The Rainy Moon by Colette

The Rainy Moon by Collette ... another short story in the collection Wayward Girls and Wicked Women edited by Angela Carter.

This time a story of a working writer, who gets involved in the lives of her new typist and her sister. A story of fasination, love and revenge.

Short Story Challenge # 2
Finished 18th May

Violet by Frances Towers

Violet by Frances Towers ... a short story in the collection Wayward Girls and Wicked Women edited by Angela Carter.

Story of a young housemaid who has 'the gift' as well as ulterior motives!
Fun story.

Frances Towers was born in Calcutta, India and grew up in England, UK. A collection of her short stories are published as 'Tea With Mr. Rochester'.

Short Story Challenge #1
18/05/08

Citizen One by Andy Oakes

Citizen One by Andy Oakes

A crime thriller featuring detective Sun Piao, in which he has to solve a string of murders of prostitutes, murders in which elite army officers are implicated.

Complex and intriging story...delving into the politics and social structures of modern day China.

I enjoyed this novel. I'll be getting hold of the previous one in this series 'Dragon's Eye'.

Sunday's Sonnet XI

XI

As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou grow'st
In one of thine, from that which thou departest;
And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestow'st,
Thou mayst call thine when thou from youth convertest.
Herein lives wisdom, beauty, and increase;
Without this folly, age, and cold decay:
If all were minded so, the times should cease
And threescore year would make the world away.
Let those whom nature hath not made for store,
Harsh, featureless, and rude, barrenly perish:
Look whom she best endow'd, she gave the more;
Which bounteous gift thou shouldst in bounty cherish:
She carv'd thee for her seal, and meant thereby,
Thou shouldst print more, not let that copy die.

Friday's Poem # 7

Wind

This house has been far out at sea all night,
The woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills,
Winds stampeding the fields under the window
Floundering black astride and blinding wet

Till day rose; then under an orange sky
The hills had new places, and wind wielded
Blade-light, luminous black and emerald,
Flexing like the lens of a mad eye.

At noon I scaled along the house-side as far as
The coal-house door. Once I looked up -
Through the brunt wind that dented the balls of my eyes
The tent of the hills drummed and strained its guyrope,

The fields quivering, the skyline a grimace,
At any second to bang and vanish with a flap;
The wind flung a magpie away and a black-
Back gull bent like an iron bar slowly. The house

Rang like some fine green goblet in the note
That any second would shatter it. Now deep
In chairs, in front of the great fire, we grip
Our hearts and cannot entertain book, thought,

Or each other. We watch the fire blazing,
And feel the roots of the house move, but sit on,
Seeing the window tremble to come in,
Hearing the stones cry out under the horizons.

Ted Hughes

The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera

The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera

I can't believe it's taken me so long to get around to reading this book. It's wonderful!
I read it over lunch time today.

Set in Whangara, New Zealand and told by Rawiri, it's the story of Kahu, the Maori girl destined to become the next whale rider. Interweaving the whale story, Maori legends, and family life, this is an enchanting book.

Read as part of the 80 books around the world and Orbis Terrarum challenges.
Finished 15/05/08

When we were bad - Charlotte Mendleson

When We Were Bad: A Novel by Charlotte Mendelson

A well told story of a Jewish family in crisis. An enjoyable read.

One of the Orange Prize shortlist 2008.

Another Blooming Challenge

'The first green shoots are starting to push through the dirt of my bulb garden...and make me long for the flowers of Spring. So I'm proposing a flower-themed challenge to get you in the spirit of the season.
The challenge will run from March 20, 2008 - June 20, 2008.

You can choose one of the four levels (or participate in several levels!)
You can cross-post with other challenges. You can even count the same book for different levels in this challenge!

BUD-VASE: Just as a bud vase highlights the beauty of a single bloom, this challenge level asks you to read a single book with a flower in the title.
NOSEGAY: Like a small bunch of flowers gathered together, this challenge level asks you to read two or more books with the same flower in the title.
BOUQUET: Fill a vase with the bounty of the season. For this challenge level read four or more books each with a different flower in the title.
GARDEN: When you just can't get enough, this challenge level requires you to read six or more books with flowers or flowery words (bloom, blossom, petal, etc.) in the title.'

Yep another one....

As I've joined this challenge late I think I'll be going for the NOSEGAY - two books with the same flower in the title.

1. The Ghost Orchid by Carol Goodman
2. The Military Orchid by jocelyn brooke

Booking through thursday 15/05/08

Manual Labour Redeux

'Following up last week’s question about reading writing/grammar guides, this week, we’re expanding the question….
Scenario: You’ve just bought some complicated gadget home . . . do you read the accompanying documentation? Or not?
Do you ever read manuals?
How-to books?
Self-help guides?
Anything at all?'

Usually I only glance at the manuals for a new gadget, unless I can't get it to work and then I read the parts I need to.
I have read 'how to' books on computer topics, e.g. web-design, computer programmes, but again I only read the bits I want to.

I have read a few self-help manuals on assertiveness, etc. but skipped bits as usual!

Russian Reading Challenge

Russian Reading Challenge

(Not sure if there is a logo for this challenge so made my own!)

Running throughout 2008 this challenge requires you to read a minimum of 4 books about Russia / by Russian authors...fiction or non-fiction

I'm hoping to read one a month May - December

My list is:
1. Doctor Zhivago
2. War and Peace
3. Gulag by Anne Applebaum
4.A Woman's Kingdom and other stories by Chekhov
5. Angel of Vengence by Ana Siljak
6. First Love - Turgenev
7. The Devils - Dostovesky
8.A dirty war : a Russian reporter in Chechnya - Anna Politkovskaya

Bound Feet and Western Dress

Bound Feet and Western Dress by Pang-Mei Natasha Chang

A lovely book written by Pang-Mei.

The book recollects her life as a modern Chinese woman living in the USA, while also telling the story of her Great Aunt Yu-i living in China and later Europe at the beginning of the 20th century.
The contrast and similarities between their lives is beautifully told.

Finished 12th May 08

Short Story Reading Challenge 2008

Yes another challenge ...

This time the Short Story Reading Challenge.

I don't tend to read many short stories these days, so it's good for me to do something new.

My aim will be to read 10 short stories before the end of December 2008.

My choices are short stories by:
1. Katherine Mansfield
2. E.M.Forster
3. Le Fanu
4. Isak Dinesen
5. Tolstoy
6. Elizabeth Gaskell
7. Henry James
8 . Chekhov
9. Frances Towers - Violet 18 May
10. Collette - The Rainy Moon 18 May

Sunday's Sonnet X

X

For shame deny that thou bear'st love to any,
Who for thy self art so unprovident.
Grant, if thou wilt, thou art beloved of many,
But that thou none lov'st is most evident:
For thou art so possessed with murderous hate,
That 'gainst thy self thou stick'st not to conspire,
Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate
Which to repair should be thy chief desire.
O! change thy thought, that I may change my mind:
Shall hate be fairer lodged than gentle love?
Be, as thy presence is, gracious and kind,
Or to thyself at least kind-hearted prove:
Make thee another self for love of me,
That beauty still may live in thine or thee.

World War Z: an oral history of the zombie wars by Max Brooks

World War Z by Max Brooks

I loved this book. It's well told, innovative and totally convincing. It's so well written, in interview format, that you could almost believe that it had really happened.

I'm eager to read his 'Zombie Survival Guide' now.

Synopsis: 'It began with rumours from China about another pandemic. Then the cases started to multiply and what had looked like the stirrings of a criminal underclass, even the beginnings of a revolution, soon revealed itself to be much, much worse. Faced with a future of mindless, man-eating horror, humanity was forced to accept the logic of world government and face events that tested our sanity and our sense of reality. Based on extensive interviews with survivors and key players in the 10-year fight-back against the horde, "World War Z" brings the very finest traditions of American journalism to bear on what is surely the most incredible story in the history of civilisation.' (from Amazon.co.uk)

Finished 10 May 08
Horror thriller - 4th book read as part of the Thriller Challenge .

Southern Reading Challenge

Southern Reading Challenge details here

'It's time for our hot, sweaty summer of reading Southern Books! Are You Ready?!?
The rules are easy: 3 Southern Setting Books by Southern Authors in 3 Months beginning May 15 through August 15!'

My three books:
1. The Awakening - Kate Chopin
2. Ellen Foster - Kaye Gibbons
3. Dreams of Sleep - Josephine Humphreys

There's a list of 125 best southern fiction here

Friday's Poem # 6

A Daughter Of Eve

A fool I was to sleep at noon,
And wake when night is chilly
Beneath the comfortless cold moon;
A fool to pluck my rose too soon,
A fool to snap my lily.

My garden-plot I have not kept;
Faded and all-forsaken,
I weep as I have never wept:
Oh it was summer when I slept,
It's winter now I waken.

Talk what you please of future spring
And sun-warm'd sweet to-morrow:
Stripp'd bare of hope and everything,
No more to laugh, no more to sing,
I sit alone with sorrow.

Christina Georgina Rossetti

The Neustadt Challenge

Yet anothe reading challenge for me to take part in:

The Neustadt Challenge, running from May - August 2008.

The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is a biennial award for a body of work by poets, novelists, or playwrights. The prize is not limited by geographic area, language, or genre, and is hosted by the University of Oklahoma and the international literary publication World Literature Today.

You have two options with this challenge, which will run from May - August, 2008.
1. Read three books/plays/collection of poetry by one of the authors who have received the award.
2. Read three books by three different authors. (my choice)

2008 Patricia Grace (New Zealand) - to be awarded in Fall 2008)
2006 Claribel Alegría (Nicaragua/El Salvador)
2004 Adam Zagajewski (Poland)
2002 Alvaro Mutis (Colombia)
2000 David Malouf (Australia)
1998 Nuruddin Farah (Somalia)
1996 Assia Djebar (Algeria)
1994 Kamau Brathwaite (Barbados)
1992 João Cabral de Melo Neto (Brazil)
1990 Tomas Tranströmer (Sweden)
1988 Raja Rao (India)
1986 Max Frisch (Switzerland)
1984 Paavo Haavikko (Finland)
1982 Octavio Paz (Mexico)
1980 Josef Škvorecky (Czechoslovakia/Canada)
1978 Czeslaw Milosz (Poland)
1976 Elizabeth Bishop (USA)
1974 Francis Ponge (France)
1972 Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)
1970 Giuseppe Ungaretti (Italy)

My three books are:
1. Collected stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (translated by Gregory Rabassa, J.S. Bernstein)
2. The collected prose of Elizabeth Bishop ( edited with an introduction by Robert Giroux)
3. The Issa Valley (Penguin Modern Classics) by Czeslaw Milosz

Join in the challenge here.

Booking Through Thursday 8/5/08

Manual Labour

'Writing guides, grammar books, punctuation how-tos . . . do you read them? Not read them? How many writing books, grammar books, dictionaries–if any–do you have in your library?'

I did read some writing guides when I was on my MA course...ones on how to write a dissertation etc.
I do have some grammar books which I used when I was teaching English (High School years 7 -13 and Adult Education classes).
I also have a copy of 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' by Lynne Truss, which is quite amusing!
I occasionally like to look through a dictionary to learn new words or look something up.

The Rainbow Palace by Tenzin Choedrak

The Rainbow Palace by Tenzin Choedrak

This is a powerful and moving autobiography. Tenzin Choedrak recounts his childhood in Tibet, his becoming a physician, before telling of the Chinese invasion of Tibet and his time in prison under the Chinese regime.

At times the book is extremely harrowing, as he relates the destruction of Tibet and his and other prisoners torture in prison.

However the book is also about hope and faith, and his eventual escape to India, once again taking up his place as personal physician to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Read this book.

Finished 5th May 08

Shakespeare's Sonnet IX

IX

Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye,
That thou consum'st thy self in single life?
Ah! if thou issueless shalt hap to die,
The world will wail thee like a makeless wife;
The world will be thy widow and still weep
That thou no form of thee hast left behind,
When every private widow well may keep
By children's eyes, her husband's shape in mind:
Look what an unthrift in the world doth spend
Shifts but his place, for still the world enjoys it;
But beauty's waste hath in the world an end,
And kept unused the user so destroys it.
No love toward others in that bosom sits
That on himself such murd'rous shame commits.

The Rape of Sita - Lindsey Collen

The Rape of Sita by Lindsey Collen

Set in Mauritius, this is the story of Sita's remembering ...
It is beautifully written, enchantingly told ...despite its harrowing and tragic tale. It is also a story of hope, of courage and of survival.

A recommende read for all women and men.

Independent on Sunday review:
‘A tragic and heroic tale . . . shot through with lyricism’

Finished 1/5/08
Part of 80 books around the world challenge and Orbis Terrarum Challenge