Lloyd Jones, author of Mr Cassini and Mr Vogel, has released his first collection of short stories.
Before I say any more, I have to confess that this is my new favorite book of short stories, and I've read a LOT. I think of books sometimes like food and classify them according to their literary flavor and mental or spiritual nutritional value. Until now, the collected works of HH Munro were my favorite short stories, and it's a very close call, but I'd have to say that while Saki must be marginally more delicious, Lloyd Jones has both rich flavor and greater nutrition, with the occasional dollop of castor oil, because it's good for us.
The title of the book is fantastic itself, it says that there are small things inside of bright colours to be discovered and appreciated and it doesn't lie, that is what's inside. Each story has the name of a color, and one absence of color. There are many stories here in first person narrative, hard to pull off successfully and annoying to read when the author didn't pull it off, but all of these are all right, all seamless and not annoying. The stories in this collection address the small truths of any human life and bigger sorrows that we might prefer to look at from a distance.
"Brown" is beautiful, subtle, soft and perfectly paced, it proceeds to the unexpected but seamlessly fitting end. "Wine" is so incredibly powerful and profound that the reader may have to stop reading for a couple of days and chew it and try to digest it, likewise "Post Office Red," but for completely different reasons. This is an incredible collection of well-crafted stories that are a joy to read, not a bad moment's reading in it.
My First Colouring Book is Lloyd Jones' third book and is published by Seren Books, Bridgend, Wales, http://www.seren-books.com
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
NEWS - Character naming auctions coming on eBay
Fourteen US authors will auction the right to name characters in upcoming stories on eBay to raise money to support The First Amendment Project. The authors participating in the auctions include: John Lescroart, Carl Hiaasen, Elinor Lipman, Francine Prose, Philllip Margolin, Emily Barton and Douglas Preston.
The First Amendment Project is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to providing free and low-cost legal services to protect Constitutionally gauranteed freedoms of information, expression and the right to petition.
The First Amendment Project is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to providing free and low-cost legal services to protect Constitutionally gauranteed freedoms of information, expression and the right to petition.
BOOK REVIEW: Ceri Shaw reviews Owen Sheer's Resistance
reprinted from americymru.com, with permission
RESISTANCE, Owen Sheers. This novel is set in an alternative universe. One in which the Nazis succeed in conquering Russia and invading Britain after the failure of the D-Day landings in 1944. Such literary contrivances can seem very intrusive in a work of 'mainstream' literature but to Owen Sheers' credit the conceit is rendered with a masterful touch and seems almost essential in order to intensify the focus of the books' main theme. In the depths of a freezing winter in a remote corner of the Black Mountains in South Wales two people consider whether it is possible to 'cheat' history; leave the past behind and assert their shared humanity in the midst of bloody conflict.
This is no pastoral idyll, nor is it history writ large in the manner of Raymond Williams' - "People of The Black Mountains", but the landscape and its history do figure prominently in the narrative. At one point during her childhood, Sarah, the heroine of this tale meets David Jones, the Welsh poet and artist who stayed with Eric Gill at Capel-y-Ffin in the 1920's. Her meetings with him are recounted thus:-
"And that was when the poet began to tell Sarah his stories, recasting the land and hills she'd known all her life as the backdrop for his Celtic myths, for tales of saints and soldiers, of kings and bards. His stories worked upon the valleys around them like his paintings. he spoke of places she knew or that she'd hard of before, St Peter's well, The Abbey, The Cat's Back, St Davids Cell, but the lens of his stories made them all new again. Some of the stories she'd even heard before, but never like this, never growing from the very hills of her birthplace."
Sheers here hints at the perhaps unique relationship which the Welsh people have with their landscape. The hills of Wales are indeed magnificent but they pale into insignificance, at least in topographical terms, when compared with the European Alps or the North American Cascades. Their special gravity and power lies in the fact that every nook and cranny, every fold and crevice, is invested with some human significance. The sum of history and legend which the landscape reveals is almost an externalization of Welsh identity itself. As R.S. Thomas puts it:-
"You cannot live in the present, At least not in Wales,"
Sarah, however, is bound to the valley she lives in by far more tangible ties. There is the instinct for survival which impels her to observe the cycle of the rural calendar and her loyalty to her husband, who goes missing early on in the book when he is called upon to participate in the resistance to the German occupation.
By contrast, Albrecht, the German officer sent into the Olchon valley on a secret mission, is suffering from a severe case of 'hiraeth', or longing, both for his home and for his past destroyed by war. Unfortunately, he has no home to go back to. It was destroyed by Allied bombing. His war-weariness manifests itself in a desire to prolong his mission and in the uneasy truce which he and his men establish with the valleys' inhabitants.
The precarious situation which develops can only prove temporary. The climactic moments of the novel are reached as both characters have to decide how they will react when the cataclysmic events in the outside world threaten to come crashing in on them.
The distant rumbles of war are heard from beyond the Olchon throughout the book. Owen Sheers handles these interruptions skilfully. His references to these events are subtle and sparing... just sufficient to preserve the tension of the main theme. The preparation and training of the the Auxiliary Units of the British Resistance Organization are also woven into the fabric of the narrative; as is their ultimate fate.
The book ends with both protagonists facing a stark choice which is really no choice at all. In order to survive they must turn their backs on everything they have known and attempt to find personal salvation in a future that is as uncertain as it is dangerous. Do they succeed? I leave it to you to discover how this final act of 'resistance' plays out .
RESISTANCE, Owen Sheers. This novel is set in an alternative universe. One in which the Nazis succeed in conquering Russia and invading Britain after the failure of the D-Day landings in 1944. Such literary contrivances can seem very intrusive in a work of 'mainstream' literature but to Owen Sheers' credit the conceit is rendered with a masterful touch and seems almost essential in order to intensify the focus of the books' main theme. In the depths of a freezing winter in a remote corner of the Black Mountains in South Wales two people consider whether it is possible to 'cheat' history; leave the past behind and assert their shared humanity in the midst of bloody conflict. This is no pastoral idyll, nor is it history writ large in the manner of Raymond Williams' - "People of The Black Mountains", but the landscape and its history do figure prominently in the narrative. At one point during her childhood, Sarah, the heroine of this tale meets David Jones, the Welsh poet and artist who stayed with Eric Gill at Capel-y-Ffin in the 1920's. Her meetings with him are recounted thus:-
"And that was when the poet began to tell Sarah his stories, recasting the land and hills she'd known all her life as the backdrop for his Celtic myths, for tales of saints and soldiers, of kings and bards. His stories worked upon the valleys around them like his paintings. he spoke of places she knew or that she'd hard of before, St Peter's well, The Abbey, The Cat's Back, St Davids Cell, but the lens of his stories made them all new again. Some of the stories she'd even heard before, but never like this, never growing from the very hills of her birthplace."
Sheers here hints at the perhaps unique relationship which the Welsh people have with their landscape. The hills of Wales are indeed magnificent but they pale into insignificance, at least in topographical terms, when compared with the European Alps or the North American Cascades. Their special gravity and power lies in the fact that every nook and cranny, every fold and crevice, is invested with some human significance. The sum of history and legend which the landscape reveals is almost an externalization of Welsh identity itself. As R.S. Thomas puts it:-
"You cannot live in the present, At least not in Wales,"
Sarah, however, is bound to the valley she lives in by far more tangible ties. There is the instinct for survival which impels her to observe the cycle of the rural calendar and her loyalty to her husband, who goes missing early on in the book when he is called upon to participate in the resistance to the German occupation.
By contrast, Albrecht, the German officer sent into the Olchon valley on a secret mission, is suffering from a severe case of 'hiraeth', or longing, both for his home and for his past destroyed by war. Unfortunately, he has no home to go back to. It was destroyed by Allied bombing. His war-weariness manifests itself in a desire to prolong his mission and in the uneasy truce which he and his men establish with the valleys' inhabitants.
The precarious situation which develops can only prove temporary. The climactic moments of the novel are reached as both characters have to decide how they will react when the cataclysmic events in the outside world threaten to come crashing in on them.
The distant rumbles of war are heard from beyond the Olchon throughout the book. Owen Sheers handles these interruptions skilfully. His references to these events are subtle and sparing... just sufficient to preserve the tension of the main theme. The preparation and training of the the Auxiliary Units of the British Resistance Organization are also woven into the fabric of the narrative; as is their ultimate fate.
The book ends with both protagonists facing a stark choice which is really no choice at all. In order to survive they must turn their backs on everything they have known and attempt to find personal salvation in a future that is as uncertain as it is dangerous. Do they succeed? I leave it to you to discover how this final act of 'resistance' plays out .
Comic Book Literacy for Kids
Comic books are especially good for children learning to read and there are a lot of good comic books available for kids, at nearly all reading levels. Comic collections in soft or hard cover interest children and add to a good reading program. Getting an issue by subscription in the mail is extremely exciting to a child.
Marvel Comics seemed to have abandoned children as an audience decades ago. They've recently released some titles in "all ages" versions but, despite the lack of blood and overt sexual discussion, they're still adult plots, adult jokes and too much adult innuendo and concerns. One exception has been a series of one-shot stories featuring Franklin Richards, son of the Fantastic Four's Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl. Franklin Richards is a sort of ne plus ultra super-genius "Dennis the Menace," accompanied on improbable and funny adventures by his robot sidekick, H.E.R.B.I.E., who Franklin made himself, of course. Test issues were very well received by an informal control group of 3rd and 6th graders. Franklin Richards is not a monthly Marvel title, just occasional one-short or short runs. Here's to a regular monthly title!
In January 2008, Top Shelf Comics released Owly #4, "A Time to Be Brave," by Andy Runton. Back issues of this were on the website at Powell's Books and may be available at local comic stores. Owly looks great, likeable characters, very sweet art and stories that younger readers will enjoy and understand.
My daughter (a kindergartner) got a gift of two Phonics Comics from Powells Books. They may also be available directly from the publisher, Innovative Kids. I hated the content of the two comics she got (which shall be title-less here) and found them to be insultingly sexist and insipid BUT the reading level was completely correct for my little beginning reader and she liked them. They definitely made her want to read more so I went looking for more Phonics Comics in the hope that they'd be better and they were: we found a large selection of all kinds of stories and available in graduated reading levels. They interest the beginning reader, they're content appropriate and appropriately challenging.
The legendary Tin-Tin is the classic boy's adventure comic, good for boys and girls but for competant (not beginning) readers, beginning at about second or third grade level. Tin-tin's creator, Georges Remi, wrote Tin-Tin under the pen name Herge' for 50 years, beginning in 1929. Tin-tin, the brave boy reporter, travels the world with his white terrier, Snowy, capturing criminals, foiling sabatoge and spies, from China to the Moon. Herge' himself traveled the world to create Tin-tin, giving a snapshot of exotic places and the people in them. One small warning: these stories were written between the 1930s and the 1970s and they weren't always very politically correct - Africans have big lips, Asians have slanted eyes, native Americans have big noses BUT they all behave like people and not awful stereotypes. I have never met a child who didn't like Tin-tin. Tin-tin is available in over-sized soft cover and hardcover collections, at Powell's Books and probably through local book and comic stores.
Marvel Comics seemed to have abandoned children as an audience decades ago. They've recently released some titles in "all ages" versions but, despite the lack of blood and overt sexual discussion, they're still adult plots, adult jokes and too much adult innuendo and concerns. One exception has been a series of one-shot stories featuring Franklin Richards, son of the Fantastic Four's Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl. Franklin Richards is a sort of ne plus ultra super-genius "Dennis the Menace," accompanied on improbable and funny adventures by his robot sidekick, H.E.R.B.I.E., who Franklin made himself, of course. Test issues were very well received by an informal control group of 3rd and 6th graders. Franklin Richards is not a monthly Marvel title, just occasional one-short or short runs. Here's to a regular monthly title!
In January 2008, Top Shelf Comics released Owly #4, "A Time to Be Brave," by Andy Runton. Back issues of this were on the website at Powell's Books and may be available at local comic stores. Owly looks great, likeable characters, very sweet art and stories that younger readers will enjoy and understand.
My daughter (a kindergartner) got a gift of two Phonics Comics from Powells Books. They may also be available directly from the publisher, Innovative Kids. I hated the content of the two comics she got (which shall be title-less here) and found them to be insultingly sexist and insipid BUT the reading level was completely correct for my little beginning reader and she liked them. They definitely made her want to read more so I went looking for more Phonics Comics in the hope that they'd be better and they were: we found a large selection of all kinds of stories and available in graduated reading levels. They interest the beginning reader, they're content appropriate and appropriately challenging.
The legendary Tin-Tin is the classic boy's adventure comic, good for boys and girls but for competant (not beginning) readers, beginning at about second or third grade level. Tin-tin's creator, Georges Remi, wrote Tin-Tin under the pen name Herge' for 50 years, beginning in 1929. Tin-tin, the brave boy reporter, travels the world with his white terrier, Snowy, capturing criminals, foiling sabatoge and spies, from China to the Moon. Herge' himself traveled the world to create Tin-tin, giving a snapshot of exotic places and the people in them. One small warning: these stories were written between the 1930s and the 1970s and they weren't always very politically correct - Africans have big lips, Asians have slanted eyes, native Americans have big noses BUT they all behave like people and not awful stereotypes. I have never met a child who didn't like Tin-tin. Tin-tin is available in over-sized soft cover and hardcover collections, at Powell's Books and probably through local book and comic stores.
February and March 2008 Book Events
SOME BOOK EVENTS February and March
In PORTLAND, OREGON, Annie Bloom's Books at 7834 SW Capitol Highway, Tuesday, March 4, 2008 7:30 p.m., author Gin Phillips presents The Well and the Mine. Wednesday, March 26, 2008 7:30 p.m., author Chitra Divakaruni presents The Palace of Illusions.
Also in PORTLAND, the famous and incomparable Powell's, City of Books, has way too many things in February and March on their calendar to include here but The Carnivore's Dilemma author Michael Pollan will be speaking at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, Thursday , February 12th, on his new book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto.
Politics and Prose, in WASHINGTON, DC, has something every day of the month of February, including former Bill Clinton press secretary, Dee Dee Myers, on Thursday, February 28, 7 p.m. and her new book, Why Women Should Rule the World. Books, good food (delicious Jambalaya Alfredo) and evening music can be found every night at Kramer Books and Afterwards on Connecticut Ave, just above DuPont Circle.
In LOS ANGELES, Book Soup at 8818 Sunset has a hefty calendar of events, including David Rieff's beautiful Swimming in a Sea of Death, a memoir of his mother, Susan Sontag, who succumbed to cancer in 2004.
In NEW YORK, try Bluestockings, at 172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington, which also has an excellent looking, full events calendar, including a reading by Peter Linebaugh from his newest book The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All.
All For Kids Books in SEATTLE, a family-owned independant book store, presents weekly storytime every Tuesday at 10:30 a.am. At The Elliott Bay Book Company, Monday, February 18 at 7:30 p.m, author and lecturer Charles Barber presents Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry is Medicating a Nation, from Pantheon: "Comfortably Numb chronicles the extraordinary psychopharmaceutalization of everyday life that has arisen in recent years and appears to be growing apace. Charles Barber marks out the inconvenient truths on our path to emotional climate change but also offers alternative to readers who wish to avoid pharmageddon." – David Healy.
In PORTLAND, OREGON, Annie Bloom's Books at 7834 SW Capitol Highway, Tuesday, March 4, 2008 7:30 p.m., author Gin Phillips presents The Well and the Mine. Wednesday, March 26, 2008 7:30 p.m., author Chitra Divakaruni presents The Palace of Illusions.
Also in PORTLAND, the famous and incomparable Powell's, City of Books, has way too many things in February and March on their calendar to include here but The Carnivore's Dilemma author Michael Pollan will be speaking at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, Thursday , February 12th, on his new book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto.
Politics and Prose, in WASHINGTON, DC, has something every day of the month of February, including former Bill Clinton press secretary, Dee Dee Myers, on Thursday, February 28, 7 p.m. and her new book, Why Women Should Rule the World. Books, good food (delicious Jambalaya Alfredo) and evening music can be found every night at Kramer Books and Afterwards on Connecticut Ave, just above DuPont Circle.
In LOS ANGELES, Book Soup at 8818 Sunset has a hefty calendar of events, including David Rieff's beautiful Swimming in a Sea of Death, a memoir of his mother, Susan Sontag, who succumbed to cancer in 2004.
In NEW YORK, try Bluestockings, at 172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington, which also has an excellent looking, full events calendar, including a reading by Peter Linebaugh from his newest book The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All.
All For Kids Books in SEATTLE, a family-owned independant book store, presents weekly storytime every Tuesday at 10:30 a.am. At The Elliott Bay Book Company, Monday, February 18 at 7:30 p.m, author and lecturer Charles Barber presents Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry is Medicating a Nation, from Pantheon: "Comfortably Numb chronicles the extraordinary psychopharmaceutalization of everyday life that has arisen in recent years and appears to be growing apace. Charles Barber marks out the inconvenient truths on our path to emotional climate change but also offers alternative to readers who wish to avoid pharmageddon." – David Healy.
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