#thomas mann magic mountain i am coming for you!!!!

[lakeglitter]

happiness is when the book you’ve been waiting for since september is finally available for you to pick up in your library

[iirulancorrino]

20, 24, 25

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations? My most-anticipated was probably Victory City, Salman Rushdie's latest novel, and...no. I really wanted to like it because I love Salman, but I thought it was pretty forgettable compared to some of his other works. That being said, I am very much anticipating his forthcoming memoir about being the victim of an assassination attempt in 2022, Knife.

24. Did you DNF anything? Why?

I almost never DNF but this year I dropped a lot of new releases off my Libby shelf because I was reading ebooks (the way I read new releases most of the time) more slowly than I had in past years. Some of those I'd like to get back to, others might not.

25. What reading goals do you have for the next year?

I've said this repeatedly but this coming year I really do plan to read a lot of the books I already own that I haven't gotten to. I found a copy of Robert Alter's translation of the five books of Moses as a used book store that I'd like to read as a devotion chapter-by-chapter, I'll probably start that sometime in winter or spring. And something I started this year is every year I want to read a book that was published 100 years ago. This year is was Dorothy Sayer's Who's Body?, next year I'd like for it to be Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, which will be a bit more of a commitment.

In terms of volume I don't really have a goal, I usually set my goodreads challenge at 100, which for me is very achievable. Due to life circumstances I also have less free time to read than I used to, so if I read less I won't be shocked (though I still try to prioritize it).

[unproposed]

Change your life with these inspirational romantic novels

Yesterday, I was at a friend’s housewarming party, where the discussion was- romantic novels read in recent times. When it comes to love novels, I sometimes compare myself to a toddler who, among the crowd, keeps turning his head in the direction of sound without understanding a single word.

I used to detest romance novels. As for me, they were unreal. Unlike others, the notion that a prince charming would one day arrive riding a white horse simply horrified me.

So, naturally, the conversation about romance novels at the party made me want to leap out the window.

Do you like romantic stories?

Don’t you also think they are all unreal fantasies of the writers?

Well, I am sure a lot of you will concur with me, especially those who have racked up a tonne of debt during their relationship.

Jokes apart!

When I shared with my friends what I thought of love stories, they challenged me to read a few works, which completely altered my opinion of romantic fiction.

Yes, guys, it is true.

This collection has dramatically altered my perspective, and through this blog, I am sharing the collection with you now. These are not the damsel in distress or the Cinderella stories we have been hearing across ages. But these are books of today’s timeline, how even being single is a precious relationship with self.

Great romance novels include engrossing stories, witty dialogue, and stunning details that will keep you turning the pages. When you want to escape to another world, read a romance novel.

They provide you with warmth on a chilly, windy winter night by functioning like a fire.

The romantic books on our list feature voice that merit attention. The following love stories are extraordinary, life-altering works that have the power to move us, influence our ideas, and even transform our lives.

Enjoy these outstanding love stories that highlight the power of love to change lives.

1. The Unproposed Guy

This is a beautiful and engaging character study of a deeply unhappy man who is going through a lot of challenges in his life. Kevin is a wonderfully memorable figure that authors Bhavik Sarkhedi and Suhana Bhambhani have created.

It highlights Kevin’s thoughts, silly observations, and feelings in a way that is laced with sarcasm, enhancing the reading experience threefold.

It is the tale of a man who never receives a proposal. Isn’t it remarkably relatable to our life stories?

Keep a tissue box nearby because this narrative will help you heal your wounds.

2.  Seven Days in June

An emotionally charged, personality-driven, and second chance romance, “Seven Days in June” by Tia Williams immerses you in the hearts of Eva Mercy and Shane Hall, two tormented and troubled souls who spent seven days as youths trying to find one another. They found solace in one another’s embraces, and now, fifteen years later, they are learning whether the love they once had was genuine and worth dying for.

I pondered the potential time savings if I had found someone in my adolescent years.

3. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

This novel by a German journalist Jan- Philipp Sendker, is about a prominent New York lawyer who abruptly vanishes without a trace, leaving his wife and daughter Julia in the dark about his whereabouts. Till they come across a romantic letter; he wrote to an unknown Burmese woman many decades ago. Julia chooses to go to the village where the woman resided to unravel the mystery and come to grips with her father’s past.

She finds a story of unfathomable adversity, tenacity, and devotion there that will reinforce the reader’s faith in the ability of love to levitate objects.

Are you ready to travel with Julia on this adventurous and suspense-filled journey?

4. The Magic Mountain

Thomas Mann’s “The Magic Mountain” is regarded as his true masterwork. This contemporary classic, a parody of politeness, and an emblem of which was before bourgeois Europe is placed in the years before the Great War. Due to the author’s utilization of a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps, this book is full of innovative ideas.

Therefore, fasten your seatbelt and gather a bag of popcorn, as it is regarded as one of the most significant pieces of German literature from the 20th century.

5. Love at First

“Love at First” by Kate Clayborn a high contender for one of the best romantic novels, combines exquisite writing with an emotional tale and charming characters. The other residents, especially Nora, who is determined to retain things the way they were, don’t agree with it, though. Although she sets out to ruin his plans, love has a way of defeating them. This book’s eccentric storytelling will make you want to mark it down.

It is one of the best recent erotic romance books, which also has an engaging narrative with a real heart. Get ready to fall in love again with this masterwork.

6. The Wedding Date

The first book in a series and the first contemporary romance book by Jasmine Guillory explores multiracial love while sizzling with sassy humour. Successful and fashionable Alexa is stranded in the elevator with a handsome paediatric surgeon at the beginning of the tale.

This is a tale that left me feeling giddy and heated at the same time, not to forget how it also managed to be kind of amusing and unceasingly charming.

In general, The Wedding Date contains everything a reader might want from a romance book.

7. Virgin River

A widowed nurse relocates from Los Angeles to a quaint mountain house in a 600-person village to start anew. When she arrives, she discovers a miserable hovel where nothing unfolds as planned. When she notices the heroically attractive Jack, she is going to depart. He is a bartender who is strong and has a pleasant smile.

This is the first book in Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series, which is based on the same-named TV series and features the residents of this little mountain village.

These books are all enjoyable to read, something that will stick with you for a while and eventually cause some change in your perspective and help identify something incredibly personal to you.

Which one are you most eager to read?

Do read and don’t forget to share it with others you know will be equally helped with this list.

[dornish-queen]

Pedro Pascal - La Vanguardia

With Javier Peña's mustache as his hallmark, the 'Narcos' and 'Game of Thrones' actor is filming in Budapest with Nicolas Cage and Paco León

Pascal, cultured, seductive and reflective, repeats as Loewe's ambassador for its Solo Mercurio perfume and is a model for 'Magazine Lifestyle'

SYLVIA MARTI   12/13/2020 06:00

 Casual striped jacket, tousled hair, exquisite punctuality, and a room in Budapest. There is something about this man, generous in smiles and answers, great talkative, attractive without clichés. Pedro Pascal, 45 years old and face success. He shot The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent in the Hungarian capital with Nicolas Cage and Paco León, who apparently encouraged the show a lot; We see him without seeing him in the Star Wars universe as a galactic bounty hunter in The Mandalorian and he is Maxwell Lord, the eighties villain of Wonder Woman 1984 , perhaps the only blockbuster that, if nothing goes wrong, will make us happy Christmas.

Session in Budapest The Chilean actor shoots 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' in the Hungarian capital with Nicolas Cage and Paco León

(full article and photos under the cut)

Chilean by birth, his family left the country fleeing the Pinochet dictatorship when he was a baby. Brief passage through Denmark and new life in San Antonio (Texas). Normal when speaking in your mother tongue some words in English slip through. Think before answering a question without losing spontaneity or being afraid of silence. An art. 

There is still Javier Peña's mustache, which catapulted him to fame from Narcos , and you can recognize that little point of joyous irony of Prince Oberyn Martell, who almost ended the Mountain in Game of Thrones . Two roles that have opened doors that he has managed to keep safe from slamming doors and have allowed him to skip the toll of stereotyped roles. Today Pascal, well trained in theater and loved by the cameras, can do whatever he wants. Even dedicating a Saturday to star in a fashion shoot and speak exclusively for Lifetsyle Magazine .

"Nobody knows me but everyone thinks they know me," he said when he debuted as the face of Solo Loewe perfume. Introduce yourself with four words.”

I do not define myself only by them, but I am contradictory, faithful, loyal, sensitive and, at times, a bit geek.

What would surprise me about you if you knew him better?

That although I live life and enjoy family, friends and social connections a lot, I have a lonely point. I like having my space and the option of staying a day at home in a relaxed and cocoon plan .

“Even though I live life and really enjoy family, friends and social connections, I have a lonely point.”

With Covid-19, many of us are already a little tired of staying at home ...

Yes, now that I don't have much choice to go out, I'm afraid of not being able to go back to the theater, to a party, to a dinner with many people ... I really regret those times that, instead of going out, I stayed at home.

Which character has left the most impression on you?

I miss Peña, from Narcos . It was my first leading role, the first time I had time to develop the character, create his energy, his style ... They gave me a lot of freedom to shape it, even if it was based on a real person. I was able to work on it, make it my own, create the tone, invent and deepen.

Do you easily get rid of them when filming is over?

When I was younger I was very clear that they had to be left at work, that the character had to be separated from the person. I thought that with age it would get easier and easier but, surprisingly, the opposite happens to me: it gets harder and harder. Energy cannot always be organized the way we would like and I have to admit that I take some of my characters home with me.

Have you incorporated any of their phrases into your life?

Maxwell Lord has a very attractive in Wonder Woman 1984 : "Everything is fine, but it could be better."

Very eighties. Like the one Gordon Gekko said on Wall Street (1987): "If you want a friend, buy yourself a dog." Have we advanced or are we already for the fourth pet?

We have come a long way. I am very inspired by young people, their strength to face in an original way that win, win and win system that reached a monstrous level in the eighties. Today's young people go deeper into the need to respect a planet in which we all live together and the obligation to take care of it.

“Young people inspire me, they deepen the need to respect a planet and the obligation to care for it.”

I see you optimistic ...

I am a realistic and hard-working optimist. My first impression is that the glass is half empty, I have to find arguments to see it half full.

Is it true that you drew the comic strips to interact with them as a method to immerse yourself in your character in 'Wonder Woman 1984'?

I made a book with images from the eighties and sixties, comic book drawings, papers, erasers, colored pencils, markers and vignettes to better understand what it was to be a man of that decade, how his attitude was forged ... It was a way to focus to live up to what Patty (Jenkins, the director) asked for, which was a lot, and not lose sight of it. I'm a horrible cartoonist, but I had to do something practical to study, understand, and develop the character.

What does a script or a role have to have to get their attention?

Sense of humor. Even if it is a drama, a hero, a villain ... Humor immediately hooks me.

A good shield to go through life ...

The best. It is the most important thing to survive.

Do you remember the last time you laughed out loud?

Paco León immediately came to mind. When he's on set, here in Budapest, we are all happier and we laugh a lot. The entire production loves it. It has made filming more fun.

“When Paco León is on set, here in Budapest, we are all happier and we laugh a lot”

 What fascinates you most about the Star Wars universe?

Nostalgia, the huge audience it has, the ability to reach so many people. It reflects our childlike imagination without limits. Create more and more worlds with all kinds of people and species. He is capable of casting the universe

What is your definition of success?

Have a healthy relationship with yourself. Nothing matters if you don't love yourself.

What would you have done if you had not succeeded as an actor? Did you have a plan B?

No. Perhaps the only thing that could have been useful to others is acting as a literature teacher, as a counselor or advisor for people who need help ... I am a bit of a therapist with my friends. And it must work, because they come back. I have a lot of common sense.

What is elegance to you? Has your relationship with Loewe influenced the way you dress?

In that of elegance I am a student, I am learning. I wear what is comfortable but I also have very finite taste and, when motivated, I really like to express myself with style. And when it comes to style, Loewe is on top of everything.

Something material that would save from a fire.

A book. I always have one on hand. Now I am rereading The Magic Mountain , by Thomas Mann. Literature is one of my passions. It is an extension of life. The problem would be to choose only one, there are so many! My identity is made by inspirations from authors, actors, dancers, the art world, the sea ... There is no self without the influence of all the things that inspire me.

“The sea is what I like the most in life. I have respect, curiosity and love for him on a religious level.”

The sea…

It's what I like the most in life. I have respect, curiosity and love for him on a religious level.

If he gets lost, I know where to look for him.

On a boat in the middle of the sea, on an island, on the beach in Chile ... Everything related to water. One of the first smells I remember, although I don't know if it's too attractive, is the chlorine in the pool.

What is your fastest way to disconnect?

Losing your mobile phone. I fell down the stairs in Dubrovnik and at first it was like, "Oh noooo." But then I thought, "Well, a week without him." I had a certain feeling of liberation. Not having to be aware of e-mails, messages ... I find it very strong that people communicate even through a direct message from Instagram. I refuse.

Now that you quote them, how are you getting along with the networks? (He has 1.5 million followers on Intagram)

I am quite active, I use it when I have a good time, but also to express myself and to give my opinion.

“I will say goodbye to the year with a kiss and raising the middle finger. He has treated me well but the collective suffering and fear this year….”

What is your favorite word?

Oxymoron. I like its meaning and its sound

Who would you like to shut up, as you did in the first Loewe Solo ad?

Personally, I would love to shut up that heavy, bad voice, the imp that we all have in our heads. That it's nice to have him and that, and I know he will never go away, but it would be nice if he shut up sometimes. Collectively I think we would all like to shut up one person.

Trump?

I suppose.

What have you learned from this rare year?

That you cannot live without human contact. For me the deep and simple connections with my friends and family is the only thing that matters.

How will you fire him?

With a kiss and raising the middle finger. He has treated me very well but the collective suffering and fear this year….

*article translated with google chrome. Source of article*

[classic-starters]

starters from the 1924 novel by thomas mann, THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN

“pull yourself together and leave me out of such depraved nonsense.”

“you mean i should leave?”

“i know i am talking nonsense.”

“i hope that you have nothing against malice.”

“what our age needs,  what it demands,  what it will create for itself is terror.”

“is your summer over now?”

“you do that very well.”

“don’t freeze out there.”

“i’m afraid you’re deluding yourself.”

“my distaste for music is political.”

“it was perhaps a little too soon for it, or maybe just the wrong idea all together.”

“why,  everybody would be in tears if we let them.”

“i would suggest you consult a doctor.”

“what a disappointment.”

“what should i do?”

“well,  allow me then to offer my most heartfelt congratulations.”

“he rebelled,  that’s what.”

“he would not accept this stroke of fate,  the brutal fact of it.”

“we’re all human and have our weaknesses now and then.”

“no,  i already knew it on my own.  it’s just strange to hear it.”

“you’re in very bold and daring form today,  yourself.”

“you see,  when it comes to death,  when one speaks to the dead or about them,  latin comes into its own.”

“he is,  in fact,  more ill than he knows.”

“man can only will what already is his fate.”

“how catholic of you!”

“no,  please,  don’t go.”

“i wish to be understood.”

“illness gives you your freedom.”

“are you going to escape?”

[dillydedalus]

what i read in april

in which i read two (!!) 5-star-adjacent books and also defeat my nemesis thomas mann 

the paper menagerie & other stories, ken liu

impressive collection of (mostly) scifi short stories with some fantasy elements. liu is particularly interested in historical/collective memory, historiography, textmaking and textuality, and the importance of stories. my favourites were the bittersweet title story (feat. living origami animals), an alternative history story about the construction of an underground tunnel between japan and america, and the last story, in which time travel becomes tied to politics of remembrance. some stories are not as strong, especially an honestly boring take on AI/voice assistants/surveillance, but overall these are really good, especially in how they approach SFF from asian perspectives. 3.5/5

der zauberberg/the magic mountain, by my nemesis thomas mann THE EVIL IS DEFEATED!!! after 1.5 months i finally finished the magic mountain & honestly.... i really liked it. literally all that happens is that a sweet young fool called hans castorp goes to a mountain sanatorium in switzerland to visit his cousin for three weeks and then.... just stays there for 7 years even tho he ISN’T REALLY ILL (which is both incredible dumbassery & incredibly relatable). up there he hangs out with a lot of people, has lots of conversations about politics & philosophy, falls in love w/ someone, some people die, some people leave, hans takes up skiing, everyone becomes obsessed with seances & psychoanalysis & whatever else for a time, there’s duels, and most of all, thomas mann is like HEY TIME IS WEIRD AM I RIGHT??? and it is! it is pretty weird. things i didn’t expect: a) it’s honestly pretty funny, b) i had several feelings (’als soldat und brav’), c) i kind of knew what the ending was going to be but still i was. distraught. ANYWAY. sometimes.... books that are classics.... are really quite good. 4/5

city of dragons + blood of dragons (rain wild chronicles #3-4), robin hobb i really enjoyed this series even tho i think these two are not as strong as #1-2. the central characters & relationship dynamics are great, i was happy to see malta back, and i loved the new plot points here (trader conflicts! hest coming to the rain wilds! most of all, chassim and the chalcedean women’s liberation front!!!) BUT i think all of these could have done with a bit more space; it all feels crammed together at the end & not really satisfying. 3.5/5 for both these books, series rating 4/5 

the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, douglas adams like, it’s funny. maybe i was not in the mood, but funny doesn’t carry a book. 2.5/5

remembering babylon, david malouf (uni) this book is really good but it is also exactly the kind of book you read in a seminar on postcolonialism, which is what i’m doing. it’s set in a small australian settlement in the mid-19th century, where one day a strange man appears who looks like a “savage” but claims to be a ‘british object’. it turns out that he was marooned as a child and joined a native community, and his presence and strange liminal status (’the white black man’) disturb the entire community. it’s all about questions of assimilation, indigeneity, whiteness, and who owns the land, and it’s very very good, well-written, evocative of the australian landscape, dreamy and i’m probably gonna write my paper on it & end up resenting it a lil bit. 4/5

a canticle for leibowitz, walter miller jr. post-apocalyptic monks in the desert preserving knowledge!!! i ADORED the first two parts of this with all my heart (the first set 600 years after the nuclear apocalypse in a new “dark age”, showing the canonization of leibowitz, engineer-turned-protector-of-knowledge; the second 600 years later again, when during the “renaissance”, conflicts arise between church and secular scientists), the third part (a new nuclear/space age w/ mutual destruction threatening) i liked less, especially when it abandoned the themes of cyclical history, the danger knowledge presents to humanity but also its value, and the process of science and culture rebuilding itself from the atomic ashes for a digression on euthanasia, but i still loved a lot about it, particularly the monks sent to human colonies on other planets (”remember this earth... never forget her - but never come back” made me cry). it is very steeped in catholicism (obvi) which i don’t have much of a connection with but i actually loved how the book talked about religion. on the whole, i genuinely, genuinely loved this, loved francis illuminating a blueprint for 17 years, loved benjamin/lazarus (?), the apocalypse being reframed in biblical terms, loved the melancholy & despair over humanity destroying itself again and again, and the mad mad tiny hope for peace somewhere, some time. i will read this again for sure. 4.5/5 

machandel, regina scheer perfectly fine multi-perspective novel about 20th century (east) german history, all revolving around the small village machandel (a lower german word for the juniper tree). it incorporates some interesting perspectives/topics you don’t necessarily see a lot (forced laborers from eastern europe, euthanasia programs during the third reich, a sympathetic look at the promises & failures of the gdr) and it’s a pleasant read but it didn’t resonate with me in any special way. i’m more interested in scheer’s new book, which is literally set right around the corner from me. 3/5 

wild seed, octavia e. butler sooo this is a afrofuturist-y science....fantasy (??) book about two immortal beings, doro (spirit possessing bodies) and anyanwu (healer & shapeshifter) & their complicated relationship over about 200 years. also involving a magical selective breeding programm, changing your gender, slavery of different kinds and a whole lot of babymaking. it’s interesting&unique&very immersive, but not really octavia e. butler at her best imo. i think my next butler will be xenogenesis. 3/5

kokoro, natsume soseki early 20th century japanese classic about a young student and his mysterious mentor. very quiet and slow but still a good read. don’t have much to say about it tho - i’m probably missing a lot of cultural context. 2.5/5

the merchant of venice, willy shakes (uni) tbh i skimmed most of the scenes shylock wasn’t in bc in this house we stan shylock & no one else, but also like why would anyone sign away a literal pound of their literal flesh as a bond for money you don’t EVEN NEED fuck you antonio. 

shylock is my name, howard jacobson (uni) the hogarth retelling of merchant. i’ve read this before & thought it was clever & sharp re: the play & shylock, but ultimately sexist & gross. i still kind of think that but i liked it A LOT more this time around; it’s really the best of the hogarth series (that i’ve read) in terms of actually engaging with & deconstructing the play rather than just retelling it in a modern setting and it does it in a really smart & thoughtful way. everything not about shylock is ridiculous and farcical but that’s really the point - all the characters beside shylock are the worst and already were the worst in merchant. still not happy about the sexism but: 4/5

the complete maus, art spiegelman honestly it really just is that staggeringly good and given the amazing panels about beckett (x), i’m not going to say much more. if you’re interested in the graphic novel (not really novel bc it’s not fictional) and can deal with the subject matter, just like. read this. predictably, my favourite part was the beginning of maus ii, where art (post-publication of maus I) reflects on what he was doing and why (and why mice) and deconstructing the central conceit from within (see the panel linked, where everyone’s wearing animal masks and he wonders whether mentioning housepets will ruin everything). 5/5

[eco-nnect]

From Beirut with Love: Eco-nnect in conversation with Larissa von Planta

‘For me up-cycling feels like the best and most logical way to reduce waste and damage in the fashion industry. I have so much respect for all the exciting innovation going on but this feels like the clearest, simplest solution whilst also providing employment security and protecting the local crafts of skilled artisans.’ Larissa von Planta

In the wake of the catastrophic explosion in Beirut on the 4th of August 2020, the world watched stunned as they saw recording after recording of this inconceivably destructive event in the port of Beirut.

According to seismologists at the United States Geological Survey it was the equivalent to a 3.3-magnitude earthquake, killing 210 people, injuring over 5,000 and leaving an estimated 300,000 homeless. This disaster struck amidst an already unfolding economic crisis in the country. The damage to livelihoods and industries was devastating.

A collective movement to respond to this crisis ensued all around the world from small grassroots to large scale international efforts. Among these was, Larissa von Planta, a sustainable fashion couturier, who had just left Beirut two days before the explosion. Having processed the shock of the event, Larissa quickly got to thinking how she could help the artisans she had worked with in Beirut who collectively form the Alsama Studio. Alsama is filled with the sound of needlework and women chatting, while beautifully embroidered pillows, jackets and linen shirts line the shelves of the walls adorning the rooms with colour and texture. Fatima, Alsama’s brilliant coordinator and studio manager, runs a team of exceptionally skilled women embroiderers from Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. This work is not only a precious traditional craft but also pressingly provides long-term employment stability.  

Larissa saw an opportunity to help the studio by offering needlework and up-cycling for her friends’ pre-loved items of clothing and homeware. Each friend was asked to pay a fee of £100 and send the item to a collection point in London where it was sent to Beirut to be adorned in beautiful designs. This instantly allowed Larissa to provide income and essential work to the women of Alsama. As a model this worked well and Larissa is continuing to offer dates of collection in London, Austria and Switzerland whereby anyone can send in their item of clothing or homeware along with a fixed fee of £100 and await the return of a unique piece of craftsmanship. In doing this Larissa is also tackling another cause close to her heart, that of transforming the fashion industry into a less wasteful, kinder and more sustainable business. Both a refreshing antidote to fast fashion and way of empowering artisans by giving them a working structure of employment; this is an exciting blend of conscious consumerism and sustainable solutions with an authentic and powerful story behind it. 

Larissa sadly lost her mother in April 2020 and feels that this initiative is a tribute to her mother’s energy and spirit. 

We catch up with the wonderfully talented Larissa, inspired to hear more about her, the story behind LVP x Alsama and how she envisions it will continue to grow. 

Hello Larissa, so nice to be chatting with you. Will you start by telling us a little about how this past year has been for you? 

‘In March 2020 I decided to come home to be with my Mum and my family. After my Mum passed away, the situation was getting so much worse in Beirut. Constant demonstrations and protests, often escalating into violence. It became exhausting trying to keep up a business there, so myself and many of my friends were having to consider going elsewhere. It was a very sad goodbye. I went back in mid July and gave myself 10 days to pack up and leave. I said my goodbyes, found new jobs for the tailors and seamstresses who I worked with. I left on the 2nd August and the explosion was on the 4th… where my apartment and studio were was where the destruction was worst, so it really was a miracle to have left then. The area was full of bars and cafés and beautiful old buildings. It was all a massive shock. 

So at the end of this difficult year I am doing much, much better. This project has really given a sense of focus and purpose even though it is still quite small at this stage. The work we are doing is tangibly helping 36 women in the studio. The support is there and visible and that is very motivating. There’s great potential to grow much further and help even more people. 

A lot of projects and creativity came out of the shock of the explosion. At first there was a lot of shock and denial, people insisting they were fine and emphasising how lucky they were. This was then followed by anger and demonstrations. Then a couple of weeks later people were feeling really driven to fix the place and support each other, all on their own, there was no support from the government. 

Since the protests in 2019 the situation in Lebanon was just going from worse to worse, people kept asking what was next? Whether due to accident or corruption what was coming next? And the explosion was what came next…’

What have been your keys to keeping positive during this time?

‘The main thing has been moving in with my grandparents in the mountains in Switzerland since just before Christmas, it has been so soothing. Grandparents have been through it all, they have such a relaxed attitude to life and that perspective and energy really seeps in. It has been very restful. The time here has also been such a period of construction in terms of Alsama. Despite everyone in our team being in different places around the world, I think it has actually turned out to be a more productive, connected, communicative time. We feel focussed and are able to have the space to plan ahead.’

Where is home for you?

‘London 100% feels like home, it’s where our family home is, it’s where I studied, went to primary school… I went to Central Saint Martins and Falmouth, so I do a lot of creative projects in London with friends from there which feels great. I do also feel very Swiss and Austrian, being here in the mountains has reminded me of that. It is a small village, the opposite of London in a way, it is revitalising and remote which is nice.’ 

Mountains have an incredibly restorative power I think… 

‘Yes! Do you know the book The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann? That is based on this area… there are lots of run down Belle Epoque hotels which used to be for convalescence. So there is a feeling of nostalgia and the remnants of that energy. I read that book in Beirut and felt desperate for the setting and atmosphere of the mountains.’ 

You were very quick to think of solutions to help in the wake of the explosion in Beirut last year, what first actions did you take?

‘I managed to crowd fund £30,000 immediately for my tailors, my studio collective and Alsama. This was what spurred me on to think of the easiest, simplest way I could continue to help. So I asked my close friends to give me their shirts and jean jackets with £100 to just to see whether this would work. I went out with my father Claudio von Planta, a documentary film maker, who took amazing footage, to drop off the money we’d raised and to see the studio. I also wanted to see my friend Rym Beydoune who had been really badly injured in the explosion, with 12 fractured vertebrae, 5 broken ribs, a punctured lung and exploded spleen. She and her boyfriend had been in a shop trying on Yamamoto shirts, as it happened, and had to take three rickety old buses to try and get to the hospital. Her boyfriend, who had himself torn his Achilles tendon, nearly lost his eye from shattered glass to the head and had two broken bones in his leg was on pure adrenaline just knowing he had to get her there. Eventually they got to the hospital and she had to wait in the car park on a broken piece of wood. The moment he realised she’d be ok, Reda (her boyfriend) immediately proposed to her!’

…what a beautiful story! 

‘So that trip had been a time to really just touch base with Beirut, take footage on the camera and see how the situation was developing there. I also wanted to see how we could spend the money we had raised. I think stability is the main thing, I wanted to make sure they had work and that they were paid in dollars which is more reliable than the Lebanese Lira. There will be constant work coming, that is the assurance I wanted to provide. In terms of up-cycling it is an easy model as my work is purely operational, it’s about getting people’s clothes to Alsama. For a long time I wanted to do some sort of pret-à-porter up-cycling work but it is so difficult and time consuming to find a model that works. It is very labour intensive and expensive and a lot of factories are simply not set up in a way to do this. It had been in my mind for so long thinking how can we scale up, and Alsama is how we can, it felt very exciting to think that out of the explosion came this light bulb idea.’

It is a wonderful idea and a lot more collaborative as a process. You are putting some of the responsibility in the hands of the consumer which encourages consumers to be more proactive and consider their choices more carefully, as well as reducing labour intensity from your own supply chain. Plus this takes away the huge issue of the assumption on the consumer side that you can simply return something straight away if it’s not quite right. 

‘Yes exactly, there is a huge problem especially now after Brexit in that online shops and retailers have so much sent back because it didn’t fit and there’s this awful standard that so often items get burnt or chucked away because processing them and putting them back online is too much effort and not worth it. Here, you send your piece of clothing that you already know fits you and one woman works on it. She dedicates her time and highly refined craft into your beloved item of clothing and you don’t know what you’ll get back so there’s that lovely element of surprise. If you’re purely looking at it in a business way, it resolves a lot of the current problems in the fashion industry.’

Yes this offers solutions to so many issues from efficiency, to challenging consumer cultures, to tackling the landfill and waste problems… 

‘Sasha, one of my team members, is currently in Kenya where so many of our unwanted clothes are sent and it is flooding the markets there which also therefore drastically undermines their local textile industry. Mountains and mountains of stuff being sent off to other countries.’

And there’s the issue of all the toxins and micro-plastics of the clothes that will be polluting the systems of countries they end up in.

‘Yes exactly, for me up-cycling feels like the best and most logical way to reduce waste and damage in the fashion industry. I have so much respect for all the exciting innovation going on but this feels like the clearest, simplest solution whilst also providing employment security and protecting the local crafts of skilled artisans.’

How did you get into sustainable fashion, what has been your journey with fashion and creativity? 

‘I think we grew up with a very strong sense of sustainability, throughout my education and childhood there was an emphasis on that. Then when I went to Falmouth, everyone who studied there had a strong connection with nature because of our surroundings and being by the sea. When I got into Saint Martins, when you begin they tell you to go buy your fabric from Goldhawk Road and I just noticed the fabric quality was terrible and expensive! My family actually has a textile mill in Austria and so we have all these old, precious fabrics which are carefully stored. My grandparents eventually let me use them, saying that our generation doesn’t know how to look after things, when I was eventually allowed to use them I decided I wanted to make something special with them. So I made my whole final collection out of clothes from my grandparents and great-grandparents, things they’d owned or brought back from trips. I just noticed the quality, how precious they were, each one had a story attached to it. People who were in my family who I’d never met. For me, suddenly I noticed there was an added value to the piece, it comes from somewhere, there’s history in it. Then comes the point when you have to take that first cut into a precious textile which takes you out of the mindset of nostalgia and brings you back into the present- forcing you to think, how can I take this forward now?’

How amazing, and that touches on so many points. I agree that being handed down a piece of clothing that’s been really loved and cared for makes you respect the importance of valuing things to make them last. It also makes me think of the inherited traditional crafts used in the Alsama pieces, these customs have been handed down and cared for over generations and generations. 

‘It is lovely to be able to maintain but also keep developing that craft. In textiles, you study a craft that has existed for a long time. You get to know it very well. Especially with Palestinian embroidery, it is very powerful. I was initially drawn to it, in the old embroidery up to 100 years back, all the dyes were natural dyes made from location-specific agriculture and the motifs would be reflective of a landscape and stories that come from a specific place. So if you are abroad or in a diaspora you would recognise where people come from from their clothing, for example often in camps people’s region can be identified from the embroidery and dyes of their clothes. It is an incredibly powerful form of embroidery, and I believe still has a huge amount of potential to grow and be understood. I find the weight of history and storytelling with it fascinating and personal.’

Yes just like languages, traditional customs within cultures need to be protected and preserved in the face of pressures from globalised consumer markets. What are the particular areas within sustainable fashion that interest you most? 

‘Definitely textiles, versatility and diversity within this huge field. I always enjoyed problem solving. I was really inspired by the idea that you have this one beautiful hand-printed, hand-loomed tied silk dress. You have two and a half metres of material, and what do you do with it? I just love that challenge, thinking of ways to revive these pieces. How can we take this forward and make it useful again rather than leave it sitting in a cupboard? I like to think whoever owned it in the past would be happy with my bringing it to life again. I really enjoy having those restrictions, but using that to stir on creativity.’

What brought you to Beirut? 

‘In 2020, I had a placement year from University so I went to Vienna and São Paulo and then my friend Rym, who I studied with at Saint Martins, asked whether I wanted to come to Beirut at the end of my year for a month to help with a project she was doing and I jumped at the opportunity. It was August, it was incredibly hot, there were the ‘You Stink!’ protests happening which were anti-corruption protests at these huge piles of rubbish all around Beirut because of mis-management. Despite that I immediately fell in love with the city. It’s a very inviting city, day one you make friends, it’s a very warm place where you’re very quickly taken along. In Vienna it had taken me longer to settle and make friends so the contrast was amazing. It feels dynamic, I was fascinated by all the energy coming out of it. I was approached by INAASH who wanted to refresh what they were doing and another called Bokja. I returned after my studies in the UK to see whether these things would turn into anything which they did slowly but surely. I started doing my first commissions, and on the back of that, I felt like I could make it work, starting my own small atelier. Then I found The Mansion, which was this incredible studio space in an old villa in the heart of Beirut. Full of charm, crumbling but beautiful. Strong sense of community, creativity, such dynamism. It had a very pleasant, happy pace. I was really taken into that community. It was very touching how welcomed I was.’

That sounds quite wonderful, are lots of your friends still there? 

‘Well… they decided they would stay to ensure the collective was safe, it’s a very precious community which is very rare. It was a hub of culture, filled with amazing artists and designers, they hosted lectures and so on. So whilst it is certainly difficult, they are committed to protecting it.’

What are some of your favourite things about Beirut? 

‘Whilst I was there, I think it was the social life, the night life, the fact that everything is quite late. You could work until 9.30pm and then spontaneously make a plan and meet somebody in a bar or restaurant. I love how you can be late! It was so pleasant and relaxed. Being on the beach with grilled fish and arak, summers there were heaven. My studio space was such a treasure, all the people I met there. I think mostly though, it’s the friendships, life long friends who will be with me forever. I had such a lovely flatmate. Very special memories, very dynamic place, a night out can start in one place and end up in no idea where. Sadly the mood there right now is pretty down, it is such a social place so lockdown and restrictions really lowers morale.’ 

This all sounds really sublime, especially after a long Winter in the UK! I am sure that energy will return… 

‘I hope so, I think it will come back, I just wonder what passages the country will have to go through to get there.’ 

Well you are certainly playing a positive part of that process through this project. How did you come to meet the Alsama Studio in Beirut? 

‘I met them in 2019, the studio had just opened and they didn’t know how well it would work. Mike Ziervogel had just left an NGO where she was working to work on Alsama Studio, she took a risk to start up her own thing. We were the first commission the studio had, it was an up-cycling project with The Pink House Mustique, a beautiful swimwear company. They had lots of dead stock and so we embroidered them, a lovely collection of 13 shirts. They (Alsama) are so reliable, they price in advance and are ready to get on with it. They are such a good team. They have very high standards, so they are a pleasure to work with.’ 

What were your initial thoughts when beginning the LVP x Alsama project?

‘After the horror of the explosion, I like so many others questioned what I could do. I realised provision of work was one of the most obvious solutions. So that is when I began asking friends for their clothes, got them embroidered, agreed on pricing, and it went quickly from there. The first collection in August we had 36 items, since them we've collected 200 items, and through all this the studio has received $5,000. Out of shock comes a purely practical, pragmatic response.’

What do you see LVP x Alsama growing into?

‘I’d like to take this further, get more people to send their clothes to be embroidered. It’s simple really.’ 

Is there a favourite item or memorable piece that sticks out for you and why?

‘For me, there was one moment, when all the items came back around Christmas time. Each piece was a total surprise, there were some that just really stood out. You can tell that the person working on it was really inspired. This one amazing beach dress we made for Mel Giedroyc and that came out so beautifully. We did a bit of research and saw that she wore a lot of reds, pinks and warm colours so we focussed on that. I love it when people give us colours that they love so we explore that. That’s what I find so touching about craftsmanship, the amount of time and love that goes into each piece.’ 

How can the fashion industry continue to revolutionise the way it works to better protect its workers and the planet?

‘I look at it from the very specific angle of up-cycling, I have this view that if tomorrow we decided not to make any more clothes we’d be absolutely fine. However I realise how huge this industry is and the amount of jobs that would be at stake, compounded with the climate crisis and all these other pressures. I would love to see more ways of reducing production involving newly made materials, and more people thinking about how growth can come from that. You need to keep people in work and provide stability, so we need to be reworking and transforming systems that already exist. Up-cycling could provide a lot of work I think, there’s so much potential on different levels to offer work in new forms.’

…if you could wave a magic wand? 

‘I would like people to think more critically about what is being sold to them, to demand better products. To be less enchanted with fast fashion and more so with the transformation of existing systems into safer and better places to work, retraining people in traditional crafts from their local areas and therefore upscale our Alsama model to a replicable and sustainable model around the world. We all love new items, but if that could be reduced to one or two things a year and more treasured, better made and longer-lasting - that would be my vision.’ 

What are you most inspired by at the moment? 

‘With regards to the project: colours and colour theory I find really exciting. I’m also looking at different crafts and finding absolute treasures. Even here in the Engadine Valley I found a great-aunt of mine who crochets to a very precise and fine level- to discover people who really practice a refined craft is wonderful. There’s also a lot of monasteries who produce their own things, so discovering these unique crafts and considering how we could work with them that is something I find really inspirational now… I think of course another big thing is thinking about how we can make this a good business and continue to develop the concept of Alsama- that is my big passion at the moment.’

Any books, podcasts, films or music you’re loving at the moment? 

‘To switch off I listen to Seven Deadly Sins by Stephen Fry, he looks at the seven deadly sins but brings them into modern context, analysing why we sin and how we do it and it is so brilliantly written and put together I honestly enjoyed it so much. That’s been my biggest enjoyment lately. 

Then I love going through the Desert Island Discs Archives, more than the new ones in fact, and one of my favourites is Nile Rodgers of Chic. His life story is incredible, so inspiring and touching. He is such a dynamic and positive guy, a real joy to listen to. He had a really tough childhood and overcame adversity to have the most phenomenal career- he is so driven.’  

… and which have inspired you most throughout your life? 

‘The Chess Player by Stefan Zweig, the way he tells stories, especially in short form. My mum introduced me to him when I was young and he is such an amazing writer. That’s the most important one for me I think.’

—

Please visit Larissa’s website and Instagram @lvp_x_alsama to see how you can get involved with the Alsama Project and send off your items of clothing to be up-cycled. 

[aion-rsa]

Alejandro Jodorowsky 4K Restoration Collection Brings Clarity to Underground Film

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Alejandro Jodorowsky’s films are confounding, grotesque, beautiful and healing, often within the same frame. The post-violence images of the opening sequence of El Tropo are made more horrific as they are reflected through the eyes of a seven-year-old boy, still naked from a rite of passage. Jodorowky’s films are a gateway drug. The Alejandro Jodorowsky 4K Restoration Collection of his cult classics Fando y Lis, El Topo, and The Holy Mountain, as well as his new Psychomagic, A Healing Art, are a first taste. The most surrealistic of the psychedelic filmmakers had no special effects, or even fancy cameras in his earliest days. He had visions, and created a physical world to capture those visions inside of a camera.

No stranger to psychedelics, it was John Lennon who first brought Jodorowsky out of the after-hours circuit and into the daylight, which colored the films. Jodorowsky became the “father of midnight movies” because his 1970 spiritual western epic, El Topo, played at midnight or 1 am every night at the Elgin Theater in Manhattan’s Chelsea district. Lennon and Yoko Ono caught it a few times and advised their advisor, manager Alan Klein, to buy it. The ex-Beatle went on to fund The Holy Mountain, and ABKCO Films went on to have as problematic a relationship with Jodorowsky as the British quartet had with Klein. It was patched up, of course, by evidence of this brilliantly restored set of films.

The Holy Mountain was deemed controversial at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival because of its sacrilegious imagery but Fando y Lis, Jodorowsky’s first feature, caused a riot when it premiered in Acapulco, Mexico in 1968. Jodorowsky escaped hidden in a limousine as he was chased out of town by an angry mob, but the film established the Chilean-born son of Russian immigrants as an auteur of surrealist cinema. He became one of the most influential and creative forces on mainstream science fiction when the script, notes, storyboards, and concept art to his mid-70s would-be adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, Dune, made it to major film studios. You can see their shadows over Star Wars, Flash Gordon, the Terminator series, The Fifth Element, and 1979’s Alien.

You can feel shadows in this collection as well. You don’t need to look in Dune notes to find as diverse a gathering as the bar scene in Star Wars. There are enough varied character looks in the black and white film Fando y Lis, which has cannibals, zombies, vampires, freaks, horny old ladies, an army of transvestites, a man playing a burning piano, and a degenerate Pope played by Tamara Garina.

Jodorowsky made the film on weekends with nothing but a one-page outline. The film, which is an adaptation of the absurdist play by Spanish-born French author Fernando Arrabal, is Jodorowsky’s transition from live theater. Jodorowsky created a theater company while still at the University of Santiago. Alternating between Paris and Mexico City, he collaborated with Marcel Marceau for his mimeograms like “The Cage,” directed Maurice Chevalier’s comeback, and directed staged works of surrealistic and absurdist playwrights like Eugene Ionesco and  Samuel Beckett, launching the Panic Movement, which staged shocking theatrical events.

Jodorowsky had staged Fando y Lis, a story about young Fando (Sergio Klainer) and his paraplegic lover Lis (Diana Mariscal) as they quarrel their way to the magical city of Tar. But on film, the sparse natural landscapes and its vibrant and varied population take on surrealistic qualities by the very grain of the filmstock.

The real-life mime, which is being rehearsed at one point, is a microcosm of the varied worlds and the boxes they come in. Set in some post-apocalyptic rubble, the film travels through a world of perversions, murders, pedophilia, and sadomasochistic narcissism to make the viewer conclude the real world is an illusion.

El Topo is a Robin Hood western and Jodorowsky’s band of thieves are very merry men. They laugh at death. They also laugh at pain, suffering and any number of weapons. The film is  told in the mixed styles of Federico Fellini, Luis Buñuel, and Spaghetti Western auteur Sergio Leone, who found himself impressed by the work. “Sergio Leone, he went to see El Topo,” Jodorowsky told Den of Geek while promoting Psychomagic, a Healing Art. “And I cannot believe he appreciated it. I admired him a lot. He was a real artist of industrial movies. He understood what’s in industrial movies. You need to be very intelligent to do that, and he did it. The picture, all of his pictures, I love these pictures.”

Jodorowsky plays the enigmatic master-gunfighter whose nickname, “The Mole,” supplies the title for the film. His son is played by the director’s real life twelve-year-old son Brontis Jodorowsky, who spends the entire film nude and half of it either on a horse or collecting arms. It is the boy’s seventh birthday. His first day as a man, and he has to bury his first toy and a photograph of his mother, then he has the entire world washed away as The Mole goes off to duel only to be left to die in the sun. El Topo doesn’t die though, he wakes up 20 years later to find himself worshipped by a cult of dwarves in a subterranean community. They raise the cash to tunnel out of the cave only to find the world a vastly different and darker place.

The Holy Mountain (1973) opens with the fly-covered Thief (Horacio Salinas) who is hung on a cross by a gang of young, naked boys and a deformed man who lights cigarettes with his elbows. Jodorowsky plays the Alchemist, who transmutes the Thief’s shit into gold. The film is a satire of capitalism, consumerism, and militarism. Tourists pour into the central town to film public executions while chameleons and toads reenacts the Spanish conquest of Mexico. There are “Christs for sale” signs on display throughout the streets. Jodorowsky’s work is about transformation, and the Alchemist, the Thief, and seven wealthy thieves from seven different planets go on a metamorphic pilgrimage to kill the Nine Masters of the Summit in exchange for eternal life.

Producer Allen Klein wanted Jodorowsky to follow The Holy Mountain with an adaptation of Pauline Réage’s S&M classic novel Story of O, but Jodorowsky threw himself into the Dune adaptation. For the comic allegory The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky cast transvestite actors he found at Max’s Kansas City in New York. He famously avoids working with stars, but for the science fiction adaptation, he assembled a cast which included Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, Gloria Swanson, Mick Jagger, and David Carradine; he brought in Pink Floyd and the prog band Magma to do the score; and Swiss artist H.R. Giger and French comic book artist Moebius for design. He would try his hand at a mainstream film, with mainstream stars with his 1990’s The Rainbow Thief, which starred Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif. But his greatest works are his most intimate.

Jodorowsky developed a form of personal therapy he called “psychomagic” in the 1980s. The practice combined Jungian psychology, the tarot and confrontational art. In 1965, Jodorowsky’s avant-garde “Movement Panique” gave a four-hour long performance called “Sacramental Melodrama,” in which he got whipped, symbolically castrated a rabbi, slit the throats of two geese, and nailed a cow’s heart to a cross. He is no less confrontational when faced with trauma. For Psychomagic, A Healing Art, the director escaped his emotion prison to enter the pain of the world.

The film contemporaneously breaks the wall between reality and performance. The documentary is intercut with scenes from some of Jodorowsky’s films. In a revealing clip from his movie The Dance of Reality, a mother teaches her son not to be afraid of the dark by having him strip nude and be painted black to match the hue of darkness. The healing concepts of Psychomagic are personal yet universal, and the film continues themes Jodorowsky has explored since he began making movies.

Jodorowsky supervised the color correction of the restorations. The Alejandro Jodorowsky 4K Restoration Collection also contains the 1957 short film Le Cravate, a mime adaptation of a Thomas Mann story about a young man, played by Jodorowsky, who falls in love with a French woman who owns a shop where you can buy human heads. In all these films, you see why he has been cited by everyone from Steven Spielberg to Marilyn Manson, to Kanye West, whose “Yeezus” tour was inspired by The Holy Mountain.

The Alejandro Jodorowsky 4K Restoration Collection is essential viewing for visual artists and fans of the visual arts. The images may have lost the full power of their brutality because of the subsequent works they inspired, but the messages are all applicable today, and will be tomorrow. Art can heal or destroy, Jodorowsky shows how it can do both and still be a work in progress.

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The Alejandro Jodorowsky 4K Restoration Collection is available on Blu-Ray now. Psychomagic, A Healing Art is also available on Alamo on Demand.

The post Alejandro Jodorowsky 4K Restoration Collection Brings Clarity to Underground Film appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[artmutt]

Thomas Mann’s “Doctor Faustus”

Thomas Mann’s novel Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn as Told by a Friend, dates from Mann’s time as a German expat, living in Southern California. Indeed, Mann was one of the leading figures in the large German expat community that grew up in Hollywood, beginning in the late 1920s. Having just re-read the novel, for the first time in 40 years, in a new translation by John E. Woods, I am struck by the combination of love for and dismay with German culture Mann’s narrator displays. [Spoiler alert: I’m going to be talking about plot details here, so if you plan on reading this book someday, maybe stop reading now.]

I’ve long been a fan of so-called meta-fiction, in which an author writes a book that is as much about the act of writing as it is about the supposed content of the book. So although Doctor Faustus is ostensibly about the life of a composer, one might see it as a work about any creative figure, and given the self-consciousness of the narrator, a man attempting to write a biography about a friend that he clearly idolized, Mann has created a classic example of the unreliable narrator for us. When the narrator asserts “I am not writing a novel here,” or notes “If I were writing a novel...” one cannot help but think, “Ah, Herr Mann, but you are writing a novel, aren’t you?” And indeed, the act of writing, the difficulty of writing, is very much a part of the subject, so much so that our narrator occasionally completely loses track of his topic, and spends many pages going on about the difficulty of accomplishing any kind of writing in a Germany that is engaged in the end-game of World War II. Indeed, I will go so far as to assert that the Faustian “bargain with the devil” that is at the core of this text is really the strange, compromised relationship between the author and the country has both loves and despises.

The book demonstrates a slippery relationship between fiction and reality. So, for example, the main character of Adrian Leverkühn, spends many years of his life, living in a tiny rural community a short train-ride away from Munich, in a town called Pfeiffering (”whistling”). Of course, there is no such town to be found in Bavaria. From the narration, it ought to be about midway between Munich and Oberammergau, but it simply doesn’t exist. Similarly, other locations that are described as real in the text simply are not real. At the same time, actual historical personages are dropped into the tale. So when Leverkühn travels to Switzerland for a performance of one of his compositions, the conductor is Paul Sacher, who was indeed active as a conductor and commissioner of new music in Switzerland. This adds to the meta-fictional ambience of the work, because while the orchestra and conductor might be real, the soloist performing in Leverkühn’s work is a fabrication.

Oh, and that soloist brings up another wrinkle. Leverkühn seems to me to be homosexual. The narrator, who loves Adrian as a life-long friend, does not seem to catch this in his “affect,” but many of his personality quirks suggest it to me. He has one unfortunate experience with a prostitute, but the rest of his important relationships seem to be with other men. In particular, his relationship with a young, attractive, flirtatious violinist is described in such sexual terms that it is hard not to assume the part of Leverkühn’s devilish bargain has to do with his sexuality. I also wonder why none of the doctors who examine him seem to be able to diagnose him as having syphilis, when that is clearly what he’s suffering from. Well, that and a narcissistic personality disorder.

Mann felt the need to provide an apology at the end of the book, because in Chapter 22, his main character outlines a method of composing music that is unmistakably the so-called 12-tone method of Arnold Schoenberg. Considering that Schoenberg’s technique, and his Theory of Harmony, were “borrowed” for the novel, it is interesting that Mann then apologizes for attributing to Adrian something that is “the intellectual property” of someone else. When Schoenberg learned that Mann had done this, before the novel was published, he supposedly complained, “If he had just asked me, I would have been glad to come up with another method for his fictional composer to use.” But considering the mystical, mysterious, mathematical qualities that Schoenberg’s method contained, it’s perhaps understandable why Mann might want to borrow the ideas for his novel about a composer who sells his soul to the devil. Particularly, the Schoenbergian use of so-called “magic squares” - something that had been in use since the Middle Ages - must have seemed to shimmer with occult possibility.

Alas, when writers try to describe musical works and methods, they invariable flub things to greater or lesser degree. While Chapter 22 does indeed give a reasonable explanation of how Schoenberg’s 12-tone method creates musical unity in a work, other musical references go astray. One passage talks about how harmony works, in the context of what is called modulation - changing from one key to another - and he speaks of how, in the key of A, the A must resolve to a G#. In point of fact, exactly the opposite is the case: tonality’s sense of direction is driven, in part, by the need to move the so-called “leading tone” upward to the tonic. So it is G#’s push upward to A that fuels the engine of A major, not the other way around. In another spot, there is mention of Debussy’s sonata for flute, violin and harp, which would be fine, except that the work uses a viola, not a violin. 

The novel’s narrator, Dr. Serenus Zeitblum, plays the “viola d’amore,” and this is mentioned a number of times. While I can understand the symbolic importance of this (the narrator plays the “viola of love” and spends all his time pining for his beloved friend Adrian?) (i.e. the entire novel as a song played on the viola of love?), at the time period in question, this would have been an extremely obscure instrument for someone to learn. So the fact that Zeitblum plays this obscure, 18th-century instrument seems to be part of Mann’s strategy to deeply brand the narrator as a pedant. Zeitblum makes fun of himself for his job as a teacher of classics, not as a creative artist like his friend.

Having fought my way through Mann’s Magic Mountain years ago, I have to note that Mann loves to hear himself talk. It is not unusual for page after page after page to go by, while the characters speculate about philosophy or politics or the arts, and not much happens. And then, as the book gets closer to its conclusion, there is a flurry of activity that unfolds in a hurry, as though Mann suddenly remembered that a novel is supposed to have a plot, and he hasn’t really been providing one for a long time. Doctor Faustus has a similar arch: most of the action, including a a suicide, a murder, the horrible death of a child, and the complete mental breakdown of the main character, all occur in the final quarter of the novel.  

So then, what is this novel really about? A novel about novels? A modern updating of a medieval tale? An examination about the curious place of music in contemporary culture? I think the book is about how German culture, for all of its lofty, idealistic peaks, sold its soul to the devil of fascism in the period between the two World Wars. In return for some remarkable creative growth and power, the country’s creative individuals had to make a bargain with an ideology of horror. Indeed, the composer that I feel has the most in common with Adrian Leverkühn is not Arnold Schoenberg, but Richard Strauss, who found himself Hitler’s leader of music for the Third Reich. When the war ended, and American troupes arrived at Strauss’s country estate, Strauss invited them in, showed them around, and acted like nothing unusual had been happening for the last five or six years. After all, it was just music, after all, and some of his best friends were Jewish...

[5questions]

IRIS SMYLES

Bio: Iris Smyles is an American writer. Her debut novel Iris Has Free Time was published in 2013 by Soft Skull Press. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt published an informal companion novel to Iris Has Free Time in 2016 called, Dating Tips for the Unemployed, which is a semi-finalist for the 2017 Thurber Prize for American Humor.

http://www.irissmyles.com/

https://twitter.com/irissmyles

NOTE: This interview was originally conducted in the winter of 2017. Sorry for the delay.

What books or other creative projects are you working on now? How often do you focus on long-time projects versus short-term inspirations?

I am finishing a book of light verse and cartoons called "Single Life." It's a sort of Dorothy Parker meets Ogden Nash and Edward Lear type of thing. I am also half finished with a book of novelettes, which I am thinking to call "Iris Smyles' Novelettes, by Iris Smyles." Then, too, I am always writing essays, long and short, and have in mind to complete a book of them this year. And then, I have a new novel I have been making notes for and am researching, but I haven't started properly on it. I am trying to clear away these other projects first, in order that I devote myself exclusively to the novel. A novel, I find, requires a deeper level of engagement than short pieces. It requires, at least for me, living within a sustained dream. This is what is so wonderful about writing something long, but also, why I feel like I need to carve out a space for it. Once I start, really start, I don't want to have to commute to it.

Do you see your upcoming work changing stylistically from your previous work? I've written a lot more than I've published so far, and I write in many different voices, so the new books--especially the novelettes (which are sometimes surreal and mostly have no "Iris" character) and the poems--may seem a departure from my first two books which both have a first person "Iris" narrator. But there are glimpses of that surrealism or whatever you want to call it in both Iris Has free Time and Dating Tips for the Unemployed, most often seen in "Iris's" asides. The novelettes will turn the structure of my previous books inside out a bit. Iris's very fictional novelettes will make up the bulk of the book, and there will only be one story that features, "Iris," the character from my first two books and their author, who is also a character.

I read the graduate school scenes of IRIS HAS FREE TIME with great interest because it was very transparent to me the world that you were describing, as a fellow City College MFA writing grad (or were you a different concentration?). Now that you are several years removed from the MFA environment, what takeaways do you have from when you were there? I mainly found MFA to be a time to write and live very cheaply.  Do you keep in contact with any of your professors? Frederic Tuten is the greatest living fiction writer in America today. He is one of a very few writers left who write with scope and wisdom and far reaching imagination and music. Most contemporary fiction, with its smallness, its banality, its leaden prose and lack of originality, makes me want to put my eyes out and wander the desert. Most contemporary fiction makes a good case against reading, and so I regard most contemporary authors as the enemies of literature. But about CCNY--I met Frederic Tuten while a student at CCNY--I went there to study with him after having read his great Tintin in the New World, and he changed my life. He has been a great mentor, inspiration, and friend. I do not exaggerate by saying he changed my life. He believed in me and my work and by example helped me to believe in myself, at least enough that I could continue. Self doubt, self criticism, can be so strong as to snuff out any project before it's even halfway to complete. I think to be fine at anything an extremely self-critical nature is required--high standards!--but then, in order not to be defeated by self criticism, a great amount of counter-confidence is required, too. This is probably why artists tend toward monstrosity--they house a terrible combination of self loathing and delusions of grandeur. What do you do for your day-to-day "work" life? Do you like it? Do you like living in NYC?

New York City is more of an idea than a place. Every generation comes here to find something different. I moved to the city I saw in Ghostbusters and Hannah and her Sisters, which is gone, if it ever existed. Now they come for the city surrounding Carrie Bradshaw. And then all the generations before mine--what did Dorothy Parker come to find? And EB White? And Djuna Barnes and Herman Melville and Edgar Allen Poe? Once, my neighborhood was farmland. It's settlers came for the grazing, I guess. I do not like New York City today. But I am married to her, in sickness and in health, and I love her despite the way she chews at breakfast. New York City was my home before I ever lived there and even if I leave, it will still be my home. It's the only home I've ever known.

As for work, talking about money is historically considered impolite, I think, because it asks one to confess how one acquires it, which, if one is to answer truthfully, may lead one to confessions of criminality and/or moral bankruptcy; I do not want to tell you or anyone else what I've traded for a living. I'd sooner answer you my number of sexual partners, which, at least, I've come by honestly.

A lot of artists and writers have had calls to action or predictions that art/literature in America will change greatly in this new era after the recent election. Could you or do you see your own work changing? I guess all writing will change at least contextually, although all writing is also always changing contextually. I think it's important for an artist's work to stand outside of politics. Writing with a clear, localized agenda or message is propaganda (even if for a good cause, even if useful propaganda), but not art. In art, I admire work that engages politics by transcending it. I'd put Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain in that category, all of Kundera, Frederic Tuten's Talien, The Adventures of Mao on the Long March, and Tintin in the New World. As for my own work, we'll see.

[marcusssanderson]

50 Truth Quotes Celebrating Honesty and Communication

Our latest collection of truth quotes to inspire honesty and genuineness.

Consistently telling the truth is not always easy. Sometimes lying might feel like the best option. However, the benefits of always being honest with people far outweigh any short term advantages of lying.

As you’ll discover from the truth quotes below, being honest is beneficial, not only to you but also to the people around you. When you embrace truth, it earns you the respect and trust of others, makes you feel better about yourself, and helps you attract better friends.

Besides, telling the truth is mentally easier – if you tell too many lies, it will be hard for you to keep up with what you have said. Concealing a truth can lead to anxiety, stress, and depression.

It does not take long for people to figure out dishonesty. But if you always speak the truth, people will know it sooner and look at you with respect. Being honest and truthful helps build strong credibility. It also results in a clean conscience, which is one of the requirements of happiness.

Although being 100% honest is almost impossible, the truth quotes below will help stop you from lying about things. Telling the truth is self-empowering and incredibly positive, so we should all make it a priority.

Below is our collection of inspirational, wise, and positive truth quotes, truth sayings, and truth proverbs, collected from a variety of sources over the years.

Truth quotes celebrating honesty and communication

1.) “Beauty is truth’s smile when she beholds her own face in a perfect mirror.” – Rabindranath Tagore

2.) “Truth is everybody is going to hurt you: you just got to find the ones worth suffering for.” – Bob Marley

3.) “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” – Thomas Jefferson

4.) “We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters… that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules… and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.” – Michelle Obama

5.) “The truth is, we all face hardships of some kind, and you never know the struggles a person is going through. Behind every smile, there’s a story of a personal struggle.” – Adrienne C. Moore

6.) “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” – William Shakespeare

7.) “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

8.) “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” –  Albert Einstein

9.) “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” – Buddha

10.) “There’s nothing so kingly as kindness, and nothing so royal as truth.” – Alice Cary

Truth quotes to inspire honesty and genuineness

11.) “I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it’s for or against.” – Malcolm X

12.) “Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.” – Elvis Presley

13.) “We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.” – Iris Murdoch

14.) “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.” – Winston Churchill

15.) “I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.” – Abraham Lincoln

16.) “Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.” – Isaac Newton

17.) “Be Impeccable with Your Word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.” – Don Miguel Ruiz

18.) “There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.” – Leo Tolstoy

19.) “Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.” – W. Clement Stone

20.) “A great man does not seek applause or place; he seeks for truth; he seeks the road to happiness, and what he ascertains, he gives to others.” – Robert Green Ingersoll

Truth quotes that will inspire you to always be truthful

21.) “The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it.”  – Ayn Rand

22.) “To live in the light of a new day and an unimaginable and unpredictable future, you must become fully present to a deeper truth – not a truth from your head, but a truth from your heart; not a truth from your ego, but a truth from the highest source.” – Debbie Ford

23.) “For every good reason there is to lie, there is a better reason to tell the truth.” – Bo Bennett

24.) “Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality.” – Mahatma Gandhi

25.) “If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.” – Albert Einstein

26.) “Honest communication is built on truth and integrity and upon respect of the one for the other.” – Benjamin E. Mays

27.) “Our duty is to encourage everyone in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.” – Swami Vivekananda

28.) “The truth is: Belonging starts with self-acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you’re enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and imperfect.” – Brene Brown

29.) “You can hate me. You can go out there and say anything you want about me, but you will love me later because I told you the truth.” – Mary J. Blige

30.) “The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.” – John F. Kennedy

Truth quotes to help you live a happier, less anxious life

31.) “Truth is the torch that gleams through the fog without dispelling it.” – Claude Adrien Helvetius

32.) “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” – Arthur Conan Doyle

33.) “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” – Henry David Thoreau

34.) “Truth is so rare that it is delightful to tell it.” – Emily Dickinson

35.) “A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.” – John Calvin

36.) “Let us dream of tomorrow where we can truly love from the soul, and know love as the ultimate truth at the heart of all creation.” – Michael Jackson

37.) “To love our neighbor as ourselves is such a truth for regulating human society, that by that alone one might determine all the cases in social morality.” – John Locke

38.) “Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.” – Nikola Tesla

39.) “The earth is supported by the power of truth; it is the power of truth that makes the sun shine and the winds blow; indeed, all things rest upon truth.” – Chanakya

40.) “Stop holding your truth; speak your truth. Be yourself. It’s the healthiest way to be.” – Tiffany Haddish

Truth quotes to help you create deeper connections with people

41.) “I believe there’s an inner power that makes winners or losers. And the winners are the ones who really listen to the truth of their hearts.” – Sylvester Stallone

42.) “On the mountains of truth, you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.”  – Friedrich Nietzsche

43.) “There is nothing so strong or safe in an emergency of life as the simple truth.” – Charles Dickens

44.) “Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero

45.) “Seek not greatness, but seek truth and you will find both.” – Horace Mann

46.) “Every Christian must be convinced of his fundamental and vital duty of bearing witness to the truth in which he believes and the grace that has transformed him.” – Pope John XXIII

47.) “Truth is the ultimate power. When the truth comes around, all the lies have to run and hide” –  Ice Cube

48.) “I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want.” – Muhammad Ali

49.) “Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond.”  – Hypatia

50.) “Free expression is the base of human rights, the root of human nature and the mother of truth. To kill free speech is to insult human rights, to stifle human nature and to suppress truth.” – Liu Xiaobo

Which of these truth quotes resonated with you best

Telling the truth makes life easier for everyone. When you’re honest and truthful, you need only remember one version of each event.

If you always speak the truth, people will find it easy to trust you and look at you with respect. You’ll create deeper connections with people and you won’t have to remember your lies.

Honesty and seeking the truth is always the way to go. Hopefully, the truth quotes above have inspired you to always be honest.

Which of these truth quotes resonated with you best? Do you have any other favorite quotes to add to the list? Let us know in the comment section below.

The post 50 Truth Quotes Celebrating Honesty and Communication appeared first on Everyday Power.

[cafezimmermann]

Weisendorf

“At certain junctures in the course of existence, unique moments occur when everyone and everything, even the most distant stars, combine to bring about something that could not have happened before and will never happen again. Few people know how to take advantage of these critical moments, unfortunately, and they often pass unnoticed. When someone does recognize them, however, great things happen in the world.”  

Michael Ende – Momo

To get to Weisendorf, you first have to take the train to Erlangen, where, after stepping off, you walk out of the station, head left across the square, go to the other side of the street, and find the sign where the 202 bus stops (there is probably enough time to get a coffee beforehand). When it arrives, you pay the driver 5 Euro for the 30-minute trip, which first meanders its way through the city and past the Unifleisch abattoir before the bus merges onto the main road that heads out into the countryside and winds its way into the heart of this quiet Franconian landscape. Everything seems to be in hibernation at this time of the year.

The first sign of Wesiendorf is a bit of a disappointment. You know you will have arrived when you see a large, faceless industrial park to your right and, to your left, a shopping plaza followed by an ugly greyish-white tract of modern one-family homes – a veritable graveyard for the living. Fortunately, things do improve after the initial letdown: the wooded grounds of the Edith Stein Haus, a small, quiet Catholic refugium nestled in the heart of Weisendorf, appear behind a small lake. The bus drives past the grounds and then through the town, making several stops along the way before turning back to make its final stop in front of the Edith Stein Haus.

I stepped off here two weekends ago, happy to have arrived, and looking forward to the chamber music course for amateur musicians that I was taking part in as an instructor for the week. Strangely enough, I always end up leaving Weisendorf with the feeling that I’ve ended up learning more than I ever expected to – a rewarding experience, one that has helped me rediscover my love for the violin. After so many years of playing professionally, I find it depressing that I often feel ready to hang the violin up on the wall for good. Too many years with Akamus, I guess – too many years as a “tuttischwein” that have left my creative energies dry. I hate to say it – and I know that anyone who is from Akamus (and who is reading this) will bristle at this comment, but I really don’t feel that I have anything more to give to the ensemble. That’s just the way it is – that’s the reason why I’ve distanced myself from the orchestra over the past three years.

Sadly, it is also one of the reasons why I have distanced myself from the violin altogether. I don’t like that feeling.

But Weisendorf is different. The chance to teach here (my third time now) has definitely marked a turning point in my musical life, so much so that I am experiencing a reverse mid-life crisis right now (if something like that is at all possible). I’m glad that I have got enough work as an editor and translator, and I enjoy the challenge of weaving my thoughts together, but each time I return back home from one of these weeks I find myself longing to reconnect with the violin.

But before you assume that Weisendorf is like any other “normal” chamber music program, where talented amateur musicians gather together to play for a week, I need to set the facts straight. When Johannes Platz, the program’s director, told me that I was going to be teaching a Schumann quartet this past week, my first reaction was: “Are they really going to be able to play that?” Many of the participants who attend the program here are over 70 years old; several are over 80, and I think one violinist is just about to turn 90. 

Regardless of talent (the 89-year old isn’t all that bad) – or the lack thereof – many have other issues to deal with – backs that ache, necks that are stiff, fingers that are arthritic and cannot move quickly, poor eyesight – the list goes on and on. You go into the coaching sessions with that in mind – you know that the “ideal tempo” is at best only going to be 60-70% of what a professional group plays, perhaps slower. You know that there is going to be a terrible amount of scratch and bad intonation to put up with. And you know that each participant sitting in front of you is painfully aware of his or her limits, which is the greatest issue here. Often I have the feeling that hidden within the imposing figure of the doctor, lawyer, or financial advisor sitting in front of me is a small child who never really had the opportunity to explore his or her creativity fully, who was forced to put away “the childish things” at a young age, and who is now struggling to come to terms with the fact that you cannot simply “turn on” the right side of the brain like a water faucet. Oddly enough, they also express strong opinions about how things are “supposed” to be played (“It’s written in the music,” or better yet “It’s like that on the CD”), and when you dare to give them a suggestion that strays away from the norm they will look at you in bewilderment, wondering which planet you just came in from.

In short, you have to be incredibly patient with them. And kind. And understanding. And yet firm at times, which can be particularly frustrating if they are not used to dealing with criticism (it often seems to rub against some childhood trauma that they had with the instrument). It’s exhausting work. Most importantly, you have to understand that they are not necessarily here to achieve something, and yet you need to give them the feeling that, by playing through the music without any major breakdown, they have achieved what they came here for in the first place: to feel that they are alive once again.

And that is quite beautiful to experience. I think it is the greatest reward for me as a teacher.  

It’s a bit frightening too. Perhaps I am reading into all of this too much, but I often feel that Weisendorf is a place where a sense of otherworldliness prevails. At least for me. Time stands still here – even if the week is over more quickly than one might have hoped, an irony that is worthy for Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain. I’m not sure if I am the only person who feels this, but I suspect that feeling of detachment from the cares of normal life affected all of us here. In the seclusion of the Edith Stein Haus we worked together, we took our meals together, and we chatted together about life and music over a beer in the evenings. There really wasn’t much time to do anything else – and it didn’t really seem to be necessary. I can understand why many of the participants here have been attending this chamber music program for years – there seems to be a genuine feeling of camaraderie and friendship that has developed. I experienced it too. Sadly, however, many of the participants here are approaching a point in their lives where the simple fact of being alive, let alone being able to express it in music, is an incredibly precious commodity. It changes the rules of the game – it changes how classical music is approached, not as a thing that is to be reinvented, but as something that is to be experienced with all of the senses – perhaps for one last time.

I have been thinking about this ever since returning to Leipzig, wondering to myself whether all of the efforts of philosophers, researchers, musicologists, and music managers to analyze, explain, reinvent, and repackage classical music and the classical concert are merely misguided. I’ll leave that discussion to the experts (many of you know that I translated Martin Tröndle’s book Das Konzert last year – it focuses on precisely that), but in my own humble opinion: music, in particular good classical music, that which can get under your skin, that which comments on the experience of life, love, and death in all of its aspects, is timeless and doesn’t need all that much explanation. I think many people have the intelligence to “get it” if they allow themselves the chance to listen to it in the right context – however that may be. That said, music is something fragile, and because of its fragility, it needs due time, space, and attention to unfold itself – all things that are woefully lacking in modern-day society.

Somehow I just don’t buy it anymore. As I sat there in Weisendorf, struggling to get out a 17-page translation out at five in the morning with the help of my smartphone, I had to think to the time thieves in Michael Ende’s fantasy (dystopian?) novel Momo, grey, bald-headed men (sounds like me) who try to persuade unwitting people to deposit their time in a bank, promising them that their time will be returned back to them later with interest. It all sounds good on paper, except for one small thing, as Ende explains:

“But time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart. And the more people saved, the less they had.”

Shattered by this revelation, I shall close here. As I said, I’m back in Leipzig again. The otherworldliness of Weisendorf has been replaced by the reality of “greyness” of daily life.  Still I think gladly back to the week and hope to be able to return sometime soon.

[list-of-literature]

25/03/2016

The Woman in the Dunes, Kobo Abe Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe The Jolly Postman or Other Peoples Letters, Janet & Allan Ahlberg The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken The Wanderer, Alain-Fournier Commedia, Dante Alighieri Skellig, David Almond The President, Miguel Angel Asturias Alcools, Guillaume Apollinaire It's Not About The Bike - My Journey Back to Life, Lance Armstrong Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin The Ghost Road, Pat Barker Carrie's War, Nina Bawden Molloy; Malone Dies; The Unnamable, Samuel Beckett Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett The Adventures of Augie March, Saul Bellow G, John Berger Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman Mister Magnolia, Quentin Blake Forever, Judy Blume The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton Five On A Treasure Island, Enid Blyton The Enchanted Wood, Enid Blyton A Bear Called Paddington, Michael Bond Ficciones, Jorge Luis Borges The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, John Boyne The Snowman, Raymond Briggs Flat Stanley, Jeff Brown Gorilla, Anthony Browne The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess Junk, Melvin Burgess Would You Rather?, John Burningham The Soft Machine, William S. Burroughs The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler Possession, A.S. Byatt The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, Italo Calvino Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino The Stranger, Albert Camus Oscar and Lucinda, Peter Carey Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter Looking For JJ, Anne Cassidy Journey to the End of the Night, Louis-Ferdinand Céline Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, Jung Chang Papillon, Henri Charriere The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer "Clarice Bean, That's Me", Lauren Child I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato, Lauren Child Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Disgrace, J.M. Coetzee Waiting for the Barbarians, J.M Coetzee Princess Smartypants, Babette Cole Nostromo, Joseph Conrad The Public Burning, Robert Coover Millions, Frank Cottrell Boyce The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay That Rabbit Belongs To Emily Brown, Cressida Cowell House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski The Black Sheep, Honoré de Balzac Old Man Goriot, Honoré de Balzac The Second Sex, Simone de Beavoir The Story of Babar, Jean De Brunhoff The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery White Noise, Don DeLillo Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion Sybil, Benjamin Disraeli Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy, Lynley Dodd The 42nd Parallel, John Dos Passos The Brothers Karamzov, Fyodor Dostoevsky An American Tragedy, Theodore Drieser The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco My Naughty Little Sister, Dorothy Edwards Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans The Siege of Krishnapur, J.G Farrell The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner "Absalom, Absalom!", William Faulkner Light in August, William Faulkner Take it or Leave It, Raymond Federman Magician, Raymond E. Feist Flour Babies, Anne Fine Madam Bovary, Gustav Flaubert A Passage to India, E. M. Forster The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank Cross Stitch,  Diana Gabaldon That Awful Mess on the Via Merulala, Carlo Emilio Gadda JR, William Gaddis The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez Maggot Moon, Sally Gardner The Owl Service, Alan Garner In the Heart of the Heart of the Country & Other Stories, William H. Gass Coram Boy, Jamila Gavin Once, Morris Gleitzman The Conservationist, Nadine Gordimer Asterix The Gaul, Rene Goscinny The Tin Drum, Günter Grass Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears, Emily Gravett Lanark, Alasdair Gray The Quiet American, Graham Greene Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Mark Haddon Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway The Blue Lotus, Hergé The Adventures Of Tintin, Hergé The Glass Bead Game, Herman Hesse Where's Spot?, Eric Hill The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett The Odyssey, Homer High Fidelity, Nick Hornby Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz Dogger, Shirley Hughes Journey To The River Sea, Eva Ibbotson Little House In The Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving Goodbye to Berlin, Christopher Isherwood The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James The Ambassadors, Henry James Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson Lost and Found, Oliver Jeffers The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole The Tiger Who Came To Tea, Judith Kerr One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey In Praise of Hatred, Khaled Khalifa Gate of the Sun, Elias Khoury It, Stephen King The Queen's Nose, Dick King-Smith The Sheep-Pig, Dick King-Smith Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney Kim, Rudyard Kipling I Want My Hat Back, Jon Klassen Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook, Joyce Lankerster Brisley Women in Love, D.H. Lawrence Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E Lawrence A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing Tristes Tropiques, Claude Lévi-Strauss Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren The Call of the Wild, Jack London Nightmare Abbey, Thomas Love Peacock Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry The Good Soldier, Ford Madox Ford The Cairo Trilogy, Naguib Mahfouz The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer Man's Fate, Andre Malraux The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel The Road, Cormac McCarthy The Kite Rider, Geraldine McCaughrean The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers "Not Now, Bernard", David McKee Tent Boxing: An Australian Journey, Wayne McLennan No One Sleeps in Alexandria, Ibrahim Abdel Meguid A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat Private Peaceful, Michael Morpurgo Beloved, Toni Morrison Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami Under the Net, Iris Murdoch The Worst Witch, Jill Murphy Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov A Bend in the River, V.S Naipaul Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness The Knife Of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness The Borrowers, Mary Norton Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian The Silent Cry, Kenzaburo Oe My Name is Red, Orhan Pamuk Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake Night Watch, Terry Pratchett The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett The Truth, Terry Pratchett Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett Truckers, Terry Pratchett Life: An Exploded Diagram, Mal Prett Paroles, Jacques Prévert The Shipping News, Annie Proulx In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust The Ruby In The Smoke, Philip Pullman Eugene Onegin, Alexander Pushkin Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon Live and Remember, Valentin Rasputin Witch Child, Celia Rees Mortal Engines, Philip Reeve Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady, Samuel Richardson How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff I Want My Potty!, Tony Ross Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie Holes, Louis Sachar Blindness, Jose Saramango Being and Nothingness, Jean-Paul Sartre Nausea, Jean-Paul Sartre Austerlitz, W.G. Sebald Revolver, Marcus Sedgwick Where The Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier Katherine, Anya Seton Come over to My House, Dr Seuss Daisy-Head Mayzie, Dr Seuss Great Day for Up!, Dr Seuss Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!, Dr Seuss Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories, Dr Seuss Hunches in Bunches, Dr Seuss I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today!, Dr Seuss I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! and Other Stories, Dr Seuss I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew, Dr Seuss My Book about ME, Dr Seuss My Many Colored Days, Dr Seuss "Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!", Dr Seuss On Beyond Zebra!, Dr Seuss The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories, Dr Seuss The Butter Battle Book, Dr Seuss The Cat's Quizzer, Dr Seuss The Pocket Book of Boners, Dr Seuss The Seven Lady Godivas, Dr Seuss The Shape of Me and Other Stuff, Dr Seuss What Pet Should I Get?, Dr Seuss You're Only Old Once!, Dr Seuss Dr Seuss's Book of Bedtime Stories, Dr Seuss Special shapes: A flip-the-flap book, Dr Seuss Dizzy days: A flip-the-flap book, Dr Seuss The Tale of Genji, Murasaki Shikibu A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith "The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation", Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Memento Mori, Muriel Spark The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark Heidi, Johanna Spyri The Making of Americans, Gertrude Stein The Charterhouse of Parma, Stendhal "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman", Laurence Sterne Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia, Chris Stewart Goosebumps, R.L. Stine Ballet Shoes, Noel Streatfeild The Home and the World, Rabindranath Tagore The Arrival, Shaun Tan The Secret History, Donna Tartt The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain Froth on the Daydream, Boris Vian Creation, Gore Vidal Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut The Color Purple, Alice Walker Scoop, Evelyn Waugh The War Of The Worlds, H.G. Wells The Time Machine, H.G Wells The Once And Future King, T.H. White Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson The Code of the Woosters, P.G. Wodehouse Native Son, Richard Wright Going Native, Stephen Wright The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham The Dream of the Red Chamber, Cao Xueqin Red Sorghum: A Novel of China, Mo Yan Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates We, Yevgeny Zamyatin Germinal, Emile Zola Amazing Grace, Mary Hoffman & Caroline Binch Horrid Henry, Francesca Simon & Tony Ross Meg And Mog, Helen Nicholls & Jan Pienkowski Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, Mem Fox & Helen Oxenbury The Elephant And The Bad Baby, Elfrida Vipont & Raymond Briggs The True Story Of The Three Little Pigs, Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith

[vlkwsouthpens]

I hope this post finds you all well and taking care of each other and just as importantly-taking care of yourself. This week we see signs of re-awakening as some restrictions are beginning to be relaxed. It feels like spring is arriving after a long hard winter.  But remember to be cautious, and take it a bit at a time. And that will still give you plenty of time to read. Which brings us to our guest author…

.    r. e. joyce writes Epic Fantasy and all books can be found through Draft2Digital worldwide

Stories by r.e.joyce I write to express the joys and adventures I have found in this world.  Most come from the grace of being chosen to guide two beautiful souls through the adventure of growing up.  It is my children, Stephanie and Bill, who make this life worth living.  The grandbabies are a marvelous recreation of the joys I experienced without the diaper changes – such a fabulous gift!  Do you want to have a taste of the worlds my mind creates?  Come and Join in the fun: https://books2read.com/ap/KnAMpn/R-E-Joyce

Why Write? They say that reading fosters the urge to write and experience chooses the genre.

As to the first, I can attest.  My world in the 1970s and 1980s consisted of work-centered travel.  My last job in New York was a one-hour-forty-minute commute into the Big Apple if all connections were properly made.  It gave me time to read and I ordered the Franklin Library Book of the Month Club Classics for the train ride, promising to read each one before I picked up a dime store novel.  Month after month I would struggle through Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain or Homer’s Iliad awaiting the day I could call it read and pick up Stephen R. Donaldson, Ursula K. LeGuin, David Eddings, Terry Brooks and of course C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien.  It was in the fantasy worlds of these great writers that I found a place for my mind to take flight.  For four-and-one-half years I clickety-clacked down the tracks and let these fantastic worlds open within my mind allowing me to become part of so many epic adventures. Then the urge took hold.  I could write one of these epic fantasies!  The scolding of my English teachers and the wanton grades they scratched into my report cards could not deter the building desire to put words together and go on my own adventure.   The writing bug bit and I was destined for the torment and elation I never expected in life.  We will get back to the swings of emotion later.  For now, with pen in hand (soon turned to computer keyboard) I used the spare minutes of my life to write—catapulting me into the wonderful world of epic fantasty

Meanings The explanation of my life is Grand Poobah-dum.  I have no timeless words of wisdom beyond those that guide my life.  Live to serve and serve until it feels good.  The world will be better for it.

I, like Tevye, wish for a little wealth. I promise to pray more if…

I, like Joseph, find strength in quiet support of family.

I, like Don Quixote, always seek the windmill over the easy path.

It started as an urge and took root in the rich soil of familial love.  The experiential writings made spirituality all the more real for me and touched a life of one or two along the way.  The honing of skills hardened my resolve until I allowed myself to stand before all as I am.  The wayward critics seek to mold me in their image.  I choose the one that is God-given and life affirmed. I am a story teller and if you have a moment I will share with you worlds that can enchant and even make you dream.  If you need proper grammar I have some teachers I can recommend.  If you want to touch life, I believe I have some ready for you.

Where do you get your inspiration? There are experiences directly related to my feeble first attempts.  Stephanie came to me with skinned knee and turtle tears, clutching her pink unicorn.  Holding her, I whispered if she would allow me to clean her boo-boo, I would write her a story about a unicorn. Oh, did I fail to mention that God graced me with two of the most beautiful gifts a man could ask for.  To give this justice, we would need to consider a longer story format.  For now, I will affirm their epic effect on my life. Stephanie came into the world pink and beautiful and when the nurse placed her in my hands a fear, beyond anything ever imagined came over me.  How could a lumbering old fool like me ever care for such a precious princess?  She seemed to fit within the palm of my hands, and my trembling left others to wonder about my joy.  Nothing can ever exceed the gift I held that day and that I continue to embrace as she explores her own world. Now Bill, having arrived three years later almost to the day, bounced out and the now trained hands of a father gathered him up, placing my hereditary standard on the boy with the quiet soul.  He has been more than and continues to amaze me with the deep-seated love he shows the world around him. We will have an epitaph written or imagined at the end of our stay here on earth.  Mine will contain the blessing from God of these two souls.  If nothing else graces the journey of my life, I am fulfilled.

Back to the story…  The boo-boo healed and the little girl grew up and the scratching of a novice writer found its way to the page.

My mission in life:

To write is to place love in the hands of generations to come. The rest of my day is giving to helping others…

Seven Stars of Midnight                         The Finding

  You can connect with r.e. joyce at Vision Management Publishing and find his books at books2read.  

I leave you tonight with r.e.joyce’s beautiful covers to look at and be inspired…

Meet r.e.joyce I hope this post finds you all well and taking care of each other and just as importantly-taking care of yourself.

[edc-creations-blog]

“Art, like love, redeems, and love, like beauty, is imperfect.” – Beautiful Imperfections

Wabi sabi, a Japanese term for finding beauty in imperfection, perfectly describes Keith James, “the girl with the boys’ names,” who travels from the Midwestern U.S. to Toronto and on into the world of fine art and big money. Like pieces of raku pottery amidst the porcelain, Keith, her mentor, a brilliant Haitian-born art historian, and the handsome Jewish art dealer who becomes her husband, are all standouts in a world that views them as outsiders. Through loss and love, they discover that art, like love, redeems, and that love, like beauty, is imperfect.

  Top Amazon Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars By Darlini Martinion I am so impressed with the writings of Marjorie Vernelle! Not only is this novel a page turner, but the amount of information revealed about the art world is amazing. In some ways, It almost feels like an art class! Not knowing much about Toronto, it was very interesting to not only learn a lot about Canada, but what its like to attend University outside of the USA. Woven in between and all around the story is a beautiful love story. I found Keith to be an amazing character and so admire her courage and strength to overcome all of the obstacles presented to her. Trust me, you will not be disappointed with the ending in this novel.

  5.0 out of 5 stars By Galen Hazelhofer This is a wonderful story especially if you are interested in art. If you are not, there is a lot you can learn here. The references are wonderful and you feel like you are in the middle of the art world yourself as Keith does her gallery work and hangs out in the upper echelons of society from San Francisco to Toronto and her visits in between. It is a wonderful story line and I would love to see the movie!

  5-Star Review by Jack Magnus for Readers’ Favorite

Beautiful Imperfections is a literary fiction novel written by Marjorie Vernelle. Some might think that the Survey of Art History class that Keith James took to fulfill the Religious Knowledge class in her first year at the University of Toronto was the defining moment in her life, and indeed, in many ways, it was.

Dr. Lucien Montreux, the brilliant, assured and enigmatic Haitian professor and art expert, immediately enthralled her with his energy and fire, his intelligence that seemed to gleam from his eyes, like flashes of diamonds. He was the guardian of the mysteries of the art world and, in introducing them to her in his own inimitable way, he became her mentor, friend and inevitably her lover. The young Nebraskan sophomore’s eyes were caught not only by the lovely and charismatic man conducting the class as if it were a symphony, she was also drawn to the very pale and beautiful young man sitting just a few seats away and down one aisle. She was fascinated by his long, dark curls and lustrous black eyes, his intelligent and measured responses to Montreux’s lecture. David and the professor would become the two most important people in her life, satellites orbiting her world, but her defining moment had actually taken place some days earlier when Sadie Lee Celestine James attended the Frosh dinner as a new student, and in a moment of clarity and inspiration, had become Keith James, someone who was “jazz, sharp, modern, improvised, like a cool, clear note blown straight from the trumpet of Miles Davis and well worth consideration.”

Even more than that transcendent first lecture where Keith meets Montreux and David. I was stunned by the passage quoted above relating Sadie Lee’s transformation into Keith.

Marjorie Vernelle’s literary fiction novel, Beautiful Imperfections, is as grand and glorious as the Turner landscapes Keith loves so much and as complex and nuanced as Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain. The art lover and aspiring artist in me instantly felt at home in Keith’s world and loved learning with her the intricacies of her craft as an art expert and gallery owner. Vernelle’s descriptions of life in San Francisco had me feeling like I was back there myself, and the spell she weaves about Toronto made me almost consider braving those winters to experience that city first-hand. There’s music in these pages, and not just the jazz evoked by Keith’s brilliant name change — add a bit of Stravinsky and some discordant new classical works and then stir in some rich classical symphonies as those three lives swirl, clash and continue their endless striving to connect. But most of all there’s the art, the Turners, the five little De Koonings that mean so much in so many different ways and cause oh, so much pain, the hidden Old Masters that could save Keith from the total tragedy that befell after the San Francisco earthquake.

And there’s her own art, Keith’s own visions of light and color. All these things swirl and conspire to delight the reader. I love this book. It’s beautiful and perfect. Beautiful Imperfections is most highly recommended.

Purchase Beautiful Imperfections by Marjorie Vernelle Link: http://a.co/0ahoFYv Women’s Contemporary Fiction

      Chapter Excerpt: Beautiful Imperfections by Marjorie Vernelle

Keith James, a young black woman and her mentor Lucien Montreux, a Haitian art historian, are at a fundraiser in which people’s valuables are being appraised in hopes of finding some treasure. Keith finds her treasure in Dr. Montreux.

I set up the table for an appraiser, had reference books at the ready, and took the tickets of those who came, making sure that they matched the number of items they had paid to have appraised. Then I observed. It was painful really. The jade dish that someone’s great grandfather had brought back from his adventures on the China Sea turned out to be nothing but soapstone, proven when the appraiser could scratch the bottom of the dish with a coin and leave a tiny mark. The printed picture brought lovingly across the sea from Ireland by a great ancestor in the 18th century was just that century’s equivalent of a calendar picture: no value then, no value now. I had to admit that my aesthetic tastes, still developing at the time, let me know when some of these family treasures were just ugly junk, then, now, and forever.

I performed my duties professionally, though, without comment or expression. Lucien Montreux was there working on Saturday, just across the room from where I was. I was surprised to see him at this more ordinary event, as he had been very present on Thursday evening to work with the wealthy patrons of the gallery. After taking the ticket and getting each client settled for his or her appraisal, I would sit with one ear attuned to what the appraiser was saying and with both eyes on Montreux. I could not hear what he was saying, but I could watch his manner. Each appraiser received the next client in line, but I noticed that some of those shown to Montreux seemed to hesitate, showing reluctance. Obviously, it was a bit odd for them to see a black specialist sitting there, though Hamilton-Colbert only hired the best appraisers. Montreux for his part was completely unconcerned, greeting each client with charming and gracious manners. As he talked about the object they had brought to him, I would see them lean forward in interest. From time to time, an assistant for one of the other appraisers, someone younger and newer to the business, would come asking for advice. Seeing their expert be the man whom others went to for advice seemed to convince the skeptical. I found out later that Montreux always volunteered to be of assistance to those new to doing public appraisals, which created a visible acknowledgment of his talent that smoothed his way with the reluctant public. I marveled at his strategy. “Sly old fox,” I thought.

As I watched Lucien Montreux, a memory came to me of a Japanese raku teacup I had seen at Hamilton-Colbert. It might have belonged to Sen no Rikyu, the 16th century master of the tea ceremony and vassal of Lord Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Oddly shaped, that cup was far from the static, pure, porcelain beauty of Old Japan. However, its dark surface had an attractive shimmer. The irregular rises and falls in its form pleased the hand, finding a way to fit perfectly no matter how the cup is held. Sitting by itself it attracted the eye by its difference. Among other pieces of raku, it held its own, playing its unique part like an instrument in an orchestra. Lucien Montreux was that masterpiece of raku. He did not fit the porcelain model. The irregularity of his being in this setting caught the eye. The beauty of his talent and expression drew one to him, just like the soft shimmering finish and odd form of that teacup moved one to desire it. He was the prize, the rare object, by some standards imperfect in form, yet beyond measure in its beautiful allure.

I noticed from across the room that Dr. Montreux would look up from his appraisal work and smile at me. I had sent him a formal letter of thank you, but I had not contacted him otherwise since that windy day on campus when our paths had crossed. As things wrapped up on that Saturday, I excused myself for a moment to go across to talk to him. He looked up and watched me as I approached.

“Hello there,” he said.

“Hello,” I started. “I was happy to see you here because I hadn’t had a chance to thank you in person for arranging this job for me.”

“No need. I received your lovely letter, and from what I hear and see, you are doing well.”

“Thank you. It is an exciting world.”

“Yes, It certainly can be,” he smiled. Then he added, “Would you like to have a drink with me some evening?”

“Well,… of course,” I replied, smiling on the “of course” because I had hesitated after the “well.”

“How’s Wednesday at 5:30, lounge at the top of the Park Plaza Hotel?”

“Yes, that would be nice.”

“All right then. See you there. You can tell me more about your adventures at Hamilton-Colbert.” He turned then to address someone who had come up beside him. Stunned though I was, I took the cue and returned to my table to begin packing up the items that had to go back to Hamilton-Colbert. Drinks at the Park Plaza Hotel with Dr. Lucien Montreux. I did not know exactly what to think, but one thing I knew: my school girl days were over

( Continued… )

© 2017 All rights reserved. Book excerpt reprinted by permission of the author, Marjorie Vernelle. Do not reproduce, copy or use without the author’s written permission. This excerpt is used for promotional purposes only.

  About the Author

Marjorie Vernelle, a born traveler, likes to soak up local cultures. Four years in Canada, one year plus in Mexico, ten years in France and 19 in California (a separate country?) provided her with experiences from which to create fascinating characters in interesting situations. Earning a B.A. in Asian Studies and Spanish and an M.A. in English, she also picked up both French and a love of art. All of this comes in handy when writing fiction set in international locales. She now lives in Colorado, where she paints and spins tales of art, love, beauty, and the human mystery.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mvernelle1 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/VernelleStudio Author: http://www.amazon.com/author/marjorievernelle Books: https://www.amazon.com/Marjorie-Vernell/e/B001K8PNPI

Purchase Beautiful Imperfections by Marjorie Vernelle https://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Imperfections-Marjorie-Vernelle/dp/1542917646 https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beautiful-imperfections-ms-marjorie-vernelle/1125906137

    Beautiful Imperfections by Marjorie Vernelle "Art, like love, redeems, and love, like beauty, is imperfect." - Beautiful Imperfections Wabi sabi, a Japanese term for finding beauty in imperfection, perfectly describes Keith James, "the girl with the boys' names," who travels from the Midwestern U.S.

[dillydedalus]

what i read in february

check to find out if i defeated my nemesis thomas mann by reading the magic mountain or surrendered to his absolute rule over my unread books shelf

milkman, anna burns this is deeply divisive on the bookish internet apparently with fights over a) whether it’s brilliant or garbage, b) whether it’s difficult, c) whether literary difficulty is a moral issue (with both renouncers-of-milkman and defenders-of-milkman variously taking either side). here’s my lukewarm take: a) it’s good, b) it’s not that difficult but can be frustrating to read, c) it’s not a moral issue, like, obvi. anyway, y’all probably know what this is about (girl in belfast during the troubles finds herself stalked by dangerous paramilitary, gossip & violence abound). i found the decision not to use proper names, either for the characters (narrator is middle sister, other characters are ‘maybe-boyfriend’, ‘wee sisters’, ‘third brother-in-law’, etc) or the setting really interesting - it added both to the conversational feel, the paranoia in the community and the universality of themes like civil violence, paranoia, mistrust, sexual harrassment, pressure to conform etc. 4/5

paradise, a.l. kennedy (uni) idk man this is well-written and especially the writing about drunkenness & the depth of hannah’s addiction & misery (and joy, which kennedy does not avoid) is vivid, but i’m still p meh on it, and it was definitely too long for what it was doing. i’ll add more after the class where we’ll discuss it (update: the class was unfortunately a mess so I’m still ehhh about it) 2.5/5

die verängstigten, dima wannous (tr. from arabic) an english translation, the frightened ones, is coming out some time this year i think. this story is told thru two narratives, one by sulaima, a syrian woman with anxiety living in damascus, whose brother has been disappeared by the regime and whose lover nassim has fled the country, and one thru chapters of the unfinished novel nassim leaves behind for sulaima, narrated by a girl called salma, whose life story mirrors sulaima’s own. this is a very interesting set-up, and i think both the narrative structure and the combination of anxiety as a psychological illness and anxiety/paranoia as a social state caused by political repression & violence were really interesting, but sometimes the book felt a bit muddled and confusing to me. 3/5

der schlaf der gerechten, wolfgang hilbig (the sleep of the righteous) this is a collection of connected short stories set in a mining town in east germany - the first 4 stories follow the narrator figure (who’s not necessarily the same, but very similar throughout all stories) as a child and young adult, growing up in a town almost without men after world war 2, whereas the last 3 describe the narrator’s return to this town as an adult after reunification, struggling with his own and east germany’s past. i ADORED the first stories - they are insanely good, dark, atmospheric, beautifully written and so evocative of the materiality of this town, the ash, the coal, moulding fruit, gritty, grimy, ash coating everything (the blurb on the back says that your hands will come away from the pages stained with soot, and i feel that). the second set is good too, but it moves away from that sensual evocation which i loved so much. 4/5

the golden fool (tawny man #2), robin hobb y’all i really tried to read this one slowly, and it worked for four days but then i decided that i might as well read read the entire second half in one day so. anyway this is hard to talk about w/o spoiling a lot but robin hobb truly is the queen of character writing. loved the elliania plot, loved the coterie forming, loved the bingtown delegation, loved fitz and the fool having Feelings Drama (made me Big Sad tho - also fitz is my son & all but good god he can be a dumbass). i feel like this one’s mostly setting everything up for fool’s fate but it’s good. 4/5

the sixth extinction: an unnatural history, elizabeth kolbert engaging & accessible nonfiction book about extinction, including both past extinction events, the history of science about extinction and focusing on the current extinction event (with several example species, from frogs to rhinos) mostly caused by humans fucking everything up. 3/5

the course of the heart, m john harrison tbh i just didn’t get it.... maybe i’m not versed enough in gnosticism & weird esoteric shit. anyway, this is about three friends haunted by some spiritual ritual (lol) they held while at uni with a sinister guy called yaxley. you never find out what they actually did, but they construct a whole mythology about it that i uh. didn’t get. tbh i pretty much checked out halfway thru. 1.5/5

barracoon: the story of the last “black cargo”, zora neale hurston (audio) interesting & sad & really touching account of cudjo lewis, one of the last africans to be shipped to america as slaves, mainly made up of his own narrative, collected & put together by hurston. some interesting background info about how the book came to be as well. 3/5

how to survive a plague, david france in-depth account of the aids epidemic in the us, especially in new york, combining personal stories, insight into aids activism, scientific progress (and for most of the book, lack thereof) and staggering political neglect and failure. well-written, informative and well-explained but (obviously) very emotionally draining.  4/5

fool’s fate (the tawny man #3), robin hobb lmao i love emotionally dying about robin hobb books. anyway A LOT happens in this one & i was very emotional about most of it but most emotional about fitzchivalry farseer (idiot, son boy, changer) and the fool (beloved!) and my man burrich (lol say the words ‘heart of the pack’ & i’m already overwhelmed). anyway this was a very epic & hardcore emotional conclusion to this series & robin hobb may make me cry any time she wishes. 4/5, series rating 4.5/5

what it means when a man falls from the sky, lesley nneka arimah collection of short stories mostly set in nigeria and in the us. some of the stories are magical realist-y, some are more realist, but almost all are concerned with familial bonds and bondage, the complicated relationships between parents and children. the stories are well-executed and precisely told, but while i liked quite a few of the stories (esp. the title story) i just didn’t feel particularly strongly about most of them. 3/5

heimsuchung, jenny erpenbeck (visitation) another interesting take on 20th century german history from erpenbeck - this one is centred around a house by a lake in brandenburg & told thru the various people connected to the house over the years & decades, owners, visitors, neighbours, etc. it’s an interesting concept & well-executed & clever & erpenbeck can write but it kinda paled for me in comparison to her aller tage abend, which does a similar thing in very different way. 3/5

currently reading: look okay i have Not finished the magic mountain but i am still reading it so i still have a chance of defeating mann in single combat. i’m actually kinda liking it but it’s A Lot, so i’m taking it slow. also call me zebra which i am v v...... unsure about??