PLANET ART

Anger, he and she
================
She cannot fathom, why you become an easy
prey of anger. Perhaps it is the dark blood that
runs through human veins and arteries over
the times and the changes. She seizes your raised fist
and run. Runs through the lanes, alleys, houses, ages.
When one tide ebbs, there is the next one; ready to
ambush. Childhood subsides. She is still with the rogue,
you. Her secret houses. Her pitiful endeavor
to build a home around four walls one slanting
roof and the resident fear of losing all
someday soon. The anger is his other lady.

She knows someday she will be the one to destroy
anger and her love both, in a single angry stroke.

Okay, I finally have got around to finishing this, and can now put together some kind of review, which is of course a bit of this and that as usual. Not a long write, but just picking what I can recall now. *lol*

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And the next book (if you haven't started it or read it already) is Hollinghurst's "The Spell". :)

I know this review is a little late... reading while making notes makes things slow etc. but whatever, here's my comments on the book #1( Collapse )

And the next book, to be reviewed at the end of June, is Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential". :)

TITLE: The Dangerous Type
THEME: Love (or in this case, a very wrong love)
WORD COUNT: 461
COMMENTS: Written for the Valentine's Day love-themed challenge for the Flash Fiction Carnival. Flash Fiction stories are very short stories, usually under 1,000 words. I have chosen to take on the Flash Fiction challenge because I have always done better with longer stories, and this is an opportunity to challenge myself with 1) taking on something new, and 2) learning to make the most economical use of words.

X-posted to my journal and cf_writers

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will be Bennett's "The Uncommon Reader" :)

Okay, now we have voted on the books... firstly, since the year has gone on so far already, we'll only choose 5 'must'-reads this time. Of these, four were clearly above others in votes:

Bennett - The Uncommon Reader
Bourdain - Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Hollinghurst - The Spell
McEwan – Atonement

Then there was three that came with the next biggest sum of votes. I chose through throwing the dice this one to join the four above:

Banana Yoshimoto - Hard Boiled/Hard Luck

But if you want to read the two left (below), it'd be great if you review them after reading, here:

Susan Hubbard - The Society of S
Lanchester - The Debt to Pleasure

=

So what we need now is to vote for the book to be read first *heh* from these:

Bennett - The Uncommon Reader
Bourdain - Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Hollinghurst - The Spell
McEwan – Atonement
Banana Yoshimoto - Hard Boiled/Hard Luck

Get voting! XD :)

X-posted to cf_writers and my journal.

This story is my first foray into the world of Flash Fiction - stories that are between 500 and 1,000 words long. Definitely a learning challenge for me, as I've always been most comfortable writing in longer format so that I can delve into the detail and backstory of my characters. Flash Fiction is an excellent exercise for me to learn to make the most economical use of my words.

TITLE: SHELF OF DOLLS
AUTHOR: alannahjoy
RATING: G
LENGTH: 770 words
COMMENTS: Inspired by my recent re-interest in my childhood dolls. Critique and comments are welcomed.

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I was talking this weekend with alannahjoy about flash fiction. The thought doesn't really inspire me; most of my ideas are for longer pieces. Still, this popped out.

TITLE: People In the Lake
AUTHOR: HeartofDavid
RATING: G
COMMENTS: Semi-autobiographical. I'd love to hear your opinion if you would care to comment.

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Alright, now that we have posted our suggestions for this year (descriptions of some of the below are to be found here and here), we can get to voting. So this is how it happens:

- First vote for 6 books of your choice that you'd want to be included in the book club of this year
- Then (if you want), vote for alternative 6 books from the rest, these are books that one can read as extra or as something you might be interested about to read. This group of books are not something one would *have* to read, really.

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Let's make this the one thread for recommendations; easy to keep track that way.

Brief mention about 2007's last selection, "Another Country." We'll give it another month for those who are still reading or want to read this novel. :) BTW, I loved it, think it was my favorite for the year.

Okay, 2008 is almost here! I spent a lot of time thinking of what books to suggest. I opted out of short stories, decided that it might be too difficult to negotiate timely copying, mailing and reading. However, I will periodically recommend great short stories I've come across, and will mail just for fun some that I think people might have a difficult time tracking down - as seen by my Christmas packages.

For my recommendations, I chose books with a variety of themes (gay, coming of age, fantasy, horror, etc.) - none of which I've read and I'm familiar with only four of the authors. I also checked that the page count is less than or close to the 300 page mark, and that these books are readily available in either hardcover or paperback from various booksellers - and all are available through my library so I'm hoping if any of them are chosen everyone will be able to find them with ease.

My list:
David Leavitt - The Lost Language of Cranes
Alan Bennett - The Uncommon Reader (got this from Simon's Reader, looks interesting!)
Edmund White - Hotel de Dream: A New York Novel
William Hope Hodgson - The House on the Border Land
Sokeki Natsume - Botchan
Brian Frances Slattery - Spaceman Blues: A Love Story
Helen Dunmore - A Spell of Winter
Harif Kureishi - Buddha of Suburbia
Pat Barker - Regeneration
Angela Carter - The Magic Toyshop
Charles Bukowski - Ham on Rye
Ian Rankin - Knots and Crosses (An Inspector Rebus Mystery)
Rudyard Kipling - Kim

Edited January 4 - See my comments below for summaries.

I've deleted Roopa Farooki - Bitter Sweets from my list. I'd taken this book from the library for my mom. I'd read some good reviews and heard the book had been nominated for some award. Mom tried reading it and said it was horrible. Generally, I think she's a pretty good judge of books, so I gave it a try. 35 pages (three chapters later), I was in total agreement with her. Nothing wrong with the plot, it would make an interesting story. But the writing is dreadful, the worst-of-the-worst cliched, lazy, choppy writing I've seen in a long time. Makes me think the writer must hate words and writing to put together sentences such as those in the book. Also makes me think that talent has absolutely nothing to do with being a published writer - it is all a matter of luck if the editor or publisher happens to be in a good mood, had a great lunch that day, or has a date with Debbie Dominatrix that evening - any of these can make them feel kindly towards the manuscript. If a writer makes it past that point, talent may prevail if the book finds an audience who likes it and wants more. But I'm really starting to believe that talent has nothing to do with it.