Read Any Good Books Lately?

20 Jul 2012 4 Comments

by smkelly8 in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , ,

Cover of "Kindred (Bluestreak)"

Cover of Kindred (Bluestreak)

Plinky.com has a writing prompt today that  captured my interest: What have you been reading lately?

Currently, I’ve got a few good books going:

  1. Kindred by Octavia Butler. The Writer’s Almanac mentioned her recently on her birthday. She’s an African American sci fi novelist. That combination is rare so I discovered her novel Kindred, which looks at a biracial couple from the 1970s who get transported back to Antebellum Maryland.
  2. A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell is a delicious British novel set after WWII. It’s witty and the observations of social relations acute. I’m just starting volume 5, Casanova’s Chinese Restaurant. 
  3. Moby Dick in Pictures. Last month (and the month before) my online book club read Moby Dick. Now I’m flipping through graphic artists Matt Kish’s opus. He’s illustrated each page of Melville’s work. It’s extraordinary.
  4. Madame Bovary. This month’s book club choice and quite funny. I’ve read this twice before and do get more out of it each time.
So what have you been reading?
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I Saw Sunday

15 Jan 2012 3 Comments

by smkelly8 in Blogging Challenge, books, meme Tags: , , , ,

Here’s a new meme: I Saw Sunday

So, what did you see this week?

One thing or a whole list! – Words or photos or both!

Share it here with us.

The Rules

1. Write your post on your blog and include a link back to I Saw Sunday.
2. Leave the link to your post in the Mr Linky widget so we can find you.
3. Leave a comment after linking so that I know you have been here.
4. Please be sure to visit the other participants and share what they saw.

This week was full of noteworthy “sightings.”

If reading can be considered “seeing,” and I think it can, then I’d like to mention My Ántonia by Willa Cather. The writing’s superb and the descriptions and plotting make me wish I could write so well. The same’s true for Anthony Powell‘s A Dance to the Music of Time. How he describes social situations and how we size up the people around us. Excellent! Both books are showing me how to write.

I also saw Joyful Noise, but while the music was good, the story needed work. Rather hackneyed.

On Thursday I delighted in watching the snow accumulate.

 

“Slow down and take the time to really see. Take a moment to see what is going on around you right now, right where you are. You may be missing something wonderful.”
- J. Michael Thomas

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I Saw Sunday

08 Jan 2012 5 Comments

by smkelly8 in Blogging Challenge, meme Tags: , , , , ,

Here’s a new meme: I Saw Sunday

So, what did you see this week?

One thing or a whole list! – Words or photos or both!

Share it here with us.

The Rules

1. Write your post on your blog and include a link back to I Saw Sunday.
2. Leave the link to your post in the Mr Linky widget so we can find you.
3. Leave a comment after linking so that I know you have been here.
4. Please be sure to visit the other participants and share what they saw.

Yesterday I discovered the BBC series Sherlock, an updated take on Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective series. Here’s the way one modernizes a classic.

I’m also relishing Anthony Powell‘s A Dance to the Music of Time. I wish I could write like this. I wish I had more time this year to write. I’ve got some time now but only for the next couple of weeks.

I’ve seen plenty of gray skies and leafless trees.

I’ve also seen some old friends and had great talks with them. I love friends who like to play with words, question the conventional and laugh at the absurdities that surround us.

I’ve seen a temporary manager take a department that was hobbling along and run it into the ditch. It’s surprising how someone who’s just supposed to mind the shop for a few weeks can think “Now’s my chance to grab power.” No, the chance to grab power, was before you retired. You had 30 some years in the work force. Now let the younger bad managers derail the program.

“Slow down and take the time to really see. Take a moment to see what is going on around you right now, right where you are. You may be missing something wonderful.”
- J. Michael Thomas

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Disclaimer

Dear Fellows, The State Department has requested that any Fellows who maintain their own blog or website please post the following disclaimer on your site: "This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the English Language Fellows' own and do not represent the English Language Fellow Program or the U.S. Department of State." We appreciate your cooperation. Site Meter
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