Library senryu

public library -
a classmate grabs my leg from
under the bookcase.

**************************
school librarian -
my classmates tease her, asking
for smutty books.

**************************
school library helper -
another barrier
between me and boys

******************************
second hand books
from charity shops
my private library.


Libraries for Booking Through Thursday

Best of the Year

I thought I'd share some of my favourite books and films from the last year. I buy all my books second hand so its the best of what I read this year, rather than what was published this year!

Poetry
The Spoken Word Revolution Redux edited by Mark Eleherd
Dead Redhead by Tracey Herd
I'm still reading it, but Poetry Speaks Expanded is also worth mentioning here

Novels
The Museum of Unconditional Surrender by Dubravka Ugresic
Maps by Nurrudin Farah
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
A Gift from Nessus - William McIllvaney
The Baron in the Trees - Italo Calvino

Non-fiction
Desert Flower by Waris Dirie
Spoken Here by Mark Abley

Foreign Language
Pazze per le Borse (Crazy for Handbags) Paola Jacobbi (Italian)
Die Männer und der Seejungfrau (The Men and the Mermaid) by Wolfgang Ott (German)
Comme un Roman (Like a Novel*) by Daniel Pennac (French)
* except the English translation of the book comes under a different title I think
La Moustache (The Moustache) by Emmanuel Carrere (French)

Films
Two Days in Paris - Julie Delpy
I'm a Cyborg but That's Okay - Pan Chan-wook (Edinburgh International Film Festival)
Das Leben des Anderen (Lives of Others)
Inland Empire - David Lynch

I've posted a review of the environmentally related best of the year here on Crafty Green Poet.

Best of the Year for Booking through Thursday - with added films

Rolling

Booking through Thursday this week asks us: Do you get on a roll when you read, so that one book leads to the next, which leads to the next, and so on and so on? I don’t so much mean something like reading a series from beginning to end, but, say, a string of books that all take place in Paris. Or that have anthropologists as the main character. Or were written in the same year. Something like that… Something that strings them together in your head, and yet, otherwise could be different genres, different authors…

Although I don't like to get into a rut and am more likely to avoid reading back to back several books set in Spain say, I will often read books because there is a small connection between them, I'm too lazy to do research on this at the minute and name books but I once read two books back to back because they both had the same quote from Dante in the introduction, though they had nothing else in common. Over the past year I've read several books that have been partly set at sea, as is the current book I'm reading 'Do White Whales Sing at the End of the World' by Paul Wilson. This novel has nothing in common with the previous book I read which was the wonderful short novel set in a dying village in the Spanish Pyrenees - The Yellow Rain by Julio Llamazares. Yet on page 4 in Do White Whales Sing we find this passage:

From the village, the colony rises abruptly from its shoulder of land. At night it has the look of a castle - it is all dark stone and narrow lights and seems set to repel invaders. In daylight it seems more like a small medieval village, the kind you might stumble across unexpectedly in the Pyrenees of Spain.

These are the connections I most love to find between books, the unexpected serendipitious links that prove that everything is connected!

How Much Do You Read?

The question on Booking through Thursday today is:

Would you say that you read about the same amount now as when you were younger? More? Less?Why?

I read loads more than I used to when I was younger. I think the more I read the more I want to read. I also realise that if I want to be a good writer I need to read a lot so I can understand what works and what doesn't in the literature I enjoy. Also I like to read in foreign languages as a perfect way to improve my language skills, while reading about subjects I'm interested in (eg science, linguistics) is a great way to learn more about the world. I also know that the amount I read has increased greatly since I joined Bookcrossing - an international community of booklovers who like to share their books, either with other bookcrossers or by leaving them in public places for unsuspecting passers by to find. Like many other bookcrossers I had originally thought that this would be a good way of reducing the number of books on my shelves, but no it has had the opposite effect. Plus the fact that a few years ago charities in the UK introduced second hand shops that sell books and nothing but books. These shops have probably been my downfall! But I can't complain because the more good books I read the more I love reading and its been a really good year for books this year. (I may post more about that later in the year!).

Read with Abandon

For Booking Through Thursday this week, we're asked to share our abandoned books. 'The books that you start but don’t finish say as much about you as the ones you actually read, sometimes because of the books themselves or because of the circumstances that prevent you from finishing'

My great unread book is Ulysees by James Joyce, I got to page 5 i think the first time I read it but i loved The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man so will try again with Ulysees and may even get to page 10 next time!

I also have to admit to not finishing Kafka's The Castle. I read it in German and though I felt it was a worthwhile read and I loved a lot about it, it is just so long and I just couldn't face spending any more time stuck in Kafka's imagination in German, which is such hard work to read....

I remember when I left Primary School I felt sad that I hadn't been able to finish the Intriductory book to Greek Mythology that I had been reading.

There are others too, but those are the ones I most remember just now. As I get older I'm more likely to give up on a book, I don't see the point of continuing to read a book when I'm not enjoying it or getting anything out of it. Having said that I finish most books I read.

Monogamy? (Booking Through Thursday)

From Booking through Thursday - One book at a time? Or more than one? If more, are they different types/genres? Or similar?
(We’re talking recreational reading, here—books for work or school don’t really count since they’re not optional.)

I'm very monogamous as far as novels go, I can only read one novel at a time. However at the same time I always have a book of poetry next to my armchair, and a book of short stories or essays too. Usually I only read short stories/essays between novels, though I dip into the poetry book regularly. I also have a book in my handbag, usually a slim volume of poetry, sometimes the novel I'm reading if its a small book (I don't like heavy books in my handbag!). I read a fair amount of non-fiction, sometimes I'll have a non-fiction book by my armchair to dip into as I read my novel, sometimes I'll read a non-fiction book as if it were a novel. I also read quite a lot in foreign languages. If I'm reading a novel in a foreign language, I'll probably read a light non fiction book in English at the same time, I get tired easily reading in foreign languages, especially German.

Current reading:

Novel: Dictionary of the Khazars - Milorad Pavic
Non-fiction - Linguistics for Students of Literature (yes this is recreational reading!)
Poetry - Staying Alive - edited Neil Astley
Foreign Language - In meinen Traumen lautet es Sturm - Mascha Kaleko (poetry)
In my handbag - Aboriginal Legends - Animal Tales - collected by A W Reed

How about you? Are you monogamous?

Booking through Thursday

Fictional Villains

When I first thought about fictional villains, my reaction was that I don't really read books with villains. But then I thought of two very villainous characters who have featured in novels I've read recently:

Grenouille is the villain in Patrick Suskind's novel Perfume. He has no personal odour and a very well refined sense of smell. He naturally becomes a perfumier and then ventures into bottling the scents of beautiful women, murdering the women on the way. I really enjoyed the book in a creepy sort of way, I felt that Grenouille is a very well realised villain, the details make him a very distinctive character and the evil aspects of his nature are built up very effectively.

The central character in John Burnside's novel The Dumb House, is rarely referred to by name, but I think he may be called Luke? He is a nasty piece of work and his story is told in a chillingly rational style that I found so disturbing that I could barely read the book. This is effectiveness writ large but to detrimental effect for those of us of a sensitive disposition. Burnside is one of my favourite poets, he is a brilliant writer but this novel just gave me insights into a sick and twisted soul that i don't think I wanted to see.

Villains for Booking Through Thursday.

Harry Potter

Questions from Booking through Thursday
Okay, love him or loathe him, you’d have to live under a rock not to know that J.K. Rowling’s final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, comes out on Saturday… Are you going to read it? NO. NEVER
Are you attending any of the midnight parties? NO.
If you’re not going to read it, why not?
It isn't my thing. Plus the more popular a book or film becomes the less likely I am to read /watch it, unless it is totally my thing anyway. I don't follow the crowd.
And, for the record… what do you think? Will Harry survive the series? I think he won't, otherwise there's too much pressure for JK to write more books in the series.
What are you most looking forward to? The end of the hype!

I will just add that I admire JK Rowling for the way she approached the Harry Potter series, her own story is truly inspiring.

Edited also to add: I think Harry Potter has been great for getting children and young people interested in reading again and can bring families together over books that appeal to all family members.

Celluloid

Questions this week from Booking through Thursday:

1. In your opinion, what is the best translation of a book to a movie?

Shawshank Redemption and La Moustache.

2. The worst?

I usually think that the film is inferior to the book. If I love the book, I'll probably not go to see the film adaptation. There are some disappointing films that I've seen, that I know were made from films, but if I've not read the book I can't say whether it was a bad adaptation or just plain bad.

3. Had you read the book before seeing the movie, and did that make a difference?


I generally don't go to see films made from books I've already read. If I'm going to experience both, I'd rather see the film first. I always feel that the film paints the story with broader brushstrokes and then the book allows me to delve deeper. With both Shawshank Redemption and La Moustache, I saw the film before reading the book. Having seen La Moustache before reading it helped me a lot with getting through the book (I read it in French).