where I am transported

I'm visiting Australia. Not physically, more's the pity.

With a few minutes between appointments, I wandered into a small charity shop. Perusing the bookshelves, I spied a copy of In a Sunburned Country. I have been meaning to read this book for years, but somehow kept forgetting. Now was my chance. A perfect antidote to The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo.

After my appointment I settled into one of those comfy chairs by the window with a coffee and my new book. What happened next was not elegant. But if you have ever read Bill Bryson, you will understand.

I soon found myself making indelicate snorting noises. I was almost choking with the effort to keep from laughing out loud. Soon, I knew my face was red. And wet from the tears streaming down my cheeks. I stared out the window and composed myself and started again. My body was involuntarily shaking. Those leather chairs proved to be of little use in supporting me as I crumpled helplessly. I surreptitiously reached into my bag for a bottle of water as a distraction. But it was useless. I should have known better.

A couple minutes later, a man passed by me on his way out. "Must be a rip snorter", he said, with a wink.

a wonder of an adventure

A few years ago, during the excitement of the highly anticipated advent of the new Lord of the Rings movie, I thought I should re-read the beloved classic. I had read them as a teenager and remembered them fondly. But then, I thought about the stories and realized I didn't remember enough. I still had The Hobbit on my bookshelves, but could not find the rest, so I bought a new set of the Rings Trilogy. And sat down, prepared to immerse myself in Middle Earth.

I found, to my dismay, that I was not enjoying any part of the first book and so abandonned the project. I still may be the only person in the northern hemisphere who has not seen any of the movies.

So now, with the advent of the much anticipated new Tim Burton's movie Alice in Wonderland, I thought maybe I should re-read the beloved classic. Because, I think I was about twelve when I last read it and I really don't know the story. Oh, I know enough to get the gist of it, but I wanted to be able to compare the book and movie. Then I heard that the movie has taken many liberties with the story and it is not at all the same as the book.

I don't care. I am thoroughly enjoying the tale. I have gotten lost in the pages.

Is this not the most beautiful edition of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland you have ever seen? Okay, maybe my photos don't show it justice. You may have to find your own copy to really appreciate the beauty. This was being unpacked as I wandered about the shop, and I had to have it.

It is lusciously illustrated by Australian Robert Ingpen.

The watercolours flow from one page to the next, encompassing the text (so no glaring white pages) and nearly every page has an illustration.

More tea, anyone?

and if you've read this far and found this post through Twitter, would you mind letting me know how you came here? (just curious)

Monday AMuse

Bent Objects blog


let your fingers do the walking


so many books waiting to be read

clean up after yourself

I found his book while I was in New York.

Both the book and the blog are well worth reading.

We could all use a good laugh now and again.

A surprise at every turn of the page.

tweets in the 19th century?

Every morning around 6 am I get a special email. Courtesy of The Telegraph: an online novel by Alexander McCall Smith. It is reminiscent of the old serial novels. One chapter a day. Just enough to keep you engaged and hanging on for the next installment. No cheating and reading further ahead. No reading on and on until you fall asleep and disrupting the flow of the story by an inopportune stop. The chapter ends and you wait...

I consider it my bedtime story. The most fun part is that you can even have the chapters read to you by Andrew Sachs - he who was Manuel in Fawlty Towers.
And if you haven't experienced any of Alexander McCall Smiths' books, I am here to tell you he is a delightful read.

The first serial, The Corduroy Mansions began a year ago and ran for 100 chapters. This story, The Dog Who Came In From The Cold, is book two and has been running since September. You can find the story here.
Novel serialisations are an old art form, probably best and most famously done by Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens. And last week, I heard that there is an online publication of Wilkie Collins' A Woman In White. Celebrating its 150th anniversary, it is being reproduced in its original form every week. The story first appeared as a serial in a Charles Dickens' periodical and is available to read in its "original tightly compact form of 19th century typography" or, much easier on the eyes, as a pdf that can be delivered right to your inbox every Monday. It will take until August 22, 2010 to reach the end of the gripping tale.

We are already up to Chapter Three, but you can catch up quickly by going here
and you can subscribe by emailing Paul Lewis at paul@paullewis.co.uk
AND there is MORE!
You can even follow tweets of Wilkie's life as his novel was being published during 1859-1860!
How much fun is that? Well, what are you waiting for? You have to get reading.

remembrance

"People are rarely interested in events half a world away. That may well be true, but we are going to have to learn to care. The Taliban’s utter disregard for human life is at the very heart of the reason our soldiers are in Afghanistan. It is precisely because we value human life that we are waging war.
This is something a nation must only undertake in the direst of circumstances. Our children are risking and losing their lives. Just as important, our soldiers are killing other human beings at our behest. The only way such losses and such actions can be justified is if our enemies, through their actions, have completely crossed the line into immorality.
Have the Taliban reached this point? Like most Canadians, I oppose the death penalty. But I fully support the right of people to defend themselves against hideous abuse, not necessarily by war, but by war if necessary. I want my country to stand with those people, where it can.
So I would urge all [Canadians] to ask themselves two questions. The first is whether Afghan civilians are worth protecting. The second is whether the Taliban are so bad that they need to be opposed with lethal force.
The answer to the first question should be self-evident. The answer to the second requires more information. If you oppose the war or if you have not yet made up your mind, read everything you can about the mission. And when you hear about the Taliban killing dozens of civilians on the chance that they might kill a single Canadian, take a moment to reflect on what life was like for the Afghans when they were in power.
And what it would be like if they returned. Then decide if you support this war or not."

~excerpt from FOB Doc - by Ray Wiss

a Forward Operating Base doctor who served two tours in Afghanistan, this is a diary of his first tour from Nov 07 - Mar 08

You can read more excerpts here

Royalties from FOB Doc will be donated to the Military Families Fund, which was created by former chief of the defence staff General Rick Hillier to assist military families.

One of the frustrations of those serving in Afghanistan (or anywhere else, really) is the lack of understanding, or appreciation, of what is endured during those tours of duties in far off lands that most of us have not, and will never, experience. For many of us, the war in Afghanistan is a recorded tally of the number of dead soldiers - currently at 133 Canadian, 1340 foreign casualties altogether - but very little of the background information or a tally of the successes that these men and women have achieved. In this book are included dozens of photographs of the horror of the war and the beauty of the country in which it is waged. There are stories of desperation, fear, and boredom. Stories of successes and failures, and explanations of some of the difficulties the soldiers and the civilians are up against in such a harsh land.

A particularly interesting and informative read.

From someone who does not usually find war stories to be particularly interesting enough to be informative.

"Lest We Forget"