Category: Everything Else

Two Disappointing Novellas: The Day of the Owl and The Guest Cat

Post author By Jackie
Post date November 24, 2014
11 Comments on Two Disappointing Novellas: The Day of the Owl and The Guest Cat

The Day Of The Owl by Leonard Sciascia

Translated from the Italian by Archibald Colquhoun

Five words from the blurb: Sicily, murder, mafia, investigation, cold

The Day of the Owl begins with a man being murdered in front of a bus load of people. The sawn-off shotgun used in the attack suggests that it is a mafia killing, but no one is willing to admit they saw the shooting so the investigation runs cold.

This book is an examination of the mafia presence in Sicily. I found it interesting to read about this topic/setting for the first time, but most of the book did nothing for me. I think the problem was my unfamiliarity with the subject matter. The subtlety of the political messages went over my head and the large number of Italian words frustrated me. I only finished the book because it was so short.

Recommended to those with a knowledge of Italian political history and its connection with the mafia.

The Guest Cat by Takashi Hirade

Translated from the Japanese by Eric Selland

Five words from the blurb: couple, writers, cat, visits, together

The Guest Cat is a quiet book about a couple who work from home as freelance writers. Beautifully poetic writing describes their everyday lives and the interactions they have with a cat that decides to visit them.

Unfortunately, perhaps because I’m more of a dog person, this book did nothing for me. The couple’s life was boring and I failed to see the attraction of reading endless descriptions of what the cat did. I normally love Japanese books, but this one didn’t contain any of the usual culinary, cultural or mythological aspects of Japanese society that I enjoy reading about.

If you love cats and enjoy vivid descriptions of how they wander in and out of people’s lives then this is for you, but if you’re after any plot or emotion then I’d avoid it.

Audio Book Other

Three Things You Should Listen to This Weekend

Post author By Jackie
Post date November 21, 2014
3 Comments on Three Things You Should Listen to This Weekend

I haven’t read much recently because nothing on the page seems to live up to the quality of the podcasts I’ve discovered. Listening to great stories has the added benefit of being able to do something else whilst enjoying them – perfect for enabling me to continue to sort out my house!

Rather than keep my discoveries secret I thought I’d share them with you. All three are so good – you really should try listening this weekend!

Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming

This week BBC Radio 4 have serialised Alan Cumming’s emotionally charged memoir. Not My Father’s Son is available to download for the next 4 weeks – I highly recommend you give it a try!

Note: I think the free download might only be available to those in the UK so others might have to settle for reading it in print.

The Moth

Last month I raved about The Moth: 50 Extraordinary True Stories. I’ve since discovered that The Moth has a website which contains lots of amazing short stories for you to listen to. There is also a podcast which includes the best stories from each week.

Serial

Serial is a Twitter phenomenon. It is an investigation into a murder that happened in 1999. The evidence gathered is presented in a podcast and the audience is encouraged to help solve the crime. I was sceptical at first, but the continuous Twitter chat finally persuaded me to give it a try. It is a unique concept and so compelling. I can’t wait for the next episode!

Have you listened to any of these? Did you enjoy them as much as I did?

2014 Other

Three Abandoned Books: The Bone Clocks, Steppenwolf and Random Family

Post author By Jackie
Post date November 5, 2014
15 Comments on Three Abandoned Books: The Bone Clocks, Steppenwolf and Random Family

Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

Five words from the blurb: ghetto, poverty, mother, drugs, violence

I bought a copy of Random Family after reading a recommendation from Andrew Solomon, one of my favourite authors. Random Family is a fantastic snapshot of a community. It took 10 years of research and the result is a detailed insight into life in the Bronx. The families have to deal with violence, gangs and drug use and this book enables the reader to understand exactly what everyday life is like for them.

Unfortunately I found the text a bit too academic for my taste. Too many people were introduced and I found it impossible to keep track of them all. The detail was overwhelming and reduced the emotional impact of the horrors they were experiencing. It is perfect for anyone looking for a anthropological study, but it was too dry for me.

DNF

Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse

Five words from the blurb: strange, man, society, sensual, depressive

Translated from the German by David Horrocks

Steppenwolf is about Harry Haller, a man who feels he doesn’t belong in the world. The book follows his aimless meandering and shows his depressive outlook on life. The writing was of a good quality, but I failed to connect with Harry. The endless bleakness of the text bored me and I wished that the plot was stronger. Much of the book reminded me of Hunger by Knut Hamsun, so if you enjoy one of these books I’m sure you’ll appreciate the other, but it was too depressing for me.

DNF

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

Five words from the blurb: adolescence, shadows, strange, world, mortality

I’ve enjoyed all of David Mitchell’s previous books so was looking forward to reading this one. Unfortunately it didn’t really work for me. There were some great individual passages, but I couldn’t connect with the book as a whole. Much of the dialogue felt very ordinary and it didn’t have the special spark that was present in Cloud Atlas. I found myself skimming large sections and never understood the purpose of the book. It was too disjointed, but this bothered me in a way it hadn’t with his earlier books because the individual stories weren’t interesting enough.

Disappointing.

DNF

Other

October Summary and Plans for November

Post author By Jackie
Post date November 1, 2014
12 Comments on October Summary and Plans for November

October has been a busy month for me. The building work is almost complete so I’ve been gathering boxes from storage and unpacking them. It is a slow process, but almost over now. I’m continuing to read at a slower pace, but I’m enjoying it and have no plans to increase my reading volume in the near future.

Books of the Month:

Two very different books, but both give a fantastic insight into the human pysche.

Alive isn’t for the squeamish, but it shows the strength of the human spirit and the importance of keeping hope alive.

The Moth is a wonderful collection of stories that show people at important junctions in their lives – it’s inspirational!

Books Reviewed in October:

The Moth: 50 Extraordinary True Stories

Alive by Piers Paul Read

Black Rainbow by Rachel Kelly

Mice by Gordon Reece

The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster

The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

Plans for November

I’m planning to participate in German literature month. I’m going to start with Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada, but I love reading German books so may squeeze in a few more.

I also plan to try some of the following:

The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide

Someone Else’s Skin by Sarah Hilary

The Circus in Winter by Cathy Day

The Day of the Owl by Leonardo Sciascia

The Lake District Murder by John Bude

Pandora In The Congo by Albert Sánchez Piñol

I’m Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti

The Blood Of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani

The rest of the month will be reserved for random choices. I hope you have a wonderful November!

Tags Monthly Summary, Summary

2014 Memoirs Uncategorized

Black Rainbow by Rachel Kelly

Post author By Jackie
Post date October 26, 2014
1 Comment on Black Rainbow by Rachel Kelly

Five words from the blurb: depression, world, collapses, poetry, recovery

I hadn’t heard of this book until an unsolicited review copy popped through my letterbox, but I started reading and couldn’t put it down. Black Rainbow describes one woman’s decent into depression and how she recovered by using poetry and other literature.

Parts of the book frustrated me as I could see what she was doing wrong and became angry at the selfishness and lack of understanding shown by individual members of the public, but as the book progressed Rachel’s confidence improved and I found the scientific information about the causes of depression very interesting. I was also aware of the position of privilege Rachel was lucky enough to be in. She was able to pay for nannies to look after her children and buy private therapy as needed. It is sad to know that this isn’t possible for many. One of my friends has been waiting 18 months for the therapy Rachel was able to purchase instantly. You can learn more here about the best physical therapy. I hope that those in charge of NHS budgets read this book and realise how important mental health care is. Please don’t feel offended or ashamed of the terms women’s mental health, when being applied to you/us specifically. After age 40 so much is happening to us, so many changes and transitions. We don’t understand what is going on in our bodies. This means the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual parts of our bodies. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach that aims to teach a person new skills on how to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions, behaviors, and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic approach. This title is used in many ways to differentiate behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, and therapy that is based on both behavioral and cognitive therapies you can read more information about it Health Blog. There is empirical evidence that shows that cognitive behavioral therapy is quite effective in treating several conditions, including personality, anxiety, mood, eating, substance abuse, and psychotic disorders. Treatment is often manualized, as specific psychological orders are treated with specific technique-driven brief, direct, and time-limited treatments.

The emotional power of this book was impressive. It is rare to discover a book that allows the reader to completely understand another person’s mind, but this book gave an unflinchingly honest insight into the thoughts and feelings of a woman battling with mental illness. You can check out our naturopath doctor in Alberta, AB – Neurvana Health, for a womans health.

Rachel was a busy journalist, but after the birth of her second child she became anxious and unable to sleep. This triggered a breakdown of scary intensity. Her friends and family were unable to reach her and she became increasingly isolated. She was prescribed a series of medications that set her on the road to recovery, but poetry seemed to be the real healing power.

I would also repeat endlessly certain phrases and images from ‘The Flower’, another Herbert poem. One of my favourites was ‘Grief melting away/Like snow in May’……There were certain lines that spoke so powerfully to me it seemed as though they had been injected into my body.

I’m afraid I’ve never been a fan of poetry and so her examples did nothing for me, but I suspect they will be a real comfort to those who appreciate it.

Black Rainbow was well-written and had a strong narrative drive. I learnt a lot about depression and have a new understanding of the best way to interact with those who are suffering. This book is an important one and, in an ideal world, it should be read by everyone but especially those whose lives are touched by depression.

Tags Depression

Other Uncategorized

Which books should be in the perfect junior school library?

Post author By Jackie
Post date October 19, 2014
8 Comments on Which books should be in the perfect junior school library?

My sons’ school recently converted from an infant school into a full primary. They have a good selection of books for younger children, but their library hasn’t quite developed a full range for junior school children (aged 7-11). Keen to ensure my boys and their friends have a good mixture of books to read I volunteered to look into which would be best to buy for them. They already have most of the classics (Harry Potter, Roald Dahl, CS Lewis etc) so I’m looking for more modern books that children will love like the ones RIC Publications has. Every writer wants to have a professionally produced eBook. Imagine you pay a bomb for software to format your eBook and you don’t know how to you use it. Pen2publishing company provide the best ebook formatting services. The goal of the school library media center is to ensure that all members of the school community have equitable access “to books and reading, to information, and to information technology. A school library is a structure within the school that houses a collection of books, audio-visual material and other content that serves common use to meet the educational, informative and recreational needs of the users. A school library is a structure within the school that houses a collection of books, audio-visual material and other content that serves common use to meet the educational, informative and recreational needs of the users. For the best chemistry tuition in the Singapore visit us.

I want books that inspire them and nurture a love for reading so I’ve spent a wonderful weekend researching ones that teachers, booksellers, librarians and (most importantly!) children recommend. A school library is a structure within the school that houses a collection of books, audio-visual material and other content that serves common use to meet the educational, informative and recreational needs of the users. A school library is a structure within the school that houses a collection of books, audio-visual material and other content that serves common use to meet the educational, informative and recreational needs of the users. Librarians are not merely the caretakers of books anymore they are the consultants, information providers, instructional readers, curriculum designers, and teachers. They can help students in achieving their goals.

Here’s what I found!