Italian Neighbors, Tim Parks. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1992. Hardbound, 272 pps.
Tim Parks and wife moved to Montecchio near Verona in Italy. Native Londoners, they had never encountered fog like that in their adopted town. From the lizards who enter their living space via French windows to the lemon trees and continuously barking dog outside, Tim Parks and wife adapt to their new landscape. Now they are three, as wife has given birth to a baby boy.
radical sapphoq says: This is a dull book. Not recommended.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Secrets of the Talking Jaguar by Martin Prechtel
Secrets of the Talking Jaguar, Martin Prechtel. Boston: Element books, 1998. Hardbound, 283 pps.
Secrets of the Talking Jaguar was a captivating book. The author was lead to a Mayan tribe where he lived for the next 13 years. The local shaman taught him the ways of the tribe as well as old folk medicine. This book is full of fantastic stories about Prechtel's adventures. He married a native 17 year old who produced a baby boy. At the end of the book, the family had to migrate to the States, as the local Guatamalan regime was against anything that could be construed as communistic interest.
sapphoq reviews says: Mr. Prectel's claim of special shamanistic knowedge was troublesome. Still, the book sucked me in and I'd read the whole thing in one sitting. Secrets of the Talking Jaguar is full of unverifiable claims and this bothered me greatly. Not recommended.
Secrets of the Talking Jaguar was a captivating book. The author was lead to a Mayan tribe where he lived for the next 13 years. The local shaman taught him the ways of the tribe as well as old folk medicine. This book is full of fantastic stories about Prechtel's adventures. He married a native 17 year old who produced a baby boy. At the end of the book, the family had to migrate to the States, as the local Guatamalan regime was against anything that could be construed as communistic interest.
sapphoq reviews says: Mr. Prectel's claim of special shamanistic knowedge was troublesome. Still, the book sucked me in and I'd read the whole thing in one sitting. Secrets of the Talking Jaguar is full of unverifiable claims and this bothered me greatly. Not recommended.
The House on mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros. New York: Vintage Books, 1984. Small hardcover, 110 pps.
The young narrator of The House on Mango Street has much to say and a cool style of saying it. This book made me feel like I was instantaneously in on Esperanza's intimate thoughts. She tells about how it is to live in a small brick house on Mango Street. The rhythms of everyday living come alive under the author's craft. I felt like I was there.
radical sapphoq says: Written in an easy to read style, any Hispanophile is bound to appreciate The House on Mango Street. I read it in one sitting. Highly recommended.
The young narrator of The House on Mango Street has much to say and a cool style of saying it. This book made me feel like I was instantaneously in on Esperanza's intimate thoughts. She tells about how it is to live in a small brick house on Mango Street. The rhythms of everyday living come alive under the author's craft. I felt like I was there.
radical sapphoq says: Written in an easy to read style, any Hispanophile is bound to appreciate The House on Mango Street. I read it in one sitting. Highly recommended.
Freedom's Landing by Anne McCafferty
Freedom's Landing, Anne McCaffrey. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1995. Hardbound, 277 pps.
A University of Denver student is captured along with a bunch of other people and taken to another planet. She, other earthlings, and aliens from other places are held as slaves. When Kris escapes, she is rounded up along with other troublemakers and dumped on a different planet thought to be uninhabitated. Folks keep getting dumped there, some go rogue, and some die. Freedom's Landing concerns itself with the initial setting up of the colony which the settler-slaves have named Botany. There is of course a swank alien dude with whom Kris becomes enamoured and a few troublemakers on the side.
Place plays an important role in this particular book. The place settings are integral to the plot and I like that in a story. Interspecies love is also something that I like (and something that Anne McCaffrey explores in other books of hers as well as in this one).
sapphoq reviews says: Folks looking for either fuzzy science or hard science in a science fiction novel are not going to find it here. Folks who are interested in the building of relationships during hard times will. Highly recommended for science fic afficiandos who appreciate well done interspecies romance born in the middle of the hardship of settling in a hostile environment.
A University of Denver student is captured along with a bunch of other people and taken to another planet. She, other earthlings, and aliens from other places are held as slaves. When Kris escapes, she is rounded up along with other troublemakers and dumped on a different planet thought to be uninhabitated. Folks keep getting dumped there, some go rogue, and some die. Freedom's Landing concerns itself with the initial setting up of the colony which the settler-slaves have named Botany. There is of course a swank alien dude with whom Kris becomes enamoured and a few troublemakers on the side.
Place plays an important role in this particular book. The place settings are integral to the plot and I like that in a story. Interspecies love is also something that I like (and something that Anne McCaffrey explores in other books of hers as well as in this one).
sapphoq reviews says: Folks looking for either fuzzy science or hard science in a science fiction novel are not going to find it here. Folks who are interested in the building of relationships during hard times will. Highly recommended for science fic afficiandos who appreciate well done interspecies romance born in the middle of the hardship of settling in a hostile environment.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
The Happy Isles of Oceania by Paul Theroux
Paul Theroux, The Happy Isles of Oceania. New York: Mariner Books, 1992. Large Paperback, 528 pps.
I've been curious about the dots of land in the Pacific west of Hawaii ever since I read J. Maarten Troost' The Sex Lives of Cannibals. I was delighted to discover Paul Theroux' account of his trip through Meganesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and Hawaii. As he paddled his kayak around nooks and harbors, Theroux frequently listened to c.d.s of various artists. He met locals and tourists, slept out under the stars and in slovenly motels, recorded local stories about cannibalism, cargo cults, and missionaries.
Theroux wanted to go to the island Tanna specifically because the Jon Frum cargo cult was flourishing there [N.B. and is to the present day]. The followers of Jon Frum believe that he will return in a future February in order to rescue them from the ministrations of the missionaries. On the day of his return, the rich white people will be forced to leave Tanna. The missionaries wanted to rescue the natives from such evils as cannibalism. The natives yearned for rescue from the missionaries.
The Happy Isles of Oceania was a fascinating in-depth account of many islands and peoples. The mention of related literature left me with a desire to seek some of it out, the cargo cults' description resulted in my own interet-related. the foibles of the misguided missionaries and the remark that humans tasted like pork had me laughing out loud. Folks who relish the dream of a tropical paradise will do well to read this account of traveling throughout the Pacific in a kayak.
radical sapphoq reviews books and more
I've been curious about the dots of land in the Pacific west of Hawaii ever since I read J. Maarten Troost' The Sex Lives of Cannibals. I was delighted to discover Paul Theroux' account of his trip through Meganesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and Hawaii. As he paddled his kayak around nooks and harbors, Theroux frequently listened to c.d.s of various artists. He met locals and tourists, slept out under the stars and in slovenly motels, recorded local stories about cannibalism, cargo cults, and missionaries.
Theroux wanted to go to the island Tanna specifically because the Jon Frum cargo cult was flourishing there [N.B. and is to the present day]. The followers of Jon Frum believe that he will return in a future February in order to rescue them from the ministrations of the missionaries. On the day of his return, the rich white people will be forced to leave Tanna. The missionaries wanted to rescue the natives from such evils as cannibalism. The natives yearned for rescue from the missionaries.
The Happy Isles of Oceania was a fascinating in-depth account of many islands and peoples. The mention of related literature left me with a desire to seek some of it out, the cargo cults' description resulted in my own interet-related. the foibles of the misguided missionaries and the remark that humans tasted like pork had me laughing out loud. Folks who relish the dream of a tropical paradise will do well to read this account of traveling throughout the Pacific in a kayak.
radical sapphoq reviews books and more
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