I'm reading former First Minister Alex Salmond's diary of the Scottish referendum: The Dream Shall Never Die. It's entertaining, and gives a glimpse of what his life was like as First Minister. BUSY as hell. His personality and sense of humour comes through in the writing, as does the fact that he not only took the job seriously, he really enjoyed doing it. He seemed to love all aspects of it. Meeting people who were committed to independence, meeting people who were opposed to it. Dealing with all sorts of business people and the folks who worked in the businesses, foreign dignitaries, playing golf with Phil Mickleson, attending the Commonwealth Games to promote Scotland ...and the golf tournaments Scotland hosted. He just throws himself full-tilt into everything his life offers up, and never quits trying. I know he was sad at the result of the vote, but he's like the Duracell bunny. He keeps going longer than some of the rest of us. What a guy! And he likes one of my favourite restaurants as well ...the fantastic Mustard Seed in Inverness. I am delighted with Nicola Sturgeon's performance as the new First Minister, but I do hope Alex Salmond pops back into the fray very soon. I miss him!
Fanny is in love with Edmund since she was about 13, something like the 3rd or 4th chapter. The novel is in a way about them two realizing their feelings for each other and both finding out they need the courage of their own convictions. That's why the story needs those Crawford siblings. You also have the entire thing about the novel being a metaphor for the unstableness of the British empire.
Is that a metaphor or just the political/ cultural backdrop when she wrote it? Is Twilight a metaphor for our unrest around those of different religious persuasions since 9/11?
With Twilight, who knows - but Mansfeild Park is (it's clear to me) talking about the empire vicariously. The Price family are based in Portsmouth, and Fanny's brother is a midshipman - without the empire I'm not sure what the Price family would do even for a basic income. And this is reflected at Mansfield too and the Bertrams. The only income for Mansfield Park we ever hear about during the novel is the colony in Antigua. The fact Sir Thomas can't keep his children from doing stupid things like have illicit affairs that get printed in London newspapers, might suggest something about the British dependence on overseas 'interests'.
Neither, really. It's the subplot that is left hanging at the end of the novel unresolved. Remember why Sir Thomas has to go away in the first half of the book and comes back after the Bertram kids stage a sexually charged play with the Crawford siblings.
It's basically so Thomas Bertram can keep control of his 'business interests' in Antigua, which is historically known as a place where the British were particularly brutal to their slaves for the production of sugar - which was vital to Britain's empire and economy.
I'm reading the Mistborn Trilogy; I started the first book yesterday. I have also been watching this authors lectures online. He is a creative writing teacher. I would recommend anyone to watch at least the first few lectures. More experienced writers probably wouldn't find it very useful, but I certainly did. If you are writing fantasy epics then I would suggest watching his whole class.
Sanderson's lectures are pretty interesting. I couldn't get into Mistborn, but I read the first two of his Stormlight Archives and I thought those were pretty good.
Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell. Had it not been sitting in a box in the garage collecting dust, I never would have started reading it. But so far it's pretty good.
I'm about halfway through William Kennedy's Ironweed. Very depressing read about hobos which I'm struggling to get through.
I am reading, and falling in love with, the complete poems and songs of Robert Burns. I've read so many of Burns'poems and songs before, but never them all.
Just picked up A Place Called Winter, by Patrick Gale, that was reviewed in the Herald yesterday. So far, it's very absorbing. Never underestimate the power of magazine and newspaper reviews. I can't tell how many times I've bought a book because I liked the sound of it from a review. If you can get a magazine or newspaper to review a book you've written ...wow, that can really make a difference to sales. Well, provided the review is good. But the people who write these reviews are pros, and they tell you what you need to know before buying a book. I'm rarely led astray by them. Anyway, so far so good ...an author I'd never heard of till I saw that review.
I think I'm going to read Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Oddly, I haven't read it before. I've read lots of other Steinbeck, but the book he's most famous for is the one I haven't read. I'm going to rectify that.
You'll have to tell me what that's like. I need to read that too. And Of Mice and Men, actually. The only Steinbeck novel I've read is Cannery Row - and apparently that makes me really weird. :-3
Among others, Throne of the Crescent Moon, which is the second book recommended here: http://www.npr.org/2012/06/19/155113890/summers-best-sci-fi-planets-politics-apocalypse
Go to School, You're a Little Black Boy by Lincoln Alexander, Herb Shoveller. I love well written memoirs and biographies.
What with a new job and fantastic opportunity for me career-wise I bought a few books to celebrate. Two of Penguin's little black classics, the collection of Sappho and the Icelandic Saga, and A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse edited by Richard Hanmer. I read the collection of Sappho in ten minutes, and she was a classic Greek writer who had long eluded me - I was finally able to tick her off as one I have read, and how pleasant an introduction to her poems that was! Her poems are beautiful, including one of heartbreak that strongly reminded me of Theocritus's second Idyll in a very powerful way. It's amazing how human Sappho's poetry is considering it's mostly lost and older than the ancient Roman Empire. The Anglo-Saxon book is taking me longer, but the poems are fantastic. Especially 'Durham', which is so sweet! 'The Ruin' which is just wonderful description, and - oh so many others! Included in this collection is the poem 'The Wanderer' - which to some people here might be a little familiar. And I cannot wait to read the Saga - which I will tonight with some whisky. I'm doing that only because I can't be bothered to go to the pub - it's been a long day.
Finished The Windup Girl, clearly a good book. Moved on to The Young Elites. I wasn't sure at first, started kind of tropey with a forced hand 'in mistress' the girl escapes from, (she's not marriage material having been marked by an illness but some man has offered her a 'position' and the father is happy to have the offer), but it quickly became a completely different book with the protagonist having a very dark side. It's excellent so far.
What I got from the library: Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader Darth Plagueis Both by James Luceno. What I bought from the bookstore: Love Is The Best Medicine by Dr. Nick Trout. A good book if you're looking for a heartwarming story about veterinarians. The Little War of Private Post. A memoir written by Johnson Post of his travels with the Fifth Army Corps during the Spanish-American War.
