Author: TravellinPenguin

It’s catch up time again so I’ll get right into it. I just finished a wonderful book by 2021 Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah. The title is After Lives, published by Bloomsbury 2020 in the UK and my copy in 2021.

The blurb on the back reads:

While he was still a little boy Ilyas was stolen from his parents by the German colonial troops. After years away, he returns to his village to find his parents gone, and his sister, Afiya given away.

Another young man returns to the town he once lived in. Hamza was not stolen for the war, but fled into it to escape a life of bondage. In the war he has grown up at the righthand of an officer whose protection has marked him for life. With nothing but the clothes on his back, he seeks only work and security- and the love of the beautiful Afiya.

As fate knots these young people together, as they live and work and fall in love, the shadow of a new war on another continent lengthens and darkens, ready to snatch them up and carry them away.

Located in East Africa in the first half of the 20th century it is a wonderful tale of the interlinked relationship between a few characters that goes from the war with the Germans against the British, right to the end of their lives.

I loved this book and as it went on I could not put it down. It is one of those books where you read the first half and don’t ask questions. It will all become clear once the war is over about half way through (if that.) I will never forget these characters and I cared about them deeply. I also learned quite a bit about the post colonial conflicts of Eastern Africa around Tanzania.

I read this book as part of the Fullers book group I’m in and I look forward to our discussion during the first week of March.

My car book is something completely different. I am listening to 78 year old New York dancer Twyla Tharp read her book Keep It Moving. As I try to exercise with longer walks and two weight sessions at the gym each week I find her a role model I can respect. Everyday she gets up first thing and heads to her studio and dances. It is a pledge she made and as she states not a goal. Goals can be ticked off when finished and then you’re done. Her pledge is an activity she does as part of her entire life and she never waivers from it. I am enjoying her discussion about the benefits, especially of older people ensuring they move regularly and how to put it into your life and not just for a new year’s resolution. She applies her teachings to many creative pursuits and I find her a very inspiring and interesting woman.

My other project (if one wants to name it that) is to get cracking with the TBR books on the shelves. A couple of weeks ago I went through every book I own and made a whole new Library Thing catalog. As I went through each book, one by one, I tossed those read, those found in op shops that sounded a good idea at the time and old gifts I’ll never gravitate to. I filled three large shopping bags and off they went. I whittled down the books listed on Library Thing significantly and now it is completely up to date.

Today, once finished with After Lives, I randomly selected three books (using randomiser app) from Library thing. I have decided I will randomly choose three and from that I will choose the one that appeals to me at the time. If a book of short stories comes up I will read at least three of the stories before I put it back on the shelf. I don’t enjoy reading a complete book of short stories unless they are interlinked. I think three will have me remembering them more.

The three books picked are: Worst Journeys: The Picador Book of Travel. It represents a selection of shorter experiences of things that went wrong while travellin to some well known authors. It happens to everyone who travels a lot sooner or later. It has happened to us. Like the time we were in South America, arrived for our connected flight and they had no record of a ticket because the travel agent changed hands during the booking of the trip and screwed up to be succinct. We had to get another ticket that involved finding a cash machine and being escorted with a guard from the airport. Why not use a credit card, you ask? We had it eaten in Bolivia and it was only through the kindness of our hotel manager in La Paz we could travel ahead to Peru and Mr Penguin’s very good use of Spanish that helped a lot.

Or when my father died and I decided to fly to Michigan from Hobart for his military funeral I did not want to miss. He was a large part of my life. Qantas flights were twice cancelled. I couldn’t get a flight to Michigan from Los Angeles. I had a complete meltdown in the airport after travelling for a very long time and a kindly staff member organised me to get to Chicago and then leave Chicago to Lansing, Michigan. I had my sister pick me up at the airport. After almost three days with no sleep, I slid into the funeral service 45 minutes before it started. I know I will enjoy this book.

The second and third book chosen is a small book, part of a Penguin boxed set. Boxed sets that have sat on the shelves for a long time looking very pretty but unread. Now all of those individual books from the Penguin 70s and Great Ideas boxed sets plus a few others are individually catalogued. So I will probably read both of the books chosen. The English Journeys set has me about to read Voices of Akenfield by Ronald Blythe. I haven’t got a clue what it will be about but that will be fun.

The second one is part of the Penguins Pocket Penguins (70s collection I think) called Dressmaker Child by William Trevor. As someone who absolutely loves watching the Great British Sewing Bee this has major appeal. I grew up attached to my grandmother’s side while she sewed dozens of clothes for my sister and I, my Barbie doll who has a complete wardrobe including lined woolen suits and a satin dress with a fur collar around the cape. She also sewed dance costume for my cousin who was an exotic dancer and all of her costumes had sequins hand sewn through out.

That sums up the past couple of weeks of books. I could add I started the audio of Trent Dalton’s Love Stories but it was a bit too saccharine for me. I loved the concept that he sat in the city centre of Brisbane, Qld and asked people to tell him a love story. It was very random. I enjoyed a few of the stories butter awhile it became a bit too much. I know a lot of people will love them but they didn’t excite me either way. Maybe when Covid is over I will be more receptive to really sweet tales. To be fair, not all of them had happy endings and that didn’t appeal either. 😍😍😍 I am not a saccharine person nor was I raised to think the world was brilliant all of the time. So I moved on.

While taking a good walk last week I went through South Hobart to see the new artwork on the side of a popular cafe. The Hobart rivulet goes from the mountain into the city and it passes through South Hobart. There is a platypus who lives in the rivulet and people post about it and keep an eye on it and any friend or family that appears. A local artist has painted a wonderful mural of him and I finally got to see it.

I also received a lovely card from Holland from a IOUMA member. (International Union of Mail Artists. I made a few collaged postcards. I am by no means an artist but I enjoy cutting up papers and calendars and old magazines and organising them on small postcards. There are some wonderful sticker books out there too for all those bullet journalers and I decorate envelopes too. Very relaxing.

I’ve reached the time now when I should stop chatting to you all and make a move out of this seat. As usual, I hope you are all well and doing something you enjoy and also moving those bodies. Old age is so much easier when your body knows how to move.

Time gets away from me but you’ve heard that one before. I have been reading and listening to books so I’ll catch you up on that.

As I said before, I finished These Precious Days by Ann Patchett so won’t talk about it again.

I am almost finished with the book by Helen Garner, How To End A Story. I enjoyed her second diary more than this one but she does lead a very interesting life. I see her 80th birthday is approaching in November this year. Everyone is getting older.

The highlight of this month was my reading of Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty, a Texas author who sadly died a year or so ago. I have always heard excellent things about this book but have put it off as it is more than 800 pages long, the paper in the pages is thin and the font is very small. Once I got into this book (it didn’t take long) I forgot all about the font being small. I also have new reading glasses and for the first time I can see quite clearly. I have inherited my grandmother and father’s eyes, so this is wonderful. So I jumped in and took off on a horse from Texas to Montana as part of a very large cattle drive. This book won McMurtry the 1985 Pulitzer Prize. I think the last western book I read was The Sister’s Brothers by Patrick DeWitt which I did not care for at all a few years ago. Then I read Shane by Jack Schaefer probably in the early 1970s or even the late 1960s. That book, I believe is in the 1001 Books You Must Read.….and I really enjoyed it.

Good Reads describes it as:

A love story, an adventure, and an epic of the frontier, Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize— winning classic, Lonesome Dove, the third book in the Lonesome Dove tetralogy, is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness of America.

Journey to the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome Dove and meet an unforgettable assortment of heroes and outlaws, whores and ladies, Indians and settlers. Richly authentic, beautifully written, always dramatic, Lonesome Dove is a book to make us laugh, weep, dream, and remember.

I enjoyed this book so much. It had many twists and turns, births and deaths, blizzards, snake attacks, Indians that were wonderful and one who was incredibly evil. When you read this book, you will feel as though dust is settling on your face and you will become saddle sore. It is an epic of the last wild days of the American west and I loved it. It was wonderful to read a book where the author wasn’t afraid to kill off characters to surprise the reader, to set up weather events you could taste and feel. The twists in the plot are throughout the book. I read it one day from about 11 am in the morning 2:30 the following morning. You don’t even have to enjoy westerns to enjoy this book. The first 5 ***** read I’ve had in awhile. I will remember the characters for as long as I live.

I finished the Audible Book, Cuba: Beyond the Beach (Stories of Life in Havana) for my Lonely Planet, Armchair travel book. This was a car book. It is written by Karen Dubinsky. She isn’t actually Cuban but has spent a great deal of time there every year. The reason I chose this book is because I will not buy books for this challenge. I use either the library or Scribd which I joined recently. She is a professor at Queen’s University in Canada and teaches in the department of Global Development Studies and History. What she doesn’t know about Cuba isn’t worth knowing. Politics, history, life style, economy, music, art, sport. The book is quite dry to read but I achieved my aim by finishing it and I achieved the goal I wanted to achieve. Learning something about Cuba. Now I can randomly choose the next country.

Our book group read and discussed the Labyring by Amanda Lohrey. Actually everyone loved it too much. There was no fun polarity of issues to discuss as one member pointed out. We also ended up talking about the labyrinths to be found in Tasmania and a couple of us went out and visited them after reading the book and shared photos of them. It was a fun event.

The book for March is Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah’s, Afterlives. Here is the Good Reads description for those of you who might not be familiar with it. Should be an interesting read but much different from the Labyrinth.

While he was still a little boy, Ilyas was stolen from his parents by the German colonial troops. After years away, fighting in a war against his own people, he returns to his village to find his parents gone, and his sister Afiya given away.

Another young man returns at the same time. Hamza was not stolen for the war, but sold into it; he has grown up at the right hand of an officer whose protection has marked him life. With nothing but the clothes on his back, he seeks only work and security – and the love of the beautiful Afiya.

As fate knots these young people together, as they live and work and fall in love, the shadow of a new war on another continent lengthens and darkens, ready to snatch them up and carry them away…

That sums up the reading part. I haven’t done a lot of photography lately. Though I have been working on a challenge for our club in the Open category. I really like street photography and urban photography. Much of Tasmania photography is a glut of trees and moss. It is beautiful, but I need something different.

Back in 2007 I was visiting my brother and mother in Tennessee. We went to a small town market. It was quite a warm day as we walked around this place. I saw this man and couldn’t help photographing him. It was an old point and shoot camera so it is not as clear as my fancier camera but the picture tells the story so I don’t believe it needs to technically perfect, though I doubt my photo club will agree. Anyway, I think with street photography, it is the story the counts so I’m submitting it anyway. It’s not like I lose a kidney if it fails to place. Here it is:

I doubt very much that this man reads my blog, or anyone from Tennessee actually so I feel safe posting it here. Tennessee is currently banning books through legislation about the Holocaust. I’ll say no more.

I have also joined the International Union of Mail Artists (IOUMA). It is site of many people around the world who share post card art with each other. You send it and you receive it. I’ve been feeling a bit unsettled after living with Covid and other things so long and my doctor wants me to do things to relax more and get away from things that I don’t enjoy. So I’ve dropped one group and picked this up. Along with the activities of Fullers and also deciding to do my own thing with the photo club. There is one member that just harps and harps at me about my photos. So I am now a non responder and will do as I well please. So there!!

Here are a couple of cards I received and sent.

I have one more photo to share and one more piece of bookish news from Tasmania. ABC Broadcasting put up a photo of the southern aurora we had the other night. I don’t go out alone to dark spots to take photos but there are enough others who do.

The piece of news is to share with you a new group that is being started at Fullers Book shop before too long. Here is the clip from their newsletter. “

“Calling all millennials (and the millenial-ish): we’re starting a new reading group, with a focus on contemporary themes and issues, with a special focus on books by LGBTQI+ authors and authors of colour. This should start in the next few months — see below to register your interest.“

Such a wonderful idea.

Well I guess I’ve carried on enough. Tassie may be small but there is a lot going on down here.

It will be the start of another week soon. I’m hoping to see the Agatha Christie film, Death On The Nile, staring 10 November at our State Cinema. Another book related activity. Stay well everyone. The penguin has been safe.

I thought I’d better do a catch up here. So easy to fall behind. Our bodies get in the way of our lifestyle. We must tend to teeth, eyes, bones and whatever else starts to fall apart as we age. Lots of appointments but pretty caught up now. I am getting new reading glasses next week. I have had a year of very poor left eye vision and now it is as good as it can be, two pairs of glasses have been ordered. One for life, one for books.

So I’ll start with what I’ve read this month and what I thought of it.

First off is the Armchair Explorer book by Lonely Planet project. I spun the wheel and ended up with the country Haiti. I did a bit of exploring and travelling through google and settled on the female Haitian author Edwidge Danticat. The book I chose is called Krik Krak.

Her Wikipedia profile reads: Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian-American novelist and short story writer. Her first novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory, was published in 1994. Danticat has since written or edited several books and has been the recipient of many awards and honors. 

From Good Reads: At an astonishingly young age, Edwidge Danticat has become a celebrated new writer. She is an artist who evokes the wonder, terror, and heartache of her native Haiti–and the enduring strength of Haiti’s women–with a vibrant imagery and narrative grace that bear witness to her people’s suffering and courage.

When Haitians tell a story, they say “Krik?” and the eager listeners answer “Krak!” In Krik? Krak! Danticat establishes herself as the latest heir to that narrative tradition with nine stories that encompass both the cruelties and the high ideals of Haitian life. They tell of women who continue loving behind prison walls and in the face of unfathomable loss; of a people who resist the brutality of their rulers through the powers of imagination. The result is a collection that outrages, saddens, and transports the reader with its sheer beauty.

My thoughts: This book is not for the faint hearted. The atrocities committed by the soldiers as they sweep through villages is enough to make one want to stick your head deep into sand and not look up. Absolutely horrific. I’m talking nightmare materials. Her stories of experiences under the dictatorship of Haitian leaders and actions of the soldiers as they sweep through villages. The atrocities….are just that. I’m glad I read it and understand more of the history of Haiti but I will have a rest from exploring future books. The writing was wonderful and the author doesn’t shy away from the hard issues. Although she resides in the USA now she still considers herself very much linked to her homeland.

The other book I finished was These Precious Days by Ann Patchett. I listened to it on Audible and it was narrated by her. A series of vignettes about her life, well written but I must admit I got weary of repetition in this book. She begins one chapter about her views on not wanting to have children in her life. Okay, fine. Then it comes up again. And again. And again. And again. It made me wonder if she was as committed to her choices as she claims.

I wanted her to talk more about other aspects of her writing life and her life in Nashville with her book store. She did move on to another important story in her life. She did some work with Tom Hanks. During the interview she met his personal assistant, an Asian woman in her 60s who she was really drawn to. Long story short, when this friend she makes develops pancreatic cancer in the time of Covid and needs to attend medical trials, Ms Patchett whose husband is a doctor organises for it to happen in Nashville. (ignore the grammatical structure of that last sentence.)

The woman moves in with the Patchett family and from there the description of the friendship finishes off the last section of this book. It is quite emotional but it is also. r e a l l y o v e r d o n e in my humble opinion. I found everything she wrote about was hammered into the earth like a person driving a very long spike into the ground with a sledge hammer. I know there are many who love this book. The only book of hers I have read is The State of Wonder. I enjoyed it very much and I want to read the Dutch House. I hear so much about her books and I’m sure I’d enjoy them. I think writing fictional stories well and then changing to writing memoirs well are two different things. In this case I’ll stick to the fiction.

New Books waiting to be read: Latest Readings by Clive James and Allegorizings by Jan Morris. I have started Latest Readings and am enjoying it quite a bit however he does mention British authors who I am unfamiliar with and has discussions around them. I don’t mind this as I enjoy his writing. I will share a short blurb from inside dust jacket: In 2010, C James was diagnosed with terminal leukemia. Deciding that “if you don’t know the exact moment when the lights will go out, you might as well read until they do.” James moved his library to his house in Cambridge, where he would “live, read and perhaps even write. ”

As he unpacks boxes of books to set up his library I enjoyed hearing him rediscovering favourites of the past and talking about his desire, or not, to reread them. I am only part way through this book so will certainly continue.

Allegorizing by Jan Morris- blurb from the cover: Soldier, journalist, historian, author of 40 books, Jan Morris led an extraordinary life, witnessing such seminal events as the first ascent of Everest, the Suez Canal Crisis, the Eichmann Trial, the Cuban revolution and so much more.

This book was not to be published until after her death, which occurred last year, age 94. She revisits key moments and talks about her travels across the USA, across Europe to trips she loved on trains and ships. She talks of experiencing the deaths of her old friends Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay and also about the relationships in her own life.

I am really looking forward to reading this.

I could go on with a couple of more books I’m really wanting to get into but I will leave it now. The future looks promising. Beginning in February a shared reading will begin of Oscar Wilde at Fullers book shop. Book groups will begin there too. Fullers book shop are going to have socially distanced, vaccinated and masked book groups of 12 and also will be holding Zoom book club meetings for those who are worried about coming into the groups face to face. They are beginning poetry nights once a month and I have applied to be in one but numbers are limited so I may not be able to go. I am in a couple of their groups already and I know there are others who want to join in. (Can’t be selfish…..can I?)

I’ll leave you here as this is long enough. I will try to get back to you before another three or four weeks goes by. All the best and stay well. Get those jabs and wear those masks (whether you like it or not).