Skip to content

Recent Articles

24
Nov

#AusReadingMonth2020 Ruby Moonlight (poetry)

 

Absolute gem !!    …64  pages, you can read it in 30 min, time well spent!

 

Introduction:

  1. A verse novel that centers around the impact of colonization
  2. in mid-north South Australia around 1880.
  3. Ruby, refugee of a massacre, shelters in the woods where
  4. she befriends an Irishman trapper.
  5. The poems convey how fear of discovery is overcome
  6. by the need for human contact, which, in a tense unraveling of events,
  7. …is forcibly challenged by an Aboriginal lawman.
  8. The natural world is richly observed and
  9. Ruby’s courtship is measured by the turning of the seasons.

 

Conclusion:

  1. This poem (novel in verse) is a short read
  2. …but don’t confuse length and density.
  3. Ruby Moonlight was a delight to read!
  4. Ms Eckermann has used all her poetic skills that make a poem
  5. that is a a joy to read out loud: sounds linked by
  6. …alliteration, internal vowels and final consonants.
  7. I read this poem to my cat…and he loved it!
  8. The characters come to life in simple language
  9. …and a love story you will not forget.
  10. #MustRead
  • Ruby Moonlight  (the lubra, aboriginal woman)
  • Miner Jack
  • Spear maker
  • The old dancer and two warriors
  • The mob
  • Kuman
  • Man with no music

 

 

 

 

23
Nov

#Non-fiction Walking With Ghosts (memoir)

 

Conclusion

  1. I did not expect this!
  2. Gabriel Byre writes his memoir as a poet
  3. …so lyrical, so close to the heart
  4. …making observations about his hometown
  5. …and youth  that I said to myself:
  6. “Oh, yes….I remember!”
  7. Think back to all those quirky people you knew and
  8. …saw through child’s eyes:
  9. the barber with a twirling red/white striped cylinder on his store
  10. the cobbler who knew exactly where your shoe was.
  11. And I was mesmerized by  the wall behind him filled with
  12. saint’s holy cards.…the rock stars in his life!
  13. …the chic millinery lady who sold frilly hats and gloves
  14. Byrne: “Sometimes in those days I felt that I might crack and
  15. …break apart with joy.”

 

So vivid….in “my little hometown USA”

  1. smell of geraniums as you brushed against them
  2. …Dad’s go to flowers when nothing else would grow.
  3. smell of boot polish at the cobblers…I can’t remember his name but he spoke with an accent.
  4. smell of fish with glassy eyes laying on a carpet of crushed ice at the R&D Fish Market.
  5. swiveling on the red-vinyl bar stools at Mahoney’s Pharmacy/soda shoppe…cherry Coke!
  6. the hiss of irons and a fog of steam…in Simonetti’s Dry Cleaning
  7. dark, spooky Chinese laundry in Derby…wanted to get out of there fast!
  8. fat tummy’s in tight white aprons the butchers at Fulton Market..chopping bone and gristle.

 

Conclusion:

  1. This is a MASTERPIECE !!
  2. …the type of book that lifts your spirits!
  3. Just let yourself go….and embrace the memories that
  4. Gabriel Byrne’s memoir will awaken!
  5. Walking With Ghosts should be enjoyed while
  6. …sipping a glass of wine preferably in front of
  7. …a roaring fireplace on a cold winter’s night.
  8. #BravoGabrielByrne
23
Nov

#NonFicNov 2020 Week 4 New to My TBR

The Netherlands…..summer morning 2020

 

Week 5: (Nov. 23 to 27) – New to My TBR (Katie @ Doing Dewey): It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book

 

  1. Here is my list of YOUR books
  2. ….that I want to read (TBR).
  3. It’s important to read outside of your experience,
  4. …outside of your time,
  5. …outside of your comfort zones.
  6. That is the most important take-away  #NonficNov!
  7. Note:  35 % of the books are by authors of color  (*)

 

  • Thanks  to the readers for sharing your best non-fiction!
  • Thanks to hosts…

 

  1. Leann of Shelf Aware
  2. Julz of JulzReads
  3. Rennie of What’s Nonfiction
  4. Katie @ Doing Dewey

 

 

Jinjer@The Intrepid Arkansawyer

  1. *Blue Highways  – William Least Heat-Moon
  2. Notes To Myself: Essays – E. Pine

 

Heather@Gofita’s Pages

  1. Spillover  D. Quammen
  2. *Our Time Is Now – Stacey Abrams

 

Athira@Reading on a Rainy Day

  1. *The Best We Could Do – Thi Bui
  2. *March Trilogy – John Lewis

 

Kate @BooksAreMyFavoriteAndBest

  1. Say Nothing  –  Patrick Radden Keefe
  2. This Is Going to Hurt  –  Adam Kay

 

Julie @JulzReads

  1. Indianapolis – L. Vincent, S. Vladic
  2. Labyrinth of Ice – B. Levy

 

Sue @WhisperingGums

  1. Piano Lessons – A. Goldsworthy
  2. Hearing Maud – J. White

 

Cathy @746Books

  1. The Burning of Bridget Cleary – A. Bourke
  2. Ship of Fools – Fintan O’Toole

 

Reese @Typings

  1. The End of Novel Love – Vivian Gornick
  2. In My Father’s Court – I.B. Singer

 

Brona @Brona’sBooks

  1. The World in the Whale – Rebecca Giggs
  2. *A Month in Siena – Hisham Matar

 

Rennie @What’sNonfiction?

  1. *The Biography of Resistance – M.H. Zaman
  2. Clean – J. Hamblin

 

JoAnn @GulfsideMusing

  1. *The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett
  2. *The Nickel Boys – C. Whitehead

 

Katie @DoingDewey

  1. *Here For It – R.E. Thomas
  2. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicone Valley Startup – J. Carreyrou

 

Lisa @ANZLitLovers

  1. A Train in Winter – C. Moorehead
  2. How To Talk About Climate Change in a  Way That Makes a Difference – R. Huntley

 

Lory @TheEmeraldCity

  1. The Body Keeps Score – Bessel v.d. Kolk
  2. An Anthropologist on Mars – Oliver Sacks

 

Deb Nance @Readerbuzz

  1. The Common Good – R. Reich
  2. *Civility – S. L. Carter

 

Liz Dexter @Librofulltime

  1. *Slay In Your Lane – Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené
  2. Forced Out – K. Maxwell

 

22
Nov

#Poetry Penelope Layland

 

  • NOTE:  After having read all the poems
  • I finally discovered the impact of the title.
  • Ms Layland’s skill in exploring mourning, grief and loss is captured in the
  • Things I Thought To Tell You Since I Saw You Last
  • #Bravo to a great poet!

 

Introduction:

  1. This book contains 64 short poems…very readable!
  2. The poet gives us poems dealing with:
  3. quizzing memory
  4. understanding the concept of time
  5. deep human connections
  6. exploring mourning and loss

 

Future anterior – very good, cleverly done!

  1. I start by investigating the title…future anterior.
  2. …an action/event that will be completed ind the future.
  3. Ms Layland cleverly writes a poem about trees
  4. …mentioning the Huon (Pine)
  5. If you read about the tree that only is found in Tasmania
  6. before you read the poem  you will discover
  7. the poet’s skill  jusing the Huon as as an example of ‘future anterior’!
  8. Huon Pine….the oldest tree in the world!

 

In Miss Havisham’s Garden – …description of garden after owner is gone…

Calendar 

  1. Very good!
  2. things that must be done after death of loved one,
  3. poem will linger in my mind.

 

A modern offer

  1. I found this a strange title. What does ‘modern’ mean?
  2. occuring in the present
  3. recently developed style
  4. characteristic to the present-day
  5. ahead of its times
  6. This was a difficult poem to understand.
  7. The poet speaks of a ‘harp-and-cord version’
  8. …then compares it to  a ‘contemporary rendering’ (version)
  9. Words like corporeality, merging of essences, eternal life
  10. …made me think Ms Layland was making a case to accept a
  11. ‘Modern offer’ (cremation) instead of a burial death (….harp-and-cord version).
  12. I would love to hear if somebody had any thoughts on this poem
  13. …it was a hard nut to crack!

 

Rising of the Lights (London 1665)

  1. It took time to figure out the layout…
  2. …poem is just an summation of dreaded  historic diseases.
  3. Depressing….not lyrical content at all!
  4. Now, what happened in London in 1665?
  5. The Great Plague, lasting from 1665 to 1666,
  6. was the last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in England.
  7. Structure: shape and visual rhythm is the first thing I noticed.
  8. Title: The disease “Rising of the Lights” was a standard entry on
  9. bills of mortality  in the 17th century.
  10. Lights is an old name for lungs.
  11. The poem is 6 stanzas with 1 or 4 word sentences.
  12. This has a staccato effect to impress on the reader
  13. a list of  diseases that competed with the Bubonic Plague!

 

Aubade

  1. Aubade, a poem or song evoking the daybreak, greeting the dawn.
  2. This is a 10 lines poem that radiates beauty!
  3. Dawn ” thread of incadescence”
  4. …that “ruptures into morning”.
  5. I watch with a ‘indrawn breath’.
  6. This is exactly what happened when
  7. I watched many sunrises this summer during a pandemic lockdown!!
  8. Leeuwarden, The Netherlands,  July 02 2020

Several more poems….quickscan:

  1. Irregular –  average...poem of 10 lines….no impact on me
  2. One Tree Hill – average...poem of 13 lines….no impact on me
  3. By Request – average...poem of 12 lines….refers to flowers at a funeral, prefer poppies.
  4. Breath – Relief – stunning…..poem of loss and how a breath, sigh, relief can alleviate the grief.
  5. Pearl –  Ms Layland says it is NOT  love poem, but I disagree.  Absolutely beautiful….
  6. Cowries – ….the sea shells of New South Wales. Description of shell: “an almond unzipped”.

 

Cold zeal (strong feeling of eagerness)

  1. This is a poem about aging.
  2. We read “eyesight fails“
  3. ….the “compass of the immediate world shrinks.”
  4. Ms Lalyland with her power of observation
  5. ….reminds us of the beauty that is there to see:
  6. — ice etchings on a fence
  7. — oily swirl  on a river’s current
  8. — brief looks of interest from strangers
  9. — complexities of  mist.
  10. This is one of the poems that will linger in my mind, exquisite.

Last Thoughts:

  1. Poems of loss, grief just go straight through my heart.
  2. pg 21 “Pre-Ceremonial“,  pg 24 “This Loss….
  3. Grief never leaves you…it alters you.
  4. Ms Layland has given me some excellent poems to read
  5. and expresses her grief and mourning in very short 1-page poems.
  6. How does she  compress so much emotion in 10 – 20 lines?
  7. Yet, these poems do not leave you downtrodden
  8. …but strangely lift one’s spirits up.
  9. Grief is part of life.
  10. I cannot discover is she has lost a husband, child or parents
  11. …but  no one can write about loss and grief as she does
  12. …without out experiencing it.
  13. Please, if you never read poetry
  14. …give this 68 page book a chance.
  15. It will alter you.
  16. With poetry…..you don’t have to go through a windshield to
  17. ...realize that life is precious.
  18. Poetry keeps tapping you on the shoulder with that same message.
  19. #MustRead….and #MustRe-Read
21
Nov

#Non-ficiton The Altar Boys

Introduction:

  1. My goal of reading the shortlist of the Walkley Award 2020
  2. is almost completed. There was just one more hurdle to jump:
  3. I did not think I could bare yet another book about sexual abuse
  4. in the Catholic Church.
  5. Having read Cardinal (Louise Millligan 2017) and
  6. Fallen (Lucie Morris-Marr 2020)..I had had my fill.
  7. Now, The Altar Boys….seems to approach
  8. the subject from a VERY personal angle.
  9. Ms Smith decided to write her book after
  10. …a dear friend Steven Alward
  11. committed suicide January 2018.
  12. She spent six years investigating the
  13. …Maitland-Newcastle diocese in New South Wales.
  14. She developed strong personal connections with
  15. …several abuse survivors.
  16. one was even an ABC television colleague.
  17. In her new book  The Altar Boys
  18. Ms Smith focuses on one heroic whistle-blower priest.

Conclusion:

  1. I tried to take notes….but was immediately
  2. drawn into the book that I forgot time and place.
  3. Ms Smith raises new questions about the suicides
  4. of three former victims of Catholic clergy child sexual abuse.
  5. In her book, Smith details what happened
  6. …in Glen Walsh’s life after his abuse,
  7. when he became a priest himself in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese.
  8. What more is there to say? 
  9. This is just heartbreaking to read.
  10. One justice during  a priest’s trial summed it up:
  11. the inside top  of 3 Marists Schools protected the brothers/priests
  12. who taught young vulnerable children,
  13. It was “an organised criminal activity.”
  14. Now having  read three books about sexual abuse by
  15. clergy in Australia I can conclude this book was the most confronting.
  16. Many children endured violence and abuse in silence
  17. Thanks to journalists, psychologists, law enforcement
  18. ….the veil of secrecy is slowly being lifted.
  19. Many Catholics don’t go to Church now because it
  20. is rapidly losing its credibility, but many still keep their beliefs.
  21. #ExcellentJournalism

20
Nov

#AusReadingMonth2020 Icefall

 

Conclusion:

  1. Well, fly me to the moon..…
  2. if you are like me I seldom read SF. It just does not entertain me.
  3. But I am trying to read deeply and widely,
  4. so I decided to ‘test the waters’ with a short 114 pg novella.
  5. Now, I did the research for you (see review)
  6. …so you can dive right into this book.
  7. Just think….at the next book club meeting when they ask t
  8. o suggest a ‘something completely different…
  9. you can suggest ICEFALL by Stephanie Gunn!
  10. The club will be determined NOT to read it
  11. ….you could probably crack rocks on their jaws!
  12. But…at least try to guide them into the world of SF!
  13. Millions of people read nothing else!
  14. Stephenie Gunn was a research scientist turned full time writer.
  15. I’m curious how she will combine her
  16. …scientific backround with her fiction
  17. Will Ms Gunn write what she knows
  18. ….or what she feels?

 

Glossary:

  1. I do not read very much SF
  2. …so looked at some terms I found in the text…and what they mean.
  3. This made the book MUCH easier to process.

 

  1. VIR POD – spaceship ‘Wanda R’
  2. …named for Wanda Rutkiewicz, first woman to climb K2.
  3. VIR – virutal interfaced reality
  4. VIR implants – one can experience both worlds (virtual and real) at the same time

 

  1. AI hologram – 3D image formed by split laser beam.
  2. Ms Gunn describes a AI holographic character as
  3. genderless, expressionless, fingers bloodless
  4. …can dematerialize and form again in i.e. the navigator’s chair (ch 15)
  5. …can flow around me (Aisha) to envelope me completely in its field (ch1)

 

  1. AI (artifcial intelligence)
  2. I did not know if this was a human replication or just a voice!
  3. Replicant androids are indistinguishable from human beings
  4. …remember the film: Blade Runner… how was human and who was AI?
  5. In this book AI comes with a package of standard visages:
  6. male, female or null gender.
  7. AI uses the visage and name of Mallory
  8. …in reference to G. Mallory
  9. the first person to summit Mt Everest.

 

Title:

  1. Icefall is a similar planet to old Earth.
  2. MacGregor Corporation has established two colonies on Icefall.
  3. Icefall organizes a Icefall Climbing Competition once every 7 years.
  4. Essential in the plot is a ‘weeping mountain’.
  5. All of the pointed masses of ice  and snow in a glacier melt.
  6. Millions of mega litres of water wash over the
  7. continent destroying everything in its path.
  8. The waters lie still for one ICEFALL  day (25 hrs).
  9. The next day waters retreat…moving against gravity.
  10. The mountain draws everything back towards it
  11. …the glaciers, the icefall and continental ice all reform.
  12. This was the SPOOKIEST thing in the entire book!

Setting:

  1. Planet Demeter home of narrator Aisha Ashkani
  2. Planet Icefall
  3. Greyspace – folded space beneath normal space that surrounds planet Icefall
  4. Many references to “old Earth”

 

Structure:        26 chapters,  114 pages

  1. Present – Ch 1-5-11 (arriving on planet Icefall)
  2. Backstory – Ch  2-3-4-6-7-8-9-10-13 
  3. Present – Ch 14-26  present (Icefall Climbing Competition)

 

Main Characters:

  1. Mallory (AI) – projects its holographic interface around narrator Aisha.
  2. Aisha:  former priestess of ONE Order of the New Earth
  3. Maggie (Margaret Malleore) mountain climber – Maggie and narrator are married
  4. Gorak – bot (robot) raven like bird that will be narrator’s ‘eyes’ on the Mountain.

 

Irony:

  1. Aisha Ashkani (priestess) is from Sherpa heritage.
  2. Sherpa believe the mountain is
  3. …their goddess and one should not
  4. trespass on the sacred ground.
  5. Ironically
  6. …Aisha becomes fascinated
  7. with mountaint climbing and leaves the temple
  8. …to reach the snowy summit.

 

Last Thoughts:

  1. This SF novella is about Mountain climbing in space…in the future.
  2. Humans have left old Earth and have colonised the universe.
  3. There is also  a very touching love story in this book
  4. …that brings the SF and the human elements in balance.
  5. You will have to read the book (reading time?  2 hrs)
  6. to discover the tender bond between Aisha Ashkani and Maggie.
  7. #GreatRead
19
Nov

#AusReadingMonth2020 Penny Wong

 

Conclusion:

  1. My first impression was in the book’s preface:
  2. Ms Wong was reluctant to cooperate with Ms Simons.
  3. She told Ms. Simons she was an introvert
  4. …and suffered from prejudice and therefore
  5. …developed a closely guarded internal life.
  6. Penny Wong’s main motivation for
  7. …entering politics was to combat racism.
  8. Racism formed her in more ways than she is aware.
  9. I wonder if Ms Simons will be able to “crack this hard nut”?

 

  1. Researching a biography involves a lot of borrowing and persuading
  2. anecdotes, interviews (…or not, partner Sophie, mother Jane).
  3. Political party history (Labor) and public records are the ingredients
  4. Ms Simons used to fill in the gaps.
  5. Getting hold of personal information
  6. …about Penny Wong was a herculean task.
  7. Yet Margaret Simons persevered to give the reader a
  8. book that is …
  9. .…lucidly-written, logically-structured, and convincingly argued.
  10. The Shark Poem (pg 11) that Ms Wong wrote as a 12 year old gives
  11. …the reader a glimpse of one of Australia’s most popular politician:
  12. Shark poem:
  13. …the way it adapts
  14. …moves cleanly through its environment
  15. …the way it inspires both fear and respect.
  16. …that is Penny Wong.

 

  1. Despite these accolades….it was a very difficult book
  2. to read b/c of my lack of knowledge about
  3. the nuts and bolts of Australian politics.
  4. Ms. Simons did an honorable job with the little
  5. input she had from Penny Wong.
  6. Backstory – 5%
    Education – 5%
    University student politics – 5%
    Personal relationships – 1 %
    Australian Politics – 85%
18
Nov

#NonFicNov week 3 Be/Ask/Become the Expert

Week 3: (Nov. 16 to 20) – Be The Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert (Rennie of What’s Nonfiction): Three ways to join in this week! You can either share 3 or more books on a single topic that you have read and can recommend (be the expert), you can put the call out for good nonfiction on a specific topic that you have been dying to read (ask the expert), or you can create your own list of books on a topic that you’d like to read (become the expert).

 

  1. Something has to change in USA.
  2. Racism isn’t worse…it is just getting filmed!
  3. …George Floyd killing on 25.05.2020.
  4. I can only start to understand what has to change
  5. …by educating myself….by reading.
  6. I concentrated on books about race and racism in 2020.

 

My thoughts:

  1. I’ve made a decision about 2021.
  2. I want to read AS MANY books AS I CAN 
  3. by minority authors.
  4. Fiction, memoirs, poetry, non-fiction,
  5. ….(auto)biography, short stories essays, plays...
  6. I want to discover just  how white our reading world is.
  7. White authors reign in book reviews, bestseller lists, literary awards
  8. ….and Amazon.com recommendations.
  9. I was stunned when I read  that cultural commentator Roxane Gay discovered
  10. in a survey of New York Times articles published in 2011
  11. …that nearly 90 percent of the reviewed books were authored by white writers. 
  12. People of all cultures and backgrounds have valuable experiences
  13. …and universal ideas to share.
  14. We all stand to gain when those voices are heard.
  15. So, if you have ANY  good reading suggestions by minority writers
  16. (African-American, African, Indonesian
  17. …Indian, Chinese, Hispanic, Native American, Aboriginal…etc)
  18. ...please leave the book title in a comment.
  19. …much appreciated!

 

Books read:

  1. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption – Bryan Stevenson (#MustRead)
  2. Just Us – C. Rankine (#MustRead)   The BEST  book on this list!
  3. The Fire This Time – editor Jesmyn Ward  (#MustRead)
  4. The New Jim Crow – Michelle Alexander
  5. Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates
  6. Tears We Cannot Stop – M. Dyson  (#MustRead)
  7. Democracy In Black – E.S. Glaude jr.
  8. My Vanishing Country – B. Sellers
  9. How to Be an Anti-Racist – Ibram X. Kendi
  10. Brown is The New White – Steve Phillips
  11. Heavy – Kiese Laymon  (#MustRead….but I advise it as audio book)
  12. We Live for the We – D. McClain
  13. Caste – I. Wilkerson
  14. White Too Long – Robert P. Jones  (eye-opener about white supremacy!)

 

TBR:   American reading list:

  1. A Promised Land – Barak Obama
  2. The Tradition – Jericho Brown (poetry)
  3. Tough Love – Susan Rice
  4. The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison – R. Ellison
  5. Citizen: An American Lyric  – Claudia Rankine
  6. A Fool’s Errand – Lonnie G. Bunch
  7. Girl, Woman, Other – B. Evaristo
  8. Beloved – Toni Morrison
  9. They Can’t Kill Us All – Wesley Lowery
  10. Nobody Knows My Name – James Baldwin
  11. Their Eyes Are Watching – Zora N. Hurston
  12. I Wonder as I Wander – Langston Hughes
  13. Think Like A White Man – Nels Abbey
  14. Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and its Urgen Lessons for Our Own – E.S. Glaude jr.
  15. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
  16. Homie – Danez Smith (poetry)

 

TBR  Australia Indigenous

  1. Archie Roach –  Tell Me Why: The Story of My Life and My Music
  2. Chris Sarra – Good Morning Mr. Sarra
  3. Stan Grant – Talking To My Country
  4. The White Girl – Tony Birch
  5. Claire Coleman –  Terra Nullis
  6. Rachel Hennessy – The Heart I Swallowed
  7. Shireen Morris – Radical Heart
  8. Tara June Winch – The Yield
  9. Witi Ihimaera – Mãori Boy
  10. Anita Heiss – Am I Black Enough?
  11. Larissa Behrendt – Finding Eliza
  12. Bruce Pascoe –  Dark Emu
  13. Nakkiah Lui – Kill the Messanger
  14. Miranda Tapsell – Top End Girl
  15. Selina Tusitala Marsh – Tightrope (poetry)


Obama’s 19 favorite books 2019

  1. I’m reading 9 of these books before deadline 01.01.2021
  2. ….9 by white authors.
  3. Per 01 January this exciting challenge begins!

 

17
Nov

#AusReadingMonth2020 Dolores (novella)

 

Introduction:

  1. 16-year-old arrives, alone, at a convent in Spain.
  2. She is given the name Dolores.
  3. Short and mysterious…one-sitting read. (2 hrs)
  4. …the close-up details of life in the convent.
  5. Each chapter shows Delores adapting to the nuns’ routines,
  6. before taking us to her backstory…to her secret.

 

Conclusion:

  1. What can I say….
  2. Of course you must remember this is a debut novella
  3. and the author will improve as time goes on.
  4. Ms Curtis was shortlisted for NSW Premier’s Literary Award 2020
  5. …so somebody must have seen merit in this book.
  6. Unfortunately, I did not.
  7. A story is setup… Dolores is rendered human.
  8. We see her encounter a problem or challenge.
  9. She wanders through darkness in the convent.
  10. But here’s the thing
  11. …she doesn’t evolve into a problems solver or heroine
  12. The book ends abruptly leaving me hanging in mid-air.
  13. Weak point: too much description
  14. no irony, complexity, nuance, depth
  15. ….it’s all surface.
  16. But when you start writing…sometimes surface is enough.
  17. Strong point: the blurb was better than the book!
  18. #NotBad…
  19. But also…#NotGreat
16
Nov

#Non-fiction City On Fire: Hong Kong

  • Title: City On Fire: The Fight for Hong Kong
  • Author: Antony Dapiran
  • Genre: non-fiction
  • Published: 2020
  • #NonficNov
  • Trivia: Long-listed for the Walkley Book Award 2020

UPDATE: 24.11.2022

  1. I don’ know how much news about China is a ABC news, MSNBC or CNN
  2. …but this is a potential flashpoint for China now!
  3. One of the most underreported
  4. stories right now is China’s failing Zero-Covid policy.
  5. Cases have surged to record-high levels (30 000 daily cases) &
  6. 420 mln people are back in lockdown. Lockdown…that is a powder keg with a short fuse!
  7. This violent protest is from the Foxconn iPhone factory in Zhengzhou
  8. …APPLE is very worried their phones will not make be found under USA Christmas trees!
  9. Xi Jinping can look very impressive at G20 ….but he has a lot of problems at home!

 

UPDATE: 20.11.2022

  1. Books about China politics have impacted the way I see the world.
  2. These books have opened my eyes to the geopolitical  importance of decisions
  3. made by China and …countries who must deal with China.
  4. This all makes my “JAW-DROP” because if you don’t feel it yourself
  5. NEVER forget China…is a nation on a ‘long-term’ mission!!
  6. The world must prepare for its influence on us all!
  7. I wonder if anyone asks for Dapiran’s book in the bookstore or library?
  8. There is NO BETTER way  to prepare than to read and educate yourself.
  9. I  would recommend Anthony Dapiran’s book as the best place to start.
  10. He is a journalist and he creates an impressive narrative to explain the
  11. …flashpoint we know as Hong Kong.

UPDATE: 31.01.2021 – article in the Guardian

  1. Leave Hong Kong….before it’s too late!!

UPDATE:  25.11.2020 – article in The Guardian

  1. Carrie Lam praises new security law.
  2. Hong Kong is a gaping hole in the security of the mainland!
  3. NO OPPOSITION…can you imagine living there?

Introduction:

  1. Antony Dapiran is a Hong Kong-based writer and lawyer.
  2. His  book chronicles the Hong Kong protests of 2019.
  3. I am just curious what is going on in Hong Kong
  4. ….behind only  the TV images I have seen.

Conclusion:

  1. Back round information about Hong Kong that
  2. passed me by while I was concentrating all my
  3. attention on USA  politics
  4. 2019 – impeachment Trump
  5. 2020 – elections USA.
  1. Strong point:
  2. reveals the the  strategy, tactics  of the protestors.
  3. Strong point:
  4. writing is concise....with important analysis:
  5. Remember:
  6. Beijing knows if it deploys troops to Hong Kong
  7. …that would mark THE DEATH
  8. of Hong Kong’s status as in international
  9. …financial hub!
  10. Chairman Xi would snuff out  hopes of his “China Dream”.
  1. Strong point:
  2. This book reveals the face of Chinese power to the world!
  3. It seems I have taken my eye off the ball during 2020
  4. …blinded by US politics.
  5. New rule:  read more about China!
  6. Don’t skip the headlines in the newspapers
  7. …because change is coming sooner than you think!
  8. #Taiwan is in China’s  cross-hairs!
  1. Read your newspapers.
  2. …and watch the slow and steady
  3. …squeeze as Beijing first isolates Hong Kong to weaken it
  4. …then pushes it towards integration with the mainland China.
  5. How long will this take?
  6. #MustRead non-fiction book
  7. …..history in the making!

Last thought:

  1. Do not  let ‘short lists’ influence your reading...
  2. I thought this book was 100 X better than
  3. the books designated as
  4. …potential winners Walkley Award 2020 on 20 November.
  5. Fallen by L. Morris-Marr
  6. We Can’t Say We Didn’t Know – S. McNeill
  1. Is the book a prize winner?
  2. No,  unfortunately it has not been shortlisted
  3. ….but it should have been on the shortlist!! !
  4. This book will help you
  5. …follow the news into 2021 about Hong Kong!
  6. #ThisProblemIsNotOverYet

November HK News:   update

  1. What state power has been doing is to try and subdue
  2. the few organizations that remain independent.
  3. daring and professional. (free press)
  4. They really want to close down this environment of open information.
  5. July 2020:  draconian national security law
  6. 12 Aug 2020: Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy La arrested.
  7.  who is owner  of  …one of Hong Kong’s most-read newspapers.
  8. 12 November 2020: Hong Kong opposition resigns en masse
  9. after members ousted from parliament.
  10. The end of  “One State, Two Nations”

If your interested….my notes on the chapters

Chapters:

  1. A Death in Taipei
  2. ….very obvious ‘hook’ chapter
  3. …with ref to a gruesome murder!
  1. The March of One Million – 09 June 2019
  2. Protests over proposed legislation that could have
  3. allowed residents to be extradited to China
  4. where they could face possible torture and unfair trials.
  1. Blocking the Bill –
  2. flashback 2014 the ‘Umbrella Movement’
  3. comparison with 12 June 2019 demonstration
  1. The March of Two Million – 16 June 2019
  2. Protesters have mainly focused their anger on Lam,
  3. who had little choice but to carry through dictates issued by Beijing,
  4. where President Xi Jinping has enforced increasingly authoritarian rule.
  1. Be Water!
  2. Ref:  Bruce Lee — philosophy”
  3. ‘Be like water making its way through cracks.
  4. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object,
  5. and you shall find a way around or through it.
  1. Storming the System – “..the (extradition) bill is dead”..or is it?
  3. Reclaim Hong Kong! Revolution of Our Times!  – protest 21 July 2019
  5. The Right to the City – protests move to airport
  6. and shopping malls on 26 July 2019
  8. …protestors weaken urban infrastructure to service their protest!
  10. Blooming – Art/graffiti  posed as much as
  11. challenge to Beijing’s authority in the city
  12. …as the black-clad youth in the streets.
  1. The Battle of Sheung Wan – 28 July 2019
  2. Upper Street (the English name for Sheung Wan)
  3. a peaceful and quiet neighborhood with hints of cosmopolitan
  4. London and a bit of Chinese grit.
  5. Protests shape shift into clashes in different districts
  6. …constantly changing the frontline!
  7. Protests  resemble  Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables!
  8. Act 1: build barricades
  9. Act 2: clash with police
  10. Act 3: protestors ‘being water’ and disappear
  11. Curtain falls: …police face an empty street.
  1. Strike! – 05 August 2019
  2. …..general strike compared with 1967 strike
  3. …was not very successful b/c of no support from the unions
  1. Things Fall Apart – bloody Sunday, 11 August 2019
  2. VERY GOOD CHAPTER…read carefully!
  3. …police use new tactic: disguised as protestors …suddenly turned
  4. …without warning on their neighbours in the crowd
  5. …stoking suspicion and paranoia.
  6. More airport protests, but the movement starts falling apart
  7. …because of lack of discipline.
  1. A Protest of Enchantment – 23 August 2019
  2. Hong Kong protesters join hands in 30-mile human chain.
  3. …and just as the clock struck 9pm…the people quietly dispersed.
  4. …a fleeting moment, an important enchanting statement.

  1. The End of Summer –  31 August 2019
  2. Police shoot pepper spray as they try to detain protesters
  3. inside a train at Prince Edward metro Station.
  4. This is the final breakdown between city and its police force.
  5. Most disturbing trend in 2019:
  6. the appropriation of the Hong Kong Police Force....by Beijing.

  1. One State, Two Nations – 04 September protest
  1. Resist! – announcement of
  2. 04 October curfew and…
  3. anti-masking law and…
  4. criminal charges for revealing personal details of police online
  5. ..this is called  “doxxing”.
  6. Injunction: check people posting on internet (chat groups)
  7. …and service providers and server hosts.
  8. Many would now conclude…it was safer to stay silent.
  1. City on Fire –  01 October 2019
  2. A fire burns during an anti-government protest in
  3. Hong Kong on the 70th anniversary of the
  4. founding of the People’s Republic of China

  1. The Siege – 19 November 2019
  2. Police assault the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong
  3. PolyU has been occupied by protesters for several days.
  4. Police warned protesters they had until 22:00 to leave the campus,
  5. saying they could use live ammunition if the attacks continued.
  6. There were daring escapes: students running across rooftops
  7. …crawling through sewer system. A girl was helped by a Whatsapp
  8. …sent to her to guide her through a little-known gap in PolyU perimeter.
  1. The Silent Majority – 24 November 2019
  2. Hong Kong goes to the polls.
  3. Hong Kong’s opposition pro-democracy
  4. movement has made unprecedented gains.
  5. Despite fears the vote could be disrupted or
  6. cancelled over the unrest, it went ahead peacefully.
  7. NOTE: ….where is the opposition now?
  8. …See news 12 Nov 2020
  1. A Way of Live….   VERY GOOD CHAPTER…read carefully
  2. The question is now “How does it end?”
  3. Violence has been normalized…both state and street violence
  4. HK’s reputation is damaged….not an example of good goverance
  5. Visible lasting impact of the protests:
  6. HK has become a security state.
  7. HK is a city on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »