NancyElin.blog

#Classic Iola Leroy

• Title:  Iola Leroy  (info characters and plot)
• Author: Frances E.W. Harper (1825-1911)
• Genre: novel  (33 very short chapters, 200 pg)
• Published: 1892
• Trivia: 19th C Classic 
• Trivia: One of the very first novels written by a black woman
• List of Challenges 2021
• Monthly plan
• #Classic

Quickscan:

1. It tells the story of a wealthy Mississippi planter
2. who frees and marries his mixed-race slave.
3. They have two children, Iola and Harry.
4. They are raised without knowledge of their
5. mixed background and educated in the North.
6. After  the father’s death
7. …greedy relatives thrust Iola and her mother into slavery.

Structure:

1. Ch 1-8  present
2. Ch 9-12 flashback ( 20 years ago….)
3. Ch 13- 33 present

 

1. Strong point:  Regional dialect, characters influenced
2. by a specific locale with  speech and attitudes
3. …reflected the deep South in 1860s.
4. Mainly in ch 1-8…so if you find it irritating reading
5. ….just remember the rest of the book is ordinary text.

 

1. Strong point: 
2. This book  as old as it is…just makes me think!
3. Pg 32 says:
4. THEN: “…when the colored men were being enlisted,
5. …that he (soldier) would
6. break his sword and resign.”

1. NOW: 128 years later Lloyd Austin could would be
2. the first African American to lead the Pentagon.
3. West Point graduate, retired four-star general,
4. former commander of the American military effort in Iraq
5. …has been nominated by President Elect Biden
6. …to be his Secretary of Defense.
7. Oh,…times are a changin’!

 

1. Strong point: 
2. Ms Harper is prescient…
3. perceiving  in 1892 the
4. …significance of events before they occur.
5. “Other men have plead his (black man’s) cause
6. but out of the race must come its own defenders.
7. With them the pen must be mightier than the sword.”
8. REF: Opinion NYTimes  dd. 12.12.2020 
9. Svp read –>  “How White is Publishing?”
10. …and add more voices of color to your reading lists!

 

Conclusion:

1. Ms Harper fulfills the requirement of historical fiction:
2. — bringing alive the past
3. — speaking forcefully
4. — to the readers of today.
5. Themes: importance of religion, oppression of women
6. Themes: racism, central role of women in community/family
7. Subplot: a beautiful love triangle…
8. Triangle:  Iola – Dr. Gresham – Dr. Latimar
9. Some have said this book feels outdated
10. …but I disagree. 
11. It made many strong points
12. …that we can learn from….even today!
13. Iola Leroy is powerful enough to
14. remain with readers for years to come.
15. That is why it is a ….
16. #MustRead  #Classic!

#Merry Christmas 2020

1. Glad to report  that despite a
2. …FULL LOCKDOWN  in The Netherlands
3. …Santa was able to visit us!
4. Why are Santa’s reindeer allowed to travel on Christmas Eve?
5. They have herd immunity.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

#Non-fiction: 2020 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award

Bora Bora

• Author:  Christina Thompson
• Title: Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia
• Published: 2019
• Genre: Non-fiction
• Rating: A
• Trivia: 2019 NSW Premier’s History Award  General History
• Trivia: 2020 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Nonfiction
• List of Challenges 2020
• Monthly plan
• #PMLitAwards

Introduction:

1. Christina Thompson and her family (Maori husband and three sons)
2. spent 8 weeks traveling across the Pacific, with stops in
3. Tahiti, Ra’iatea, the Marquesas, the Tuamotu Archipelago, T
4. onga, Hawai’i, New Zealand, and Vanuatu.
5. They visited:

• two points of the Polynesian triangle (Hawai’i and New Zealand);
• a center of ancient Polynesian culture (Tahiti, Ra’iatea);
• one of the earliest Polynesian settlements (Tonga);
• and the most famous Lapita cemetery in the Western Pacific (Vanuatu).

Polynesian Triangle ( 10.000.000 square miles!)

What is the  CORE MESSAGE ?

1. Problems of Polynesian origins – a great geographical mystery
2. How did the Sea People spread themselves over the vast ocean (P.Triangle)
3. The problem is that the events are pre-history, no written records
4. .…open to interpretation.
5. Christina Thompson does NOT just follow
6. ….  James Cook’s three expeditions.
7. She approaches the origin of the Polynesian ‘Sea People’  from a fresh angle:
8. NOT what happened…
9. ….but HOW WE KNOW what happened in the Pacific.
10. In 20th C science delivers up whole new bodies of information.
11. In 1970s an experimental voyaging movement emerged.
12. Scientists used computer simulation the chance of
13. settling Polynesia by drift voyagages alone was very small.
14. There had to be some human decision making taken into account.
15. This  was to show that the ancient Polynesians
16. …could have purposefully settled the Polynesian Triangle
17. in double-hulled, voyaging canoes.

What did the Polynesians use to navigate?

1. Without the aid of sextants or compasses
2. …the ancient Polynesians navigated their canoes by the
3. stars and other signs that came from the ocean and sky
4. for example clouds, swells.

When did the Polynesians explore?

1. 1200 BC – Polynesians reached Samoa and Tonga 
2. 300 AD they fanned out to the Marquesas
3. 400-600 AD heading north to the Hawaiian Islands

Where did the Polynesians come from?

1. One of the most famous people to investigate
2. and write about  this was Abraham Fornander (1812 – 1887)
3. He was a Swedish-born emigrant
4. …who became an important Hawaiian journalist.
5. He was committed to the Aryan thesis:
6. ancestors of Polynesians were a chip of the same block
7. from which the Hindu, Iranian and Indo-European family
8. were fashioned.

Strong point:

1. I knew NOTHING about James Cook’s expeditions
2. …and this was a great overview of his three journeys.

Strong point:

1. Thompson makes the book so interesting by discussing
2. unexpected and closely related topics
3. to explain the Polynesian Triangle
4. …Part III, ch 1 “Drowned Continents”
5. The Belgian voyager, scientist
6. Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout (1796-1879)
7. dedicated many years searching for
8. the origin of the Polynesians and their culture.

Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands

Strong point:  structure

1. This book was easy to follow…even if you need to
2. take a break and read something else.
3. Thompson has divided the book in 6 parts
4. The Eyewitness (1521-1722)
5. Connecting the Dots (1764-1778)  James Cook voyages
6. Why Not Just Ask (1778-1920)
7. The Rise of Science (1920-1959)
8. Setting Sail (1947-1980)
9. What We Know Now (1990-2018) DNA and Dates

Weak point:  (Part II, chapter 4)

1. Discussions about the Indo-European language family
2. that is related to the languages used in Polynesia were
3. took some determination to get through…but i did it.
4. But this is important to know to discover the origin of
5. the ‘sea people’ in Polynesia…by means of linguistics.

Conclusion:

1. This book is not ONLY about the Polynesian mariners
2. but also about the people who over the years have
3. puzzled over their history
4. …sailors, linguists, biologists, voyagers, geographers etc.
5. I did not know Robert Lewis Stevenson visited the
6. Marquesas Islands!
7. This was a very interesting book…with some parts that
8. were amazing
9. …voyages and methods of
10. …navigating without compass or sextant,
11. …other parts a bit soporific (linguistics).
12. This book is well worth your reading time!
13. #NonFictionLovers

Last Thoughts:

1. I recommend the audio book (11 hrs 40 min)
2. A narrating voice brings life into this very
3. interesting book.
4. If you first want get into the Polynesian mood
5. before you start this book
6. …sit down (…with the kids) and watch
7. Disney’s 2016 film Moana!