> Audiobook
> orinally published 2006
> Spanish author, attorney by training
> set in 14th century Spain, Barcelona
> Jews as evil, wore bands so gentiles would not associate
>Charcters: Barnat/ forced to flee his land w/ son, Arnau
Grau/Barnat's brother- in- law, potter turned politician
> Bernat is hung for his role in an urising of the poor,.......Arnau and adopted son, Juan, must fend fr selves......Arnau becomes a stone mason and Juan goes into the church
> Inquisition and expulsion of Jews comes into play
> class and reigious clashes are a major theme
>. LibraryThing Review: Boring!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
"The Museum of Eterna's Novel: The First Good Novel" by Macedonia Fernandez - ****
> Originally published in 1982, Open Letter edition 2010
> Argentinian author
>. Written in 1930s and 1950s, not published until after his death per his wishes
> 50+ prologues......to readers, to critics, to characters, witty, profound, confusing,
> p.VI.. "Macedonio Fernandez was the first novelist for whom the problem pof writing was so explicitly the problem of the reader."
> p.VII..."The only things that can't die are the things that haven't begun. This is true of novels and it is true of humans, too."
> p.XIV..."The only sertainty is that Macedonio once held his living hands to these pages. It's like laying one's ear to a train track to listen for the vibrations of a train that passed fifty years ago."
>p.XV....Although "The Museum of Eterna's Novel" eludes categorization, its many prologues and self-conscious use of authorial persona often lead to its characterization as an example of proto-postmodernism. Macedonio himself would have shrugged off this label, and insisted instead that the novel is a sketch for a metaphyics wherein love conquers death."
> p.XV....."There are prologues of salutations, prologues introducing the author and the characters, prologue-letters to the critics, prologues about characters who were rejected, a prologue of authorial despair and, of course, prologues about prologuing."
> p.8..."This will be the novel that's thrown violently to the floor moist often, and avidly taken up again just as often. What other author can boast of that?"...I second that!!!
> p.35..."Every character only halfway exists, because none was ever introduced who wasn't taken by half or more from 'real life' people. That's why there's a subtle discomfort and agitation in every character's 'being', since there are several humans wandering the world that a novelist used partially for a character and who feel a discomfort in their 'being' in life. Something of them is in a novel, fantasized in written pages, and it can';t truly be said where they really are."
> LibraryThing Review: This is the perfect book for the reader who loves abstract art, who trusts that meaning and beauty are in there somewhere if only one sticks with it....this is a novel about a ranch named "the Novel".......this is a novel with 50+ prologues.....not a typo...50+ prologues. This is a novel for the reader who revels in metaphysics......the metaphysics of the written word. Did I like it? I don't know. Would I recommend it? I don't know. Was it a memorable intellectual experience? Absolutely!
> Argentinian author
>. Written in 1930s and 1950s, not published until after his death per his wishes
> 50+ prologues......to readers, to critics, to characters, witty, profound, confusing,
> p.VI.. "Macedonio Fernandez was the first novelist for whom the problem pof writing was so explicitly the problem of the reader."
> p.VII..."The only things that can't die are the things that haven't begun. This is true of novels and it is true of humans, too."
> p.XIV..."The only sertainty is that Macedonio once held his living hands to these pages. It's like laying one's ear to a train track to listen for the vibrations of a train that passed fifty years ago."
>p.XV....Although "The Museum of Eterna's Novel" eludes categorization, its many prologues and self-conscious use of authorial persona often lead to its characterization as an example of proto-postmodernism. Macedonio himself would have shrugged off this label, and insisted instead that the novel is a sketch for a metaphyics wherein love conquers death."
> p.XV....."There are prologues of salutations, prologues introducing the author and the characters, prologue-letters to the critics, prologues about characters who were rejected, a prologue of authorial despair and, of course, prologues about prologuing."
> p.8..."This will be the novel that's thrown violently to the floor moist often, and avidly taken up again just as often. What other author can boast of that?"...I second that!!!
> p.35..."Every character only halfway exists, because none was ever introduced who wasn't taken by half or more from 'real life' people. That's why there's a subtle discomfort and agitation in every character's 'being', since there are several humans wandering the world that a novelist used partially for a character and who feel a discomfort in their 'being' in life. Something of them is in a novel, fantasized in written pages, and it can';t truly be said where they really are."
> LibraryThing Review: This is the perfect book for the reader who loves abstract art, who trusts that meaning and beauty are in there somewhere if only one sticks with it....this is a novel about a ranch named "the Novel".......this is a novel with 50+ prologues.....not a typo...50+ prologues. This is a novel for the reader who revels in metaphysics......the metaphysics of the written word. Did I like it? I don't know. Would I recommend it? I don't know. Was it a memorable intellectual experience? Absolutely!
Friday, October 14, 2011
"Mantissa" by John Fowles ****
> English author
> 20th century author is visited by a modern day muse and helps him work through variations on the erotic themes in his writing
> she takes multiple forms...challenges him...
> originally published 1982
> LibraryThing Review: What an unusual experience! Feel like listening in on the interaction between the modern day incarnation of an ancient muse and the author of erotic literature? This is the book for you. At first I was a bit put off, but then I became totally engaged with the bizarre plot. The muse is a shapeshifter who challenges, engages and inspires the author. Fascinating piece of writing!
> 20th century author is visited by a modern day muse and helps him work through variations on the erotic themes in his writing
> she takes multiple forms...challenges him...
> originally published 1982
> LibraryThing Review: What an unusual experience! Feel like listening in on the interaction between the modern day incarnation of an ancient muse and the author of erotic literature? This is the book for you. At first I was a bit put off, but then I became totally engaged with the bizarre plot. The muse is a shapeshifter who challenges, engages and inspires the author. Fascinating piece of writing!
Sunday, October 9, 2011
"Biographie de la faim" by Amelie Nothomb ****
> Belgian author, read in original French
> Autobiographical, from author at age 9 to age 21.....
> Amelie, the daughter of a Belgian diplomat is obsessed with the idea of hunger and the role it plays in our lives.....hunger for food, for material goods, for connection, for despair
> Starts with description of culture of the island culture of Vanuatu where there is no hunger, food is aplenty for the taking, so the inhabitants want nothing
> Author herself goes through phases including anorexia....not clear how much is true
> p.19 - "Le reve des physiciens est de parvenir a expliquer l'univers a partir d'une seule loi. Il parait que c'est tres difficile. A supposer que je sois un univers, je tiens en cette force unique: la faim."
> at a young age she was scandalized by fairy tales and the message they sent
> p.25 - "Trop sucre: l'expression me parait aussi absurde que "trop beau" ou "trop amoureux"."
> At one point she wants "more" love from her mother and her mother implies that there is a limit, and also that one must earn love...."J'etais comme la famille royale anglaise apprenant qu'elle allait devoir payer des impots: Quoi? Tout ne m'etait-il pas du?"
> While in Bangladesh she must write weekly to her Belgian grandparents and she and her beloved sister, Juliette, write almost word for word the same letters. Amelie overhears her parents laughing about the similarity between the letters...."Sans le savoir, nous produisions peut-etre ainsi une explication au mystere journalistique du Bangladesh: si deux etres distincts tentaient de commenter l'actualite de ce pays, une fatalite verbale leur faisait ecrire des textes d'une identite confrondante."
> p.150 - "Nous allions sans cesse a la plage. Le golfe du Bengale etait d'une beaute apocalyptique: jamais je n'ai vu meer aussi agitee. Je ne pouvais resister a l'appel des vagues immense: j'etais dans l'eau du matin au soir."
> p.179 - De tous les pays ou j'ai vecu, la Belgique est celui que j'ai le moins compris. C'est peut-etre cela, etre de quelque part: ne pas voir de quoi il s'agit. Sans doute est-ce pour cette raison que j'y commencai a ecrire. Ne pas comprendre est un sacre ferment pour l'ecriture. Mes roman mettaient en forme une incomprehension qui croissait."
> LibraryThing Review: Amelie Nothomb is a fascinating writer! In this book she recounts her thoughts and experiences from the age of nine through the age of twenty-one. She is the daughter of a Belgian diplomat, so she and her family lived in New York, Bangladesh, Japan, and more. There is no aspect of Nothomb's surroundings or experience which is spared her quite profound scrutiny and philosophizing. She is witty and also a bit scary in her self-awareness and a delight to read.
> Autobiographical, from author at age 9 to age 21.....
> Amelie, the daughter of a Belgian diplomat is obsessed with the idea of hunger and the role it plays in our lives.....hunger for food, for material goods, for connection, for despair
> Starts with description of culture of the island culture of Vanuatu where there is no hunger, food is aplenty for the taking, so the inhabitants want nothing
> Author herself goes through phases including anorexia....not clear how much is true
> p.19 - "Le reve des physiciens est de parvenir a expliquer l'univers a partir d'une seule loi. Il parait que c'est tres difficile. A supposer que je sois un univers, je tiens en cette force unique: la faim."
> at a young age she was scandalized by fairy tales and the message they sent
> p.25 - "Trop sucre: l'expression me parait aussi absurde que "trop beau" ou "trop amoureux"."
> At one point she wants "more" love from her mother and her mother implies that there is a limit, and also that one must earn love...."J'etais comme la famille royale anglaise apprenant qu'elle allait devoir payer des impots: Quoi? Tout ne m'etait-il pas du?"
> While in Bangladesh she must write weekly to her Belgian grandparents and she and her beloved sister, Juliette, write almost word for word the same letters. Amelie overhears her parents laughing about the similarity between the letters...."Sans le savoir, nous produisions peut-etre ainsi une explication au mystere journalistique du Bangladesh: si deux etres distincts tentaient de commenter l'actualite de ce pays, une fatalite verbale leur faisait ecrire des textes d'une identite confrondante."
> p.150 - "Nous allions sans cesse a la plage. Le golfe du Bengale etait d'une beaute apocalyptique: jamais je n'ai vu meer aussi agitee. Je ne pouvais resister a l'appel des vagues immense: j'etais dans l'eau du matin au soir."
> p.179 - De tous les pays ou j'ai vecu, la Belgique est celui que j'ai le moins compris. C'est peut-etre cela, etre de quelque part: ne pas voir de quoi il s'agit. Sans doute est-ce pour cette raison que j'y commencai a ecrire. Ne pas comprendre est un sacre ferment pour l'ecriture. Mes roman mettaient en forme une incomprehension qui croissait."
> LibraryThing Review: Amelie Nothomb is a fascinating writer! In this book she recounts her thoughts and experiences from the age of nine through the age of twenty-one. She is the daughter of a Belgian diplomat, so she and her family lived in New York, Bangladesh, Japan, and more. There is no aspect of Nothomb's surroundings or experience which is spared her quite profound scrutiny and philosophizing. She is witty and also a bit scary in her self-awareness and a delight to read.
Friday, October 7, 2011
"Pink-On-Pink" by Teresa Schreiber Werth - *****
Teresa Schreiber Werth nails breast cancer......each and every piece struck home in my soul.......Fantastic!
"Salmon Fishing in Yemen" by Paul Torday - ****
> Debut novel
> British author
> Fiction, collection of memos, e-mails, and journal entries about a project proposed by a Yemeni sheikh to introduce salmon fishing in Yemen
> Characters: Alfred Jones (scientist approached to develop the project), Sheikh Muhammed (Yemeni, owns Scottish castle and sees the project as a metaphor for the journey from skepticism to hope and belief, risks assasination from Al Queda for introducing this frivolous Western activity), Mary Jones (Alfred's wife, an economist, detached and distanced and thinks all things about faith are basically frivolous), Peter Maxwell (communications director for the Prime Minister, perpetual manager f image), Harriet (consultant acting as liason between the Sheikh and the british fishery experts, fiance fighting in Iraq)
>Politics: project undertaken to balance negative image of British-Yemeni relations
>Money: project seen as a great way to bring millions into the coffers of the various departments working on the project
> Class: the Sheikh sees salmon fishing as a sport to be shared across social classes in Yemen
> Faith: the Sheikh equates the time spent fishing in hopes of a catch to hope which he equates with faith
> bringing water to the desert....a symbol of transformation
> other "insane ideas where belief has overcome reason and judgement: the Pyramids, Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China - the Milleniium Dome.....we arre not the first and will not be the last people to defy common sense, logic, nature."
> p.57 - "I have spoken to many scholars and imams about my dream of salmon fishing, I have told them how I believe this magical creature brings us all nearer to God - by the mystery of its life, by the long journey that it makes through the oceans until it finds the waters of its home streams which is so like our own journey towards God....".
> p.195 - "The same God who created me, created the salmon, and in his wisdom brought us together and....."
> p.214 - "I am in another world, a world where faith and prayer are instinctive and universal, where not to pray, not to be able to pray, is an affliction worse than blindness, where disconnection from God is worse than losing a limb." - Fred while in Yemen. At home, on sunday, he goes shopping!
> p.229 - "That is why some of our people hate the West so much. They wonder what the West has to offer that is so compelling that it must be imposed upon us, replacing our religion of God with the religion of money, relacing our piety and our poverty with consumer goods that we do not need, forcing money upon us that we cannot spend or if we do, cannot repay, loosening the ties that hold together families and tribes, corroding our faith, corroding our morality."
> - p.281 - The Fisherman's Rhyme - "Rod, reel,/Flask, creel/Net, fly book/And lunch"
> p.292 - "I had belief. I did not know, or for the moment care, what exactly it was I had to believe in. I only knew that belief in something was the first step away from believing in nothing, the frst step away from a world that only recognised what it could count measure, sell or buy."
> p.325 - "I believe in it because it is impossible."
> LibraryThing Review: Salmon fishing in Yemen? Impossible? One of the closing lines of this book is , "I believe in it because it is impossible." Paul Torday has written a lovely novel about transformation, faith, belief, and love. A Yemeni sheikh who loves salmon fishing proposes to bring the sport to his home country, and the relationship between himself and the fishery scientist whom he employs leads to transformation. The story unfolds as a collection of memos, letters, and e-mails and they reveal the role of politics, money, and personal ego in distorting and hiding the true meaning of the project. Torday is also able to make interesting observations about the nature of the differences between Yemenis and British society. I read this book during the course of a long, lovely day and hope that other readers will enjoy and appreciate it as I have.
> British author
> Fiction, collection of memos, e-mails, and journal entries about a project proposed by a Yemeni sheikh to introduce salmon fishing in Yemen
> Characters: Alfred Jones (scientist approached to develop the project), Sheikh Muhammed (Yemeni, owns Scottish castle and sees the project as a metaphor for the journey from skepticism to hope and belief, risks assasination from Al Queda for introducing this frivolous Western activity), Mary Jones (Alfred's wife, an economist, detached and distanced and thinks all things about faith are basically frivolous), Peter Maxwell (communications director for the Prime Minister, perpetual manager f image), Harriet (consultant acting as liason between the Sheikh and the british fishery experts, fiance fighting in Iraq)
>Politics: project undertaken to balance negative image of British-Yemeni relations
>Money: project seen as a great way to bring millions into the coffers of the various departments working on the project
> Class: the Sheikh sees salmon fishing as a sport to be shared across social classes in Yemen
> Faith: the Sheikh equates the time spent fishing in hopes of a catch to hope which he equates with faith
> bringing water to the desert....a symbol of transformation
> other "insane ideas where belief has overcome reason and judgement: the Pyramids, Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China - the Milleniium Dome.....we arre not the first and will not be the last people to defy common sense, logic, nature."
> p.57 - "I have spoken to many scholars and imams about my dream of salmon fishing, I have told them how I believe this magical creature brings us all nearer to God - by the mystery of its life, by the long journey that it makes through the oceans until it finds the waters of its home streams which is so like our own journey towards God....".
> p.195 - "The same God who created me, created the salmon, and in his wisdom brought us together and....."
> p.214 - "I am in another world, a world where faith and prayer are instinctive and universal, where not to pray, not to be able to pray, is an affliction worse than blindness, where disconnection from God is worse than losing a limb." - Fred while in Yemen. At home, on sunday, he goes shopping!
> p.229 - "That is why some of our people hate the West so much. They wonder what the West has to offer that is so compelling that it must be imposed upon us, replacing our religion of God with the religion of money, relacing our piety and our poverty with consumer goods that we do not need, forcing money upon us that we cannot spend or if we do, cannot repay, loosening the ties that hold together families and tribes, corroding our faith, corroding our morality."
> - p.281 - The Fisherman's Rhyme - "Rod, reel,/Flask, creel/Net, fly book/And lunch"
> p.292 - "I had belief. I did not know, or for the moment care, what exactly it was I had to believe in. I only knew that belief in something was the first step away from believing in nothing, the frst step away from a world that only recognised what it could count measure, sell or buy."
> p.325 - "I believe in it because it is impossible."
> LibraryThing Review: Salmon fishing in Yemen? Impossible? One of the closing lines of this book is , "I believe in it because it is impossible." Paul Torday has written a lovely novel about transformation, faith, belief, and love. A Yemeni sheikh who loves salmon fishing proposes to bring the sport to his home country, and the relationship between himself and the fishery scientist whom he employs leads to transformation. The story unfolds as a collection of memos, letters, and e-mails and they reveal the role of politics, money, and personal ego in distorting and hiding the true meaning of the project. Torday is also able to make interesting observations about the nature of the differences between Yemenis and British society. I read this book during the course of a long, lovely day and hope that other readers will enjoy and appreciate it as I have.
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