#Short Stories Mirandi Riwoe

• Author: Miranda Riwoe
• Title: The Burnished Sun (232 pg)  2022 (title refers of lines in the play Merchant of Venice)
• Genre: short stories (10) + 2 novellas, but I’m saving them for later.
• Australian TBR List
• #AusReadingMonth23 @ This Reading Life (Brona)
• Intro:  The Burnished Sun was shortlisted Short Story Collection QLD literary Awards 2022

Conclusion: = Wonderful collection 

Short Stories:

1. Invitation – 10 pg 
2. Theme: sense of belonging
3. Strong point: such attention for detail…just amazing: mothers with children
4. the narrator (mother)  trying  to blend in with other mothers but lacks confidence b/c of  the language barrier.
5. Title: refers to an invitation to a children’s birthday party

1. Hardflip – 14 pg.  
2. Theme: sense of belonging, less conspicuous, more a part of things.
3. Strong point:  Writing is strong…(2x smell) (1x sense of taste) 8 x similes
4. Skateboarder wants to make a risky jump with his board….”He’ll be a star on YouTube.’
5. Title: refers to a popular skateboarding trick.

1. Hazel – 06 pg.
2. Theme: sense of belonging although separated  from family b/c of Covid restrictions
3. Strong point: brings back memories of the torment felt by elderly during pandemic
4. Writing is less impressive, story is very short….but still a good read.
5. Title: refers to main character in nursing home.

1. Dignity – 13 pg.
2. Theme: sense of NOT belonging, a servant in household and  woman who has been evicted.
3. Strong point: Story describes a typical Sunday as a servant in a household. Riwoe uses
4. the sense of “smell” often: smell of clove smoke, layers sweat and sandalwood,
5. …the smell of bacon as it fries and curls.
6. Writing is excellent with a cyclical ending …simply ending things as they started and
7. ….b/c the servant is working in Australia separated from her husband and 2 yr old boy
8. …the ending pulls on readers’ heartstrings
9. Title: refers to the decision to work in Australia while  
10. …she feels she should go home to preserve her dignity.

1. Growth – 07 pg.

1. Theme: sense of NOT belonging, not feeling like a mother, postpartum depression 
2. Strong point: Ms Riwoe packs a punch even in a very short story…emotions compacted in a few phrases.
3. Writing is strong…at times giving a reader unexpected jolt!
4. Title: refers to the “fetus in fetu”…also  sense of NOT belonging

1. Cinta Ku – 10 pg

1. Theme: sense of NOT belonging  Grandmother returns with grandson Riley to Indonesia 
2. …and Maya is reminded that  “she so no longer from here, that her body
3. …betrays her time away from this place.”
4. Strong point: Love the way Riwoe weaves Maya’s emotions with her cooking….just so creative!
5. Writing is so touching…old woman remembering her long lost love, Jakub.
6. Title: refers to “my love”  in Indonesian

1. She is Ruby Wong – 16 pg

1. Theme: sense of friendship. Ruby and Fran were friends years ago
2. …creating mischief wherever they went.
3. Fran’s mischief in her teens had dire consequences.
4. Ruby’s mischief  now on stage could potentially be embarrassing as well.
5. Strong point: Building up  a feeling of tension….
6. Will the old friends recognise each other?  
7. Ruby on the stage…Fran in the audience.
8. Writing  is still very good…cannot spot a weakness anywhere, bravo!
9. Title: refers to the actress in London…who grew up in Australia.

1. Mind Full – 09 pg
2. Theme: sense of grief – Jennifer’s son died in Bali on a school trip.
3. She wants to follow his  Ben’s itinerary during his last days. Jennifer books a flight to Bali.
4. Strong point: Expressing grief as a ritual of closure.
5. Writing demonstrates Jennifer’s transition in dealing with grief…in just 9 pages.
6. Title: refers to advies from Jen’s thearapist…she must practice mindfulness
7. ..the practice of being aware of your body, mind, and feelings in the present moment,
8. …thought to create a feeling of calm.

1. What Would Kim Do? – 08 pg
2. Theme: sense of the erotic… Milly, Liv and Georgia go to a  night club
3. Strong point: Milly takes us deep into her fantasies while cruising the night club.
4. Writing...couldn’t get more vivid if you tried!
5. Title: refers to Kim Kardashian

1. So Many Ways – 11  pg
2. Theme: sense of being at a turning point – Ella listen to her mother as she leafs trhough
3. a family photo album.  Ella is scheduled to have an abortion….but starts to doubt about it. 
4. Strong point: Life is tough…work…family…children  and sometimes people are too young
5. to manage all these “turning points”
6. Writing is excellent.
7. Title: refers to….so many ways to lose a child. Her mother lost a child and drives…what will Ella do?

#NonFicNov Kylie Tennant (1912-1988)

• Author: Kylie Tennant
• Title: The Man on the Headland  (151 pg)  1971
• Genre: memoir

Introduction:

1. Kylie paints the impression of a bushman
2. discovers the headland near Diamond Head.
3. He is single, solitary but friendly.  
4. Ernie is the quintessentail bushman of Australia’s past.
5. The Man on the Headland is also the story of Kylie,
6. …her schoolmaster husband, Roddy,
7. …and her two children, both born during her time in Laurieton.

Conclusion:

1. What a great little book this is…who would have thought?
2. Kylie Tennant has been on my TBR for four years!
3. A heart-warming story about Ernie Metcalf, a bushman solitary but not lonely
4. …his family and his neighbours The Roddys.
5. Ms Tennant has made her book so engaging because the Roddys 
6. are none other than Kylie Tennant and her husband (writer and schoolteacher).
7. The theme is the importance of reaching out the hand of friendship
8. and weaving throughout the story a lovely dosis of humour!
9. Strong point: Ms. Tennant uses many literary techniques such as 
10. similes and personification  to build imagery and give words more power.
11. I think the greatest compliment I can give Kylie Tennant is that I want
12. to read  more of her books especially  The Battlers..

Characters: 

1. Ernie Metcalfe – ” …reputation as the mad hermit of Dimandead.”
2. Lost romance – Bertha Bullen
3. Elder sister – Clara
4. Brother-in-law – Bert Mullen (Clara’s husband)
5. Nephew – Bert (Clara’s son)
6. Nephew – Harry (George’s son)
7. Brother – Jack
8. Brother – Albert
9. Elder brother – George-with-one-arm
10. Grandfather-  Welsh poacher
11. Father – John (bullock driver)
12. “The Mother” – as one speaks of a deity (6 sons, 4 daughters)  died 1933
13. Kylie Tennant Rodd
14. Lewis  “Roddy” Rodd 
15. Benison Rodd (daughter)
16. Bim Rodd (son)

#Cookbook “The Secret of Cooking”

Starting my Thanksgiving Turkey day countdown today!
Why?
Because I have almost 4 months (…aftter dieting) of cooking to catch-up on.
Will gain 15 lbs back this winter?…soi!

I don’t think so.
I’ll just get on the bike again in the Spring.

Making my “training roast chicken” for T-day today.

There are no turkeys in The Netherlands.
If I make mistakes I can fix them next week
…or even use another chef’s recipe.

Here is my photo of the first great cooking bonanza since I
got my new kitchen.

LOOK!! I treated myself to a new cookbook for my birthday.
Bee Wilson: The Secret of Cooking. Have a look at it on Amazon.

LOOK!! The postman just arrived with my B-day cheese.
I haven’t eaten cheese in 4 months!
I’ll have some on my sandwich today.

So it is back to the kitchen.
…and discovering what SECRETS  Bee Wilson can
teach me!

PS:  Why, why are there no frozen pie crusts in this country.
I’m still thinking of trying yet again to make a crust.
What have I got to lose?

#NonFicNov Primo Levi

• Author: Primo Levi
  
• Title: The Drowned and the Saved   (170 pg)  1986
• Genre: non-fiction (memoir)
  
• #NonFicNov

Notes:

1. Impressive quote from Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner
2. “Since then, at an uncertain hour,
3. That agony returns,
4. And till my ghastly tale is told
5. This heart within me burns.”
6. I have no idea what Primo Levi will reveal but I need to
7. hear it…especially now.
8. I’m prepared for an emotionally powerful book.
9. It is going to be difficult to get through but…
10. ..my coffee is ready and so am I.
    

Conclusion:

1. Once I started on page one Sunday morining I read the  entire day.
2. The book is a gem that should be read by everybody.
3. No, there are no descriptions of
4. …stomach churning atrosities but something worse.
5. Primo Levi describes what happened after the Germans voted for  Hitler.
6. 12 years of tyrany…and do you know what?
7. It can happen again.

1. Chapter 3 deals the shame of survival.
2.  Title: The Drowned (dead) and The Saved (survivors).
3. Levi explains in piercing words:
4. “The worst survived, that is the  fittest,
5. …the best all died.”

1. The last chapter is THE BEST  “Letters From Germany”.
2. Levi receives letters from people who finally read the translation
3. of his book “Survival in Auschwitz”.
4. Levi reacts that there is no denying it
5. …Hitler made clear what his ideas were and never concealed it.
6. Those who voted for him certainly vote for his ideas. (pg 178)

Last thoughts:

1. I felt I was reading a book (1986)  that was predicting  the future.
2. I cannot deny that when reading about Hitler and his  “deranged”
3. ideas I had to think of Trump and
4. his last speeches in Florida and New Hamphire last week.
5. Listen to what he is saying…deportation? ….camps?
6. Trump Compares Political Foes To ‘Vermin’ On
7. ...Veterans Day—Echoing Nazi Propaganda
8. Remember this train of thought…
9. it only awaits  a new buffoon (Trump)
10. …who will organize it, legalize it and delcare it necesary and
11. …so contaminate the world.
12. Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said the
13. committee would support former President Trump as the 2024
14. GOP presidential nominee if voters were to choose him,
15. even if he were convicted of a crime
16. People, this is insane.
17. This was the last book Primo Levi wrote…he died in 1987.
18. I felt he was “sreaming” at the world to NEVER forget what
19. happend in Germany…it can happen again.

#MARM The Handmaid’s Tale

• Author: Margaret Atwood
• Title: The Handmaid’s Tale   (311 pg)  1985
• Genre: Science/Speculative  Fiction (dystopia)
• #SciFiMonth @ There’d Always Room For One More
• #MARM2023  @ BuriedInPrint

Conclusion:

1. Well, first of all I love the cover!
2. A successful book cover needs to make
3. a reader ‘feel’ the manuscript rather than ‘tell’ about it.
4. I’m not going to do an indepth review about this book
5. …that is rich with religious allusions, literary devices etc.
6. So many people have read this book or seen the Netflix series

1. I am probably one of the last ones to read this book.
2. Goodreads: almost 2 million ratings and 92,846 reviews.
3. I joined the #MARM2023  challenge to
4. …push me to finally read this classic.
5. The book just scares me.
6. Margaret Atwood’s book imagines a violent
7. …return to a world dominated by men.
8. Women are reduced to their sole reproductive role.
9. The Trump years helped accelerate
10. …this long-unimaginable step backwards.

1. You can read it in the news.
2. Last summer the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade
3. …that upheld for decades the court’s five-decade-old decision
4. ..that guaranteed a woman’s right to obtain an abortion.
5. Just last Tuesday was the latest victory for abortion rights supporters
6. since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Ohio.
   

1. Because Ms Atwood took the speeches of the conservatives
2. in the 1970s and 1980s very seriously
3. …we have this timeless classic: The Handmaid’s Tale.
4. Listen to what Trump intends to do if he is elected
5. …to use the Justice Department to attack his enemies.
6. Take him seriously
7. ….before you pull that lever in the election booth!

Last thoughts:

1. The Netflix series has been
2. …completely overrun with awards.
3. In 2024 we will see the  the
4. …sixth and final season  of The Handmaid’s Tale.
5. Time to finally binge watch seasons 1-5 this year.

#SciFiMonth 2023 week 2: Ann McCaffery

• Author: Ann McCaffery
  
• Title: Dragonflight –  320 pg (1968)
  
• Genre: Science fiction
• Structure  – Anthology of four novellas:
  1. Weyr Search (97 pg)
     
  2. Dragonflight (66 pg)
     
  3. Dust Fall (80 pg)
  4. The Cold Between (78 pg)

The #SciFiMonth challenge is hosted by

• imyril @ There’s Always Room For One More
• Lisa @ Dear Geek Place
• Annemieke @ A Dance With Books
• Mayri @ Book Forager

Conclusion:

1. I try, and try to embrace Science Fiction/Fantasy but fail to
2. become a fan of this genre.
3. My brain is not wired for science fiction books.
4. The book is well written and has a strong plot.
5. Ms McCaffery has injected the novel with moments of
6. warmth and tenderness between Lessa, her lover F’lar and of
7. course with her beloved dragon, Remoth.
8. If you want to read an interesting SciFi book…try this one.
9. I’ve made some notes that may help you to grasp the book
10. when you start reading.
11. Will I read more books by Anne McCaffery?
12. No, I don’t think so…this was enough SciFi for me this year.

Quickscan:

1. This is the best I could find via Amazon.c0m
2. …that helps me start the book.
3. On a beautiful world called Pern, an ancient way of life is about to come under attack.
4. Lessa is an outcast survivor—her parents murdered, her birthright stolen.
5. She is a strong young woman who has never stopped dreaming of revenge.
6. But when an ancient threat to Pern reemerges.
7. Lessa will rise—upon the back of a great dragon.
8. She shares a telepathic bond  with the drageon more intimate than any human connection.
9. Together, dragon and rider will fly . . . and Pern will be changed forever.

1. WIKI  PERN Fandom website
2. I COULD NOT have read this book
3. without the “famdom website for Pern”.
4. I had to look up so many things mentioned in the book!

1. Part 1 Weyr Search
2. It is actually a novella by Anne McCaffery.
3. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for
4. fiction Best Novella, Weyr Search, 1968.
5. Story was perfect: hook, rising action, major turning point and an
6. enemy so evil that it deserve sdestruction.

1. Part 2 Dragonflight (66 pg)
2. This section describes 3 stand-offs:
3. the holders (town leaders) vs Weyrman, F’lar
4. commander R’gul vs F’lar, the new seat op power
5. Lessa, Weyrwoman vs F’lar
6. ….to prove to him she is a force to be reckoned with!

1. Dust Fall (80 pg)
2. Lessa and F’lar calculat when the threads will start falling.
3. They must make plans to battle this menace!
4. “Like rider, like dragon. BEST QUOTE

• The Cold Between (78 pg)
  
• ‘By the Egg, it’s die slow, doing nothing, or die quick, trying.
• We’re dragonmen, aren’t we, bred to fight the Threads?
• Let’s go hunting …
• As they prepare to fight the threads
• F’lar makes a promise to one day pursue Thread to the Red Star itself.

1. Lessa  is chosen as rider for the  queen dragon
2. Ramoth – QUEEN BABY DRAGON!
3. A permanent telepathic bond  (impression) would form
4. between  the dragon Ramoth
5. ….and her  new rider Lessa.

Notes:

Social classes:

1. Weyrfolk (including Dragonriders) who live in Weyrs,
2. Holders who rule Holds (cities, towns and farms),
3. Crafters – guildsmen
4. the Holdless who have no permanent home (including traders, displaced Holders, and brigands).
5. The Pernese live in a pre-industrial society, with lords, holds, harpers and dragons 

5 types of dragons:

1. Gold, which were the large Queen dragons, were the only females allowed to breed & lay eggs.
2. Bronze, which were the largest males & were the only 1s who mated with the queens.
3. Brown & blue, the 2nd & 3rd-largest males. And finally, the
4. Greens, the smallest females.

Map of the planet Pern

1. Anne Inez McCaffrey (1 April 1926 – 21 November 2011)
2. was an Irish writer known for the Dragonriders of Pern science fiction series.
3. Anne McCaffrey was among the most successful writers in the entire field of science fiction.
4. In a career that spanned over forty years,
5. she wrote more than thirty novels and many shorter works of fiction.
6. Ann McCaffery became the first woman to win a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award
7. She earned the SFWA’s accolade of “Grand Master of SF.”
8. SFWA = Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

#Breaking News !!

#GermanLitMonth XIII Hans Keilson

• Author: Hans Keilson
  
• Title: Death of the Adversary
• Der Tod des Widersachers (232 pg)  1959
  
• Reading:  book in Dutch
  
• Genre:  Historical fiction
• German Literature Month XIII
• Lizzy’s Literary Life –  @LizzySiddal
• #GermanLitMonth

Trivia:

In 1936 Dr. Keilson  (1909-2011) emigrated to the Netherlands with his future wife, Gertrud Manz. He began a new novel but he put the manuscript of this book  aside after the German occupation of the Netherlands in 1940 forced him to live in hiding in Delft. Death of the Adversary was published in 1959. The novelist Francine Prose, in The New York Times Book Review, declared it a  masterpiece and its  author a genius. 

Good news: Every reader has their reading preferences…mine is not historical fiction. I’d rather read the ‘raw’ history, but Han Keilson has changed all that. This story is about the narrator (no name) and his strong feelings of hate for his adversary B. This is not a spoiler but reading the book in the context of 1930s Germany one can only guess that B. is Hitler and his rise to power. So keep that in mind.

Good news: The strongest point is the use of the first person point of view that takes the reader inside the narrator’s mind…not unlike Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. From the first pages the book took hold of me and never let go! Although the narrator hates and fears B. he tries to put himself in the other’s shoes. The chapter when he finally sees B. in real life is full of emotions.

Personal:
Some books just leave me speechless….this is one of them. Death of the Adversary is stunning. The book was interesting on a personal level. Both Keilson and I have adopted The Netherlands as our home.

The discussions with the narrator and his father were the best part of the book. The fathers fills his backpack (“zijn wereldbol”) with essentials secretly in case he and his wife are taken by the police. He tells his son to pack a suitcase not a backpack, buy a ticket and leave. You have a goal…..a future to travel to. (pg 194) Try to find it in the library…Death of the Adversary is a lost classic of modern fiction.

#NovNov23 Finalist: Prix Interallié 2023

• Author: Régis Franc (1948)
  
• Title: Je vais bien (160 pg)  2023
• Genre: novella
• Finalist: Prix Interallié 2023 is an annual French literary award,
• awarded for a novel written by a journalist. 
• Shortlist: 09 November 2023
• Winner:   22 November 2023

Good news: 

1. Just a lovely short book to  get me back into reading French.
2. Finalist for Prix Interaillé…book written by a journalist.
3. Hook  is very good.  In the first few pages, narrator tellls us  that
4. he sees his father in the reflection of a shop window.
5. Comment j’ai fini par ressembler à mon père.
6. How did I ended up resembling my father?

Bad news:

1. It has taken me a few days get accustomed to reading French after
2. so many months.
3. My mind wants to read books in English…but I cannot
4. do that until I finish this book.
5. Hopefully my reading speed will increase
6. …by the end of the week!

Personal:

1. The book is about Roger (1914-2014)
2. …the author’s father who dies. (pg 22)
   
3. But Régis Franc has  made me empathize so much
   
4. with the father and son  in  just those few pages.
5. The structure of the book is “bookended” by beginning
6. …and ending  with saying good-bye.

1. “Il ne chantera plus de mélodies simplettes et la rivière
2. continuera de couler san lui…..”
3. This description of a father who is dying
4. ...just took my breath away.
5. He no longer sings the simple melodies and the
6. river continues to flow without him…

1. How do father and son finally reestablish a close relationship?
2. …when the father likes to brawl and fight and
3. …the son prefers to dodge and evade.
4. What an ending…
5. You think you are so different from your father…but
6. Régis Franc must accept reality:
7. Comment j’ai fini par ressembler à mon père?

Timeline:

1. 2014 – we meet son and his father who is  now in a retirement home.
2. His father called it the “chenil”….the kennel. (ch 1-4)
3. 1939 – Roger is drafted, captured by the Germans,
4. …escapes and flees to his home in Carcassonne. (ch 5-9)
5. 1941 – Roger marries, starts a family and finds work.
6. He is 4o yr and life is good. (ch 10-12)
7. 1954 – Car accident  (ch 13)
8. 1960 – Mother dies…father remarries and son leaves for Paris.
9. 1974:   Roger decides to write a book! (1974)  (ch 11-16)
10. 1984 – Simone, (sister) (1951) makes unexpeced visit
11. to see her brother Régis …then suddenly she is gone forever. (ch 17-18)
12. 1958 – Backstory about his youth that explains the title “Je vais bien”.
13. 1994 – Roger’s second wife dies. (ch 20)
14. 1996 – Road trip to London, father and son (21)
15. 2014 – The final walks and long talks with his father (ch 21)

Régis Franc (1947)

Notes:

1. If your are thinking of learning a language by reading books
2. I would recommend choosing your books based on your learning goals.
3. I made the mistake of starting with Mme Bovary by G. Flaubert.
4. I had to look up just about every other word
5. …and it took me 3 months to read!
6. Try to find a book that is suited to your  comprehension level.
7. If you had some high-school French
8. …you could try one of my 3 “starter” favorites.
9. All the books are also  available in English
   
10. …if you want to read the book before starting on the French version.

1. David Foenkinos –  Charlotte  (256 pg) –  2016
2. Gaël Faye – Petit Pays  (Small Country) (224 pg)  – 2016
3. Philippe Grimbert  – Un Secret  (Memory) (176 pg) novella  – 2004

#Walkley Shortlist 2023 NF reading tips!

1. It turns out I have a busy few weeks ahead of me!
2. Here are the shortlisted books for the Walkley Book Award 2023.
3. I’ve only read 2:
   
4. Ghosts of the Orphanage – Christine Kenneally
   
5. The Palestine Laboratory  – Antony Loewenstein– REVIEW
6. Crossing the line  – REVIEW
   

1. Flawed Hero is about the same subject as Crossing the Line
   
2. …but by the another investigative  journalist Chris Masters.
3. The book is 700+ pages ….whew!
4. I’don’t think I can manage that book in November.

TRIVIA

1. I made my  short list predictions on 13.09.2023.
   
2. …that the short list will be:

1. Ghosts of the Orphanage – Christine Kenneally – shortlist
   
2. The Palestine Laboratory – Anthony Loewenstien – shortlist
   
3. Flawed Hero – Chris Masters
   
4. Am I right?
5. I got 2 out of 3…so that’s good!
6. The jury selected Crossing the line – shortlist

The nine books longlisted for the 2023 Walkley Book Award

• Jackie Dent, The Great Dead Body Teachers
• Christine Kenneally, Ghosts of the Orphanage
• Antony Loewenstein, The Palestine Laboratory
• Chris Masters, Flawed Hero: Truth Lies and War Crimes
• Nick McKenzie, Crossing the Line
• Ben Schneiders, Hard Labour: Wage Theft in the Age of Inequality
• Tracey Spicer, Man-Made: How the Bias of the Past is Being Built into the Future
• Chris Wallace, Political Lives, NewSouth Publishing
• Brendan Watkins, Tell No One, Allen & Unwin

• The winner of the Walkley Book Award
• will be announced on November 23.