Peasant Boy . Xosé Neira Vilas *
0566 : Stranger in a Strange Land . Robert Heinlein
0567 : Labyrinths . Jorge Luis Borges
0568 : The Golden Notebook . Doris Lessing
0569 : Time of Silence . Luis Martín-Santos *
0570 : Pale Fire . Vladimir Nabokov
0571 : A Clockwork Orange . Anthony Burgess
0572 : One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest . Ken Kesey
0573 : Girl With Green Eyes . Edna O'Brien
0574 : The Death of Artemio Cruz . Carlos Fuentes *
0575 : The Time of the Hero . Mario Vargas Llosa *
0576 : The Garden of the Finzi-Continis . Giorgio Bassani
0577 : One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich . Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
0578 : The Third Wedding . Costas Taktsis *
0579 : Dog Years . Günter Grass *
0580 : The Bell Jar . Sylvia Plath
0581 : Inside Mr. Enderby . Anthony Burgess
0582 : The Girls of Slender Means . Muriel Spark
0583 : The Spy Who Came in From the Cold . John Le Carré
0584 : Manon des Sources . Marcel Pagnol
0585 : The Graduate . Charles Webb
0586 : Cat's Cradle . Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
0587 : V. . Thomas Pynchon
0588 : Herzog . Saul Bellow
0589 : The Ravishing of Lol V. Stein . Marguerite Duras
0590 : Arrow of God . Chinua Achebe
0591 : Three Trapped Tigers . Guillermo Cabrera Infante *
0592 : Sometimes a Great Notion . Ken Kesey
0593 : The Passion According to G.H. . Clarice Lispector
0594 : Back to Oegstgeest . Jan Wolkers *
0595 : Closely Watched Trains . Bohumil Hrabal *
0596 : The River Between . Ngugi wa Thiong'o
0597 : Garden, Ashes . Danilo Kis *
0598 : Everything That Rises Must Converge . Flannery O'Connor
0599 : Things . Georges Perec
0600 : In Cold Blood . Truman Capote
0601 : Death and the Dervish . Mesa Selimovic *
0602 : Silence . Shusaku Endo *
0603 : To Each His Own . Leonardo Sciascia *
0604 : The Crying of Lot 49 . Thomas Pynchon
0605 : Giles Goat-Boy . John Barth
0606 : Marks of Identity . Juan Goytisolo *
0607 : The Vice-Consul . Marguerite Duras
0608 : The Magus . John Fowles
0609 : The Master and Margarita . Mikhail Bulgakov
0610 : Wide Sargasso Sea . Jean Rhys
0611 : The Third Policeman . Flann O'Brien
0612 : Miramar . Naguib Mahfouz *
0613 : Z . Vassilis Vassilikos *
0614 : Pilgrimage . Dorothy Richardson
0615 : The Manor . Isaac Bashevis Singer *
0616 : One Hundred Years of Solitude . Gabriel García Márquez
0617 : No Laughing Matter . Angus Wilson
0618 : Days of the Dolphin . Robert Merle *
0619 : The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test . Tom Wolfe
0620 : Eva Trout . Elizabeth Bowen
0621 : The Cathedral . Oles Honchar *
0622 : A Kestral for a Knave . Barry Hines
0623 : In Watermelon Sugar . Richard Brautigan
0624 : The German Lesson . Siegfried Lenz
0625 : The Quest for Christa T. . Christa Wolf
0626 : Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? . Philip K. Dick
0627 : 2001: A Space Odyssey . Arthur C. Clarke
0628 : Belle du Seigneur . Albert Cohen
0629 : Cancer Ward . Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
0630 : Myra Breckinridge . Gore Vidal
0631 : The First Circle . Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
0632 : A Void/Avoid . Georges Perec
0633 : Them . Joyce Carol Oates
0634 : Ada . Vladimir Nabokov
0635 : The Godfather . Mario Puzo
0636 : Portnoy's Complaint . Philip Roth
0637 : Jacob the Liar . Jurek Becker *
0638 : The French Lieutenant's Woman . John Fowles
0639 : Slaughterhouse-five . Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
0640 : Blind Man With a Pistol . Chester Himes
0641 : Pricksongs and Descants . Robert Coover
0642 : Tent of Miracles . Jorge Armado
0643 : The Case Worker . György Konrád *
0644 : Moscow Stations . Venedikt Yerofeev *
0645 : Heartbreak Tango . Manuel Puig *
0646 : Seasons of Migrations to the North . Tayeb Salih *
0647 : Here's to You, Jesusa! . Elena Poniatowska *
0648 : Fifth Business . Robertson Davies *
0649 : Play It As It Lays . Joan Didion *
0650 : Jahrestage . Uwe Johnson
0651 : A World for Julius . Alfredo Bryce Echenique *
0652 : I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings . Maya Angelou
0653 : The Bluest Eyes . Toni Morrison
0654 : The Sea of Fertility . Yukio Mishima
0655 : Rabbit Redux . John Updike
0656 : Cataract . Mykhaylo Osadchyl *
0657 : Group Portrait With Lady . Heinrich Böll
0658 : Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas . Hunter S. Thompson
0659 : The Book of Daniel . E.L. Doctorow
0660 : Lives of Girls & Women . Alice Munro *
0661 : House Mother Normal . B.S. Johnson
0662 : In a Free State . V.S. Naipal
0663 : Surfacing . Margaret Atwood
0664 : G . John Berger
0665 : The Summer Book . Tove Jansson
0666 : The Twilight Years . Sawako Ariyoshi *
0667 : The Optimist's Daughter . Eudora Welty *
0668 : Invisible Cities . Italo Calvino
0669 : Gravity's Rainbow . Thomas Pynchon
0670 : The Honorary Consul . Graham Greene
0671 : Crash . J.G. Ballard
0672 : The Castle of Crossed Destinies . Italo Calvino
0673 : The Siege of Krishnapur . J.G. Farrell
0674 : A Question of Power . Bessie Head
0675 : Fear of Flying . Erica Jong
0676 : The Dispossessed . Ursula K. Le Guin *
0677 : The Diviners . Margaret Laurence *
0678 : The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum . Heinrich Böll
0679 : Dusklands . J.M. Coetzee
0680 : The Fan Man . William Kotzwinkle
0681 : The Port . Antun Soljan *
0682 : Ragtime . E.L. Doctorow
0683 : The Commandant . Jessica Anderson *
0684 : The Year of the Hare . Arto Paasilinna *
0685 : Humboldt's Gift . Saul Bellow
0686 : Woman at Point Zero . Nawal El Saadawi *
0687 : Willard and His Bowling Trophies . Richard Brautigan
0688 : Fateless . Imre Kertész
0689 : The Dead Father . Donald Barthelme
0690 : Correction . Thomas Bernhard
0691 : A Dance to the Music of Time . Anthony Powell
0692 : W, or the Memory of Childhood . Georges Perec
0693 : Autumn of the Patriarch . Gabriel García Márquez
0694 : Patterns of Childhood . Christa Wolf
0695 : Blaming . Elizabeth Taylor *
0696 : Cutter and Bone . Newton Thornburg
0697 : Interview With the Vampire . Anne Rice
0698 : The Left-Handed Woman . Peter Handke
0699 : Kiss of the Spider Woman . Manuel Puig *
0700 : Almost Transparent Blue . Ryu Murakami *
0701 : In the Heart of the Country . J.M. Coetzee
0702 : The Engineer of the Human Soul . Josef Skvorecky *
0703 : Quartet in Autumn . Barbara Pym *
0704 : The Hour of the Star . Clarice Lispector
0705 : Song of Solomon . Toni Morrison
0706 : The Wars . Timothy Findley *
0707 : Dispatches . Michael Herr
0708 : The Shining . Stephen King
0709 : Delta of Venus . Anaïs Nin
0710 : The Beggar Maid . Alice Munro *
0711 : Requiem for a Dream . Hubert Selby Jr. *
0712 : The Singapore Grip . J.G. Farrell
0713 : The Sea, The Sea . Iris Murdoch
0714 : Life: A User's Manual . Georges Perec
0715 : The Back Room . Carmen Martín Gaite *
0716 : The Virgin in the Garden . A.S. Byatt
0717 : The Cement Garden . Ian McEwan
0718 : Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy . Douglas Adams
0719 : If on a Winter's Night a Traveler . Italo Calvino
0720 : So Long a Letter . Mariama Bâ *
0721 : Burger's Daughter . Nadine Gordimer
0722 : A Bend in the River . V.S. Naipaul
0723 : A Dry White Season . André Brink *
0724 : The Book of Laughter and Forgetting . Milan Kundera
0725 : Fool's Gold . Maro Douka *
0726 : Smiley's People . John Le Carré
0727 : Southern Seas . Manuel Vásquez Montalbán *
0728 : The Name of the Rose . Umberto Eco
0729 : Clear Light of Day . Anita Desai *
0730 : Confederacy of Dunces . John Kennedy Toole
0731 : Rituals . Cees Nooteboom
0732 : Smell of Sadness . Alfred Kossmann *
0733 : Broken April . Ismail Kadare
0734 : Midnight's Children . Salman Rushdie
0735 : Waiting for Barbarians . J.M. Coetzee
0736 : Summer in Baden-Baden . Leonid Tsypkin
0737 : The House with the Blind Glass Windows . Herbjørg Wassmo *
0738 : Leaden Wings . Zhang Jie *
0739 : The War at the End of the World . Mario Vargas Llosa *
0740 : Lanark: A Life in Four Books . Alasdair Gray
0741 : Rabbit is Rich . John Updike
0742 : Couples, Passerby . Botho Strauss *
0743 : July's People . Nadine Gordimer
0744 : On the Black Hill . Bruce Chatwin
0745 : The House of the Spirits . Isabel Allende
0746 : Schindler's Ark . Thomas Keneally
0747 : A Pale View of Hills . Kazuo Ishiguro
0748 : Wittgenstein's Nephew . Thomas Bernhard
0749 : The Color Purple . Alice Walker
0750 : A Boy's Own Story . Edmund White
0751 : If Not Now, When? . Primo Levi
0752 : The Book of Disquiet . Fernando Pessoa *
0753 : Baltasar and Blimunda . José Saramago *
0754 : The Sorrow of Belgium . Hugo Claus
0755 : The Piano Teacher . Elfriede Jelinek
0756 : The Life and Times of Michael K . J.M. Coetzee
0757 : Waterland . Graham Swift
0758 : LaBrava . Elmore Leonard
0759 : The Christmas Oratorio . Göran Tunström *
0760 : Fado Alexandrino . António Lobo Antunes *
0761 : The Witness . Juan José Saer *
0762 : Shame . Salman Rushdie
0763 : Money: A Suicide Note . Martin Amis
0764 : Flaubert's Parrot . Julian Barnes
0765 : Professor Martens' Departure . Jaan Kross *
0766 : Blood and Guts in High School . Kathy Acker
0767 : Larva: Midsummer Night's Babel . Julián Ríos *
0768 : Nights at the Circus . Angela Carter
0769 : Neuromancer . William Gibson
0770 : The Wasp Factory . Iain Banks
0771 : Democracy . Joan Didion *
0772 : The Lover . Marguerite Duras
0773 : The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis . José Saramago
0774 : Empire of the Sun . J.G. Ballard
0775 : The Busconductor Hines . James Kelman
0776 : Dictionary of the Khazars . Milorad Pavic
0777 : The Unbearable Lightness of Being . Milan Kundera
0778 : Legend . David Gemmell
0779 : The Young Man . Botho Strauss *
0780 : Love Medicine . Louise Erdrich *
0781 : White Noise . Don DeLillo
0782 : Half of Man is Woman . Zhang Xianliang *
0783 : Reasons to Live . Amy Hempel
0784 : The Handmaid's Tale . Margaret Atwood
0785 : Hawksmoor . Peter Ackroyd
0786 : Perfume . Patrick Süskind
0787 : Blood Meridian . Cormac McCarthy *
0788 : Contact . Carl Sagan
0789 : Simon and the Oaks . Marianne Fredriksson *
0790 : The Cider House Rules . John Irving
0791 : Annie John . Jamaica Kincaid *
0792 : The Parable of the Blind . Gert Hofmann
0793 : Love in the Time of Cholera . Gabriel García Márquez
0794 : Ancestral Voices . Etienne van Heerden *
0795 : The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman . Andrzej Szczypiorski *
0796 : The Drowned and the Saved . Primo Levi
0797 : Watchmen . Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
0798 : Extinction . Thomas Bernhard
0799 : An Artist of the Floating World . Kazuo Ishiguro
0800 : Memory of Fire . Eduardo Galeano *
0801 : The Old Devils . Kingley Amis
0802 : Matigari . Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
0803 : Anagrams . Lorrie Moore
0804 : Lost Language of Cranes . David Leavitt
0805 : The Taebak Mountains . Jo Jung-rae
0806 : Ballad for Georg Henig . Viktor Pasokov *
0807 : Enigma of Arrival . V.S. Naipaul
0808 : World's End . T. Coraghessan Boyle
0809 : The Pigeon . Patrick Süskind
0810 : Of Love and Shadows . Isabel Allende *
0811 : Beloved . Toni Morrison
0812 : All Souls . Javier Marías *
0813 : The New York Trilogy . Paul Auster
0814 : Black Box . Amos Oz *
0815 : The Bonfire of the Vanities . Tom Wolfe
0816 : The Black Dahlia . James Ellroy
0817 : The Afternoon of a Writer . Peter Handke
0818 : The Radiant Way . Margaret Drabble
0819 : Kitchen . Banana Yoshimoto *
0820 : Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency . Douglas Adams
0821 : Cigarettes . Harry Mathews
0822 : Nervous Conditions . Tsitsi Dangarembga
0823 : The First Garden . Anne Hébert *
0824 : The Last World . Christoph Ransmayr *
0825 : Oscar and Lucinda . Peter Carey
0826 : The Swimming-Pool Library . Alan Hollinghurst
0827 : The Satanic Verses . Salman Rushdie
0828 : Wittgenstein's Mistress . David Markson
0829 : Paradise of the Blind . Duong Thu Huong *
0830 : Foucault's Pendulum . Umberto Eco
0831 : Gimmick! . Joost Zwagerman *
0832 : Obabakoak . Bernardo Atzaga *
0833 : Inland . Gerald Murnane *
0834 : A Prayer for Owen Meany . John Irving
0835 : Like Water for Chocolate . Laura Esquivel
0836 : The History of the Siege of Lisbon . José Saramago
0837 : The Trick is to Keep Breathing . Janice Galloway
0838 : The Great Indian Novel . Shashi Tharoor *
0839 : The Melancholy of Resistance . László Krasznahorkai
0840 : The Remains of the Day . Kazuo Ishiguro
0841 : London Fields . Martin Amis
0842 : Moon Palace . Paul Auster
0843 : Sexing the Cherry . Jeanette Winterson
0844 : Like Life . Lorrie Moore
0845 : The Buddha of Suburbia . Hanif Kureishi
0846 : The Shadow Lines . Amitav Ghosh *
0847 : The Midnight Examiner . William Kotzwinkle
0848 : The Things They Carried . Tim O'Brien
0849 : The Music of Chance . Paul Auster
0850 : Stone Junction . Jim Dodge
0851 : Amongst Women . John McGahern
0852 : Get Shorty . Elmore Leonard
0853 : The Daughter . Pavlos Matesis *
0854 : Vertigo . W.G. Sebald
0855 : American Psycho . Bret Easton Ellis
0856 : The Laws . Connie Palman *
0857 : Faceless Killers . Henning Mankell *
0858 : Astradeni . Eugenia Fakinou *
0859 : Regeneration . Pat Barker
0860 : Typical . Padgett Powell
0861 : Mao II . Don DeLillo
0862 : Wild Swans . Jung Chang
0863 : Arcadia . Jim Crace
0864 : Hideous Kinky . Esther Freud
0865 : Memoirs of Rain . Sunetra Gupta *
0866 : Asphodel . H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)
0867 : The Butcher Boy . Patrick McCabe
0868 : Smilla's Sense of Snow . Peter Høeg
0869 : The Dumas Club . Arturo Pérez-Reverte *
0870 : Written on the Body . Jeanette Winterson
0871 : The Crow Road . Iain Banks
0872 : Indigo . Marina Warner
0873 : The English Patient . Michael Ondaatje
0874 : Posessing the Secret of Joy . Alice Walker
0875 : All the Pretty Horses . Cormac McCarthy *
0876 : The Triple Mirror of the Self . Zulfikar Ghose *
0877 : Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture . Apostolos Doxiadis *
0878 : The Discovery of Heaven . Harry Mulisch
0879 : Life is a Caravanserai . Emine Sevgi Özdamar
0880 : Before Night Falls . Reinaldo Arenas *
0881 : The Secret History . Donna Tartt
0882 : The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll . Álvaro Mutis *
0883 : Remembering Babylon . David Malouf *
0884 : The Holder of the World . Bharati Mukherjee *
0885 : The Virgin Suicides . Jeffrey Eugenides
0886 : The Stone Diaries . Carol Shields
0887 : A Suitable Boy . Vikram Seth
0888 : What a Carve Up! . Jonathan Coe
0889 : On Love . Alain de Botton
0890 : The Twins . Tessa de Loo *
0891 : Looking for the Possible Dance . A.L. Kennedy
0892 : Birdsong . Sebastian Faulks
0893 : The Shipping News . Annie Proulx
0894 : Waiting for the Dark, Waiting for the Light . Ivan Klima *
0895 : The Invention of Curried Sausage . Uwe Timm
0896 : Disappearance . David Dabydeen
0897 : Deep River . Shusaku Endo *
0898 : Felicia's Journey . William Trevor
0899 : Captain Corelli's Mandolin . Louis de Bernières
0900 : How Late It Was, How Late . James Kelman
0901 : City Sister Silver . Jáchym Topol
0902 : Pereira Declares: A Testimony . Antonio Tabucchi
0903 : The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle . Haruki Murakami
0904 : Our Lady of the Assassins . Fernando Vallejo *
0905 : Land . Park Kyong-ni
0906 : Whatever . Michel Houellebecq
0907 : Troubling Love . Elena Ferrante *
0908 : The Late-Night News . Petros Markaris *
0909 : The End of the Story . Lydia Davis
0910 : Love's Work . Gillian Rose
0911 : A Fine Balance . Rohinton Mistry
0912 : The Reader . Bernhard Schlink
0913 : Santa Evita . Tomás Martínez *
0914 : Morvern Caller . Alan Warner
0915 : The Unconsoled . Kazuo Ishiguro
0916 : Alias Grace . Margaret Atwood
0917 : The Clay Machine-Gun . Victor Pelevin
0918 : Infinite Jest . David Foster Wallace
0919 : Forever a Stranger . Hella Haasse
0920 : The Ghost Road . Pat Barker
0921 : Fugitive Pieces . Anne Michaels
0922 : Hallucinating Foucault . Patricia Duncker
0923 : A Light Comedy . Eduardo Mendoza *
0924 : Fall on Your Knees . Ann-Marie MacDonald *
0925 : Silk . Alessandro Baricco
0926 : The God of Small Things . Arundhati Roy
0927 : Margot and the Angels . Kristien Hemmerechts *
0928 : The Life of Insects . Victor Pelevin
0929 : Money to Burn . Ricardo Piglia *
0930 : Jack Maggs . Peter Carey
0931 : Underworld . Don DeLillo
0932 : Enduring Love . Ian McEwan
0933 : Crossfire . Miyabe Miyuki *
0934 : The Poisonwood Bible . Barbara Kingsolver
0935 : Veronika Decides to Die . Paulo Coelho
0936 : The Hours . Michael Cunningham
0937 : All Souls Day . Cees Nooteboom
0938 : The Heretic . Miguel Deliber *
0939 : Elementary Particles . Michel Houellebecq
0940 : The Talk of the Town . Ardal O'Hanlon
0941 : Dirty Havana Trilogy . Pedro Juan Gutiérrez *
0942 : Savage Detectives . Roberto Bolaño *
0943 : Disgrace . J.M. Coetzee
0944 : As If I Am Not There . Slavenka Drakulic
0945 : Pavel's Letters . Monika Moron *
0946 : In Search of Klingsor . Jorge Volpi *
0947 : The Museum of Unconditional Surrender . Dubravka Ugresic *
0948 : Fear and Trembling . Amélie Nothomb

: 2000s :
0949 : Bartleby and Co. . Enrique Vila-Matas *
0950 : Celestial Harmonies . Péter Esterházy
0951 : Small Remedies . Shashi Deshpande
0952 : The Human Stain . Philip Roth
0953 : White Teeth . Zadie Smith
0954 : Under the Skin . Michel Faber
0955 : The Heart of Redness . Zakes Mda
0956 : Spring Flowers, Spring Frost . Ismail Kadare
0957 : The Devil and Miss Prym . Paulo Cohelo
0958 : The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay . Michael Chabon *
0959 : The Feast of the Goat . Mario Vargas Llosa
0960 : I'm Not Scared . Niccolò Ammaniti *
0961 : Soldiers of Salamis . Javier Cercas *
0962 : Atonement . Ian McEwan
0963 : Austerlitz . W.G. Sebald
0964 : Life of Pi . Yann Martel
0965 : The Corrections . Jonathan Franzen
0966 : Platform . Michel Houellebecq
0967 : Snow . Orhan Pamuk *
0968 : Nowhere Man . Aleksandar Hemon
0969 : Everything is Illuminated . Jonathan Safran Foer
0970 : Kafka on the Shore . Haruki Murakami
0971 : Islands . Dan Sleigh
0972 : The Namesake . Jhumpa Lahiri *
0973 : Vernon God Little . DBC Pierre *
0974 : The Successor . Ismail Kadare *
0975 : Lady Number Thirteen . José Carlos Somoza *
0976 : What I Loved . Siri Hustvedt
0977 : The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time . Mark Haddon
0978 : A Tale of Love and Darkness . Amos Oz *
0979 : Your Face Tomorrow . Javier Marías *
0980 : Cloud Atlas . David Mitchell
0981 : The Swarm . Frank Schätzing *
0982 : Suite Française . Irène Némirovsky *
0983 : The Master . Colm Tóibín
0984 : The Plot Against America . Philip Roth
0985 : The Book about Blanche and Marie . Per Olov Enquist *
0986 : Small Island . Andrea Levy *
0987 : 2666 . Roberto Bolaño *
0988 : The Line of Beauty . Alan Hollinghurst *
0989 : The Accidental . Ali Smith *
0990 : The Sea . John Banville
0991 : A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian . Marina Lewycka *
0992 : Measuring the World . Daniel Kehlmann *
0993 : Mother's Milk . Edward S. Aubyn *
0994 : Carry Me Down . M.J. Hyland *
0995 : Against the Day . Thomas Pynchon *
0996 : The Inheritance of Loss . Kiran Desai *
0997 : The Kindly Ones . Jonathan Littell *
0998 : Half of a Yellow Sun . Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie *
0999 : The Reluctant Fundamentalist . Mohsin Hamid *
1000 : Falling Man . Don DeLillo *
1001 : Animal's People . Indra Sinha *

a longer break

2008-06-10T22:16:00.003+01:00

Ok I'm back... Rhodes was... fantastic! I really would love to post about it and share all the memories and photos but time is really precious to me right now. As you know I'm returning to the States... and that's happening sooner than anticipated. July 9th to be exact. It's sort of depressing...

So yes I know I have like a gazillion book reviews to catch up on but I really don't want to spend my time inside typing, I have other things to do and people to see and hopefully places to go before I leave. I'll still be reading and working on my challenges and will continue to update my lists but I need a few more week hiatus.

I hope everyone understands and will come back and visit me when I'm back online!

. listening . when it comes . incubus . make yourself .

bon voyage

2008-05-13T22:41:00.007+01:00

Oh gosh I had planned to get some reviews out and time just flew away! You know how it is a few days before you leave anywhere, chaos! So much to do! I'm off to London in the morning and then flying to Rhodes tomorrow night. I won't be back in the 'Pool until June 5th. I'm sure I'll be able to track down a wireless signal somewhere on the island so I'll try to check in and depending on the signal and the speed of connection I may load a few photos. But just in case I don't pop in I hope everyone enjoys the rest of May and is prepared for a fantastic summer!

Oh and in case you're curious, I'm going to Rhodes for the Xth International Congress of Egyptologists - over 300+ speakers will be giving lectures from May 22-29. I'm going a week early and staying a week after in order to have a nice holiday. I may go island hopping or I might just pop a squat on the beach and read until I'm nice and crispy.

I was at a BBQ over the weekend to welcome 2 new Drs of Egyptology to the world. It was great! Although typical to an English BBQ we ended up inside when a thunderstorm hit (yes people real thunder and even some scary lightning! - but NOTHING compared to what we get in AZ). Below is a picture of a wee little man I found hanging out in my friend's garden. Apparently he was there when they moved in and so they just left him there. Seems like he's been there for awhile since his pants have nearly disintegrated! Ha! Ha! He's really roughin' it! Love the beard!

Ciao!

. listening . la camisa negra . juanes . mi sangre .

six random things & childhood favorites

2008-05-11T22:33:00.001+01:00

I've been tagged by Danielle to share 6 random things about me... hmmm... let's see:

The rules ::
: Link to the person that tagged you
: Post the rules somewhere in your meme
: Write the six random things
: Tag six people in your post
: Let the tagees know they’ve been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog
: Let the tagger know your entry is post

1 : I don't know if I want to be an academic. I want a PhD but the idea of being a professor isn't really appealing. But teaching English literature to high schoolers is... I wish I could be an English teacher and go off to excavate during the summers. Then I could do research on my own terms and meet my own deadlines. Plus it would mean doing two things I love, Egyptology and sharing my love of books. I think this must have something to do with being a Pisces and my fish swimming in opposite directions...

2 : I'm afraid of aliens, more specifically I'm afraid of The Greys. They freak me out to no end! Watching Signs was pure torture!

3 : I'm a wee bit of an obsessive compulsive and am definitely anal. I like to have and do things just so. When I like something, say for example a movie I will watch it over and over and over again.

4 : I'm afraid of being a spinster. I'm extremely picky and am pretty ignorant when it comes to paying attention to signs of interest from the opposite sex. Doesn't help that I'm convinced I must get involved with someone in my field, which is turning out to be nearly impossible as practically every guy in my field is either gay, emotionally unstable or a man whore.

5 : I like gummy worms!

6 : I wish I could be obsessive compulsive when it comes to losing weight, i.e. I wish I could stick to something until I'm where I want to be. I seem to start a program/regime or whatever lose a few lbs and then fall off the wagon and quickly find myself back on square one with some extra luggage. Though one summer I was really good, stuck to Weight Watchers was walking 20+ miles a week and lost 10+ lbs. I need to try that again and drop at least 20 lbs.

Tag You're It!
: A High and Hidden Place
: Everyday Reads
: Ranger Sarah
: Books Please
: Wild Yarn
: A Striped Armchair

Weekly Geek Assignment #003 :: Write about your fond memories of childhood books.

When I was little I was an avid reader (still am). In first grade I was the first student to reach the goal of 100 books and thus my teacher took me to Dairy Queen where I ate my very first and to this day only banana split. It was delicious! Mrs. Abraham and I talked about the books I had read. It was a real treat and I felt uber-special. It's a shame that teachers are unable to treat students like that anymore! I loved taking trips to the library and going through the picture books. This is where I first fell in love with the smell of books.

I can remember being obsessed with collecting and reading all the Babysitters Club books by Ann M. Martin. Sadly I think all of those books are gone now. I really should chase after them. I thought those girls were so cool and when I started babysitting I created my own little kit to take to kids' houses so that there would be fun things to do. I also loved R.L. Stine's Fear Street, those books were super cool and creepy but not overly so. I also loved the American Girl series, especially the stories about Kirsten and Felicity. I remember getting the catalog in the mail for the American Girl dolls and just falling head over heels for them. Those were just the best looking dolls ever and the outfits and all the goodies you could buy were fantastic! After visiting the American Girl store in New York a couple of summers ago, I think I still want one! Ha! Ha! Seriously if you're ever in New York you MUST check this store out. It's several stories tall with a Hair Salon for your dolls and a doll hospital where your doll will be admitted for repairs and will be returned in a hospital gown complete with hospital bracelet and depending on the injury a wheelchair or crutches! Crazy! There's a playhouse on the top floor and a cafe where you can order tea and scones for you doll.

One of my all time favorite books as a child was The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. My aunt bought it for me and I just loved it to pieces. It's about these kids that find an abandoned yard behind an antique store which they quickly transform into an Egyptian haven. It reminds me so much of my sister and I playing in our backyard pretending to be Egyptians, mummifying barbies and then the next day playing Egyptologists and discovering them. Only the kids in the book were lucky because they happened to find an old replica of the Nefertiti bust in their yard so they were able to set up a proper altar where they could consult the oracles. It such a great book! I've lent it out to my friend Gina who's bringing it to Rhodes. I hope nothing happens to it!

. listening . she is . the fray . how to save a life .

hmm what to call this

2008-05-10T00:53:00.001+01:00

Ok I think I like this new look! It's bright, it's flowery, it's making me smile - just like the weather we've been having here in the good old 'Pool. We've finally reached 75F/22C - Yippee! I even had a chance to sit in the park and eat an ice cream cone bought at a genuine ice cream truck. It's been so nice and sunny I've been able to wear my very expensive yet to be paid for prescription Coach sunglasses! I'm not really a material girl but these are my first pair of prescription sunglasses, I've been wearing glasses since kindergarten/first grade and the last pair of sunglasses I had were yellow and red with Ronald McDonald on them... So I thought I deserved a posh pair of shades! And let's not forget what an absolute necessity they are for working in Egypt, us Egyptologists need to dig in style!

So first the bad news... due to an unforeseen shortage in my stimulus payment (that'll teach me to rely on incoming funds) and the snail speed with which my loan checks are being dealt with there will be no trip to London. Boo! I've got friends who are willing to open their pockets but I'd rather use that offer for needs. I just don't feel right about having fun on someone else's tab. I'll still be heading down there on Wednesday to catch my flight to Rhodes but I'm really bummed, I was looking forward to good times. But now I suppose I'll have time to get some other things done. Like review writing! And reading (may finally finish those Mitford novels and poor Douglas Adams has been sitting on the shelf for awhile)! Finally I'll be able to do both guilt free because I'm done with the proofreading and I'm done with the scanning! My time is mine once again. Oh I do need to slap together a seminar that I'm giving when I get back but that shouldn't take too long.

I think I'll take a walk around Liverpool too! There's so much more to see. I've been invited to a BBQ on Sunday to celebrate the successful completion of two vivas and thus the birth of two new Drs. Wow finishing a PhD must be like the biggest relief ever! So here's hoping it's a good weekend for you and me. I'll just have to plan another trip to London perhaps one that will coincide with a trip to Paris...

Oh make sure you stop by Heather's (who I want to thank by the way for the awesome comments she made about me and my blog) to check out the teaser trailer for the movie Twilight based on Stephenie Meyer's book of the same title. It's awesome, I'm excited and unlike others I'm digging Edward's hair. I'm also excited about the next book, Breaking Dawn - I think it's awesome that Meyer is also a Phoenician well technically she's a Glendalian but that's just north-west Phoenix.

Ok gotta run and watch the latest episode of Lost! Ciao!

. listening . crash . gwen stefani . love, angel, music, baby .

catch up

2008-05-08T23:30:00.004+01:00

Wow I seriously need a good catch up AND a new look, it's looking a little drab around here AND you guys need some book reviews! Yikes! I don't even know if I'm going to London on Saturday or not, my loan may take 3-4 weeks before it's deposited and where the heck is my stimulus payment??? It looks like I'm going to have to mooch off my pals for the time being, which I hate doing! And this means that my birthday wish of seeing Wicked may have to be delayed yet again! Poo! At least we've been having some awesome sunny weather lately and have hit 75F/24C. I've been soaking it up! But I do apologize for ignoring this space, I've been so busy proofreading and trying to get things wrapped up here before I take off. I've even been putting in some hours in the book room this week - paycheck at the end of the month! Woo Hoo! I'll try to check in soon with at least one or two book reviews.

. listening . lightning rod . guster . ganging up on the sun .

collecting book review links

2008-05-04T11:48:00.004+01:00

Weekly Geek Assignment #002 : Collecting and sharing book review links. Whether you're a Weekly Geek or not I am asking all blog visitors if they've read and reviewed a book that I've also reviewed please let me know via a comment on that particular post. I will then post a link to your review at the end of mine. Perhaps you had different thoughts, people want to know! I only started posting reviews for the books I've read this year, you can find the list by clicking on Book Log up at the top or by clicking here. For more information on Weekly Geeks or what this assignment is all about, go here.

There's no deadline and I'm officially adopting this as a new policy so please share those review links! Thanks for the help!

. listening . six feet under . no doubt . return of saturn .

1% well read

2008-05-03T11:57:00.003+01:00

10 books in 10 months from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Sure! Why not? To sign up click here. I've selected 2 books from each category (pre 1700s, 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, 2000s).

completed books are in red

: The Thousand and One Nights . Anonymous
: The Princesse de Clèves . Madame de Lafayette
: Justine . Marquis de Sade
: The Mysteries of Udolpho . Ann Radcliffe
: Castle Rackrent . Maria Edgeworth
: The Red and the Black . Stendhal
: Doctor Zhivago . Boris Pasternak
: The Satanic Verses . Salman Rushdie
: How the Dead Live . Will Self
: Cloud Atlas . David Mitchell

. listening . already gone . crossfade . falling away .

fairy tale friday

2008-05-02T20:31:00.009+01:00

Hark is this a Hobbit hole?
I met up with my friend Campbell to visit Reid's Used Books in search of books to bring to Rhodes. So many to choose from! There were several copies of pristine 1001 chunksters that I drooled over but I had to settle with stroking their spines and sighing. I couldn't however pass up the 2 Dickins chunksters offered outside, David Copperfield and Nicholas Nickleby £1 each, now that's a bargain. They won't be joining me in Rhodes but I will read them this summer. Campbell chose a copy of E.M. Forster's Maurice and Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. The hunt is still on for a copy of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.

I have decided that my Rhodes reads will be:

Robinson Crusoe . Daniel Defoe

Ivanhoe . Sir Walter Scott

Howard's End . E.M. Forster

The Bell . Iris Murdoch

Shadowmarch . Tad Williams

If I finish them all I will be shocked because we're only going to be gone a little over 3 weeks. And it's not like we're not going to be speaking to one another or busy sightseeing. But variety is always good!

After coffee and a sticky bun at No. 7 we took a little stroll down Rodney Street to look at William MacKenzie's pyramid. St. Andrew's Churchyard was in bloom, this time with bluebells. Even though the churchyard faces a very public street we couldn't help but think it looked like a secret garden. What with the weeds all over grown, the bluebells, butterflies dancing about, dandelions silently begging someone to pluck them and blow their seeds to the wind. It was quite charming.

Campbell then took me down a side street I've never walked down before and low and behold we did find a sort of secret garden, well not really but we can pretend right? It was really John Moore's University Mount Pleasant campus but it was so quiet and quite beautiful. I've only ever seen the front of it and had no idea this back part existed. There was a gorgeous church complete with spire and stained glass windows. Apparently before it became a university if belonged to the Notre Dame Convent and School. We followed a little trail that brought us to the back of St. Andrew's but unfortunately it was all boarded up so we still couldn't get to it but it felt like we were in a miniature forest. Down one of the other trails we spotted the little arch pictured above covered in bluebells. Now what is that all about? An old statue niche? Perhaps. I can imagine a statue of Mary inside.

There were even bushes with little red berries. But as we all know from having read fairy tales it's not always a good idea to eat something when you don't know what it is, especially when you're in an enchanted little place like this. We may have fallen into a deep sleep and missed our flight to Rhodes! Or they could have given us super writing powers causing us to write our PhD dissertations in one night! Hmmmm....

Quite a few people have been posting fabulous pictures of tulips on their blogs. Unfortunately I didn't get over to Abercromby Square in time to snap a photo of the pristine peppermint striped tulips. They're still there they've just completely opened up. But I still think they're gorgeous almost like a completely different flower. I love the little sphinx details of the gate leading into Abercromby Square pictured to the left. All in all it was a good Friday, save for my shopping expedition to ASDA but that's never really any fun. However, I do like walking by Toxteth Cemetery. I would really like to go inside only I will have to have someone with me because it's not a very good area and I don't think the dead will come to my aid. There are more new photos posted on my flickr page which you can access by clicking on photos up at the top. Well the books are calling my name. Ciao!

. listening . tripping billies . dave matthews band . crash .

enchant me please

2008-05-01T12:33:00.001+01:00

I've been searching for some enchantment, a.k.a. I've been wanting some new books. I did manage to snag Salman Rushdie's new novel, The Enchantress of Florence today along with a copy of Jeanette Winterson's The Passion (which by the way according to the author's website Miramax just bought the rights to and Gwyneth Paltrow and Juliette Binoche have signed). But before I can get any more new books I seriously need to finish everything listed to the right save for I, Robot and Timbuktu, those are checked out from the uni and aren't due till July. I actually need to read all those books if possible by the end of next week, because if all goes well I'm supposed to be leaving for London next Saturday but am definitely leaving for Rhodes the following Wednesday. I'd like to get caught up on my reviews too before I leave... lots to do!

But first, back to that book coveting...

I've never read anything by Rushdie before, but the bright cover of The Enchantress of Florence caught my eye in the bookstore last week. And upon reading the description on the inside flap I knew that I had to get my hands on it. So here's hoping it's good!

Danielle's review of Ice Land has convinced me that I must too read this book and I'd really like to check out the author's other novel, The Bounce which has been described as a book about "lion-taming, cross-dressing, lost mothers and lost innocence set in the glamourous and squalid world of the Victorian circus" and it's supposed to be spine-tingling!

As some of you know I absolutely loved G.W. Dahlquist's The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters (see my review) and the sequel, The Dark Volume was released today! Unfortunately the library copies are still on order and the chances of me getting my hands on one, as only 3 have been ordered, and reading it before next week are quite slim. But it'll give me something to look forward to when I return.

Karen Maitland's Company of Liars has been described by the Daily Express as "A richly evocative page-turner which brings to life a lost and terrible period of British history, with a disturbing final twist worthy of a master of the spine-tingler, such as Henry James". I believe it's supposed to be about the plague. I quite like the cover as well, not that I'm judging based on that or anything.

There are many others which hopefully will be read all in good time. Something else I've been thinking a lot about is Paris. Not just because I recently finished Les Misérables but because there's just so much I want to see there. So many things to do, like sit at the little café next to Notre Dame and read Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Could you imagine? Sitting there sipping a latté reading The Hunchback in the shadows of Notre Dame? And then entering the cathedral and climbing to the top to look out over Paris? I've got a copy of the book, I just need tickets... and I'm seriously thinking about going before I leave. I actually took the picture featured at the beginning of this post from the top of Notre Dame when I was there in 2005. Unfortunately it's the only one I have at the moment, I found it floating around my flickr page, must have been going to use it as a headliner for my blog at one point. The hundreds of other photos I took are on a disc at home.

I'd like to spend a good week there, visiting the Louvre. On my previous visit half the Egyptology exhibit was closed so that right there is a major reason to return. I want to read in the Jardin du Luxembourg, walk along the Champs-Élysées, return to Père Lachaise and visit all those graves I managed to miss the first time. Can you believe it I did not kiss the tombstone of Oscar Wilde? But not to worry I'll pack my brightest red lipstick and see that the deed is done. Though I did pay my respects to Jean-François Champollion, the man who translated the Rosetta Stone and thus led to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs. I never did to make it out to Versailles and I so wanted to and I also managed to miss the Panthéon where Voltiare, Rousseau, Emilé Zola, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas lie among many others.

Thinking about Paris, makes me think of what other books I might like to read while there. Perhaps Henry Miller's scandalous Tropic of Cancer which was banned both in the UK and the US for 30 years after its publication. Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice, Michael Musmanno wrote, "Cancer is not a book. It is a cesspool, an open sewer, a pit of putrefaction, a slimy gathering of all that is rotten in the debris of human depravity". Hmmmm... could be fun, no?

. listening . if you were there, beware . arctic monkeys . favourite worst nightmare .

the miracle at speedy motors

2008-04-28T21:24:00.001+01:00

Title :: The Miracle at Speedy Motors
Author :: Alexander McCall Smith
Completed :: Apr 17 2008
Challenges :: The Pub
Rating :: 4/5

Fat lady: you watch out! And you too, the one with the big glasses. You watch out too!

The calm morning which had begun with an obligatory cup of bush tea is suddenly disrupted by the arrival of a threat and all Mme. Matsuki wants to know is how she should file it. Who's threatening the ladies of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency? They couldn't possibly be written by someone in house... could they? This and other mysteries keep Mme. Ramotswe busy but not quite busy enough to distract her from fretting over life's other little worries.

Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni is blinded by the hope of a miracle for his adopted daughter, a miracle that a doctor has said is perhaps possible if he journeys to Johannesburg to see a team of specialists. Mme. Ramotswe is doubtful but hates to steal Mr. Matekoni's miracle especially when she realizes that it is so important to him that he has agreed with the bank to mortgage his garage in order to receive a loan. She steps in however, and secretly provides the money with the sale of her father's precious cattle.

Mme. Matsuki is busy herself dealing with pre-marital grief when the bed she and her fiance picked out is destroyed during a much needed rainfall. (Thank goodness too because a red velvet heart-shaped headboard sounded hideous!)

Once again Smith provides his readers with a novel about the simple things in life. This particular sequel in the series is a bit more laid back, it is less about action and more about enjoying life and being thankful. Everything in the end will be right as rain, Mme. Ramotswe realizes that the biggest miracles in life are often those that are quite small.

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . with me tonight . the used . lies for the liars .

the uncommon reader

2008-04-28T21:00:00.005+01:00

Title :: The Uncommon Reader
Author :: Alan Bennett
Completed :: Apr 16 2008
Challenges :: Novella
Rating :: 5/5

Books are not about passing the time. They're about other lives. Other worlds. A book is a device to ignite the imagination.

If you haven't read this book yet... what are you waiting for? Especially since it will only take you an hour or so to complete. It is deliciously delightful! If Her Majesty were to read a book, what would she read? Does she have time to read?

She'd never taken much interest in reading. She read, of course, as one did, but liking books was something she left to other people. It was a hobby and it was in the nature of her job that she didn't have hobbies.

Bennett's novel introduces the Queen to a travelling library parked outside the gates of Buckingham Palace via her pesky barking dogs. In order to be polite the Queen feels that she must check out a book, and does so by selecting a book by Ivy Compton-Burnett that was last checked out in 1989. During the following week she gives the book a gander finding it slightly dull. She uses it as an excuse to skip out on a meeting because the book must be returned. Intending only to hand the book over and be on her way she walks away with Nancy Mitford's novel The Pursuit of Love (so totally bizarre since I myself had just checked this book out the week before this one). She immediately becomes enraptured by Mitford's novel (as I hope I will):

The truth was she didn't really want a book at all and certainly not another Ivy Compton-Burnett, which was too hard going altogether. So it was lucky that this time her eye happened to fall on a reissued volume of Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love. She picked it up. 'Now. Didn't her sister marry the Mosley man?"

'Then of course there was the rather sad sister who had the fling with Hitler. And one became a Communist. And I think there was another besides. But this is Nancy?"

The Pursuit of Love turned out to be a fortunate choice and in its way a momentous one. Had Her Majesty gone for another duff read, an early George Eliot, say, or a late Henry James, novice reader that she was she might have been put off reading for good and there would be no story to tell. Books, she would have thought, were work.
Having finished the Nancy Mitford sequel, Love in a Cold Climate, the Queen was delighted to see she had written others, and though some of them seemed to be history she put them on her (newly started) reading list, which she kept in her desk.

While her passion for books grows her queenly duties fall to the wayside. What is to become of her public? What does that matter when the Queen feels obligated to catch up with all the good reading she's missed?

'I think of literature', she wrote, 'as a vast country to the far borders of which I am journeying but cannot possibly reach. And I have started too late. I will never catch up.'

Books begin to follow her everywhere, she lives and breathes the written word and even hires an "amanuensis" (one who writes from dictation, copies manuscripts, a literary assistant) - I need me one of these! I think the Queen would seriously be interested in perusing and then tackling the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.

When she finally had to give in and pay some attention to her public she looked for any chance she could to discuss literature. And it would appear Her Majesty is none too fond of the likes of Harry Potter...

... one of her subjects confessed to a fondness of Virgina Woolf or Dickens, both of which provoked a lively (and lengthy) discussion. There were many who hoped for a similar meeting of minds by saying they were reading Harry Potter, but to this the Queen (who had no time for fantasy) invariably said briskly, 'Yes. One is saving that for a rainy day,' and passed swiftly on.

I really enjoyed this little gem of a book and will definitely be adding it to my collection if and when I ever have a semi-permanent residence. Just a few last quotes that I could really sympathize with:

What she was finding also was how one book led to another, doors kept opening wherever she turned and the days weren't long enough for the reading she wanted to do.

Can there be any greater pleasure than to come across an author one enjoys and then to find they have written not just one book or two, but at least a dozen?

At it occurred to her (as next day she wrote down) that reading was, among other things, a muscle and one that she had seemingly developed.

Other Thoughts ::
: 1 more chapter
: a striped armchair
: books please
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . disconnected (out of touch) . trapt . someone in control .

the outsider

2008-04-28T20:34:00.001+01:00

Title :: The Outsider
Author :: Albert Camus
Completed :: Apr 15 2008
Challenges :: 1001 Books
Rating :: 3/5

When a man commits a crime and is subsequently put on trial should his emotions, or rather his lack of emotions, in a previous unrelated incident - that of his mother's death take precedence in the eyes of those who judge him? Is Meursault truly an outsider, a stranger to society and the norms of human emotion?

Camus' tale begins with the death of Meursault's mother in a nursing home. He asks for time off from work but only just a day as that is all that is necessary to make the trip down to the nursing home and back. No extra time is requested for Meursault to grieve. During the overnight vigil he appears untouched while the rest of the residents gather to grieve, some crying openly.

It was at that point that I realized they were all sitting opposite me round the caretaker, nodding their heads. For a moment I had the ridiculous impression that they were there to judge me.

And perhaps they were, it is Meursault's lack of emotion in this scene that will come back to haunt him. It is also a reflection of what is to come when he will later be seated in court opposite judge and jury.

Since his day off fell on a Friday Meursault did have the weekend to recover only he spent it out and about, even flirting and later making love to a woman the very next day. It is in this relationship that the reader gets tiny hints that Meursault may have some feelings towards others. It is obvious that he's attracted to her, it is obvious that he likes making love to her, he even considers marrying her. But then one must consider whether or not these are merely physical satisfactions vs. an actual emotional investment. Meursault doesn't appear to be too bothered by her while he's in jail. I do however, have to wonder what it was that caused him to commit his crime. The internal dialogue leading up to the criminal act did seem to reflect some sort of emotional quandary. And perhaps this comes to a head at the very end when the chaplain is trying to get him to turn to God. He is annoyed and enraged by this and doesn't understand why indifference is an issue, but suddenly he realizes that the world is indifferent and he embraces that in his last thoughts.

As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself — so like a brother, really — I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . sooner or later . breaking benjamin . we are not alone .

i'm a geek...

2008-04-27T13:16:00.003+01:00

... a Weekly Geek! Instead of another book challenge, this is a blog challenge! Every week a new theme will be concocted, such as "redecorate your blog" or "organize your challenges" or "catch up on your library books". Although Weekly Geeks is centered around biblio-blogs, anyone can join in. And as an added bonus you don't have to participate every week only when you feel like it. To learn more and/or to sign up go here.

This week's challenge: meet your fellow Weekly Geeks by visiting the blogs of at least 5 members and leave a comment. These should be blogs you've never really visited before. These are the blogs I visited:

: everyday reads : Love the orange theme of the blog and absolutely love the fish graphic used in the heading!
: Karen's Book Nook : She's currently reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire after having seen the musical. I read the book when it first came out and really enjoyed it. I've been wanting to see the musical since it first debuted (I even know all the songs by heart). Hopefully if I can make it down to London before we leave for Rhodes I'll finally be able to see it!
: So Many Books, So Little Time : A fellow book challenge-aholic! Will definitely be checking out their book reviews!
: Table Talk : I liked their post on changing the endings of books. I learned that Jeanette Winterson's mother used to change the ending of Jane Eyre when she read it aloud because she didn't like the original. I suggested that they should read Winterson's Sexing the Cherry where she includes an alternate ending for the tale of the 12 Dancing Princesses.
: That's the Book! : They're reading The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers - I loved that book! It's definitely on my list to reread.

Woo! I finished Les Misérables late last night! It was... epic. I have to say it really pulled my emotions back and forth. I'm so glad I decided to join Danielle in reading it. Proper review coming soon, to be posted here and on the Into the Parisian Underworld read-along blog. It's not too late to join, there's no deadline for reading the book, we only ask that if you join you agree to read the unabridged version. Now what massive book should I read next? I've been eyeballing Samuel Richardson's Clarissa in the library... but that will have to wait until I get back from my trip.

Well I'm off to tuck into Forster's A Room With a View. Ciao!

. listening . little star . stina nordenstam . romeo + juliet .

paper faces on parade

2008-04-25T12:47:00.002+01:00

Masquerade Queen
Well the Masquerade Ball was a blast! Everyone looked fantastic, the majority of the outfits were red and black, mine included. The party was held on a private floor at a swank little club called Modo. Foo foo cocktails were served 2 for 1 at the bar, yay I love cocktails! There wasn't a lot of dancing, mostly lounging in dark corners under the red lights chatting about this and that, then swirling across the floor to chat with someone else. A lot of picture taking! We're all obsessed with collecting photos for facebook, got to snap the best profile pic. There was dancing however in the fabulous co-ed loo! And would you believe it? I was crowned Masquerade Queen! Some girls get their crowns later in life. I was also presented with a pretty bouquet of pink carnations - sweet! my favorite flower!

So this weekend's book plans are to finish Les Misérables, perhaps The Lonely Londoners and start Mitford's The Pursuit of Love. I've got quite a bit of proofreading to do as well. I volunteered to look over and correct a fellow scholar's dissertation, it's taking a bit longer than I expected and it's got to be done by the 10th of May. Thankfully I'm getting paid!

Wow! Last night's Lost was fantastic! I just love that show so very much!

. listening . heroine . from first to last . heroine .

lost in 4:24

2008-04-23T20:36:00.003+01:00

For all you Lost fans there's a great clip called Everything About Lost in 4:24 on the show's website. Get it - 4:24 - show returns 4/24! It's fab! So excited, can't wait! Luckily that 5 week hiatus went by pretty quickly.

. listening . fragile heart . jewel . 0304

a literary conversation

2008-04-23T17:58:00.003+01:00

Today two friends and I met up with an old friend visiting from London who we haven't seen since we did the MA together a few years ago, so it was like a mini reunion. Anyway once we got through the 'what have you been up to' and caught up on gossip our conversation turned to books. For the first time I felt like I could hold my ground after having recently read so many of the great classics. I could spout titles, authors, characters and plots. It felt great and oh so intellectual! I've always been an avid reader but it wasn't until I made the decision to redefine my reading and strike out from my comfort zone that I felt I could take part in conversations about the great cornerstones of literature. And to top it off it was another bright and sunny day! Big smile here!

Happy St. George's Day!

. listening . all the king's horses . joss stone . soul sessions .

what to read on an island

2008-04-22T23:03:00.007+01:00

Finally a beautiful spring day here in Liverpool! Bright sunshine and we broke 63F/17C! I even wore my flip flops out to the post office. I hope tomorrow is a repeat, and the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that, and you get the idea.

Popped into Waterstones today to get my dad a birthday card and I mulled over all the new books. A few caught my eye (well more than a few) but I scribbled these titles down and as luck would have it they are available at the library!

: Sea of Poppies . Amitav Ghosh
: The Enchantress of Florence . Salman Rushdie
: Shadowmarch . Tad Williams (will probably use this to substitue one of the other OUT2 books I haven't been able to locate) and its sequel Shadowplay
: Un Lun Dun . China Miéville (another possible substitute for OUT2)

I've been in discussions lately with one of my fellow Rhodes travellers about what books we're going to pack. The idea is to bring a few each so we can swap. So far he's decided to bring Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I've decided to bring Robinson Crusoe (perfect reading for an island, no?), possibly Mansfield Park and a couple unknowns that I'll choose from the library. Ah, Miss Pettigrew... may possibly be joining us as I may very well pick her up in London before we take off. It would appear thus far from our selections that we'll be lounging on the beach desperately trying to finish books that we must read before we die... Any other ideas for island reads?

. listening . she's a rebel . green day . american idiot .

the plot against america

2008-04-22T13:58:00.003+01:00

Title :: The Plot Against America
Author :: Philip Roth
Completed :: Apr 11 2008
Challenges :: 888 : 1001 Books
Rating :: 3/5

In The Plot Against America Roth creates an alternative history to 1940s America. In the 1940 election American favorite Franklin Roosevelt is beat out by aviation hero Charles A. Lindbergh. Roth portrays the disappointment and fear of American Jews at Lindbergh's inauguration and the effects his fictional presidency have on American attitudes towards the Jewish population. Although none of the actions in the book can be compared with how the Jewish were treated in Europe, Roth does create a slow penetrating hate. He also hints at America's path towards Jewish concentration camps, used not to murder them but to break them up from the concentrated neighborhoods they lived in, as if perhaps something more sinister was in store for them in the future.

Historically Lindbergh appears to have been an isolationist and believed that the United States had no business involving itself in World War II. Many thought him to be a Nazi sympathizer because of his scientific expeditions to Germany. In a speech titled Who are the War Agitators? given on September 11 1941 at an America First rally, Lindbergh states:

I am not attacking either the Jewish or the British people. Both races, I admire. But I am saying that the leaders of both the British and the Jewish races, for reasons which are as understandable from their viewpoint as they are inadvisable from ours, for reasons which are not American, wish to involve us in the war. We cannot blame them for looking out for what they believe to be their own interests, but we also must look out for ours. We cannot allow the natural passions and prejudices of other peoples to lead our country to destruction.

Although Lindbergh would say that "no person with a sense of dignity of mankind can condone such treatment" when referring to how the Jewish population were being treated in Europe he also in that same speech provided a hint at his true feelings when he said, "Their greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government." A statement such as that may lead to the conclusion that Lindbergh feared the power Jewish Americans had and that he was perhaps uncomfortable with it.

Roth uses these speeches in his fictional tale, he also curiously uses himself and his family as the central characters of his book. This gives the reader the feeling that they're actually reading Roth's autobiography and how his Jewish family dealt with America's plunge into isolation. I was unimpressed however, with the way the book ended. I was left with the feeling that the author grew bored and decided to quickly finish so he could move on to something else. A lot of the book as well moves at a fairly slow pace. The plot had real potential if only the pace had been sped up a bit and the conclusion was a bit more well-rounded.

Other Thoughts ::
: puss reboots
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . wake up . alanis morrissette . jagged little pill .

saturday

2008-04-22T12:56:00.002+01:00

Title :: Saturday
Author :: Ian McEwan
Completed :: Apr 09 2008
Challenges :: 888 : 1001 Books
Rating :: 3/5

Please don't let it happen again. But let me see it all the same, as it's happening and from every angle, and let me be among the first to know.

In a London on the brink of joining the US in a war against terror, Henry Perowne wakes early on a Saturday. Unable to get back to sleep he stands at his window and looks out over a still dark London. In the distant sky he can see a plane coming in, as it grows closer Perowne can see that something is wrong with the plane, one of its engines is on fire and his immediate thought is that terrorists are in action. At a loss as to what to do Perowne continues to watch the plane as it descends towards Heathrow. The sight of the plane will haunt the rest of his day as he goes through it desperate to catch news of it on either radio or TV.

But Perowne has plans for his Saturday, make love to his wife before she goes off to prepare for an upcoming court case, hit the gym and play squash with a fellow neurosurgeon, visit the fishmonger to collect various goods from the sea in order to prepare dinner for his daughter an father in-law who are both visiting from France. The landscape of London is troubled however, a massive rally is scheduled to take place in the streets as protesters gather to voice their opinion about Iraq. Navigating through the streets on his way to the gym, Perowne is suddenly involved in a minor car accident. Little damage is done to either car, Perowne is fine, the passengers in the other vehicle are fine, but what about the other driver? He appears to be fine but is he?

Perowne's encounter with Baxter is on the cusp of becoming violent when Perowne suddenly recognizes symptoms of an oncoming disease in Baxter. He is able to use his knowledge to get him out one tight situation but will it save him later when Baxter pays a visit to the Perowne household?

McEwan draws a wordy yet thoughtful portrayal of one man's thought processes throughout an entire day. I didn't like his choice of narration at first but as the novel moved forward I couldn't imagine it any other way. Perowne's thoughts give the reader a mixture of simple pleasures and the conundrum of facing the state of the world today. I liked the bit with Perowne's daughter, Daisy trying to get her father to read more. She feels that he spent so much time going through medical school that he never had the opportunity to read the classics. During the story he is trying to work his way through Lord Jim and Darwin's Origin of the Species.

Though he's been diligent over the years and tries to read almost everything she puts his way, he knows she thinks he's a coarse, unredeemable materialist. She thinks he lacks an imagination. Perhaps it's so, but she hasn't quite given up on him yet. The books are piled at his bedside, and she'll be arriving with more tonight.

Made me think of all the books I've tried to push on my mom. My mom's a reader too, but we both have very different reading tastes and only agree on the occasional book. She surprised me the other day when she said she picked up a copy of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities - perhaps after having read my review. I was tickled pink, I hope she finishes it though I know she's put it down for awhile.

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . perfect lie . sheryl crow . wildflower .

monday blehs, inspiring craftiness and new books

2008-04-21T18:17:00.000+01:00

*warning - a bit of a whine, scroll down till you see 'Wow!' to read the fun bit*

It's just been one of those Mondays... productivity was at an all-time low, the intention was there but I was seriously lacking the ooomph. Maybe it's because I felt my weekend was stolen from me, it went by way too fast. But really I haven't wanted to do anything work-wise for a long time. I poke at my books, flip through the pages, jot a note here or there but really I'm just a lazy ass - major sloth action going on up in here! I've decided to check out of Liverpool at the end of July (what a great time of year to return to Phoenix...), which makes me realize that I have about 14 weeks left, deduct 4 weeks for London/Rhodes action and that leaves me with very little time to get stuff done. But what is it that I'm meant to be doing? I don't even know anymore!! I'm so confused!!

The only thing I do know is that I've been spending probably way too much time between the sheets (of books that is!). But I can't help it, I love reading (fiction), I have an obsessive nature and right now reading is the only thing I feel I'm good at.

I need inspiration and this certainly is not the environment for that. I just feel like I'm in a cesspool of disappointment and false hope. Why couldn't I make it work here? I know I said I didn't believe it before but I lied, I do feel like I failed. I shouldn't feel that way though because it isn't really the truth, it just feels that way. Arizona is going to be a much better situation (inshallah!). I guess I'm just jealous of everyone who's able to continue on their merry little way and produce fabulous work.

It's too bad we're not working in Egypt this summer, I sure do need to get out into the field. I love it there, and I'm happy working in the dirt, finding and learning things.

I don't think the school thing would bother me as much if everything else in my life was great, but really everything is miserable... but I won't go into that. Like my profile to the right says, I'm a dreamer always wishing to be someone else, somewhere else. I wonder if I'll ever find myself in a happy spot in a happy frame of mind...

Wow! That was depressing...

Anyway... here's some cool things I've come across recently on the web:

:: First spotted on Carl's blog, I fell in love with the talented artwork of Anne-Julie (blog : Ma Petite Théière). It's so sweet, soft and colorful and full of emotion. Definitely will be making some purchases at her shop: Anne-Julie's Garden when I've got a job. Her blog is in French (good practice for me) but if you scroll down she includes an English translation for each post.

:: Over at Du Buh Du Designs (blog) (store) you can find charming unique dolls. I want one!

:: Emily at Inside a Black Apple whips up fun little plush dolls and is also a very talented artist. I want a doll, some prints and definitely some note cards! You can buy some too at her shop: The Black Apple. She also has great style, something I wish I could achieve (yes I hate the way I dress too...). Check out her awesome duds on her fashion blog Some Girls Wander.

All this crafty goodness has given me a major itch to do some crafting myself! But that will all have to wait until I can get back to my craft boxes I left at home.

Picked up some new books at the library today (quick short reads):
: The Postman Always Rings Twice . James M. Cain
: A Room With a View . E.M. Forster
: The Thirty-Nine Steps . John Buchan
: The Lonely Londoners . Sam Selvon

Hope everyone else has/had a better Monday! I feel a bit better, think I'll grab myself a ~~cheeseburger & chips~~ I mean ~~salad~~... forget it I'm eating the cheeseburger & chips and I'm watching Marie Antoinette, there's a masquerade ball scene and I'm so looking forward to Thursday night's ball. Cheers!

. listening . better that we break . maroon 5 . it won't be soon before long .

peeps party

2008-04-19T21:15:00.001+01:00

Peeps Party Part Two
A post that has nothing to do with books! In my birthday package last month my mom included a box of yellow bunny Peeps. Peeps are unheard of here, they just cannot be found so it was a funny thing that she had sent them because I had just been complaining to my friends Campbell and Gina about how much I was going to miss them this Easter. So being the generous person I am, upon their surprise arrival I decided to share them... Oh dear! Peeps took Britain by storm! They were hooked! We had a wee little tea party, smacked those bunnies on top of Nice biscuits (from Tesco 29p - score!) and popped them in the microwave. Suddenly those two were like kids all giddy over this delectable American treat. (What are Peeps?)

I just had to put in a request for more. So my dear mom sent two boxes of Peeps (the original bird) in their flashy new colors of green and purple. And Peeps Party Part Two was quickly arranged and all the birds save one were devoured yesterday. Fun times!

Today we all met up to do very important mask shopping for Thursday's masquerade ball. The picture to the left was my lame attempt to catch us walking around Liverpool naturally as if we were totally used to having our photo taken. Didn't really work since Campbell's not even in the photo, I've been nearly cut out and Gina looks like she's singing a song. Guess next time we'll have to hire a professional to catch the moment. Anyway we visited Lili's Bizarre on Hardman Street and walked away with 1 rented white jacket, 3 masks, 1 fan and 1 pair of gloves. Luckily Gina had a pair of black opera gloves too big for her that I was able to borrow. I ended up getting a red, black and gold mask on a wand... not really what I was looking for (remember this is the one I wanted) but it'll do. The important thing is to have fun! I'll definitely post picks when we're all dressed up.

Hope everyone else is having a good weekend! Now I must get back to those books!

my little book soapbox

2008-04-18T15:41:00.002+01:00

Just a few book related things I want to get off my chest...

I'm a little disappointed in all the comments I've seen on various blogs and comments heard in person about skipping parts of books. What's the point in reading a book if you're going to skip over a section because it might be boring? Most recently I've seen lots of comments about skipping the 'Waterloo' chapters in Hugo's Les Misérables. Now I'll admit it was a tad bit boring, but that's part of the challenge of reading a book right? I mean if the reader is only interested in reading about Jean Valjean and Cosette then read the abridged version because I'm sure most of the 'boring' sections have been left out. Hugo included them in his novel because he felt they were important to the story, they give the reader the background of what's happening in France at that time. I mean I didn't know much about Waterloo other then there was a battle there involving Napoleon and Wellington. After making my way through Hugo's portrayal I felt like I understood more about the fighting styles of the French and English and how that particular battle effected the local population. Hugo casts a gritty veil over the battle instead of glorifying it. His descriptions place the reader there on the field amongst the killings and then later amongst the looters who picked over the corpses. And sure only the very last little bit makes any sort of link to the actual plot but Hugo felt it was important and therefore I feel it's important to read.

Of course I realize everyone is allowed to read in whatever way they see fit. I'm just saying I don't understand it nor do I agree with selective reading when it comes to novels.

Gender bias seems to be a theme in a number of books I've been reading recently. The First Century After Beatrice (reviewed here) embraced the argument of gender bias and looked at what might happen if female births became rare or altogether impossible. I just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan which also includes quite a few passages about the importance of male births:

Sons are the foundation of a woman's self. They give woman her identity, as well as dignity, protection, and economic value. They create the link between her husband and his ancestors. This is the one accomplishment a man cannot achieve without the aid of his wife. Only she can guarantee the perpetuation of the family line, which, in turn, is the ultimate duty of every son. This is the supreme way he completes his filial duty, while sons are a woman's crowning glory.

Female births are shunned in this tale of early 1800s China. Sons were not only important to continue the family line but they guaranteed security in the home for the women who gave birth to them. While the birth of a daughter was looked down upon, a daughter was useless and worth less than a dog. I've never been able to understand this viewpoint in any society because surely it is obvious that women are necessary to give birth to these desired sons. Didn't they ever stop to think that if every woman got her wish for the birth of a son (and this isn't just a wish for one son, it is a wish that every pregnancy will bring a son) the bloodline would die out? The same sacred blood that runs in a son also runs in a daughter and when she marries out she carries that bloodline and joins it to another. Same with the son he's married to a woman of a different bloodline and the family's bloodlines are mixed.

My dad is the last male in his family and since he only had 2 daughters does this mean that the family dies? No, I have his blood, my sister has his blood and if and when we ever have children they will carry the family blood. And let's not forget that my dad's 3 sisters also carry the same blood as do their children. As for the last name, I've decided to keep mine no matter what, because it's a good one and I like it and because I don't want it to disappear with my dad, not to mention the fact that it will look great after the prefix Dr.

I'm currently reading Haggard's She and finally these characters have seen the light:

'Does the lady go with us, my father?' I asked of Billali, as he stood superintending things generally.

He shrugged his shoulders as he answered -

'If she wills. In this country the women do what they please. We worship them, and give them their way, because without them the world could not go on; they are the source of life.'

'Ah,' I said, the matter never having struck me quite in that light before.

Anyway sorry just a few bookish irks that I needed to share. Have you read anything recently that confuses you or makes you a bit angry?

. listening . consequence . incubus . make yourself .

a wednesday book haul

2008-04-16T16:55:00.005+01:00

Yay 4 more reviews completed (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, The Voyage Out, The First Century After Beatrice and The Female Quixote) and I picked up 4 new books today!

Two of my reserves came in. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett - a fictional tale of a travelling library's weekly visits to the palace and the Queen's passion for reading. Tiny little book, should be cute! And The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith, the 9th in the Ladies' Detective series. I'm looking forward to that one, I was starting to miss Mma Ramotswe and her wily adventures.

When I first arrived at the library today I was distracted by the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction display of shiny new clean books. Hadn't planned on checking anything out that wasn't on some list of mine, but I decided to give The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani a try. Also a very helpful librarian helped me locate a copy of The Princesse de Clèves by Madame de Lafayette. I've been looking for it for awhile now but couldn't figure out if it was shelved under de, la, la fayette or lafayette - it wasn't in any of those locations and yet it said it was checked in. Anyway we located a copy upstairs in the call numbers and she checked it out to me even though I was over my limit of 12 books! Score!

Lots and lots of reading planned this weekend. I have 3 books due on Monday and I'd like to get through some of the shorter ones I brought home last week. Plus have to get to pg 1200 of Les Misérables - wow almost done! Should finish next weekend. Hmmm... that reminds me that I had better get on top of those reviews too...

. listening . quasimodo . lifehouse . no name face .

the female quixote

2008-04-16T16:50:00.002+01:00

Title :: The Female Quixote
Author :: Charlotte Lennox
Completed :: Apr 07 2008
Challenges :: 888 : 1001 Books
Rating :: 5/5

From her earliest Youth she had discovered a Fondness for Reading, which extremely delighted the Marquis; he permitted her therefore the Use of the Library, in which, unfortunately for her, were great Store of Romances, and, what was still more unfortunate, not in the original French, but very bad Translations.

Dear me I absolutely loved this book! So very in the style of Don Quixote, Lennox endows the protagonist, Arabella, with such imagination and such a desire to live in a world and time when men spouted poetry and fell on their swords for the women they loved... only it's not imagination and not a desire... it's real...

Arabella has grown up in the countryside away from the bustle of the crowded streets of London. She spends her days enraptured in the books of romance once belonging to her mother. It is here she learns the great lengths a man must go to for the woman he loves. And don't you dare tell her differently because Arabella is learned and can list countless examples of the trials and tribulations of the great lovers of a long ago generation. She is appalled when a man thinks he can approach her and speak in her presence without first having written a glorious letter, or lie on his death bed awaiting for her to give permission to live.

The adventure really takes off when her cousin Glanville comes to visit. It is made clear by the Marquis that it's his wish for Glanville to marry Arabella and inherit his land. But poor unfortunate Glanville who did not study the great romances makes the ultimate blunder by greeting his cousin with a kiss on the cheek and proclaiming her beauty. How dare he! He is quickly banished from her sight and must jump through hoops to gain back her good graces. In the meantime Sir George Bellmour having seen Arabella's great beauty and learning of her inheritance upon her father's death is determined to win the lady. Bellmour has read the romances, but ignores the fact that they are fiction and uses them to create an outrageous life history of his own which at first intrigues Arabella. Only he makes the mistake of adding one too many love stories and Arabella is appalled by his neglect of his former loves. Bellmour quickly resolves this by involving a young lass to play act a scandal that will throw Glanville into shadow.

I have to give it to Arabella, her life appears far from boring and actually quite tiring. She can barely step out her door without fear of being insulted, repulsed, loved, longed for, ravished or other miscellaneous mishaps. Arabella is virtuous, her speech is flowery and her romantic knowledge knows no bounds. Oh woes me! I'll copy here a little dialogue between Arabella and another poor soul mistakenly identified as a potential lover.

As for Parthenissa, Madam, said he, neither have I heard of her; nor do I remember to have heard of any more than one Cleopatra: But she was never ravished, I am certain; for she was too willing.

How! Sir, said Arabella: Was Cleopatra ever willing to run away with her Ravisher?

Cleopatra was a Whore, was she not, Madam? said he.

Hold thy Peace, unworthy Man, said Arabella; and profane not the Memory of that fair and glorious Queen, by such injurious Language: That Queen, I say, whose Courage was equal to her Beauty; and her Virtue surpassed by neither. Good Heavens! What a black Defamer have I chosen for my Protector!

This discussion so reminded me of one I had at the Benefit make-up counter so long ago in Macy's. I used to work at the visitor center at Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix and spent many breaks wandering around the shops. I believe on this occasion I was needing to buy a new Dr. Feel Good (love the stuff) and the cashier and I got to talking. Anyway I must have said something about being an Egyptologist and he totally threw his arms in the air and went "Oh!" and then leaned across the counter with his chin in his hand, batted his eyes and said, "So, was Cleopatra as big of a whore as they say she was?" I about died laughing. Usually people ask me if aliens built the pyramids (which is SO stupid by the way). Ha! Ha!

Anyway please read this book because it is a riot, and definitely read it if you loved Don Quixote!

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . real love . david gray . a new day at midnight .

the first century after beatrice

2008-04-16T16:07:00.001+01:00

Title :: A Century After Beatrice
Author :: Amin Maalouf
Completed :: Apr 06 2008
Challenges :: Novella
Rating :: 4/5

May your name live forever and a son be born to you. - Ancient Egyptian proverb

What would happen if mankind became just that... mankind? Maalouf creates for us a world where the birth of a male heir has become so important that the population of women is dwindling and the world is about to suffer emotional, economical and political repercussions. The title character, Beatrice is born just before the turn of the 21st century and it is her father, an entomologist and nameless narrator, who weaves the tale of how a 'magical' scarab bean begins a worldwide debate on gender bias.

The novel opens with the entomologist being invited to Cairo to present a paper on the scarab beetle at an Egyptology conference. The Egyptologist that speaks after him talks about how the Ancient Egyptians viewed the scarab beetle with its links to reproduction, regeneration, and the journey of the sun across the sky. He mentions the Ancient Egyptian proverb, May your name live forever and a son be born to you and says that even to this day this is a wish of modern Egyptians. He then presents a small wooden box to the audience, its contents contain scarab beans which guarantee the purchaser that if consumed they will give birth to a son. He jokingly adds that the beans cost him $100 and that he wasn't sure if he would be able to claim them as a conference expense. The entomologist is curious and goes to the market, when he finds the beans he is able to purchase them for $10. With a smile he returns to the hotel believing his bargaining skills to be top notch only to realize that his wallet is missing. Annoyed by this blunder he hides the scarab beans in his desk back in France and forgets about them.

It is not until he meets Clarence, a journalist that he falls in love with, that the scarab beans are remembered. While she is away on assignment in India he receives a strange call from her asking to compare the instructions with his scarab beans to those that she has found in a market in India. Her research into small Indian villages as well as Indian hospitals does seem to show proof that female births are declining. The entomologist contacts an old friend and they begin looking into the demographics of several countries. They eventually involve a scientist into their research and it is then that they learn that a company had successfully created a drug to be used in animals to provide male births.

It becomes clear that this drug has been spread across countries such as China, India, Mexico, Africa, and other poorer countries that are over-populated. Eventually these countries begin to collapse economically and their men grow frustrated sexually and are deprived of family life. Violence and rioting break out and there is a veritable scare of girl children being kidnapped.

Maalouf's tale on the surface may seem unbelievable but I was surprised by how easily something of this nature could come about. He mentions high abortion rates in countries such as China, where people are allowed only one child as well as places where male offspring are viewed as important to help with manual labor such as farming. The writing is beautiful and poignant and the arguments for and against gender bias are amazing. I am so glad I snagged this book up and I definitely will be keeping my eye out for more of Maalouf's work.

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . simple kind of life . no doubt . return of saturn .

the voyage out

2008-04-16T15:16:00.003+01:00

Title :: The Voyage Out
Author :: Virginia Woolf
Completed :: Apr 06 2008
Challenges :: Decades : 1001 Books
Rating :: 3/5

The works of Woolf have so far been hit and miss with me, I enjoyed Mrs. Dalloway but couldn't really get into To The Lighthouse. This novel however, her first, was fun in the beginning especially when the Dalloways make an entrance and stir things up upon the ship of Edwardians heading for South America. But once the Dalloways stepped off the boat before the final destination my interest started to slip. The novel became this void, something was missing, the dialogue was dry and sometimes confusing. There was this monotony of everyday life for the Edwardians staying at the hotel. And there was this complex 'thing' going on between Rachel Vinrace and Terence Hewet. I feel like Woolf was trying to convey something profound and that I just wasn't getting it. So upon finishing I felt relieved but was feeling less than intelligent.

E.M. Forster praised The Voyage Out calling it "a book which attains unity as surely as Wuthering Heights, though by a different path." I'd say quite a different path since I loved Wuthering Heights and felt that the themes were rather clear in that book. Rachel Vinrace came across to me as a person with a deep unhappiness, completely unsure of herself and unwilling to accept that joy and love were things that she could attain. Here Rachel is staring at herself in the looking glass:

In the glass she wore an expression of tense melancholy, for she had come to the depressing conclusion, since the arrival of the Dalloways, that her face was not the face she wanted, and in all probability never would be.

This is exactly the kind of attitude that she persists in carrying throughout the novel, she made me feel miserable. What is it that Woolf is trying to portray in this character? Rachel feels an attraction towards Terence and she engages herself to him but then is very wishy-washy about her feelings. Does she actually love him? Does she even understand what love is? I just couldn't seem to find a clear answer in the narrative.

The only thing I can think of is that Rachel was anxious and jumped into a situation that she felt was normal and expected of her. Surely she knew something of love, having been raised by her aunts while her father was out to sea. Her reading however doesn't seem to involve much about love, especially since she is not fan of Austen and has never read her work. Mrs. Dalloway gives her a copy of Persuasion but she ignores it. There's also the weird incident on the ship where Rachel seems to be attracted to Mr. Dalloway or at least his knowledge of the world. Mr. Dalloway picks up on this and following Rachel to her quarters takes her by surprise by kissing her full on the mouth. It is clear that Rachel enjoyed the kiss and I'm made to wonder if she was trying to find that joy again in Terence and became frustrated because it wasn't quite the same.

Well in any case I must give the novel bonus points because in one scene Mrs. Flushing is telling Rachel about the men that used to visit Chillingley, "very clever men interested in Egyptology". Ha! And Hirst's little outburst upon their tour of a South American village, "what an ass I was not to bring my Kodak!" reminded me of all the times I've regretted not having my camera.

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . fall line . jack johnson . on and on .

miss pettigrew lives for a day

2008-04-16T13:54:00.001+01:00

Title :: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Author :: Winifred Watson
Completed :: Apr 05 2008
Challenges :: 1001 Books
Rating :: 5/5

Ok I waited and I waited and I finally got my hands on the only copy available in all of Liverpool! Definitely worth the wait. When I'm down in London I am visiting the Persephone store and I am walking away with my very own copy of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Now my only beef is why oh why are they not showing the movie here in the UK? It seems it's being released in Australia next month and Finland gets it in June but no sign of a UK release date. Poo! Guess I'll have to catch it on DVD when I get home and until then I can just read it again!

Miss Pettigrew is a veritable Cinderella with drab clothing, mousy brown hair and not a speck of make-up. The world has been cruel to her and she is alone and unloved. The day she knocked on Delysia Lafosse's door was the day Miss Pettigrew would finally open up to the world and become a beautiful sharp-witted blossom. Expecting to be interviewed as a nanny, Miss Pettigrew's quick thinking soon gets her the unofficial job of Miss Lafosse's social secretary. Within the next few hours Miss Pettigrew has rid Delysia of two pesky lovers, cooked breakfast, drank a few sherries and comforts the salon empress Mrs Dubarry. Miss Lafosse and Mrs Dubarry are over the moon and think Miss Pettigrew has to be the most brilliant woman ever and they are utterly convinced that Miss Pettigrew will be able to bring Mrs Dubarry's quarrelling lover back to his senses. But first, a makeover is a must and new clothes borrowed from Miss Lafosse. Shining and dazzling Miss Pettigrew sweeps through the evening charming everyone she meets, gets a bit tipsy, is a little mischievous and perhaps finds romance.

Absolutely brilliant and a shame that Watson's editor first turned the manuscript down since it was too frothy (I love this word, ever since Danielle used I keep seeing it everywhere) and not nearly as serious as her other books. Thank you Persephone for republishing it and allowing Miss Pettigrew to live one more day!

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . smother me . the used . lies for the liars .

there's no place like home

2008-04-15T19:35:00.002+01:00

click click
Well I did it! I told Liverpool that I've decided to finish my degree back in Arizona. Yes I was nervous, yes I laid awake last night trying to formulate a speech, yes I didn't want to get out of bed this morning and no I didn't eat any breakfast. But it wasn't bad, in fact they were sorry that things didn't work out here but at the same time they understood and were supportive. I also took the opportunity to squash some rumors I've been hearing, I kept hearing myself being quoted as saying things I never did. I am still amazed that adults can be so petty. I don't know about the rest of them but I graduated high school. Anyway I apologized for the mess that surrounded my situation and thanked them for giving me the opportunity to come to Liverpool again. Overall the whole thing went well, and I feel like it ended on a good note, which was important to me because you never know when you may need to call on them for something.

I feel loads better, really like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Now I can just sit back and relax, do my work, and enjoy what time I have left here. I'm not sure when exactly I'll be leaving that all depends on my budgeting skills next month. Plus any traveling I do will reduce the length I'm able to stay and I do want to do a bit of traveling while I can.

I love my super cheap ruby slippers I picked up at Primark awhile back. I bought them to wear to Wicked but it turns out that they stuck to Baum's book and used silver slippers... oh well they're still shiny and pretty! Looks like we'll be spending a few days in London next month before we head off to Rhodes. So I will finally get to see Wicked, can't wait!

. listening . try again . keane . under the iron sea .

catching up

2008-04-14T23:39:00.000+01:00

Phew! I feel a little better, pumped out 5 book reviews today! Now I want to get back to She by H. Rider Haggard. I have a feeling this book's going to be an adventure! So far, a dying man has entrusted his 5 year old boy to a school friend telling him that he must train his boy in Ancient Greek, advanced maths and Arabic. On the boy's 25th birthday he is to give him the key to open a casket whose contents will present the boy with a challenge. This dying man insists that his sixty-fifth or sixty-sixth lineal ancestor was an Egyptian priest of Isis of Grecian extraction, named Kallikrates. This priest breaks his vows of celibacy and flees from Egypt with a Princess of royal blood. Sounds exciting!

I've just gotten to the part where Leo Vincey has opened the casket and among pieces of translated parchment was a pottery sherd with a Greek inscription, a miniature of his mother, a letter from his father and a scarab bearing the words '(royal) Son of Ra': bit of a mistranslation here actually, the scarab bears the -sw plant, a duck and a sun disc. Normally for son of Ra just the duck and sun disc would be necessary, transliterated as s3-rc or sa-re. Being that this is an epithet used only for royalty the -sw plant is unnecessary. Besides to use the -sw plant to mean royal or king you would need to transliterate it as nsw - but this was written in the 1800s so I'll cut him some slack. Ha!

I believe this adventure is going to lead him to Africa where according to the back of the book Leo will have to endure shipwreck, fever and cannibal attacks, before coming face to face with Ayesha, She-who-must-be-obeyed: the beautiful, tyrannical ruler of a lost civilization. She's been waiting hundreds of years for the true descendant of her dead lover to arrive. Fabulous! And a 1001!

I have a meeting tomorrow at noon with my new supervisor to break the news of my departure! Wish me luck!

the prime of miss jean brodie

2008-04-14T22:55:00.004+01:00

Title :: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Author :: Muriel Spark
Completed :: Apr 01 2008
Challenges :: Novella : 1001 Books
Rating :: 4/5

Give me a girl at an impressionable age and she is mine for life.

So says Miss Jean Brodie, a woman and teacher in her prime willing to lead her girls out in an attempt to make them the crème de la crème. I like that phrase 'to lead out' as a definition of the word education, which Miss Brodie insists that based on its latin roots (and I can't argue since I have yet to learn latin) education means to lead out, as in to bring out what a person already knows. She is adamantly against the headmistress Miss MacKay's idea of education, which is is to put in or as Miss Brodie views it, an intrusion.

Instead of spending their school days learning history, geography, arithmetic and all those other important subjects, Miss Brodie shares with her students tales of her love life, her admiration for Mussolini and art. Because above all she loves art, and she loves the art teacher, Mr. Lloyd. But as he is married he is not perfectly suited for a paramour and so Miss Brodie turns to the music teacher, Mr. Lowther. While carrying on an affair with Lowther and keeping him well fed she begins planning an affair between Mr. Lloyd and Rose, one of the Brodie Set. Rose is a girl known for sex, although I think they mean here sex appeal because she was never described as a hussy running around the town. Rose spends the summer posing for Mr. Lloyd who begins painting a series featuring her, although it is Miss Brodie's profile that graces each frame. Sandy however, another of the Brodie Set sees through these paintings and ends up shocking Miss Brodie when it is she that instigates an affair with Mr. Lloyd. For Miss Brodie was sure that while Rose had the instinct to start an affair it was Sandy that had insight to avoid one.

From the very beginning the reader is aware that at one point Miss Brodie had been betrayed by one of the girls in her set. Miss MacKay was constantly cornering the girls in an attempt to get them to spill some gossip or confession about Miss Brodie that would give her the opportunity to sack her. When that information finally becomes available Miss MacKay confesses to Miss Brodie that it was indeed one of her girls that gave her up. Miss Brodie is shocked but believes that it could have been no other than Mary who was slightly dim-witted and was often used as a scapegoat. But was it she?

I liked how the book was written in a series of flash forwards (sort of like Lost this season) where the reader is aware of the future but is given back history to make sense of the whole picture with bits from the future being revealed here and there. It was nice to know where the girls of the Brodie Set ended up in their adulthood and I have to wonder if they really did become the crème de la crème. I think of all the girls it was probably Sandy that reached that level. She was really 'led out' devoting herself to her religion, becoming a nun and using what knowledge she learned from Miss Brodie to write a book on psychology and psychoanalysis. And yet I still got the feeling that she in the end Sandy was trapped.

I can't help but wonder now if being in one's prime is obvious to a person at the moment it's happening or is it only something you realize once it's regrettably over? Miss Brodie was certain she was in hers, but was she?

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . emotional drought . chevelle . this type of thinking could do us in .

the yellow wallpaper

2008-04-14T18:55:00.002+01:00

Title :: The Yellow Wallpaper
Author :: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Completed :: Mar 31 2008
Challenges :: 1001 Books
Rating :: 3/5

I never saw a worse paper in my life. One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin. It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide--plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions. The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight. It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sickly sulphur tint in others.

Gilman's short story is based on the journal entries of an American woman in the 19th century. She is brought to live temporarily in a house while she rests from what is diagnosed as a temporary nervous depression but more than likely is postpartum depression resulting from the recent birth of her child. For various reason she and her husband occupy the upstairs nursery and it is here where she is faced with a wallpaper that repulses her and yet draws her into its madness.

The description of the wallpaper is altogether poetic, the language used to describe the protaganist's enticement and fear of this peeling wallpaper, its smell, its allure and its motion is fairly creepy. Is it any wonder under the stress that she was under that she was led to believe that things were trying to come out of the wallpaper? That in the end she went 'mad'? I think what's really creepy is that this is something that really could have happened when women's health was not understood as it is today (or more so anyway). Many women probably suffered from these types of delusions. The mind is very powerful and can create all kinds of scenarios especially when its lonely and misunderstood. It is outrageous to think that it was believed she should rest instead of work, that she should remain isolated instead of engaging in society or that she should be separated from her child instead of trying to be a mother. These things don't lead to recuperation if anything they would make anyone crazier.

My bedroom wall at home has a texturized pattern and I can remember lying awake at times visualizing shapes from the texture. Some shapes were comforting, puppies, pyramids, a teddy bear and then there were some that were frightening - aliens! But luckily for me I didn't go crazy and I was able to remedy those (that I could see) by easily covering them with pillows. Its amazing what the mind's eye can see when it wants to.

Other Thoughts ::
: a striped armchair
: a work in progress
: you're next - leave a comment!

. listening . writing to reach you . travis . the man who .

the diary of a nobody

2008-04-14T18:21:00.001+01:00

Title :: Diary of a Nobody
Author :: George & Weedon Grossmith
Completed :: Mar 31 2008
Challenges :: 1001 Books
Rating :: 5/5

Why should I not publish my diary? I have often seen reminiscences of people I have never even heard of, and I fail to see — because I do not happen to be a 'Somebody' — why my diary should not be interesting. My only regret is that I did not commence it when I was a youth.

This was a fantastic read and really made my day! As you may recall I finally stumbled upon a copy the day I decided to make a trek around Liverpool. Sitting at Starbucks on Castle Street I devoured 50 some odd pages and drank a too sweet too spicy iced chai tea latte (I don't think drinking it iced here is a big thing because they never seem to get it quite right). I was giggling and completely unaware if anyone was giving me funny looks not that I would care because it was that good!

Originally appearing as a serial in Punch magazine in 1888 and 1889, George Grossmith provides the witty dialogue of Charles Pooter's diary while his brother Weedon complements it with his drawings. Yes a grown up book with drawings! Love it! So why would anyone want to read the diary of a nobody? Well because that diary of a 'nobody' could very well be filled with witticisms and mocking commentary making the everyday life of a lower middle class man seem extraordinary and filled with moments of delight. In his various ramblings Pooter also displays his social insecurity and how he goes about trying to remedy the view his peers may or may not have of him. Awhile ago I stumbled upon a review that unfortunately I can't find but I wrote down a quote that I liked : "Diary of a Nobody now seems like a startlingly prescient mickey-take of the self-importance of today's bloggers."

Charles Pooter is a loveable character, his mannerisms are quirky and very realistic. I loved his little obsession with buying various pots of paint to beautify or change the things around him. For example one day he bought a pot of red paint and decided to repaint some terracotta pots, his wife's approval of the change led him to enter the house and begin changing the color of other various furniture. He entered the maid's quarters and decided to paint her bureau red even though she was quite happy with its original shade. Upon entering the bathroom Pooter believed the bathtub to be too white and so decided to paint it red, a mistake he realized later while taking a hot bath. This scene is illustrated on the cover pictured above. He made the mistake of painting his friend's cane black to give it the look of ebony, which made his friend livid after first believing the painted cane to have been a family heirloom. It just little things like these that make this book such a giggle fest.

I also enjoyed the chapter leaders that gave a brief preview of the giggling to come. Here's the leader into chapter 11 as an example :

We have a dose of Irving imitations. Make the acquaintance of a Mr. Padge. Don't care for him. Mr. Burwin-Fosselton becomes a nuisance.

and chapter 18:

Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am let in for an expensive supper. Grossly insulted by a cabman. An odd invitation to Southend.

Apparently the book has spawned the word "Pooterish" to describe a tendency to take oneself excessively seriously. I see that the book was adapted by BBC twice, the second having only aired last April! I would have loved to have seen this and wonder if it's available on DVD. There's an online weblog version of the diary that pretends 2008 is 1888 and publishes the days accordingly. It might be a fun way to read Pooter's diary although there will be a few days and weeks missing because there were times when Pooter didn't write, and then there were the pages ripped out of his diary and stolen, a mystery to his great frustration never resolved.

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . american baby . dave matthews band . stand up .

the ladies of grace adieu

2008-04-14T11:57:00.001+01:00

Title :: The Ladies of Grace Adieu
Author :: Susanna Clarke
Completed :: Mar 29 2008
Challenges :: OUT II
Rating :: 3/5

It's been awhile since I've read anything involving faeries, haven't run into any books that fall under that genre in my quest to conquer the 1001. That's why Carl's challenge is so perfect, it inspires me to break from the 'normal' once in awhile and to pick up some of these fantastic books. Doesn't hurt that prizes are involved too! Although I own a copy of Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell ($5 for the hardback at Borders!) I have yet to read it. I bought it at a time when I had a leaning tower of library books to get through before moving to Liverpool and since the book is rather weighty there was no way it was going to fit in the suitcase. But after reading Ladies of Grace Adieu I definitely want to pick it up when I get home, especially since some of the characters popped up in the pages of these short stories.

I liked how each story was different in its speech. I feel that the accent of a character and the spelling of a piece can really help the reader to imagine the setting. The dialect of On Lickerish Hill took some getting used to but it wasn't hard to eventually fall into the rhythm, the eye learns quickly to gloss over those 'spelling mistakes'. The Suffolk dialect really helped to place oneself in that area of the country, away from the 'proper speech' of London.

I enjoyed the title piece The Ladies of Grace Adieu, which apparently was inspired by a footnote from Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Three ladies, Cassandra Parbringer, Miss Tobias and Mrs. Field are close friends who in their spare time study magic and have become magicians despite its being a mostly male occupation. When Captain Winbright comes to visit his nieces who are governed by Miss Tobias, it becomes clear that being a loving uncle is not high on his list and that he arrived solely to look into the inheritence involved. The ladies join forces and cause a bit of mischief of their own in order to ensure that the young girls will be safe and that life will contine in Grace Adieu as it always has.

Mrs. Mabb was a charming tale of deception involving a very fine veil between this world and the world of faerie. Venetia returns from a trip to Manchester to find that her beloved Captain Fox is soon to be engaged to another beauty. She becomes determined to see this person for herself and everytime she's given directions (to a different location) she never makes it and ends up badly bruised and cut. It would appear that Venetia is suffering either from dementia or a mischevious faerie has cast a spell over Captian Fox and the eyes of Venetia. I especially loved the episode where she is confronted by what appears to everyone else to be little green butterflies but to Venetia are small little faeries that she becomes determined to squish.

Mr. Simonelli, or the Fairy Widower was another tale involving deception. Alessandro Simonelli is a poor country rector new to Allhope. Upon his arrival he is faced with the task of delivering the baby of John Hollyshoes. Simonelli is repulsed by the shape of the house, it is filthy and utterly disgusting. It soon becomes obvious that he is the only one who can see the truth as others view the house and everything in it as rich and beautiful. Who is this man that wallows in filth and yet appears to be bedecked in jewels? He is a faerie of course and is convinced that he is related in some way to Simonelli and is determined to get to the bottom of it. Written as if from the pages of Simonelli's diary we learn how he tries to save the beautiful ladies of his parish from the dirty Hollyshoes.

Antickes and Frets involves a fictional twist on the imprisonment of Mary, Queen of Scots. When Mary learns that her guardian Bess murdered her first husband through her talent of embroidery, Mary is determined to learn the skill in order to do the same to Queen Elizabeth. This is the second story in the collection involving mischevious embroidery, the first being The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse. This tale takes place in the world created by Neil Gaiman in Stardust. The Duke of Wellington follows his runaway horse through the gap in the wall into the world of faerie. In a cottage he meets a young woman busily at work over her embroidery, which turns out to be blocks portraying everything Wellington did once passing through the wall up to the future which reveals that he will be attacked by a knight who is even now on his way to the cottage. Luckily for Wellington, a pair of embroidery scissors are there to save the day.

Overall a very delightful collection which has put me into the mood of the challenge. Now if only I could located Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, I seem only to be able to find the graphic novel. Is it the same as the novel?

Other Thoughts ::
: a work in progress
: you're next - leave a comment!

. listening . satellite . dave matthews band . under the table and dreaming .

middlemarch

2008-04-14T00:07:00.005+01:00

Title :: Middlemarch
Author :: George Eliot
Completed :: Mar 29 2008
Challenges :: 888 : 1001 Books
Rating :: 4/5

What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?

What did Virginia Woolf mean when she described Middlemarch as "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people"? At first I was confused by that statement when I first saw it on the back of the book and still after having read it. But I think what Woolf means is that this isn't a novel full of young headstrong will do anything for love woes me characters. It is a slow potrayal of real life in the 1830s that unfolds at a pace that allows the reader to really get involved in the lives of Eliot's cast. In fact the book's subtitle is A Study in Provincial Life and that's exactly what it is. This book was subject to my post-it method (plotting out how many pages were to be read daily) and thus it became a kind of soap opera for me, minus all the overdramatics. Every day before picking it up I would ask myself, "I wonder what will happen in Middlemarch today". At 838 pages you do become attached and you become sincerely interested in their fates.

There's much too much to summarize here so I will only touch on a few things. I really liked the character of Dorothea Brooke, her devotion to everything she involved herself in was very inspring. Although she had wealth she didn't allow it to blind her to the plight of the farmers living on her uncle's land. She was very interested in redesigning cottages to allow ample space and comfort for these families. She also desired to learn and do great work, though she understood the pains of knowledge, "But it is very difficult to be learned; it seems as if people were worn out on the way to great thoughts, and can never enjoy them because they are too tired" (Amen sister). Unfortunately not many people took her seriously and when a marriage proposal was presented to her that would allow her to aid a clergyman in his scholarly research she accepted even though he was old enough to be her father (and maybe then some). Although her marriage soon became impossible and loveless she stayed utterly devoted to her husband. I think my nerves would have been shot long before her's were. Dorothea is also loyal to her friends and her family. I was especially moved by her desire to help Lydgate remove himself from a scandalous rumor. "People are usually better than their neighbors think they are." I am glad that in the end she received the love and returned devotion she definitely deserved.

I enjoyed the character of Mrs. Garth and the challenges she faced to keep her children educated, something that was very important to her.

She thought it good for them to see that she could make an excellent lather while she corrected their blunder 'without looking' - that a woman with her sleeves tucked up above her elbows might know all about the subjunctive mood or the Torrid Zone - that, in short, she might possess 'education' and other other good things ending in 'tion', and worthy to be pronounced emphatically, without being a useless doll.

A lot of Eliot's female characters in this book were strong. It would have been very easy to make Mary Garth into one of those young lovey dovey types but instead Eliot chose to make her practical. She refused to encourage Fred's love for her until he could prove to her that he could be serious and responsible. Although at times I wanted to shout, "would you just tell him you love him already!". I think it was important to Eliot to have all her female characters keep a cool-head and obtain a forceful presence. Even though Rosamond Vincy was a bit narcissistic and headstrong she still kept her head held high through her husband's financial difficulties, she knew what was needed to do to survive.

Upon finishing I felt content, everything was right as rain. It was a satisfying ending with everything resolved and life continuing beyond the pages. I'm curious if being described as an Italian with white mice is a sort of insult. Well I know it was meant as one when it was used by another character to define Ladislaw, and it made me think of Count Fosco in Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White. He was an Italian with white mice, well rats, but he was a crooked character so that must have something to do with it. I also still get a kick out of the prices given in Victorian novels. For example, Lydgate's house cost £90 a year, where my little square of a room cost me about £75 a week! Prices sure have gone up, up, up! The following is a Spanish proverb used to open one of the chapters, I really liked it:

Pues no podemos haber aquello que queremos, queramos aquello que podremos (Since we cannot get what we like, let us like what we can get)

Oh and it seems they're taking Middlemarch to the big screen to be released sometime next year. More info here.

Other Thoughts ::
: a striped armchair
: beastmomma
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . i miss you now . stereophonics . you gotta go there to come back .

it's still friday right?

2008-04-13T23:01:00.002+01:00

What happened to the weekend? Poof! It's nearly gone! And once again I didn't accomplish everything on my list. I swear I have become the LAZIEST person ever! I never used to be this bad. I just don't want to do anything except for read, sleep, eat and occasionaly blog. I did get a chance to finish Saturday and The Plot Against America before the weekend started and I did get caught up on Les Misérables (pg 960) but I only posted 2 book reviews!

There was a good quote from Les Misérables about laziness that for different reasons scarily resembles my current status. One of the characters, Marius is lovesick and out of sorts.

During all these torments, and for a long time now, he had stopped his work, and nothing is more dangerous than discontinued labor; it is a habit lost. A habit easy to abandon, difficult to resume.

I was busy this weekend doing a favor for a friend, major scanning sessions. I think I clocked about 7 hours so far, still have more to do. I hope this builds karma in case I ever need someone to do the same for me. To help pass the time I started listening to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which I've read of course but I like all the voices that Jim Dale does. It's been a long time since I've read it and I think my memory was based on the film and boy howdy did they skip over a lot when they made that. Oh well they still did a pretty decent job and I look forward to #6 later this year.

I finally emailed my "supervisors", not sure at the time if that's what they were or not, but I wanted to touch base and see if they've come up with a solution to my dilemma since our last meeting 5 weeks ago. I received an email back apologizing for the delay and saying that everything had been worked out. Well thanks for telling me sooner... Anyway I still need to meet with them to tell that I've decided to return home. I'm so not looking forward to it. I know I could just email them back to tell them but I really think it should be something said in person. Oh my stomach is just in knots about it, I hate confrontation and I hate problems. I prefer to just ignore them in the hopes that they will just go away but of course they never do.

Now I'm nervous about going home, I mean what if I'm not admitted into the program? What if it's a mistake? I know it's the right thing for me to do and all I need to do is remember how unhappy I've been here but it's scary and Liverpool has seduced me. It's also embarassing because a lot of people (friends included) don't understand, they think I'm coming home because I couldn't make it here and that's absolutely not the case. The program here is the wrong fit and there really isn't anyone to supervise me. Sure they've solved it for now but the person they chose goes on sabbatical all of next year so once again I'll be tossed up into the air. And they mentioned shifting people to make room for me and I don't feel right about that. That's not fair to the other student. I tried, they tried, we all tried but it didn't work out. Arizona will take me back, inshallah, it will be hello hard but in the end worth it, right?

On a high note, I've been invited to a masquerade ball on the 24th! I've got a black cocktail dress that hopefully still fits (major treadmill/eliptical sessions in the very near future) and a black shawl and heels. Hopefully I can find some inexpensive black opera gloves and I really would like to buy this mask. It should be a really fun night!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! oxoxoxox

Have a good week!

. listening . bring me up . lisa loeb . cake and pie .

crash

2008-04-11T22:07:00.004+01:00

Title :: Crash
Author :: J.G. Ballard
Completed :: Mar 27 2008
Challenges :: Decade : 1001 Books
Rating :: 2/5

...an extreme measure for an extreme situation...

Wow! Well I'm sure this is not a book I would have picked up on my own after reading the back cover. I only read it of course because it's on the 1001 List. As I think I mentioned in an earlier post it was a bit difficult to get through because it is pretty graphic and more than a bit pornographic. I don't think the pornographic bit would have bothered me much (not that I usually read that sort of thing mind you... although those Anita Blake novels tend to get a bit dirty...) but it was mixing it with the element of gruesome deaths and injuries that made it squemish. The element of someone getting off basically while imagining a car crash doesn't do it for me and frankly is a bit frightening. I will say though however, the writing is so graphic that it definitely achieves the picture it is trying to draw. Ballard definitely has a way with words and as this was my first Ballard novel I'm curious to see how his writing style would effect another book of a different nature, since there are a few of his works listed as 1001 contenders.

I thought I would share a bit from the author's note to hopefully give you a better idea of what the novel is about. Mind you the successful movie, Crash starring Brendan Fraser, Sandra Bullock and several other actors is not based on this book although there was a movie of the same title released some time in the 90s starring James Spader.

...I feel that the balance between fiction and reality has changed significantly in the past decades. Increasingly their roles are reversed. We live in a world ruled by fictions of every kind - mass-merchandizing, advertising, politics conducted as a branch of advertising, the pre-empting of any original response to experience by the television screen. We live inside an enormous novel. It is now less and less necessary for the writer to invent the fictional content of his novel. The fiction is already there. The writer's task is to invent the reality.

Throughout Crash I have used the car not only as a sexual image, but as a total metaphor for man's life in today's society. As such the novel has a political role quite apart from it sexual content, but I would still like to think that Crash is the first pornographic novel based on technology. In a sense, pornography is the most political form of fiction, dealing with how we use and exploit each other, in the most urgent and ruthless way.

Needless to say, the ultimate role of Crash is cautionary, a warning against that brutal, erotic and overlit realm that beckons more and more persuasively to us from the margins of the technological landscape.

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . me, my yoke and i . damien rice . 9 .

a passage to india

2008-04-11T21:45:00.005+01:00

Title :: A Passage to India
Author :: E.M. Forster
Completed :: Mar 24 2008
Challenges :: Decades Challenge : 1001 Books
Rating :: 4/5

My heart is for my own people henceforward.

Another brilliant Forster, makes me wonder why I haven't read any of his work before now! Prejudices and racism are alive and well and are running rampant in this tale of British India. The three main characters, Adela Quested, Dr. Aziz and Cyril Fielding represent very different social circles that weave together the social stratosphere of the time.

Adela Quested arrives in India escorted by Mrs. Moore, both desire to see the real India by escaping the confines of the British commune and Mrs. Moore also hopes to engage Adela to her son, Ronny. Mrs. Moore first meets Dr. Aziz, a native, when she is visiting a mosque at night. Dr. Aziz takes to Mrs. Moore immediately and sees that she's a woman who understands and truly appreciates the local color and isn't afraid to embrace it. A trip to the Marabar Caves is arranged so that Dr. Aziz can show Mrs. Moore and Adela the real India they've been longing to see. Once on the train the ladies find that they are bereft of their male British escorts who incidentally missed the train. They decide to continue as planned hoping they'll catch up. While visiting one of the caves Mrs. Moore is overwhelmed by the sound of the echo and begins to feel a bit claustrophobic causing her to sit out on the rest of the cave exploring. Adela goes off with Dr. Aziz and the local guide to visit a second set of caves. It is here where a set of events takes place that will leave the reader quite confused as to what really happened...

Dr. Aziz is a respected doctor among his Muslim friends. Upon meeting Mrs. Moore in the mosque he becomes interested in getting to know her more as well as act as a guide to his country. He's the kind of man that makes friends easily and wants to be the perfect host. He is adamant about providing a glimpse into the real India and showing Mrs. Moore and Adela around the Marabar Caves even though he himself has never been there. It becomes clear that Dr. Aziz prefers the company of Mrs. Moore over that of Adela who he finds to be a little closed off or as Fielding calls her, a prig. So when Mrs. Moore is unable to continue the tour Dr. Aziz is less than thrilled to continue with Adela, especially when she so boldly asks him whether he has more than one wife. Annoyed by her audacity he sits down to have a cigarette while she explores the caves. When he finishes and goes off to look for Adela, he can't find her until he realizes that she's climbed down the hill to greet a friend in her car.

Whereas Adela represents British society and Dr. Aziz Indian, Fielding provides a type of balance between the two. He sees and understands although doesn't always approve of attitudes on both sides of the rope. I think Fielding's character displays the difficulties that can arise from trying to fit in with the locals when they already have this idea of what 'your people' are like. And on the flip side 'your people' begin questioning your loyalty or your motives. I'd like to think that this is something unique to that time period and situation but I'm afraid it's not. So long as people continue to group people and view them as unavoidably different instead of seeing them as a person like themselves then there will always be these type of feelings.

But what really happened in those caves??? I think I do but I don't want to share it here in case it gives anything away. If you've read the book and have an idea I'd like to hear it.

Other Thoughts ::
: a girl walks into a bookstore...
: my own little reading room
: so many precious books, so little time
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

you knew it, i knew it...

2008-04-10T12:49:00.005+01:00

... we all knew that I couldn't resist going to the library right? So weak! I ran over there really quick during my lunch break and scored some short reads but most importantly I got my hands on the Nancy Mitford novels I was talking about yesterday. I had hoped that Anne Rice's Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana would still be on the shelf but alas someone snagged it before me. I have a feeling most of The Pub challenge is going to have to be completed when I get back home because the libraries here don't seem to a) order enough copies of a new release or b) don't order them at all.

Anyway here's my new borrowed stash :: (descriptions paraphrased/summarized from the backs of the books)

The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate . Nancy Mitford : Both novels follow the fortunes of three well-bred girls as they pursue love in their own ways. Fanny Logan (narrator) finds love a simple matter while Linda Radlett is looking for perfection but ricochets between decidedly imperfect husbands before finding love where she least expects it. Ice cold Polly Hampton is her mother's despair. Lady Montdore has trained her for marriage and cannot understand why her daughter snubs her nose at all the young men. The man Polly eventually chooses shocks her mother to the core.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich . Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn : This brutal, shattering glimpse of the fate of millions of Russians under Stalin shook Russia and shocked the world when it first appeared. Enter a world of incarceration, brutality, hard manual labor and freezing cold - and participate in the struggle of men to survive both the terrible rigours of nature and the inhumanity of the system that defines their condition of life.

The Reader . Bernhard Schlink : In post-war Germany a schoolboy, Michael collapses in the street and is helped by Hanna, a woman in her thirties. By his mother's insistence he visits Hanna bringing her flowers to thank her but becomes fascinated by this older woman and begins a secretive affair. Throughout their relationship Hanna is harsh and domineering and not forthcoming about her background. Michael grows frustrated but then is shocked when Hanna suddenly disappears from his life. Years later as a law student, Michael recognizes Hanna as the defendent in a major trial. Her attitude is bizarre and she seems to be purposely mishandling her defense. Michael suddenly understands that her behavior, both now and in the past, conceals a secret buried deeper even than her terrible crimes. The past erupts into the present and traps Michael for the rest of his life, haunted by the memories of a relationship that he cannot move beyond - and by the dilemma of an entire generation. The book is supposed to be a profound exploration of modern Germany's relationship with its past.

The Sorrows of Young Werther . Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : Listed as one of the first great 'confessional' novels. Upon visiting an idyllic German village, Werther, a sensitive and romantic young man, meets and falls in love with Lotte, however Lotte is already promised to another man. Werther is unable to subdue his passion for her and his infatuation torments him to the point of absolute despair.

The Outsider . Albert Camus : After the death of his mother, everyone is shocked when Meursault shows no sadness. And when he commits a random act of violence in Algiers, society is baffled. Why would such a law-abiding bachelor do such a thing? And why does he show no remorse, even when it could save his own life? His refusal to satisfy the feelings of others only increases his guilt in the eyes of the law. It becomes obvious that Meursault is not only being tried for his crime but his lack of emotion condeming him as an outsider.

Yum! Yum! Good books!

. listening . zzyzx rd . stone sour . come what(ever) may .

a bookish affair

2008-04-09T19:04:00.001+01:00

I'm feeling guilty as I watch the pile of unreviewed books grow almost daily! Do you sometimes find reviewing a chore? Anyway I've actually been busy with school and have been using any free time I have to curl up with my books and go out for coffee with people I desperately needed to catch up with. Got a few books due back next Wednesday and I want to finish them so I can get more! So...

My weekend goals (not promises) are ::

catch up on March book reviews (still leaving me behind as I've already read a handful this month but it's a start)

visit the challenge blogs and update my progress

get to page 960 in Les Misérables and write up reviews for the section on Fantine, Cosette and Marius over at the LM reading blog: Into the Parisian Underworld

finish reading :

Saturday . Ian McEwan
The Plot Against America . Philip Roth
One Hundred Years of Solitude . Gabriel García Márquez
The Memory Keeper's Daughter . Kim Edwards

I've recently been told by a friend about some fabulous books by Nancy Mitford. I did a bit of research and have found that 2 of her books are listed among the 1001: The Pursuit of Love and its sequel, Love in a Cold Climate. Score! I've been told they are classified as comedic tragedy and are a bit autobiographical and run in the style of Cold Comfort Farm, Waugh and Wodehouse. Double score! Apparently Nancy and her 5 sisters known collectively as the "Mitford Sisters" were quite infamous in their days running around with the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw and were responsible for frequently scandalizing polite British society. Definitely will need to get around to reading a biography on them (perhaps this one: The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters or The Mitford Girls). I also spotted during my research a published collection of letters between Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh, edited by Charlotte Mosely.

All this excitement over a book makes me want to go straight to the library and get it, especially since I just checked and see that it's sitting there on the shelf waiting for me to come and get it! Can I hold out till next week? Probably not... I think I see an early trip to the library this weekend (or maybe tomorrow!). I feel like giggling like I did while reading Cold Comfort Farm and recently with The Female Quixote (which was absolutely brilliant by the way!). Oh no! I think I'll have to renew those other books again and take a moment to read these delicious new discoveries.

I also recently read a review on Albert Cohen's Belle du Seigneur (or Her Lover) which appears to be "genuinely funny" and "never fails to make [the reviewer] laugh". Also considered a 1001 contender but will have to wait as I just noticed it weighs in at 992 pages... Anthony Trollope's book He Knew He Was Right sound delicious as a "psychological study in which Louis' obsessive delirium is comparable to the tormented figure of Othello, tragically flawed by self-deception", also a 1001 but once again a big one at 864 pages. Summer reads perhaps! (along with Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov and finally finishing Proust's Remembrance of Things Past - 3 books in, 4 more to go).

I guess the one thing to look forward to during this upcoming year off from school is all the reading I'll be able to do. Of course if I choose to do the MA in Classics as well as the PhD in Anthropology I'll be needing to stuff my head with Ancient Greek so I won't be behind. There's also that pesky GRE I need to study for and take by the end of the year. But I'll be trying to cram in as much reading as I can since I'm sure once I get going in my new program I will have very little time.

Some of my favorite bands/singers are coming out with new music this year and next. Can't wait! Well actually quite a few of those favs have come out with stuff already I just haven't been able to get a hold of them. On the 29th Augustana releases their new album - love these guys saw them in concert twice, Jack's Mannequin who has been on hiatus after he was diagnosed with leukemia soon after his first release in 2005 has a new album out in June. And one of my long time standing music loves, Gavin Rossdale, lead singer of the now disbanded band Bush (love!) and recent new band also disbanded, Institute (good stuff!) is breaking out with a solo album also in June. Heard the first single, liking it! His beautiful wife, Gwen Stefani is pregnant with baby #2 but has announced that No Doubt will be releasing a new album in 2009! And a bunch of other cool new music on the horizon that I won't bore you with.

. listening . you could be happy . snow patrol . eyes open .

after the weekend

2008-04-07T20:10:00.005+01:00

Returned to the office today and I couldn't help but miss my books but as luck would have it my German reading seminar was cancelled so I got to go home early. I was a little reading machine this weekend: I finished The Voyage Out, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and The First Century After Beatrice got caught up on Les Misérables (on pg 720) and read 100+ pgs of The Female Quixote which I might be able to finish tonight.

Today was spent researching the PhD in Anthropology at The University of Arizona and making contacts with some of the faculty. I'm getting excited about the program and wish I could jump into it this fall but alas must wait until 2009!! The classes sound great and I really think that the UofA will make me into a great archaeologist, I only hope that I can figure out how to work the Egypt angle since most of the department focuses on the southwest. But I have been told that it would be possible for my Egyptology mentor to act as chair on my dissertation committee. I may decide to do a MA in Classics at the same time... but am not 100% sure on that yet. I know from talking to other PhD students doing Egyptology who were close to or have finished who said that the job market was looking for professors that could also teach from the Classics. I just have to decide if I really want to get involved in intensive Greek and Latin, as I will need to catch up.

Haven't given anyone here my resignation yet, not looking forward to it. I'm going to miss Liverpool!

. listening . lonely people . augustana . all the stars and the boulevards .

bee season

2008-04-04T11:29:00.001+01:00

Title :: Bee Season
Author :: Myla Goldberg
Completed :: Mar 22 2008
Challenges :: 888 Challenge
Rating :: 4/5

This was yet another book that for some reason or another I kept passing up but meaning to eventually get to it. That's why I made it part of the 888 Challenge so that I'd finally read it. I think the reason why I liked this novel so much is that the author works with quite a few themes that overlap in such a way that at times it can be difficult to distinguish them because she makes them work so well with one another.

When Eliza wins her class spelling bee and then goes on to win the school and then district spelling bee, her father is relieved that she has finally revealed academic talent. Before only her older brother excelled at school being in all the advanced classes whereas Eliza was not even asked to bother taking the advanced placement test. I think Goldberg makes an excellent attempt here to exhibit parental expectations and the effects they can have on their children. Also the importance of balancing attention between children. Now I'm not a parent but speaking as a 'child' who often became jealous of attentions given to another sibling I know from that perspective equal attention is VERY important. Before it was Eliza who was in a way disregarded because she had no talent where the father put all his efforts into his son. As soon as Eliza's talent appears the father brushes aside Aaron, forgetting their guitar sessions as he focuses solely on harnessing Eliza's talents for something bigger.

Where is the mother in all this? She has a strange relationship with her children, basically she's aloof and throughout the novel is unconnected from the rest of the characters. The one time she attempts to connect with Eliza in the hopes that her daughter in some way is like her, she gives Eliza a kaleidoscope but as Eliza is in 5th grade the toy is unimpressive and the mother is repulsed by this. I don't want to give too much away but let me just say that something very unique is going on with this character. Goldberg creates the perfect illusion and shows that a family can consist of individuals so different they don't even recognize how separate and alone they are. They don't even realize who they are and what's going on with each other except for what's visible on the surface.

This theme is stretched over into the character of Aaron, Eliza's older brother. In the beginning of the novel he starts out as a smart kid, gets along with his family, plays guitar with his dad, a believer in his Judaic upbringing but when Eliza takes center stage as it were, Aaron begins to question his faith. Aaron was always interested in being close to God and while flying across country when he was younger he believes he saw Him in the clouds (though really it was only the red blinking light on the tip of the plane wing). During his Bar Mitzvah Aaron again experiences God but afterwards nothing happens and he begins to get a bit frustrated. After searching through several religions including those of the East, he makes a friend who introduces him to Hare Krishna.

Everything comes to a climax when Aaron finally confesses to his father that he is no longer a Jew and has adopted the orange robes of Hare Krishna. The mother at the same time has been arrested while Eliza secretly sneaks her father's Kabbalistic books in an attempt to speed up her training, afraid to lose her father's approval. You see the spiral and everyone spinning out of control. Only Eliza can set things straight which she does so poignantly.

Goldberg's novel takes such a bizarre twist on everyday life and the quest for perfection through the mediums of a spelling bee, Judiac mysticism, Hare Krishna and a kaleidoscope. Outstanding work for a first novel!

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

early friday book notes

2008-04-04T00:13:00.004+01:00

Not much going on here just reading, reading, reading! Term starts up again on Monday and I suppose I'll have to drag myself in to the office to work. It's going to be really hard after being an utter slug these past few weeks. Oh well I think I'll just concern myself with putting in a minimum of 3 days a week until my trip to Greece (40 more days!). I need to get a better idea of how much I need to accomplish before leaving Liverpool, I need to contact museums and set up study days so I can mull over artifacts and take copious notes and as soon as I get my last bit of loan I need to plan for my return to Arizona. I hope to swing a few trips (Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris) or at the very least see more of England before I leave. Oh and I need to get my butt on the treadmill and the eliptical if I want to minimize swimsuit embarassment while in Rhodes.

I picked up my copy of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and the Dirk Gentley Omnibus from the library today! Yay! You can be sure I'll be cracking Pettigrew open this weekend (wow can't think of a verb that doesn't make that sound wrong). Here's what I'm actually reading at the moment :

: The Voyage Out . Virginia Woolf - about 100 pages left hope to finish this weekend

: Les Misérables . Victor Hugo - on page 510 need to be on 720 by end of Saturday if I'm to stick to LM schedule

: The Female Quixote . Charlotte Lennox - just started this last night, only on page 22, loving it - what a riot! "From her earliest Youth she had discovered a Fondness for Reading, which extremely delighted the Marquis; he permitted her therefore the Use of the Library, in which, unfortunately for her, were great Store of Romances, and, what was still more unfortunate, not in the original French, but very bad Translations." (curious how all the nouns are capitalized throughout the novel much like German) From reading such romance Arabella of course develops a curious sense of how men and women should behave towards one another. Very Quixotian!

: Saturday . Ian McEwan - 30 pages in and got a bit bored so I picked up the previous book

: One Hundred Years of Solitude . Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I've been on page 38 forever because well I don't really like the typeset, it's a bit small and pointy(?) and to think that I've got to read about 400 more pages of that. The story's not bad so far but having just begun it's hard to judge, however I will persevere!

Oi! The reviews are piling up again, I just can't be bothered right now. Seriously I try but I get distracted by all the books waiting to be read. I know that I had better get on it soon before I forget what my thoughts were. Not to worry they will come eventually.

I did get around to updating my profile, or the now titled About section - which has been 'under construction' for quite some time now. I guess I don't like summarizing myself either - ha! There are even *gasp* photos of me!

Happy Friday!

. listening . the well and the lighthouse . arcade fire . neon bible .

april fools fun

2008-04-01T22:05:00.003+01:00

Haven't done one of these meme things in a long time. Found this via : A High and Hidden Place

1. Your rock star name (first pet, current car): Jasmine Bus

2. Your gangsta name (fave ice cream flavour, favourite type of shoe): Mint Chocolate Chip Skechers

3. Your Native American name (favourite colour, favourite animal): Green Frog

4. Your soap opera name (middle name, city where you were born): Danielle Phoenix

5. Your Star Wars name (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 of your first name): Gooas

6. Superhero name (2nd favourite colour, favourite drink): Blue Dr. Pepper

7. NASCAR name (the first names of your grandfathers): Joe Wesley

8. Stripper name (the name of your favourite perfume/cologne/scent, favourite candy): Happy Reeses Peanut Butter Cup (*giggles* there's a candy here called Happy Hippo that I love but thought I'd better stick to my all time favorite)

10. TV weather anchor name (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Martinez Miami

11. Spy name (your favourite season/holiday, flower): Spring Carnation

12. Cartoon name: (favourite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now): Pink Lady Apple Cardigan

13. Hippie name (What you ate for breakfast, your favourite tree): PB&J Palo Verde

. listening . blood on the ground . incubus . morning view .

the namesake

2008-04-01T11:53:00.002+01:00

Title :: The Namesake
Author :: Jhumpa Lahiri
Completed :: Mar 20 2008
Challenges :: 888 Challenge
Rating :: 2/5

I really thought I would like this book, maybe I would have but I was too distracted with the mountain of other books I was reading. But now that I have had time to think about it I'm pretty sure that my disappointment stems from the fact that I didn't like the story was told through mostly narration and there was not I feel nearly enough dialogue. At times if felt like reading somebody's boring diary. Bob did this and then he did that and then he said this and then he went there - something like that. It was a nice story but I think it really would have benefited from more dialogue. I still want to see the film and maybe that'll satisfy my need for speech.

The story begins with the birth of the Ganguli's firstborn, a boy. Traditionally the grandmother would give the child it's good name, the name to be used by the rest of the world and on all official documents, the child's intimates would call him/her by a nickname. The Ganugulis however, have a small problem, they now live in America while the rest of their family lives in India. It would be impossible for them to wait at the hospital to receive a letter from the grandmother and the doctor insists that the child cannot leave the hospital without a name on its birth certificate unless the Gangulis wanted it to read Baby Boy. In a moment of inspiration, Ashoke the father decides to name the baby Gogol after his favorite Russian author, Nikolai Gogol (great short stories by the way - loved The Nose). Gogol was meant only to be the baby's nickname until the letter arrived from India. Unfortunately the letter never made it and the grandmother soon passed away. Before Gogol enters kindergarten Ashoke decides to give him the good name Nikhil, a good Bengali name yet close to the name Nikolai. Gogol on the other hand, doesn't like his new name and when his teacher asks him what he prefers to be called he answers Gogol. Thus begins Gogol's love-hate relationship with his name.

As he grows older he doesn't like the fact that his name is different, that it sounds strange, that it is the name of a dead person, a name that is no longer in use. Before entering college he has his name legally changed to Nikhil and sticks with that. It is not until later he learns why his father chose to name him Gogol. When Ashoke was much younger he was traveling on a train to visit his grandfather in India. He had with him an empty suitcase as he knew his grandfather, who shared his love for books, would be parting with some of his collection and gifting them to Ashoke. He also carried with him a well thumbed copy of Gogol's short stories. When the lights went out on the train and the passengers begin to fall asleep Ashoke lay awake reading from Gogol. Before he knew what was happening, he was lying in a field crushed by the weight of the train unable to move. The only thing visible to the rescuers of the derailed train was his copy of Gogol whose pages were fluttering in the wind. If he hadn't had the book in his hand Ashoke is sure that they would have missed him in the wreckage and he would have died. His body was so broken that it took over a year before he could regain any type of mobility and to this day has a drag in his leg.

The book continues through the lives of Ashoke and his wife Ashima as first generation immigrants and their children as they are stuck between two very different cultures and trying to find a happy balance between both. I get the feeling that Gogol was not satisfied with his Indian life or his American life, while it seemed his sister had a better time of integrating into both societies. There didn't really seem to be a happy ending either, it just sort of ended. I can't really remember if there was any solution other than, this is life and that's the way it is. Has anyone else read this book? What did you think?

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . ocean size . jane's addiction . up from the catacombs .

maus: a survivor's tale

2008-04-01T11:52:00.003+01:00

Title :: Maus: A Survivor's Tale (vol. 1: My Father Bleeds History, vol 2: And Here My Troubles Began)
Author :: Art Spiegelman
Completed :: Mar 13/17 2008
Rating :: 5/5

This was my first venture into graphic novels and I'm glad I chose this particular one. I've been on a World War II kick for some reason, I guess I'm still amazed that something so outrageous, so awful, so life changing happened not that long ago. I like tales of survival that make me question whether or not I would be strong enough to have gone through what they did. This particular Holocaust survival story was different for me because I found it to be raw. It just seems to emit this sense of truth and nothing but the truth, no sugar-coating, no glazing over bits, just telling it how it was. I feel this was doubly achieved by Spiegelman's inclusion of the actual interview process with his father. Its obvious that the two don't exactly get along and get on each other's nerves. Here was the perfect opportunity for Spiegelman to glorify his father, to make is seem like he looked up to him as a hero but instead his graphic novel is blunt, right between the eyes.

The use of animals to represent people I found to be very appropriate on many levels. For one it makes it easier for the reader to distinguish who is who in the panels. The Jews are represented as mice, all looking exactly alike except for individual characters' wardrobe. The use of mice has a double meaning, it shows the Jews as being timid and also as the so-called 'vermin' the Germans announced them to be. The Germans are then shown as cats, the mouse's venerable enemy. The Polish are represented as pigs, something which I read the Polish were not very happy about but I believe Spiegelman counteracted that by saying he chose the pig because it resembled American cartoon characters such as Porky Pig and Miss Piggy. It may have also been a decision based on the fact that the pig plays a big part in the agriculture of Poland. I doubt there were any malicious reasons for choosing the pig since a few Polish characters are shown to be sympathetic to Vladek and his wife Anja. As a clever anecdote Spiegelman depicted Jews wearing pig masks as they walked around pretending not to be Jewish, something which without the use of different animals would have been difficult to portray clearly. Americans are represented as dogs, the French frogs, the British fish and the Swedes reindeer.

I find it ironic that although his father went through this terrible act of prejudice and attempted elimination of an entire 'race' (I put 'race' in quotes because I believe in only one race - the human race) there's a scene in the graphic novel where his father shows his prejudice against blacks. After leaving the grocery store where he successfully returned half eaten food, a black man standing on the side of the road is trying to hitch a ride. Spiegelman's girlfriend pulls over to help him out, immediately his father starts panicing wondering what the heck she's doing. Doesn't she know that these people can't be trusted? That they're theives and for all she knows they could be murdered! Prejudice is a very strong entity and it would seem that not even having survived one of prejudice's worst trials one cand still turn around and be hateful to someone different than them.

Vladek's account of having actually seen and been told how the gas chambers work at Auschwitz I think is probably an important piece of evidence in the history of World War II. After reading Maus I watched Schindler's List and the idea that people knew vaguely what was going on at the concentration camps through rumors but never fully believing that anything so awful could be in existence is perhaps unique to that particular era. I think today people might be more inclined unfortunately to believe such things if they were told, which makes me think what kind of society have we become? We do seem to have the ability to believe more easily in negative things we are told. Does this mean we have become desensitized in first believing in the greater good of mankind? And if so are we better off? Are we more prepared to face the 'evil of our time'? Just something to chew on but it really makes me wonder if this ability to easily believe the worst effects our better judgement when it comes to taking action. Sorry seriously off topic of the book!

As I was saying previously I really enjoyed Spiegelman's window into his life and the life of his father, Vladek. Nothing appears to have been too personal to share, everything is there in print from the death of Spiegelman's younger brother through poisoning to his mother's suicide. Emotions are perhaps clearer utilizing the format of a graphic novel, pure joy at receiving a bar of chocolate (something which I certainly take for granted) becomes much more when you can see it as well as read it. With that being said if you haven't picked up a copy of Maus I suggest you do so. Did I mention the fact that it won a much deserved Pulitzer Prize? I'd like to check out Spiegelman's own account of September 11th, published as In the Shadow of No Towers. I hear that it got mixed reviews but I'd be curious to see how raw this particular account is. From amazon.com: "Spiegelman expresses his feelings of dislocation, grief, anxiety, and outrage over the horror of the attacks---and the subsequent "hijacking" of the event by the Bush administration to serve what he believes is a misguided and immoral political agenda." (and this is what I meant earlier about the dangers of so easily believing in negativity because it can be used against us and thus give consent to the propagation of negativity)

Other Thoughts ::
: 1 more chapter (vol. 1 & vol. 2)
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . a winter's tale . afi . afi .

around liverpool

2008-03-31T12:26:00.009+01:00

Liverpool Skyline from Albert Dock
Yesterday was a really good day. I woke up with the church bells chiming, the birds singing (honestly it sounded like a darn Disney movie outside - ha!). I went out for some breakfast, came back and prepared for a trip to the library. Even though the forecast called for rain it was sunny out and a bit warm 52F (funny how that used to be cold to me). As I started out I spotted my friend the song or mistle thrush and thought I should really have my camera on me. Quick trip back to the flat grabbed camera and thus started my photographic journey around Liverpool.

First stop, the Victoria Building on campus, all the scaffolding has been removed and her red bricks are clean and shining, built in 1892 she is responsible for the coined term, 'red-brick university'. The inside is also being renovated and will be open to the public in June or July of this year. Just next door is a nice white building with moulding but most impressively on top lounge two sphinxes, the Scouse Sphinxes facing one another. There are actually 4 Scouse Sphinxes the other two lounge atop the archway leading through to the archaeology building. I remember when I first moved here I looked everywhere for those suckers. A profile of one of them was featured in my welcome package and there was a bit of greenery just behind its shoulder so I assumed they were at ground level, you know like lions in front of a library. Imagine my surprise when one day I happened to look up! The greenery was just a bit of vine that had started to grow on his back.

On to the library where I picked up some great reads :
: The Diary of a Nobody . George & Weedon Grossmith - I've been looking for this book, it just happened to be lying face up on a shelf completely in the wrong place but seems I got lucky because the stamped dates in the front show its been checked out over and over during the past few months. Finished it last night - it's hilarious!
: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan . Lisa See
: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie . Muriel Spark
: Madame Bovary . Gustave Flaubert
: She . H. Rider Haggard - now this sounds really good - ancient scrolls, lost civilization, a tyrannical female ruler waiting for the true descendent of her dead lover plus it's on THE LIST!

Before moving on I climbed the steps of the World Museum to take some shots of the cityscape. From here this is where I left my 'comfort zone' and turned down Dale Street, a street I've never walked down before. And boy was I glad I did, fabulous architecture! Wow! The picture to the left is of the Royal Insurance Building and it is magnificent. It was hard to get shots of the fronts of buildings because they're so tall and the street wasn't very wide. As I was taking photos of the Royal Insurance Building (a google search solved the mystery of its name) a Liverpudlian stopped and asked "It's amazing isn't it?" and then he advised me to turn left on Castle Street to seem more beautiful architecture. I think some Liverpudlians really are proud that their city was awarded the European Capital of Culture this year.

At the mouth of Castle Street lies Liverpool's Town Hall (pictured left). Another building hard to capture all in one shot, since it would be rather unsafe to stand in the middle of the street. This is one of the reasons why I love living here because there's real architecture, old architecture, Phoenix is just too new to have anything like this. On the corner of Dale and Castle Street was a Starbucks! I felt like treating myself to a nice iced chai tea latte among all these Victorian buildings and reading a Victorian novel, The Diary of a Nobody.

I must admit I didn't get all the way down Castle Street as a view of the Royal Liver (pronounced lie-ver) Building to the west distracted me and I headed down a side street to make my way towards it. I've only ever seen this building from Albert Dock (as pictured above). The building consists of two clock towers that can be seen from passing ships in the Mersey, the clock faces are larger than those of Big Ben in London. The two Liver Birds (mythical in nature, what started out as an eagle type bird in 1350 morphed into a type of cormorant with a sprig of seaweed in its mouth by 1797) sit atop the clock towers, one looking inland to watch over the city, the other to sea to protect passing sailors. A joke states that the bird looking inland is male and is making sure the pubs are open while the bird looking out to sea is female watching all the handsome sailors. Legend has it that if one of the birds were to fly away Liverpool would cease to exist, thus they have been chained to their domes to insure that they stay put.

I walked around Albert Docks and then worked my way towards the Liverpool Cathedral. At this point it started to get a bit overcast and I was a bit nervous about going into St. James Cemetery by myself. Not that I'm afraid of the dead, it's the living that had me worried. It's a nice park-like atmosphere and a lot of people walk through but a lot of hoodlums hang out here too and I've heard stories. Luckily after a small hail storm lasting a couple of minutes the sun emerged and the there were a few people walking their dogs and talking. In fact one old man talking to a younger couple turned to me and said, "Why hello there dear, aren't you pretty?" Now if we were the only two people in the park I think I would have ran but he seemed genuine and soon after passing he was commenting on someone's handsome Bull Terrier. But most of the time I was or seemed to be the only one in the entire cemetery.

I love St. James Cemetery. When I lived here before I used to come often but believe it or not after being here 6 months this was my first visit! The variety of gravestones and memorials is really neat and I love reading them and just being amazed by some of the dates and how old they are. There are quite a few gravestones belonging to children, one has an epitaph that I always find really touching, She is not dead, she sleepeth. I love how everything is green and mossy, there were beautiful purple hyacinth blooming here and there, they were so fragrant. It's really a peaceful place and the Liverpool Cathedral is one of my favorite buildings in all of Europe. I know there are much more amazing cathedrals out there (Notre Dame, Sagrada Familia, etc) but the Liverpool Cathedral just has real presence on its hill. Plus coming to Liverpool in 2004 was my first time ever in Europe (first time on a plane actually) and so it was really the first big architecturally beautiful building I saw.

Just before heading home I backtracked a bit down to St. Luke's Church otherwise known as the 'bombed out church'. It is nothing more than an empty shell left standing after the Blitz of 1941. There used to be trees growing inside the church that peaked through the windows (at least I think they were trees they would have to be pretty tall to be seen from the windows) but now they're gone. It's still a very nice place to visit. My journey ended down Rodney Street to say hello to good ol' William MacKenzie sitting in his pyramid (sorry for the lame excuse of a short story yesterday - ha!) then it was home again home again jiggity-jig.

I took 100+ photos and have posted quite a few of them on my flickr page, just click on 'photos' in the top navigation bar and then click on the Liverpool album to view them. I really need to get a Pro account, the free account only allows you to have 200 photos visible and so now some of my Egypt photos are MIA. I wonder how many miles I walked... all I know is that I was gone for more than 3 hours! I really must do that more often, maybe drag some other people around with me. I'd like to make it out to Strawberry Fields again and just see as much of Liverpool as I can.

Sorry about the lack of reviews lately, I seem to be reading faster than I can write them up. Plus sometimes it feels like a chore and I don't like doing things that feel like homework. I will get around to them eventually but I think I'll stop promising to do so many by such and such time. I just really needed to get outside this weekend, I've been cooped up for too long. Now that we've sprung forward the sun sets just before 8 pm so there's a lot more daylight to get stuff done. I remember that in the summers it will be 11 pm and you can still just see a bit of sunlight on the horizon. It's going to get up to 59F/15C on Friday! Yippee!

. listening . send it up . vertical horizon . everything you want .

do you want to play?

2008-03-30T19:08:00.004+01:00

It was a dark and story night and notorious gambler, William MacKenzie was walking the streets of Liverpool. His goal was an old building in city centre where a Dutchman waited for him, a Dutchman wearing red shoes. During the past few months MacKenzie hadn't much luck when it came to playing poker, his continual losses had left him close to destitution. He was determined that tonight he would beat the Dutchman and gain back some of his pride.

As MacKenzie reached his destination he sent a quick prayer to no one in particular, "Please let me win". With a deep breath he reached for the iron knocker but quickly withdrew his hand, a searing pain chased up his fingers and up his arm. The knocker was hot. Behind him a child snickered, "Be careful Mister". MacKenzie turned around to tell the brat to mind its own business but found he was alone on the street. Frustrated, MacKenzie reached out and rapped on the red door with his knuckles.

An old butler opened the door slowly emitting a long creak. "Right this way sir, his lordship has been waiting."

When MacKenzie was shown into the drawing room the Dutchman leaped up from the table and shook his hand as a slow smile crept up under his moustache. "MacKenzie so good to see you again. I trust you brought a deck of cards?"

MacKenzie patted at this coat pockets and suddenly his face fell, "I seem to have forgotten them."

"Not a problem we can use mine. Would you like to inspect the deck before we begin playing?" the Dutchman handed him a red box of cards.

MacKenzie lifted the lid of the box and flipped over the top card, the Joker. Yet there was something about the face. He brought the card closer to his eye when suddenly the joker's face turned into a hideous devil. MacKenzie quickly shut the box and handed it back to the Dutchman, "No sir, I trust you. Shall we begin?"

The two played for a couple of hours while the wind picked up outside, moaning and groaning in the trees. MacKenzie's bad luck continued. He had nearly bitten through his lip when he realized that his life was over.

The Dutchman put his cards down, "I'm afraid good sir we must end this game. You have nothing more to give me... unless... no never mind."

"What? Unless what?" MacKenzie practically blurted in desperation.

The Dutchman smiled his greasy smile and begin shuffling the cards. "Let us play one more hand, if you win I will give you back all of your losses and double them."

"And if I lose?"

"If you lose you will give me your soul." The Dutchman continued to shuffle the cards eyeballing MacKenzie through his spectacles.

MacKenzie jumped up from his chair knocking it backwards. "Give you my soul?! Whatever do you mean sir?"

From out of the dark corner the old butler moved forward to right the chair. The Dutchman gestured for MacKenzie to be seated. "Please be seated my friend. There is nothing to fear, after all it is well known that you are an atheist so what is your soul to you? It is nothing. I am giving you the chance to win your purse back and more."

MacKenzie sat back in his chair, his mind racing, his heart beating fast. His collar was choking him and the shuffling of the cards was beginning to sound like a swarm of bees in his ears. "Fine. If I win you will return my losses, double. And if you win..." McKenzie swallowed, "I will give you my soul. But I will shuffle the cards."

"As you wish" the Dutchman handed him the deck of red cards.

The game was over before MacKenzie could even begin to contemplate what it was he had agreed to. The Dutchman laid his cards out in front of him, a Straight Flush. The blood drained from MacKenzie's face and his cards shook in his hand. "Sir lay your cards on the table," the Dutchman demanded with a smirk.

"It makes no matter." MacKenzie folded the cards close to his chest. "My soul is yours."

The Dutchman laughed and slammed his fist on the table, "You keep your soul."

MacKenzie looked up a glint of hope in his eye. The Dutchman quickly leaned across the table and grabbed MacKenzie by the wrist, "You keep your soul that is until your dead and buried," slowly he released his fingers, "and then it will be mine."

The old butler came forward once more and helped MacKenzie from his chair and guided him across the drawing room, into the hall and towards the front door. MacKenzie stopped in his tracks and quickly turned to the butler, "Who is that man?"

"He is nothing and everything, a fallen angel sir, now goodnight." MacKenzie was pushed out the door into the rainy streets of Liverpool.

Over the next few days MacKenzie grew sick with fright. What had he done? As his illness progressed he sent for his good friend and lawyer, Frank Dawson. MacKenzie told him what had happened and told him that no matter what he could not be buried, "Please Frank do not bury me. I have left instructions." MacKenzie gestured to an envelope on his nightstand, "I have no money but I know you will look after me, won't you Frank?"

Within a couple of hours MacKenzie drew his last breath. Frank closed his eyes and said a prayer. He opened the envelope and read his friend's letter. Although he believed them to be the ravings of a mad man he valued his friendship and saw that MacKenzie's last wishes were granted.

A pyramid was erected in the small church yard of St. Andrew's where William MacKenzie now sits above ground in front of a card table holding close to his chest a winning hand.

The End

I have of course taken great liberty in telling this tale but it is true that a William MacKenzie who was known to be a gambler was 'buried' inside this pyramid in 1851. And he is actually reported to be sitting at a card table with a winning hand clutched to his chest. It is not clear whether he sold his soul to the devil in order to win or if he actually gambled his soul in a game against a Dutchman who was actually the devil. The latter seems unlikely (but works nicely in a story). MacKenzie most likely believed that being buried above ground would cause his contract with the devil to be null and void but just in case the devil comes for him anyway he is prepared to play poker for all eternity. People since have claimed to have seen or have been haunted by the ghost of Mackenzie. The church at St. Andrew's is listed as a Historical Building and is under renovation and has been for quite some time. There was a rumor that the cemetery was going to be relocated. Hopefully this isn't true because it would be a shame to disturb the dead, and how on earth are they going to move that pyramid? And if they rebury MacKenzie in the ground will the devil come for his soul?

Wikipedia information on MacKenzie can be found here

. listening . ramona . guster . keep it together .

bookish notes

2008-03-29T15:45:00.003Z

I felt inpired last night to finish Middlemarch, actually I should say this morning since I finished a little after 2 am! And still I wasn't tired so I read the next short story in The Ladies of Grace Adieu - On Lickerish Hill. I loved Middlemarch, Virginia Woolf calls it "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people" (full review coming soon). It's amazing how attached one can become to characters especially if you spend 838 pages with them. I'm glad everything worked out the way it was supposed to. I really enjoy stories where the lives of characters unfold on the paper in front of you with no sense of hurry.

I just realized that the library here is a bit more advanced than I thought it was, I was able to make an online reservation for Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson and The Dirk Gently Omnibus by Douglas Adams (including the stories Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Dark Tea-Time of the Soul - both of which are on the 1001 list)

One of the things about working from the 1001 list is that I tend to get caught up in it and forget about other books that I want to read. It's not a huge deal because I've really enjoyed reading the books that I have, save for maybe 3 (Catcher in the Rye, Crash, Thursbitch). But some of the new books seen in the library, on amazon or other people's blogs have been catching my eye. Here are some that I'd like to check out eventually:

: How I Live Now . Meg Rosloff
: The Court of the Air . Stephen Hunt
: Mister Pip . Lloyd Jones
: Notes from an Exhibition . Patrick Gale
: The Testament of Gideon Mack . James Robertson
: Nefertiti . Michelle Moran
: The Red Leather Diary . Lily Koppel
: Half a Yellow Sun . Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
: The Diary of a Provincial Lady . E.M. Delafield

In reading about and trying to hunt down a copy of Miss Pettigrew... I discovered the delightful Persephone Books with their beautiful simple grey covers and they're gorgeous 'fabric' endpages. I must look into reading some of these titles or perhaps begin collecting them myself. Imagine my surprise while reading one of my regular blogs I learned that there is a Persephone bookstore (I think THE Persephone bookstore) in London (read her post here and check out her Persephone fairy cakes). I must make a visit!

And another cool bookish discovery this week, you can now design your own book covers on a selection of 13 classical novels, brought to you by Penguin, the My Penguin series is really neat! "That cover is naked! Put something on it!" I'm no artist but I still think it would be pretty fun to design a cover.

For all of you who are tackling the mountain of pages that is Les Misérables there is now a blog here for you to join and discuss your thoughts and progress. Sign up any time there is no time limit, everyone can read at their own pace.

This weekend's plans include finishing The Voyage Out, catch up on Les Misérables, possibly finish The Ladies of Grace Adieu, visit the library on Sunday and pick up some more books, and write up at least 3 book reviews. Oh and I musn't forget to spring forward on Sunday!

Tomorrow, the story of the Liverpudlian Pyramid...

. listening . latest mistake . mandy moore . wild hope .

charmed

2008-03-28T17:32:00.005Z

Charmed... that is what I feel like today! I finally got a good night's sleep, a full 10 hours!! I know sounds like too much, but I've been lying awake for hours on end the past few nights with my brain on overdrive, finally falling asleep around 3 am then waking around 8 am. I am and have always been a must have 8 hours of sleep or I'm not very happy kind of person (I can survive on less if I absolutely have to but prefer to have 8 hours).

A graveyard in bloom in St. Andrew's Church Yard
Today has pretty much been a lazy day. It was raining this morning as I laid in bed reading from Middlemarch then a bit from The Voyage Out (I love how the Dalloways make an appearance in Woolf's first novel). The sun started to creep out, and having an entire wall as a window my room began to get nice and warm and I started to feel a bit sleepy. So like a kitten I curled up in my super soft sheets and took a wee little nap. But then I jolted awake thinking "Good God there's sun!" I needed to get my butt outside before it disappears because as I said yesterday the forecast shows rain for the next 5 days. After a quick shower I grabbed my camera and headed to the little cemetery on Rodney Street (more on that later). I got some pretty good photos, the pyramid was lit up by the sun and it was just perfect.

Then not wanting to go straight home I crossed the street to check out a little used bookstore. What a charming (that is my new word) place! Wooden floors that creak, shelves and shelves of books in absolute no order so it is a real treasure hunt, and there were some treasures: little old cloth bound copies of Emma and Pride and Prejudice for £2, a red hardbound copy of Nicholas Nickleby with gold foil lettering and much much more. I was hoping to spot a copy of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. I'm going out of my mind people, I want so desperately to read this book. I just can't buy the brand new copy sitting in Waterstones without feeling waves of guilt, £12 (or $24) can get me through a week of food. Wait, I just checked the Liverpool library website and they finally ordered 1 copy! 1 copy for the entire city! It's at a different branch so I'll have to put it on reserve.

But I digress... back to the little green used bookstore... I did not buy anything, I was just browsing but I think I'll be back. So yes creaky wood floors, a ton of books and the old man looking over the store was sitting in an old wooden chair behind a wooden table with a crackling fire by his side, yes a real fire in a real fireplace. And to make sure we all remember that we are in the 21st century, before him on the table was a laptop. It was just too much! It really made me smile and that let me tell you hasn't happened in awhile.

I popped into Tesco before going home knowing full well that the sandwiches would be all sold out because it was going on 2 pm but I was wrong! There were sandwiches, but more importantly there was the BLT I had been craving! Happiness!

Song or Mistle Thrush busy eating worms
Between Tesco and my flat there's a little strip of green grass with trees. Last weekend I spotted a bird I had never seen before, a brown bird about the size of a pigeon with a spotted chest, quite beautiful. I researched it on the internet when I got home and it's either a song thrush or a mistle thrush, both birds look very similar with the mistle thrush being about 2 inches longer. Everytime I walk by now I look out for him/her. Well today having my camera on hand I was really hoping to spot it so I could snap its photo for my birdwatching mom. There it was hopping along whipping worms out of the ground, it looked like it was eating from a plate of spaghetti. I got a few pics but then it moved too far away to get a real good shot. I turned a bit to the right and there was another one, a bigger one with the same spotted chest but brighter and more defined. It was going at the worms as well until a pigeon swooped down on it trying to steal its worm which resulted in both thrushes crying out and flying off one up into the tree the other to another lawn. I'm afraid my pictures of them are less than stellar but I blame my sad little camera, it's only a 3.1 MP with 3x zoom... my other nicer camera was stolen in Mexico last summer. *sigh*

Song or Mistle Thrush
But anyway that was my Friday, the rest of the evening will be spent reading from Middlemarch, The Voyage Out, Les Misérables and The Ladies of Grace Adieu. Definitely not going outside this evening it's grey and rainy again.

. listening . end it on this . no doubt . tragic kingdom .

cold comfort farm

2008-03-28T16:39:00.002Z

Title :: Cold Comfort Farm
Author :: Stella Gibbons
Completed :: Mar 13 2008
Challenges :: 888 Challenge : 1001 Books
Rating :: 4/5

This is not a cold book - it is absolutely warm, witty and full of charm. It is a Austen, Waugh and Wodehouse latté! What would you do if your parents passed away leaving you £100 a year (keeping in mind that this was a sufficient fund) and you had absolutely no desire to work? Why you spend a few days in London living it up with your good friend, shopping, theatre-going, dining with attractive men. But then it hits you that although you could care less for employment you do desire to do something good and surely your many relatives in the country are infested with problems that need solving. So you pull out your prettiest stationary and you begin to write to those relatives relaying your sad news and requesting a place to stay. Letters go out to every corner of the country with responses that leave you feeling dull and utterly bored until you open the letter addressed from Cold Comfort Farm...

The beautiful Flora packs her trunk and takes with her a valuable copy of The Higher Common Sense, an essential volume which she hopes will aid her in her stay at Aunt Ada Doom's farm. Judith Starkadder, Flora's cousin and acting matron of the farm responded to Flora's letter saying if she must come then she must come since she owes it to her for what was done to Flora's father (a mystery that is never cleared up in the novel as far as I know). Flora immediately sets to the task of solving the problems of the entire farm, of which there are many. From introducing the maid to the idea of contraception, to making over Elfine so that she can marry her true love, to freeing Judith from her obsession with her son Seth via a physchoanalyst. As people begin to leave the farm to follow their destiny Aunt Ada Doom goes into hysterics, declaring that she saw something in the barn over and over (something which darnit is never explained). Armed with copies of Vogue Flora introduces Aunt Ada Doom to the 20th century and sets her loose into the world, specifically Paris.

The whole book is a riot, I love stories where the main character enters a situation where they try to change and solve everything to the betterment of those involved. The names of the farm cows are also a hoot, Aimless, Feckless, Pointless and Graceless and we musn't forget the bull, Big Business! Absolutely delightful! And I'm so pleased to learn that there is a collection of short stories that act as a sort of prequel titled Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm and a sequel titled Conference at Cold Comfort Farm. I must try to track those down because I have high hopes that they are just as funny as this novel.

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . 155 . +44 . when your heart stops beating .

water for elephants

2008-03-28T11:14:00.004Z

Title :: Water for Elephants
Author :: Sara Gruen
Completed :: Mar 12 2008
Challenges :: 888 Challenge
Rating :: 4/5

A dazzling view behind the curtain of the glamorous big top. Life in the circus as I'm sure you can well imagine was as topsy-turvy as bears juggling and elephants dancing. I like how the author really captured the feeling of the circus as its own little world with its own rules and its own segregation. The sheer possibility of living on a train, pulling into a city and popping up tents and putting on a "world class" act is fascinating. I wonder if the idea of it just sounds romantic and adventurous or if for some it actually was. I'm sure for many it was hell, especially if you lived in the lowest rung of circus life, as a working man.

Most of the story takes place during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The protagonist, Jacob Jankowski is a veterinarian in training, a student at Cornell University preparing to take his final exams and to begin his life working with his father, but tragedy strikes and Jacob's life changes. Unable to face his exams Jacob runs away and jumps a train which he soon realizes belongs to the traveling circus, The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. After meeting a few of the working class he soon befriends a man named Camel who helps him get a job. Eventually Jacob catches the eye of Uncle Al, the owner and is brought to his car. When Uncle Al discovers that Jacob is an 'almost' veterinarian he immediately hires him on as the circus vet. Jacob begins working under the head trainer, August a man who oozes cruelty and will anger you more than once.

It's not long before Jacob is faced with the brutalities and hierarchy of circus life. But this is not just a story about the circus, there is the unavoidable love triangle when Jacob becomes increasingly fascinated with Marlena, the star of the show, a beautiful woman with a heart for animals only there's one problem, she's married to August. When I heard that the love story was of a Romeo and Juliet nature I thought it was going to be cheesy but it somehow manages to highlight the overall theme of managing morals in this type of life as well as acting on one's emotions.

I thought the story was beautiful and I liked how the author included archived photos of circus life in the 1930s. The author's note in the back was interesting. How horrific that in NYC during the time there was a public execution of an elephant that killed his handler after having a cigarette put inside its mouth. But this wasn't just any old execution, Thomas Edison was invited out to give a demonstration of the powers of electricity by electrocuting the poor elephant. I was shocked! (no pun intended)

Other Thoughts ::
: the 3 r's: reading, 'riting and randomness
: reading adventures
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . throw me away . korn . korn unplugged .

books and statues

2008-03-27T17:47:00.008Z

I wasn't going to go to the library yesterday, I was going to abstain until the weekend but I just had to get new books. I had to power walk cause I got carried away talking about books and other things with my friend over tarts and tea and suddenly realized the library closed in 50 min! I got there with a half an hour to spare and I walked quickly up and down aisles with my list trying to locate books and getting pretty frustrated. I'm sure I mentioned before that the collection at this particular branch is a bit sparse. I really wanted to pick up a couple Jeanette Winterson books and Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally which said it was in but no luck on either account.

I did get away with the following :
: Crash . J.G. Ballard - on the 1001 List, finished reading this today and good God what a bizarre and quite disturbing book and no it is not the book that inspired the Academy Award winning film, Crash of 2004 - but it was made into a movie of the same title in 1996 starring James Spader. Just a warning the book is quite pornographic and a bit grotesque in its descriptions of car crashes and sex. Full review coming soon!

: The Ladies of Grace Adieu . Susanna Clarke - after reading a bit from Crash I needed some nice reading before going to bed so I cracked Clarke's newest book open and read the first short story also titled The Ladies of Grace Adieu. Jonathan Strange of Clarke's first novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is featured, this short story is actually referred to in footnote 46 of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I bought that book last summer when the hardback was on sale for $5 at Borders and I started to read it but then I got so wrapped up in preparing to move to Liverpool and trying to read my ever growing library stacks that I never finished it. I've listed it as a book to read for the 888 Challenge so I will get to it before the end of the year.

: Saturday . Ian McEwan - on the 1001 List and part of the 888 Challenge, the novel takes place in London just before the US announced that it was going to war with Iraq. The main character, Perowne is growing uneasy with the state of the world and when a car accident (jeez what's with all the car accidents!?) brings him into contact with Baxter, a fidgety agressive man Perowne and his family may be in danger.

: The Female Quixote . Charlotte Lennox - on the 1001 List and part of the 888 Challenge, I have to say the title of this one has been catching my eye for some time, having read Don Quixote last year and absolutely loving it. The description sounds charming: Arabella reads French novels and paints a picture of her life as adventurous and deeply romantic. After her father's death she learns that she must marry her cousin, Glanville in order to keep part of the estate. But Arabella has a private code of conduct which does not allow her to take any role but center stage in the drama of her own life; her literary heroines are always in control. Sounds delicious! A quick flip through it has just revealed that there are no quotations used during scenes of dialogue so will have to pay attention.

: The First Century After Beatrice . Amin Maalouf - the author's name caught my eye when I was browsing the shelves on a previous visit to the library and I memorized the location so that I could check it out on my next visit. And as always the book had moved but luckily I found it again! May your name live forever and a son be born to you (an ancient Egyptian prayer) A French entomologist attends a symposium in Cairo where he finds a curious bean being sold in the market. It is claimed that the bean, derived from the scarab beetle has magic powers; specifically the power to guarantee the birth of a male infant. The entomologist conducts research and soon discovers that the rate of female births is becoming increasingly rare, he believes that the world has entered into a critical phase of history. He begins to question the validity of gender bias and attempts to redress the growing inbalance before it reaches irreversible proportions. But the poverty and famine of the South, where male children can mean the difference between survival and starvation, the popularity of the scarab beans is already taking devestating effect. It is a short novel, 192 pgs and was winner of the 1993 Prix Goncourt.

: The Plot Against America . Philip Roth - on the 1001 List and part of the 888 Challenge, I've heard Roth can be difficult to read but I'm willing to give it a try. This novel takes place during the fictitious Lindbergh presidency in 1940 which caused fear to invade Jewish households in America. Lindbergh publicly blamed the Jews for pushing America towards a pointless war with Nazi Germany and upon taking office he negotiated a cordial 'understanding' with Adolf Hitler. Roth recounts what it was like for his Newark family and for a million such families during the menacing years of the Lindbergh presidency when American Jews had every reason to expect the worst.

The days are getting longer and we actually had some sun yesterday. As I was leaving the library the sun was lighting up some of the buildings and statues across the way from the library so it was time to whip out the camera and take some pictures.

(you can view them all by clicking on 'photos' on the top navigation bar, once you're on the flickr page just click on the album titled Liverpool 2007/2008)

Even though the forecast shows that the next 5 days will be overcast with rain I hope to get a bit of sun this weekend so I can go pyramid hunting. There's a small cemetery located nearby squeezed between two buildings and inside the cemetery is a pyramid. I took a picture of it (of course) when I lived here in 2004 but I have since learned the story behind the pyramid. The picture is on a disc back home so I need a new one and then I will post it here and tell you all the story behind Liverpool's Pyramid.

Now that I'm fairly certain that I'll be returning home this summer there's so much to see and do here and plenty of photographs to take! I can't believe next week we're already in April, and then it'll be May and I'll be on my way to the island!

This is one of the delicious strawberry and rhubarb tarts I made for Easter dessert. It was actually pretty good, it was my first time using rhubarb in a recipe. I made darn sure there were no leafy bits anywhere on the rhubarb before chopping it up, I got scared after reading that the leaves are toxic! Didn't want to give any one a bellyache. These are very nice with fresh cream drizzled over them while they're hot. The recipe is here if you want to give them a shot, they're pretty easy and well worth it.

. listening . intuition . feist . the reminder .

more jeeves

2008-03-26T12:12:00.001Z

For those interested in reading from the Jeeves & Wooster sagas by P.G. Wodehouse and are curious about the order, I've compiled a list here based on a couple found on Wikipedia.

There are 39 short stories and 11 novels :

: The Man With Two Left Feet (1917 - 13 short stories, only Extricating Young Gussie features for the first time Jeeves, Bertie and Aunt Agatha)
: My Man Jeeves (1919 - 8 short stories, 4 about Jeeves, 4 about Reggie Pepper)
: The Inimitable Jeeves (1923 - US title: Jeeves - 11 short stories related to each other)
: Carry On, Jeeves (1925 - 10 short stories, 5 repeated in some form from My Man Jeeves)
: Very Good, Jeeves (1930 - 11 short stories)
: Thank You, Jeeves (1934 - first full length novel)
: Right Ho, Jeeves (1934 - US title: Brinkley Manor)
: The Code of the Woosters (1938)
: Joy in the Morning (1946 - US title: Jeeves in the Morning)
: The Mating Season (1949)
: Ring for Jeeves (1953 - US title: The Return of Jeeves)
: Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit (1954 - US title: Bertie Wooster Sees Through It)
: A Few Quick Ones (1959 - 10 short stories, only Jeeves Makes an Omelette features Jeeves, a retelling of a Reggie Pepper story originally told in My Man Jeeves)
: Jeeves in the Offing (1960 - US title: How Right You Are, Jeeves)
: Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (1963)
: Plum Pie (1966 - 9 short stories, only Jeeves and the Greasy Bird features Jeeves)
: Much Obliged, Jeeves (1971 - US title: Jeeves and the Tie That Binds)
: Aunts Aren't Gentleman (1974 - US title: The Cat-nappers)

To really confuse everyone there are several omnibuses out there that seem to collect the stories in different ways. Either in collections of short stories, the best of or the stories are collected by location; i.e. Life at Blandings only contains stories that take place at Blandings. From this I really get the feeling that the stories can be enjoyed in any order. Hope this helps anyone who was interested in taking up a Jeevesian novel. And don't forget Wodehouse wrote several other novels, short stories and series. For the entire list click here.

. listening . my blue heaven . taking back sunday . louder now .

thank you, jeeves

2008-03-25T18:17:00.002Z

Title :: Thank You, Jeeves
Author :: P.G. Wodehouse
Completed :: Mar 08 2008
Challenges :: 1001 Books
Rating :: 4/5

I've seen the Jeeves & Wooster books at the library here and know they're quite popular. There's even a TV series which I'd like to catch, especially since Hugh Laurie portrays Wooster and Stephen Fry is Jeeves. When I first saw that the book was on THE LIST I thought it was odd but I suppose Wodehouse really made a name for himself with these books and it is said that his work was admired by Evelyn Waugh, Rudyard Kipling, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams and Salman Rushdie. Thank You, Jeeves can be read without having read any of the others in the series (I wonder if that's the case with all of them) which, I was thankful of. The story was absolutely delightful and full of British charm.

The story begins with Wooster's return from New York where he wooed a young lady, became engaged but when a doctor, Sir Roderick Glossop butts in and declares the future marriage unsound Wooster leaves the States a bachelor. Sir Glossop turns up at Wooster's flat and demands that he cease playing his banjolele as it is harmful to the nerves of the lady living below. Wooster vows he'll never stop playing and decides to move to the country. Unfortunately Jeeves is also a bit distressed over the banjolele and resigns from his post. But not to fear the two are not separated when Jeeves takes a post with Wooster's friend Chuffy (or Lord Chuffnell) in the country. The real adventures begin when Chuffy receives an American millionaire, J. Washburn Stoker and his beautiful daughter Pauline, the same American beauty that Wooster engaged himself to. The tale continues with a string of misunderstandings, mistaken identities, mischeif, kidnappings, a house burning down and a hunt for butter.

Such a charming book that had me giggling at several incidents. I really think in the future I'll look into reading more of Wooster and Jeeves.

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . to you i bestow . mundy . romeo + juliet soundtrack .

slaughterhouse-five

2008-03-25T17:58:00.003Z

Title :: Slaughterhouse-five
Author :: Kurt Vonnegut
Completed :: Mar 04 2008
Challenges :: 1001 Books
Rating :: 2/5

I've been wanting to read Vonnegut for awhile but I have to be honest I wasn't impressed with this book. It was witty and original but just not my cup of tea, not to mention the fact that I really don't dig stories involving aliens... This was another case of expecting a certain type of story, having no idea where I got such an idea but in any case being absolutely off. Oh well, there were a few chuckles here and there. And it's on THE LIST and now I've read it. Sorry this is probably the worst review ever!

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . mr. zebra . tori amos . tales of a librarian.

the novella challenge

2008-03-25T14:49:00.021Z

I know another challenge... but I was going to read these anyway so why not participate? Using the definition that a novella is a story consisting roughly of 100-250 pages, pick 6 novellas to read between April and September 2008. And hey prizes are involved! To sign up and/or to get a list of novellas click here.

Completed novellas are in red.

01 : The Passion . Jeanette Winterson
02 : The Uncommon Reader . Alan Bennett (review)
03 : The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie . Muriel Spark (review)
04 : Shopgirl . Steve Martin
05 : Written on the Body . Jeanette Winterson
06 : Death in Venice . Thomas Mann

Extra Credit :
07 : The First Century After Beatrice . Amin Maalouf (review)
08 : One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich . Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
09 : The Reader . Bernard Schlink
10 : The Sorrows of Young Werther . Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
11 : The Outsider . Albert Camus (review)
12 : The Lonely Londoners . Sam Selvon
13 : A Room With a View . E.M. Forster
14 : The Thirty-Nine Step . John Buchan
15 : The Postman Always Rings Twice . James M. Cain

(and I'm sure I'll be adding more)

. listening . life uncommon . jewel . spirit .

once upon a time... again

2008-03-22T09:33:00.013Z

It is time to slip into the worlds of fantasy, folklore, fairy tale and mythology. The Second Once Upon A Time Challenge began yesterday (ooops but just heard about it) and runs through June 20th, Midsummer Night's Eve (of course). I took part in this challenge last year and completed it only... I was a bit of a bad girl and didn't post any reviews. But I swear an oath that will not be the case this year.

I have accepted the challenge that lies in Quest the Third: fullfill the requirements for Quest the First or Quest the Second AND top it off with a June reading of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. In this case I will be guided through Quest the First: read at least 5 books that fit in the categories of fantasy, folklore, fairy tale or mythology. Books can be read from one category or any combination you choose.

To join in the fun or to find out about the other quests go here! To read everyone's reviews go here!

My choices :: (completed books are in red)
01 : The Complete Fairy Tales . Oscar Wilde
02 : Northern Lights . Philip Pullman
03 : The Subtle Knife . Philip Pullman
04 : The Ladies of Grace Adieu . Susanna Clarke (review)
05 : Un Lun Dun . China Miéville
06 : A Midsummer Night's Dream . Shakespeare

Good luck to everyone else in the challenge - can't wait to check out other people's lists, progress and reviews!

. listening . cold . crossfade . crossfade .

slipping into the weekend

2008-03-21T23:48:00.004Z

Last year's Easter Canada goslings
Tomorrow is Saturday... I had to keep telling myself that today, it just didn't feel like a Friday. My days have been off since Thursday. I guess today felt a bit weird cause the city is so quiet, all the students having escaped back home or wherever. TV was devoted to back to back movies. I guess Easter weekend has begun!

It's supposed to be nice and cold tomorrow and wet and probably windy... but I'm going to make the best of it. Today for at least an hour if not longer I was able to sit near my window and feel the heat of the sun. I almost waned to purr like a happy little kitten. You see one entire wall of my room is a window so the doom and gloom of grey skys really does get to me. I covet those days or even hours of sun! Hopefully tomorrow I can catch a still moment to run into town and if the library is open exchange some finished books for new ones. I need to pick up some laundry detergent, eggs and mustard in order to make deviled eggs and either berries or apples depending on what looks good at the fruit market to make some rustic tarts for Easter dessert. I think it'll do me good to bake something. I'm starting to regret not having had a birthday cake, I'm pretty sure this is the first year it's happened. I suppose I can whip one up anytime and declare it my birthday cake but I crave the traditional Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip (or Fun Chip as I think it's called now) with Rainbow Chip frosting. Yum! Sadly not available here...

Wait for me mom!
I'm well into Middlemarch now and should have it finished by next Sunday. It is the very definition of a Victorian novel, well my definition anyway. So many lives and incidents are involved and the story unfolds at a leisurely pace that each chapter requires chewing, contemplation and slow digestion. That is why I whipped out my trusty post it tabs and broke it down into a manageable 36 some odd pages a day so that I could take my time but at the same time finish it in a reasonable amount of time. I'm pretty sure I could devote all my reading time to it if I really wanted to but I would definitely have to be in the mood otherwise I might get frustrated, bored and end up putting it aside. Breaking it up allows me to enjoy it while having the freedom to read another book (or 3) at the same time.

190 pages into Les Misérables and so far it has captured my attention. Unlike Middlemarch I feel at this stage I'd be able to read Les Mis comfortablely in one go. This is my first Hugo novel and I can tell it's going to be epic (as if the 1463 pages didn't give that away...). I'll read 50 more pages tomorrow to reach my goal of 240 pages a week. I liked the description of Monsieur Madeleine's library "[it]was small but well chosen. He loved books; books are cold but sure friends" Amen to that!

I'm nearly done with Bee Season. I've been wanting to read this book I think since it was published back in 2000 and somehow I kept overlooking it. Then when the movie was released (which I have yet to see) I was reminded that I wanted to read it and again it was forgotten. Well finally I checked it out and it's pretty darn good. I can really relate to the sibling rivalry and being jealous when my sister was given attention as if I deserved it all. I like to think I've grown out of that but every now and then I can turn a very pale shade of green, but nothing like when I was younger! I was almost always a giant green rampaging monster! Ha! No longer speaking from personal experience, I'm interested in the overall theme of being pushed by parents to be more than what may even be possible. Or being pushed aside because you've already been deemed smart enough, no longer needing help or support. Lots of good themes going on eager to see how they all merge together.

16 DUCKLINGS!!! I hope this is Duck Daycare otherwise mom might fly the coop!
The fourth book playing host to a bookmark is A Passage to India. Finally cracking it open after checking it out almost 5 weeks ago. Can't say much about at this point as I've barely begun - only on page 8 but I liked Forster's Where Angels Fear to Tread so I have high hopes. Plus friends have said it's good.

Wish I had an idea of what I'll be bringing home from the library tomorrow, but I haven't a clue. I have a long list and can only check out 6 more. Besides I'm not even sure if the library is open tomorrow. It normally is on Saturdays but maybe because of the holiday... would be nice if they would post holiday hours on their website but well not every library system can be the best.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and for all of those who celebrate Easter either religiously or commercially I hope you and yours have a great one!

. listening . echolot . wir sind helden . von hier an blind .

the diving bell and the butterfly

2008-03-20T14:01:00.001Z

Title :: The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly
Author :: Jean-Dominique Bauby
Completed :: Mar 02 2008
Rating :: 4/5

I am alive, I can think, and no one has the right to deny me these two realities.

Ignoring the fact that this book was written by a man blinking his left eye as letters of the alphabet were read aloud this book is amazing. It is the story of Bauby's 'cardiovascular accident' which obviously is life changing when it leaves him in a coma and upon waking leaves him locked inside of his body only able to move his left eyelid. But the story itself is not depressing, sure it's sad and maybe a bit emotional but it is inspiring. Bauby comes to realize that though he may be living life as if "a giant invisible diving-bell holds [his] whole body prisoner" his "mind takes flight like a butterfly".

There is so much to do. You can wander off in space or in time, set out for Tierra del Fuego or for King Midas's court. You can visit the woman you love, slide down beside her and stroke her still-sleeping face. You can build castles in Spain, steal the Golden Fleece, discover Atlantis, realize your childhood dreams and adult ambitions.

Bauby is not shy in sharing his frustrations of not being able to communicate. Certain staff members at the hospital get on his nerves when they come into his room and turn off the TV while he's watching a football match - only he can't shout at them to turn the TV back on. Or one of the staff forgets to return to his room to turn the TV off and it's left on all night keeping him awake. When his speech therapist, Sandrine, develops a communication code Bauby is given the opportunity to speak out but unfortunately only to those who are patient and take the the time to learn the special alphabet. Instead of using A-B-C Sandrine created an alphabet according to the frequency of use of a particular letter in the French language - E-S-A-R-I-N-T.

A couple of weeks ago I went to see the The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly in the theatre and it was absolutely gorgeous. The director really caught the atmosphere and by using mostly the point of view of Bauby the audience really gets a feeling for how his life is, how he sees the world. I also thought the colors were perfect, can't really explain it but nothing was harsh it was mostly soft blues, teals and whites - it's very artistic. I heard quite a few sniffles throughout the movie. I didn't feel as emotional as others perhaps because I was going into the movie having already read the book so maybe I was a bit more prepared and knew what to expect.

I was however rather moved at one point in the film when Bauby's father calls him. His father is obviously upset that he can't visit his son, as he's 93 years old and can't make it down the stairs to leave his apartment. He tells his son that like him he's also trapped. The entire phone call is frustrating because his father doesn't have a very good short term memory and keeps forgetting what he wants to tell his son. Something that is not helped when he has to wait patiently for the nurse to read out the alphabet and wait for Bauby to blink at the letter he wants in order to answer his father. Both father and son end the call in tears. The scene is really touching and really got to me.

In the copy of the book that I have, Bauby's obituary is included and I was especially moved by this passage :

He is also in search of past time, of memory itself, of the books he has read, the poems he learned by heart; even more sad, he thinks of all the books he wanted to read and hadn't done so.

Bauby's book was first published on March 7 1997 and he died two days later of heart failure at the age of 44. But he lived long enough to witness the success of his book with 25,000 copies being sold on it's first day of publication in France. His story is truly inspiring.

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . make you smile . +44 . when your heart stops beating .

sexing the cherry

2008-03-20T13:15:00.002Z

Title :: Sexing the Cherry
Author :: Jeanette Winterson
Completed :: Feb 28 2008
Challenges :: 1001 Books
Rating :: 4/5

Are we all living like this? Two lives, the ideal outer life and the inner imaginative life where we keep our secrets?

This book while seeming a bit bizarre on the surface is actually a fabulous narrative on life and fantasy. I loved Winterson's historical facts and creative retelling of the story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. Sure they lived happily ever after but not with their husbands. Ha!

The story has two narratives, the female voice of The Dog Woman, an apparently grotesque woman whose skirt could be used to sail a ship, and poc marks big enough for fleas to live in. Yet she commands the respect of her adopted son as well as some of the locals, who are afraid of her. She doesn't appear to feel any remorse when it comes to murdering those who stand in her way or those who disagree with tradition. The male voice is that of The Dog Woman's adopted son, Jordan. She finds him floating along the river á la Moses and takes him into her care. Jordan eventually takes to sailing and leaves his mother to explore, inspired by the sight of his first ever banana. He also becomes obsessed with finding the location of the 12th Dancing Princess.

Like I said this book is a bit bizarre but it works. I think I liked it because there were a lot of humourous passages. These are just a couple of my favorites :

We file past every Sunday to humble ourselves and stay clean for another week, but I have noticed a bulge here and there where all should be quiet and God-like.

... I discovered from my time in the brothel that men's members, if bitten off or otherwise severed, do not grow again. This seems a great mistake on the part of nature, since men are so careless with their members and will put them anywhere without thinking. I believe they would force them in a hole in the wall if no better could be found.

This last quote sums up how I feel sometimes - I seem to always want to escape from wherever it is I am.

Outwardly nothing is changing for me, but inwardly I am not always here, sitting by a rotting river. I can still escape. Escape from what? The present? Yes, from this foreground that blinds me to whatever may be happening in the distance. If I have a spirit, a soul, any name will do, then it won't be single, it will be multiple. Its dimension will not be one of confinement but one of space. It may inhabit numerous changing decaying bodies in the future and in the past.

I felt this book was a lot different from Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit which I've since learned was actually a biography of Winterson's life. I'm curious to read more of her work. I think I'd like to check out The Passion, Gut Symmetries, The Powerbook, Lighthousekeeing and The Stone Gods.

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . hey girl . dashboard confessional . a mark, a mission, a brand, a scar .

spring break

2008-03-19T11:11:00.004Z

Spring break officially started on Monday and will last until April 6th! 3 weeks! Unfortunately I have no travel plans. The original plan was to fly home but that was too expensive and then I was going to maybe do a small trip somewhere in Europe or even around England but all my funds went into the big Rhodes trip in May. Who knows maybe I'll go somewhere close or maybe I'll just stay here in the 'Pool and tuck into several good books. I've got to do a bit of work as well and I also need to made a decision about my future here...

Right now I'm reading Middlemarch - 402 pages (about half way) into it and I'm really enjoying it. I hope to finish it by the end of the month (should do - I have it all tabbed out). My copy of Les Misérables finally arrived last week, I'm only 20 pages into it right now but I'm going to shoot for about 240 pages a week, which means I should finish it in 6 weeks. And I'm reading The Namesake - a much much shorter book than the last two. I've got all the books listed to the right to read as well before they're due on the 30th. So lots of good reading to do!

Can't believe Easter is this weekend. Luckily I've been invited over to to a friend's house for dinner so I won't be alone. I plan on whipping up some deviled eggs and maybe a dessert. Yesterday I was over to their house for tea. I brought the box of Peeps bunnies my mom sent me for Easter. They don't sell them here and so I thought I'd share an American treat. We put them on tea biscuits and stuck them into the micro for like 5 secs, watching them get all bloated! They were delicious and I think they were a hit.

So tomorrow is the first day of spring and it's still pretty Arctic here - well you know Arctic in my standards - only a high of 50F/10C tomorrow - that's just not spring! Especially when I compare that with home where the high tomorrow is 84F/29C. So unfair! Oh well it will warm up eventually.

. listening . pawn shop . sublime . sublime .

missing arizona

2008-03-13T23:57:00.001Z

Palo Verde in Bloom
The more I contemplate returning home the more I realize I really miss it. Just look at that blue sky, the sunshine, the beautiful blossoming trees. Now I know I'll miss Liverpool too, part of the reason I returned was because I did so much. But the love of a place is not always the right reason to stay in that place. And it's becoming more and more obvious that being in Liverpool and so close to the rest of the world weighed heavily on my choice in coming here. I know I'm seriously homesick right now. And I'm super jealous of the 80+ temps versus the 40 degree windy, rainy, sunless weather here. I've definitely got a bout of SADD. I had planned on going home for spring break since we get 3 weeks here because UK school systems have terms instead of semesters but I just couldn't afford to do it. I'm living on a US loan and with the exchange rate I'm not given much after they take my tuition and room and board. *sigh*

Close up of Palo Verde in bloom.

Fishhook Cactus in bloom
And I miss the giraffes at the zoo even if I haven't seen them in over a year. I've just been going through old pictures and stumbled upon these and was remembering what a great day that was. It was New Years Day last year and we managed to get there when the giraffes were being fed. I've never seen them so close before. They're very majestic and unusual looking creatures. I'm reminded of a book I read back in 2006 called Giraffe by J.M. Ledgard - holy cow that book was a tear jerker and left me feeling really sad but please don't let that deter you it was a beautiful book. I just can't believe the cruelty that exists in this world. At least there is a zoo here, in Chester. In fact after my naughty little obsession of watching Home and Away at 6 pm a show called Zoo Days comes on and it's all about life at Chester Zoo. It looks really nice and I've heard nothing but good things about it. Luckily I know someone with a car so hopefully I can manage a trip out there soon.

Giraffes at the Phoenix Zoo - I love the one in the front sticking out his tongue!

Giraffes at the Phoenix Zoo - this poor guy finally managed to get a bit of food and the rest of them followed him around everywhere trying to steal it. Ha!
I finished reading Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons this morning. That really was a wonderful book - it was really a combination of P.G. Wodehouse, Evelyn Waugh and Jane Austen. I loved it! Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen was also excellent but again a sad story about animals. I'm really going to try to catch up on my book reviews this next week since I'm "off". Hope everyone has a great Friday!

. listening . don't . jewel . pieces of you .

in which she makes a tough decision...

2008-03-11T19:44:00.000Z

Do I stay or do I go? This is where I think I'm at, the fork in the road. Life in Liverpool has been difficult - well I should say academic life. I have not felt very welcome here by the staff, my fellow colleagues have been great but unfortunately that's not going to carry me very far.

The problem is that I was accepted here based on my proposal of studying archaeological aspects of prayer during the New Kingdom. It sounded feasible to me. I love studying religion especially in Egypt and I have an archaeological background. Now on day 1 I met with my supervisor and left completely shocked! Apparently in his opinion a research project like this could not be completed by me because I don't have the background (i.e. I don't have a BA in Egyptology) and I could never learn enough in 3 years time to even attempt this project. Now I say I was shocked because I couldn't understand why in 9 months time nobody notified me of this via email. I completed my MA at this school so they know me and my background and if they forgot my entire academic history was written in my CV. So what conclusion am I to come to other than I was accepted because as an international student I bring in more money (a lot more money) and as a statistic I look great?

Ok well here I am in Liverpool I've got to make this work. So I contacted my mentor back home and discussed a few ideas. It was at this point I was given permission to use data coming out of our excavation in Egypt. Wow! Such a rare opportunity! Over the next few days I chewed on the idea trying to figure out how I could make this into a project. At the end of my first week I met with the Graduate Tutor to tell him that my first project had been rejected and here's what I've come up with. They agreed that the project sounded good and it was suggested that I talk to another instructor in the department about being my secondary supervisor since my current one would absolutely be wrong for this new direction. I went to see them and they seemed to be thrilled that I had the opportunity to use new data - because I'm telling you it is very rare! Everything seemed to be fine.

My primary supervisor however, seemed to have lost interest in me and my project and seemed to use our meetings as a forum of nothing but criticism. Now I can handle criticism, in fact I appreciate it BUT constructive criticism is of more use to me than wasting my time basically telling me in so many words that I'm stupid and they don't understand why I'm even here. If there's a problem with something I'm doing I want to know why and I would like some feedback as to what I can do to fix the situation so I don't continue to repeat it. I am only in my first year as a PhD student I'm in the process of learning what it means to be a research student and how to go about doing my research. Cut me some slack! Don't hold my hand but some direction would be nice. Especially since with a project change I'm starting from square one.

By December and buckets of tears later I realized this was no good. This was an unhealthy supervisor/student relationship. It is widely believed that students should feel comfortable having tea with their supervisor - ummmmm.... ABSOLUTELY NOT! I sought advice from the graduate college as I truly felt that was the first place to go. And I'll admit I was very upset and was in tears. It was their advice to speak to the faculty head (going over quite a few heads) to get this situated. Unfortunately I was not able to meet with them before Christmas break and then I was off to Egypt (thank God because working in the field and talking with my mentor got me excited again about my work as well as boosted my ego and made me realize that I'm not stupid). Anyway I've talked to a string of people now and the process is still being dragged out.

I had a meeting last Thursday with the Graduate Tutor, potential new supervisor and my secondary supervisor. It was the Spanish Inquisition. I felt like I was on trial having to justify my actions and having to validate my research project. Before the meeting I emailed my mentor back home and said this is how I would like to use the excavation material to make absolute sure that full permission was given and that there would be no problems. Permission was granted, he's very excited about my project and says he's been waiting for someone to do this type of research (looking at the development of the mortuary temples). He even went above and beyond and said that the temple and its material could be used as a control therefore if possible he could alter excavation plans in order to help me answer questions. Oh my God! Seriously folks this is just not heard of. He was also interested in sitting as an external supervisor to help legitimize my use of the material.

I thought this is perfect perhaps this will lighten the load since one of the problems of switching supervisors is putting me with someone who isn't already overloaded. They're eyes bugged when I said my mentor was willing to adjust the excavation plans to aid my research. After about an hour I stepped out into the hall while they discussed. When I came back they agreed to see about shifting some other students about so that they can work out a new supervisory team but they seem now to have a problem with my project. They believe that it's valid research for a MPhil but not for a PhD. I think because we got so tied up with discussing my work in Egypt they had it in their head that that was all I was wanting to do and I had said this would only be a chapter. But anyway we were meant to meet this morning to work out the details of the project but that's been cancelled because they don't yet have a solution to the supervisor problem.

Now one of the things they asked me was why don't I go home? I said, trust me if I could I would. I explained that Arizona does not have an Egyptology program to which they replied well what's important is the student, the supervisor and the research. Good point. However, I would need to be enrolled in some sort of relevant program. My mentor is in the Classics dept but it does not offer a PhD. The only other place for me to go would be back to the anthro dept where I would be taking coursework in southwest archaeology - not particularly relevant to Egyptology. Plus there's the fact that application deadlines have come and gone so I wouldn't be able to start until the fall of 2009.

BUT I've been thinking about it and researching it. And I think I could work it out. I've been studying the classes available in the anthro dept and it looks like there are a lot of theoretical and practical archaeological courses that could be used in any archaeological field. I would be able to work with my mentor. I'd be back at home - or at least 2 hours away. There's sunshine, never thought I'd admit to missing the damn AZ sun. Sure it's hot but it's a dry heat right? Now as for my start date I couldn't officially be in the anthro dept until next fall but starting this fall I could enroll as a non-degree seeking student and at least begin taking some of the courses so I wouldn't be too far behind. Unfortunately I'll have to take the GRE (grrrr) so got to study for that. And I could join the Pride of Arizona - the marching band!!! I love marching band and miss it. I didn't actually join the Pride when I was doing my BA because it is a lot of work and I was on scholarship and afraid to lose it. But now I think I could manage. In general I miss being a Wildcat. The University of Arizona is a great school and the anthro dept is #5 in the country so that's good right?

This is all so crazy and complicated. But I have to do what's right for me no matter what I think people might say. I haven't failed, Liverpool failed me. I had high hopes and have been met with nothing but disappointment and grief. And I honestly think this is what they want me to do, it's easier on them if I just leave then they don't have to 'deal with me'. And it's not like this year would have been a complete waste of my time. I have been able to conduct research, use the Egyptology library and over the summer I can hit the museums in London and Manchester to study the foundation deposit from our temple excavated by Petrie. So in a sense I'm still working. Well nothing has been decided for sure but this isn't the first time I've thought about going back home. But because I keep returning to the idea and now that it seems feasible perhaps it would be the best thing to do. Nothing's been decided for sure just yet. I need to really think about it.

. listening . elephant . damien rice . 9 .

the bells

2008-03-09T15:45:00.005Z

On Sunday mornings the bells of the Metropolitan Cathedral next door clang clang clang waking me up - 10 mins before 11 am. They are a nice alarm clock and 10:50 am is a good time to get up whether you crawled in at 3 in the morning from a night of dancing or you just needed to sleep in. Of course if you're still in bed when the bells ring again 10 mins before 2 pm then you're probably a lazy bum, and certainly if you're still there when they're ringing 10 mins before 4 pm you might as well give up on Sunday.

I luckily got up during the first set up bells, got around and made my way to the library and the chemist to pick up a prescription that WILL rid me of this enemy of the sinuses. After a lot of searching I managed to locate a copy of Maus: A Survivor's Tale vol. 1: My Father Bleeds History and vol. 2: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spigelman, the holocaust survival story of his father as told through the medium of a graphic novel. I keep seeing people talking about them on their blogs so I wanted to read them too. I also picked up a copy of George Eliot's Middlemarch. All the books have been renewed so they have the same due date which makes me happy because I've been wanting to read some of the books that were on the bottom of the pile.

One more week of school, next weekend is the 2nd British Egyptology Conference being hosted here in Liverpool and then I have 3 weeks "off" (technically should still be working but don't have to full time) to read and relax!

. listening . the best of what's around . dave matthews band . under the table and dreaming .

a tale of two cities

2008-03-09T15:37:00.003Z

Title :: A Tale of Two Cities
Author :: Charles Dickens
Completed :: Feb 25 2008
Challenges :: 888 Challenge : 1001 Books
Rating :: 4/5

Having been warned that this would be a difficult book to read I have to wonder why. It was perfectly straight forward and if I may say beautifully written. The plot started right from the beginning so there was no dull overture to get through (well actually there was a short introduction of sorts to the time but it was short). Perhaps the person who warned me is either a) afraid of Dickens or b) thinking of the wrong book. In fact my copy had a few illustrations here and there that were a nice addition to the text.

I plan on reading Les Misérables later this month so this book was a perfect literary introduction to the French Revolution since Dickens tale takes place in the years leading up to the revolution and ends during the Reign of Terror. With the story taking place in both London and Paris and the characters of Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton who are in love with Lucie Manette give the book a nice symmetry. I liked how all the characters moved throughout the book in this circle that eventually showed that they were all connected in one way or another. Madame Defarge was a character I liked what with her listening in the shadows calmy knitting in the corner. But then later her calm demeanor became bloodlust and she was out in the streets holding people down with her foot while she stabbed them with a knife. Her cruelty and desire to see Darnay's née Evrémonde neck offered up to the guillotine changed my attitude towards her. She truly is the antagonist in Dickens book. This book has it all, plot, excitement, terror, love, passion, fear, anger, sympathy, hate, happiness, action - you name it. I definitely recommend you read it, it's definitely not something to be afraid of and come on it's only 390 pages, that's nothing.

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . another place to fall . kt tunstall . eye to the telescope .

happy birthday to me

2008-03-06T22:21:00.000Z

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! Pictured to the left is a fantastic cake or cakes rather created by the brilliant Colette Peters. If I could this would be the cake I would use to celebrate the day! As it is there's been no cake and seeing how it's going on 10 pm don't think there will be. This has been an interesting birthday. Frankly I'd have to say it's been the worse! I still feel like crap and have major sinus pain in my cheeks, my eyeballs feel like they're going to fall out along with my teeth. Got another doc appt in the morning so hopefully they'll get me some more antibodies. It's been 5 weeks since the last batch so here's hoping they oblige...

Beyond that today was very stressful because I met with with the dept head, potential new supervisor and acting secondary supervisor to discuss my concerns. I was so nervous and it really felt like an inquisition! The meeting lasted about an hour then they asked me to wait outside while they convened. Agghhhh! This was happening just like the bad dream I had the other night where they asked me to wait outside and when I was called back in they told me "We no longer want you here... anymore." I waited out in the hall for 20 min - but it felt like forever and then they called me back in. The good news is, it looks like I'll be getting my supervisor changed after some shiftings been done. The bad news is they feel that my research topic is not big enough for a PhD that it's a proposal for an MPhil! Hmmmm... I think this is due to a couple of reasons: 1) I haven't really been giving the kind of supervision I need, basically I really haven't had any direction. 2) Being that I was nervous I wasn't really able to explain myself fully. I did focus maybe a bit too much on the data I want to use from the excavation I work on and I can see how that could be viewed as not broad enough for a PhD. But I have another meeting next Tuesday with just the two new supervisors to try to work that out. Hopefully I'm getting on the right track.

My weekend plans of running down to London to sightsee, finally see Wicked after 4 years of longing to (I know all the songs!) and checking out the Tutankhamun exhibit have been postponed. *sigh* The friend's house we were going to stay out is actually unavailable she misunderstood and thought we were coming in April - so that's when we'll be going. Oh well something to look forward to and save for. Instead tomorrow afternoon I'm going to see the movie The Diving Bell and the Butterfly based on the book of the same title I just read over the weekend (review coming soon). Saturday I'm reading my heart out, going dancing later that night, and reading all day Sunday.

I did get goodies, gifts, cards and picked up my free birthday gift from The Body Shop. Over the last week I've been receiving birthday coupons in my email, free ice cream at Coldstone Creamery (damnit there isn't one here!!!), 25% off at Borders (they are here but far away and I don't think they do the rewards program), free goodie at Origins (also not here... well not in Liverpool anyway). Darn, darn, darn! Oh well! Here's hoping the weekend is better!

. listening . earthquake . the used . lies for the liars .

the yacoubian building

2008-03-03T21:19:00.003Z

Title :: The Yacoubian Building
Author :: Alaa Al Aswany
Completed :: Feb 24 2008
Rating :: 5/5

The distance between Baehler Passage, where Zaki Bey el Dessouki lives, and his office in the Yacoubian Building is not more than a hundred meters, but it takes him an hour to cover it each morning as he is obliged to greet his friends on the street.

Aswany's The Yacoubian Building is raw, it is a true roman à clef. When it was first published in Arabic in 2002 it caused scandal because Aswany throws caution to the wind and is completely open on the topics of political corruption, sexual repression, religious extremism and alludes to the modern hopes of Egypt today. Although the story takes places in the early 1990s around the time of the Gulf War, I have a feeling that the author views these as major concerns among Egyptians today.

The reader is introduced to a myriad of characters most living or working in the Yacoubian Building, a building which really exists in downtown Cairo. In fact Aswany worked in this building at one time (not sure if he still does) as a dentist. The characters are vibrant and are expressed vividly. You really get a sense of who they are and even if you hate them or love them you are certainly interested in what happens to them. The main characters are :

Zaki Bey el Dessouki: a man in his 50s who owns office space in the building using it to have various appointments with women. He is the local expert when it comes to women and their ways. But when he is drugged and robbed by one of these women his life seems to spiral out of control but there may be one woman who can redeem him. His character personifies life before the Revolution, culture, a western outlook, not particularly observant of Islam.

Taha el Shazli: son to the doorman, Taha has high hopes and the grades to pursue a career in the police force, only his position in life seems to be holding him back. Angry about the situation Taha is convinced to attend university instead to further his studies, it is here that he falls in with a militant Islamist group. Suddenly a sense of anger and injustice take over and guide him on his path through life.

Buthayna el Sayed: originally intending to marry Taha, her father dies, life changes and she is forced to seek employment to help care for her mother and siblings. Only Buthayna has trouble keeping a post, it isn't too long before she is forced to quit or fired because she won't give extra services to the boss. With pressure from her mother to do whatever is necessary to keep a job she finds work in a clothing store where she is once again invited into the back room. This time however, a co-worker has told her how to work the system and demand extra money or even clothes for these extra services. Buthayna becomes so disgusted with the way life has worked out and with Taha's changing attitude that the two no longer plan on getting married and she turns her sights to another person in the building.

Hatim Rasheed: perhaps one of the more controversial characters in the book is the son of an Egyptian father and a French mother. Hatim is homosexual and unlike other homosexuals he is rather open about it, something which in Egypt, well in the Middle East actually is considered very taboo and in some places illegal. As editor of Le Caire, a French language daily newspaper Hatim is portrayed as very intellectual, cultured but above all human. My favorite quote from Hatim: "There are lots of people who pray and fast, but they steal and harm others. God will punish people like them. As for us, I’m sure God will pardon us because we are not hurting anyone. We just love each other.”

Hagg Muhammad Azzam: a migrant to Cairo who began life as a shoeshiner is now among the wealthiest men in Egypt. When his aging libido is given a second wind the Hagg seeks a second wife who he keeps hidden in the Yacoubian Building. It is understood that she is to sever ties with her son from her previous marriage and is under no circumstances to get pregnant in this second marriage. Hoping to serve in the People's Assembly, the Hagg is elected and learns first hand the corruption of politics and may actually lose more than he bargained for.

I'm telling you this is the BEST book I've read so far this year. Why? Because it made me so angry! Aswany's portrayal of cruelty and injustice is so (hate to repeat myself) raw, this is not a sugar coated story with happy endings, well not for most anyway. It makes you realize that life can be a lot more miserable than you ever thought it could be. Having discussed this book with a friend of mine who happens to be gay I was kind of shocked on his feelings of the book. He thought it was a bit homophobic. But I think that's the point, Aswany is not saying "this is how I feel on the subject" he's showing the reader how it really is, right now, today. Besides homosexuality in Egypt is not the main focus of the book, it's only a small part of several social and political issues that Aswany brings to light. It would be like me getting upset that in the case of Buthayna, Aswany must be saying it's ok for male bosses to sexually harass their female employees, no he's not saying that he's just telling you how it is.

Like so many other books this one has been made into a movie and on its debut in 2006 grossed over £E6,000,000, the biggest debut in Egyptian theatrical history. I'd be curious to see how the directors brought this wonderful "scandalous" book to the big screen and whether certain things were edited or toned down. If you've read the book I'd like to here from you (frankly I'd like to hear from anyone not many people post on my blog... hmmmm... hello? any readers out there?)

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . rose-colored times . lisa loeb . tails .

people of the book

2008-03-03T11:53:00.002Z

Title :: People of the Book
Author :: Geraldine Brooks
Completed :: Feb 23 2008
Challenges :: The Pub
Rating :: 4/5

I might as well say, right from the jump: it wasn't my usual kind of job.

This book like so many people who have reviewed said, was fantastic! The main character of this book is in fact a book, a haggadah (the word haggadah means telling and it was used as a fulfilment of the scriptual commandment to each Jew to tell their children about the Jewish liberation from slavery in Egypt). The haggadah written about in Brooks' book is actually based on a real haggadah, the Sarajevo Haggadah that appears to be one of the oldest and has survived a number of close calls with destruction. It orginated in Barcelona around 1350, based on notes written in its margins it surfaced in Italy in the 1500s and was eventually sold to the National Museum in Sarajevo in 1894. During World War II the haggadah was hidden from the Nazis and later smuggled out of Sarajevo to be hidden with a Muslim cleric. It was returned to Sarajevo only to survive the Bosnian war in 1992 by being stored away in the basement of a bank. In 2001 the Bosnian Jewish community along with the United Nations restored the manuscript and it was put on display in 2002.

While most of Brooks' book is fictional a lot of it is based on historical fact. Brooks was present when the haggadah was undergoing conservation and she was responsible for writing an article in the New York Times titled 'The Book of Exodus' where she told the story of Dervis Korkut, the man who saved the haggadah from the Nazis. It also told the story of a young Jewish girl, Mira Papo whom Korkut and his wife hid from the Nazis much like the haggadah. This story is obviously the inspiration for the flashback to World War II and the story of Lola who was hid by the museum director and his wife, the same man who took the haggadah into safety. At the end of the book Lola's story is told again only she is older and working in Israel where she discovers the haggadah hiding amongst some books. In real life Mira Papo didn't find the book in Israel but she did save Korkut's daughter from the Serbian genocide in the 1990s while in Israel.

A lot of people have compared this book to The DaVinci Code and I just don't see that. Sure there's the same sort of intrigue, trying to solve a mystery about a religious icon... but Brown and Brooks have a totally different style. Brown's book is fast paced, edge of your seat, what's going to happen next, a sort of race against time whereas Brooks' book is set at a slower pace and is trying to relay the story of a journey. Brooks weaves a tale where the reader is given time to digest the haggadah's journey and has time to feel compassion and understanding for the characters involved in the haggadah's passage. There is no rush to get to the end of the book. With Hanna firmly rooting the reader into the present there is no sense of danger, sure the haggadah is in danger in the past but the reader knows in the back of their mind that the haggadah is safe and sound in the present where Hanna is working to solve its mysteries so there is no imminent peril in store for the haggadah... that the reader is aware of anyway.

I think a lot of people worry about reading a book when it is set up in a series of flashbacks from the present but Brooks made it work perfectly. Hanna uncovers a set of materials from the haggadah during her conservation, a wine stain, a white hair, salt, etc. It is these objects that individually lead to a flashback as to how they got into the haggadah. I enjoyed this book immensely. In fact the flashback to 1609 Venice inspired me to watch The Merchant of Venice again since it takes place around the same time. Brooks highlights the fact that Jews are meant to live behind the walls of the ghetto and walk around wearing red hats to mark themselves as Jews which is the same exact situation going on in Shakespeare's play. The movie is excellent although at the same time I found it a bit anti-Semitic. Makes me wonder if Shakespeare felt this way or if he was simply portraying Venice at that time. Anyway if you haven't seen it yet I recommend you do, it has Joseph Fiennes, Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons - all great actors! Also read People of the Book it was fantastic!

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . friend of mine . lily allen . alright, still .

penelope

2008-03-02T16:49:00.002Z

I thought I'd get out this weekend and go see a movie. I've been wanting to see Penelope for some time now but just didn't get around to it. I tried to drag some friends to the theatre last weekend but they were all busy and to my disappointment the movie wasn't showing anymore when I checked times last Monday. But it seems it is still showing but only on the weekend! Yay! And even better my ticket was free! I got in there, paid for my ticket and then spotted one of my office mates. I forgot that she worked at the theatre and she says to me "Why didn't you tell me you were coming, I could have got you a ticket." So she marches me back to the ticket window gets a ticket issued on her account and gives me a refund. Sweet!

It was such a cute movie! Totally what I needed, occasionally I need a good sappy fairy tale to put a skip in my step. And HELLO James McAvoy, you were good looking in the The Last King of Scotland but you were that much yummier in Penelope and you're a great actor! If you haven't seen it yet I recommend you do. Oh and I totally love Penelope's scarf, I want one!

I gave into temptation last night and purchased the episodes of Lost that have aired this season and I watched all 5 of them last night! God I love that show! But seriously what the hell??? Ha! Ha! It's so frustrating but so damn good. Last week's episode had me in tears... over-emotional? Perhaps! I hope with the writer's strike being over they'll be able to produce the last 8 episodes of the season so we won't be left hanging... of course that's what the finale does... hmmmm... well anyway I want more! :)

Wow I think I've read all of 5 pages this weekend, guess I sort of overdid it last weekend and my eyes needed a break. But I'm about to curl up and crack one open now.

. listening . forget it . breaking benjamin . we are not alone .

we

2008-03-02T16:22:00.004Z

Title :: We
Author :: Yevgeny Zamyatin
Completed :: Feb 22 2008
Challenges :: 1001 Books
Rating :: 4/5

Who knows who you really are? A person is like a novel: Up to the very last page you don't know how it's going to end. Otherwise, there'd be no point in reading...

This book was amazing and even more so when I learned that it was written in 1924! This ladies and gentlemen is the book that inspired George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Ayn Rand's Anthem and Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano. I'm sure by mentioning those books you now have an idea what this book is about - a dystopian society - OneState - set in the future. With that said you would think We then is a book about the main character learning that the Powers That Be are flawed and thus tries to correct/escape/come to terms with that realization. While there is that basic storyline (and please remember when Zamyatin wrote this book it was at that time sort of a new idea) Zamyatin also has a bit of a love story! Shocking I'm sure to some! In fact our main character, D-503 is lured to the truth by a woman, I-330 who grabs his attention and through her "shocking" actions he comes closer and closer to what's really going on. It is his struggle between wanting to do what's "right" and being with I-330 that is so alluring. I-330 seems to have another motive, she is using D-503 because she needs something that he's working on for OneState, something that may help her cause. Other character's release themselves from OneState seemingly on their own. One of D-503's sex partners (yes each Number is given a Sex Table ensuring that they get as much sex as they need and "each Number has the right to any other Number as sexual product"), O-90 decides she wants to have a baby, someting apparently not done in this OneState and she pleads with D-503 to give this to her even if she has to die in the end.

I was reading another review written here and they mention the fact that Zamyatin's novel unlike 1984 and the others is not era-specific so it still leaves it's readers contemplating the eerie possibility of OneState being our future. It is truly a great novel and for all of those doing the Russian Reading Challenge you should definitely add this to your list - espcially since unlike War and Peace this book weighs in at only just 225 pgs!

Unfortunately the book was not actually published in Russia until 1988. Sadly in order to publish his book Zamyatin wrote a letter to Stalin asking permission to leave his home country as it was 'death to an author who was refused publication'. His request was surprisingly granted and Zamyatin moved to Paris and begin publishing his work.

Other Thoughts ::
: 1 more chapter
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . when the day falls . emiliana torrini . fisherman's woman .

wide sargasso sea

2008-03-02T15:35:00.004Z

Title :: Wide Sargasso Sea
Author :: Jean Rhys
Completed :: Feb 22 2008
Challenges :: 1001 Books
Rating :: 4/5

They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did.

After a 27 year silence and hearing about her supposive death, Jean Rhys publishes Wide Sargasso Sea as a way of telling the world she is in fact alive. In her newest novel, Rhys releases Charlotte Brontë's "madwoman in the attic" and places her on the island of Jamaica as a prequel of sorts to Jane Eyre. Here the reader is introduced to a very young Antoinette Cosway (later Mason due to her mother's remarriage). The book is split into three parts, the first is the story of Antoinette's youth as told through her eyes on the island shortly after the emancipation of slaves in British-owned Jamaica. Antoinette conveys the difficulties of growing up on an island where she doesn't fit in with white Europeans or the black Jamaicans. When violence hits the Mason household, Antoinette loses her childhood home, her brother and her mother loses her sanity. Antoinette is then taken to a covenant to be raised by nuns until it is time for her to marry Rochester a strapping man from England who calls her Bertha.

Part two is told through the eyes of Rochester and his growing distrust of his wife. His mind becomes poisoned to the stories he hears from the locals as well as a man who claims to be the bastard son of her father. When he learns that Antoinette's mother went crazy he is afraid she will end up the same way. Anotinette on the other hand has difficulty understanding her husband's repulsion and turns to Christophine, a servant that helped raise her. She pleads for Christophine to practice her obeah in an attempt to make Rochester love her. This however, goes wrong and Rochester continues to push his wife away. When he is witnessed making love to one of the servants, Antoinette is shattered. Rochester mistakes this for craziness and begins planning to move her quietly to another location and then on to England.

Part three is rather short but wraps the story up quite nicely as the reader learns the state of Antoinette's mind and her imprisonment in the attic. Rhys story telling is excellent. I truly felt connected to the characters and sympathized with both Antoinette and Rochester. The story is haunting and makes me wonder how many women were subjected to this kind of treatment and labeled as crazy when they were probably only suffering from a minor breakdown only made worse through imprisonment. I definitely want to get my hands on a copy of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotter Perkins Gilman, Danielle reviewed it over at A Work in Progress and it sounds like a similar case.

Other Thoughts ::
: 1 more chapter
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . natural blues . moby . play .

imposture

2008-03-02T14:54:00.001Z

Title :: Imposture
Author :: Benajmin Markovits
Completed :: Feb 21 2008
Rating :: 2/5

The opening and closing of Henry Colburn, Esq.'s, large, red front door had produced in the course of the morning, as if by force of suction, a bright eddy of human traffic.

I had hope for this book. The hook sounded so alluring: a woman falls in love with Lord Byron after seeing him on a balcony but did she really see Lord Byron? Mistaken identities, scandal and love - sounded amusing and I know many people gave this book great reviews but it just didn't do it for me. I thought the writing style to be a bit bland and frankly I was bored. I did like the back and forth views of Polidori and Eliza but when things finally start to escalate the book is over. Understandable since this is reported to be a trilogy. I'm reminded of the time I read Christian Jacq's Queen of Freedom series, I was grossly disappointed in the first book and vowed not to read the second one - but I did and it was a lot better. So chances are I'll give the second in the Byron trilogy, A Quiet Adjustment a try. I saw it at the library the other day, the book is a bit thicker than Imposture but after I read the jacket I felt I was holding a totally unrelated book in my hand. In fact it sounded really good. It's still about Lord Byron of course but it seems this second novel is through his eyes. Not one word was spoken about the characters from the first book - does this mean they've been abandoned? Hmmmm... I won't be able to read it for awhile but when I do I'll let you know if Markovits' tale improves.

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . i hope tomorrow is like today . guster . keep it together .

on beauty

2008-03-02T14:31:00.003Z

Title :: On Beauty
Author :: Zadie Smith
Completed :: Feb 18 2008
Challenges :: 888 Challenge : 1001 Books
Rating :: 3/5

On Beauty centers around two families one settled in the US and one in London who later moves to the US. Both families are tied together in a net of dislike, misunderstanding and well basically men just being pompous jerks! Both fathers are academics in the same field with different points of view on almost every topic but both are guilty of a sin that disrupts both families. The story unfolds as each family tries to get a stronghold on their beliefs, their identity and together they try to rise above the difficulties of life that lie before them.

For some reason I found it difficult to get into this one. I'm not sure if it was because I took it to Egypt with me - and I never seem to get much reading done there - then sort of lost interest when I got back. Plus when I got back there were so many other books that I wanted to read that I just couldn't be bothered. Once I did get into the book I thought it dragged a bit. Overall it was a good story but I think it could have been told in a shorter amount of space i.e. 100 pages less than it was. There were good moments that I was able to relate to. In one particular scene Zora is being pestered by her mother to help around the house, and the "living here for free" argument came up. This one I know!

"You live in this house, you have to help out with family stuff," said Kiki, getting down to fundamentals in order to defend a decision whose unfairness she had already privately registered. "That's the deal. You don't pay any rent here."

Zora brought her hands together in penitent prayer, "That's so gracious, thank you. Thank you for letting me stay in my childhood home."

In another scene Jerome reflects on what it's like to have such a large age gap between siblings. My sister and I are 5.5 years apart. I think I felt the age gap more though when I was in high school and first in college when she just seemed so much younger. Now I don't notice so much anymore.

They were both nodding a lot. Sadness swept over Jerome. They had nothing to say to each other. A five-year age gap between siblings is like a garden that needs constant attention. Even three months apart allows the weeds to grow up between you.

But it is so true, too much time gone by makes it difficult to keep those bonds for some reason. It probably doesn't help either that my sister and I are night and day!

I thought my mom could relate to this scene when Jerome's mother decides to do a bit of spring cleaning in the storage room and is trying to deal with Jerome's boxes of childhood things. Made me think of all the blue tubs I left behind shoved into a closet, my life boxed up, waiting and taking up space.

"Jerome, here is your past. It is not for me, your mother, to destroy your past. Only you can decide what must go and what must stay. But please, for the love of God, throw away something so I can free up some space in the storeroom for Levi's crap."

Other Thoughts ::
: a girl walks into a bookstore
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . stockholm syndrome . muse . absolution .

weekend reading

2008-03-01T13:46:00.002Z

Oi! yesterday was a terrible rainy, windy day. There's no point in going outside when it's like that. Somehow I made it down to the library but I was sorry I did. My umbrella blew inside out or knocked me upside the head a gazillion times. By the time I got home I felt like a wet drowned rat. Today however, is nice and sunny but still blow you over windy so I think I'll stay inside today and catch up on some reading.

My friend was telling me about this amazing book, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly written by Jean-Dominique Bauby. Quoting from the back of the book: "On December 9, 1995 Jean-Dominque Bauby suffered a massive stroke, locking his mind in the prison of his body. He then produced a work so unusual, moving and beautiful that it was published, read and admired around the world. With grace and economy, it describes his life before and after the stroke, his continuing imaginative freedom, and how he comes to terms with what has happened. It is a book that illuminates the very business of being alive." After Bauby's stroke he suffered from what is known as Locked-In Syndrome. As a result he is only left with the ability to move his left eyelid. By flickering his one eyelid and the help of a nurse Bauby was able to write his book. That alone sounds remarkable but apparently the book in itself is more so. Bauby unfortunately passed away in 1997 2 days after his book was published but he was at least able to witness it's popularity with 25,000 copies sold in the first day, 150,000 by the end of the week. Bauby's book was recently made into a film and was nominated for 4 Academy Awards. My friend and I talked about going to see it but before I do he lent me his copy so I could read it first. I'd like to eventually get a copy of the book in its original French Le Scaphandre et le Papillion and give it a try.

I also hope to finish, Slaughterhouse 5, The Voyage Out and Thank You, Jeeves and I'm going to try to catch up on my book reviews.

Changed the look of the blog, was trying to go for more of a spring look. Even though spring doesn't technically start until the 20th I always thought of March 1st as spring, it certainly feels like it when you grow up in Phoenix. Unfortunately it still feels a bit like winter here in Liverpool. But the daffodils are blooming so I have hope that warmer temps will be on their way. The headline picture was taken in Monet's Garden at Giverny, France. It was an absolutely gorgeous garden! My mom and I were there in September 2005 and everything was blooming and just breathtaking. You could easily see Monet's paintings come to life right in front of you.

74 days till I'm on the island!

. listening . lucky . hoobastank . the reason .

silas marner

2008-02-27T22:06:00.004Z

Title :: Silas Marner
Author :: George Eliot
Completed :: Feb 16 2008
Challenges :: 1001 Books
Rating :: 3/5

In the days when the spinning-wheels hummed busily in the farmhouses - and even great ladies, clothed in silk and thread-lace, had their toy spinning-wheels of polished oak - there might be seen, in districts far away among the lanes, or deep in the bosom of the hills, certain pallid undersized men, who, by the side of the brawny country-folk, looked like the remnants of a disinherited race.

I've checked this book out a few times from the library intending to read it but (and I'm ashamed to admit this) I judged a book by it's cover! The cover pictured above was unfortunately not the one I had, mine was an old Penguin Classic cover and it was dingy and the artwork they chose for it was all browns and yellow and well let's face it the book seemed rather drab. Sadly I thought the story would be the same, I should have known better. Silas Marner was as it turns out a rather nice story albeit predictable.

The book is named for the main character, Silas Marner, who is a recluse weaver who settles into a new village when a scandal forces him to leave his previous settlement. This event seems to be the cause for Silas' withdrawal from society. The weaver is interested in nothing else but weaving his goods and collecting payment, large quantities of it that he counts and admires every night. One dark rainy night Silas is robbed of his money and is thus reintegrated into society when he tries to enlist the help of his neighbors to solve the mystery. On another dark night Silas finds a little girl lying on his floor in front of the fire. His weak eyesight makes his heart jolt as he first mistakes the little girl's golden tresses for his long lost gold. Silas becomes rather attached to her and is determined to bring her up. I believe he views her as God's (when he comes around to understanding God that is) reward for the loss of his gold.

Meanwhile, Godfrey, the birth father of Hephzibah - thankfully shortened to Eppie, lives in the same village and watches his daughter grow up under the care of Silas. He was too embarrassed to come forward about her as it would announce that he had been secretly married to her mother, a woman it appears he found despicable. Godfrey has since remarried and is afraid to reveal to his new wife that he in fact has a daughter, something his new wife is unable to provide him with. Silas becomes a full fledged member of the tiny village and is happy in his care for Eppie. She grows into a beauty, of course, and is very fond of her "father". The novel ends with Godfrey revealing the truth and the mystery of the lost gold is also brought to light.

The novel was quaint but not something I would call a classic must read epic. That being said the plot did run smoothly and it was in the end a joy to read but like I mentioned previously it was rather predictable...

Other Thoughts ::
: 1 more chapter
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . bulimic . the used . the used .

giovanni's room

2008-02-27T21:45:00.002Z

Title :: Giovanni's Room
Author :: James Baldwin
Completed :: Feb 12 2008
Challenges :: 1001 Books
Rating :: 4/5

I stand at the window of the great house in the south of France as night falls, the night which is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life.

I started my literary conquest of the great 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die last year - some books have been challenges but others have been true literary gems, Giovanni's Room is one of those gems. I found it very poetic and quite different from Go Tell it on the Mountain which I had read back in December. So different in fact that I had to double check that the two James Baldwins were in fact the same author. However, both novels deal with the question of identity and the complexity of social pressures brought on by being black or homosexual. I think maybe the writing style is what made me feel that both books were written by two different authors.

Giovanni's Room opens with David waiting for the most terrible morning of his life when his lover, Giovanni will be executed. The novel then looks back at the moments that lead up to the execution. They span all the way back to David's childhood in New York where he had his first homosexual experience, something that afterwards leaves him confused as to who he is and slightly embarrassed by the situation. This embarrassment leads to him bullying the boy in order to establish his manliness. When David is older he moves to France where he falls in love with a woman named Hella, also coincidentally from the United States. When he proposes marriage Hella up and leaves for Spain in order to contemplate marriage with David. David is then left alone until he meets Giovanni an emigrant from Italy. The two becomes lovers but David continues to struggle with his sexual identity and ends up leaving Giovanni when Hella returns from Spain.

Baldwin's novel is definitely an exploration of self identity and the fear of homophobia. To me David seems so afraid to be what he is, he's absolutely suffocated by this fear of how he will be viewed that he can't seem to just let go and be. I think almost everyone can relate to this if they've ever been caught up in how they are viewed by the world that life sometimes becomes an act and you forget to just be who you are. By choosing Hella in the end it seems that David takes the easy way out so that he can fall within "social norms". Giovanni on the other hand appears to be completely comfortable with the relationship and is prepared to prove that two men can have a life together. David's rejection however, leads Giovanni to commit an act that leads to him imminent execution. Overall I think Baldwin succeeded in writing a novel portraying the inner struggle we go through in order to define our identity and having the will to let that identity be visible to the rest of the world. The particular copy of this book that I read, pictured above, is a part of Penguin's Great Loves series : this ones fall in the category, Love is dishonest.

Other Thoughts ::
: you're next - reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link!

. listening . limit to your love . feist . the reminder .

shake awake

2008-02-27T01:55:00.004Z

Well I was just shaken awake about an hour ago by an earthquake! It sort of freaked me out because I wasn't quite asleep but my bed was shaking, I could hear this low rumbling and I could hear the wallpaper on my wall make this unsticking noise. I just sort of rolled over and said out loud "What the hell was that?". I heard my flatmate open her door so I opened mine and she had a look of terror in her eyes and I asked her if she felt that, which of course she had. But there was no reaction outside, nothing on the internet, nothing on TV... was starting to think we were nuts. The building had definitely moved, the books on my bookshelf were all leaning over. Finally while talking to my mom, asking if she heard anything back home, the BBC posted a short story here. Well I guess I should get back to bed now! I hope everyone's safe and sound!

i'm going to the island

2008-02-26T19:11:00.002Z

Beach near Lindos - Rhodes, Greece (Photo by: Markus Wichmann)
Agghhhh! I did it I booked my tickets! I'm so excited! From May 14th until June 4th I'll be spending three glorious weeks on the island of Rhodes where I'll be visiting ancient Greek sites and medieval cities, spending long hours on the beach reading and sipping cocktails and rubbing elbows with the greats of Egyptology. I simply could not justify this type of holiday without having an academic excuse - so this is not all about working on my tan. Rhodes is hosting the Xth International Congress of Egyptologists from May 22-29. It should be very interesting and very scholarly! Some of my colleagues are giving papers, I unfortunately am not - it's too soon for me to speak at such a prestigious conference about research I've only just begun. I hope to give a paper at the next conference in 2012 - yes like the Olympics we only meet every 4 years - but at least by then I should be Dr. Ashleigh (inshallah!) and should definitely know what I'm talking about! There are going to be some great keynote speakers I'm especially looking forward to finally hearing Jan Assmann give a paper - I love his theological approaches to Egyptian religion. I love his book The Search for God in Ancient Egypt. I'm super excited and it's such a relief to have plans to go somewhere. I tend to get a bit fidgety and feel trapped if I can't escape wherever I happen to be.

Oi! I've got two months to get my ass in shape! Hmmm... I wonder what books I should pack?

. listening . coconut skins . damien rice . 9 .

why oh why won't you go away

2008-02-26T00:22:00.001Z

Dear Viral Infection,

This is a notice of eviction. Please pack your bags and leave immediately. The host has put forward a complaint about your disruption to the peace and harmony that she once enjoyed. You came and ruined her Christmas, you stayed and made the journey with her to Egypt, and you returned with her to the UK where you persist in your obnoxious behaviors. It has now been two months, you have grossly overstayed your welcome. You have been given copious amounts of vitamins, orange juice, tea and honey, tissues, soup, tylenol, lozengers and antibiotics (for the nasty sinus infection you caused). It is now time for you to move on. The host seriously objects to spending her birthday next week suffering from the swollen sore throat you force upon her, the painful hacking cough, the snottiness and the general feeling of discontent and sleeplessness you encourage. Consider yourself warned.

- The Management

. listening . bring back the sun . our lady peace . gravity .