A Book Finished, A Challenge Completed and Other Items of Interest...

It's much cooler today and there is even a breeze. The past week the temperatures have been the highest we've had all summer and we've also been revisited by some of the smoke from the mainland. (Nothing like they've been experiencing all summer, mind you.) We might get some rain for the next few days and I hope if we do that the mainland also gets a whole bunch so they can finally get those fires under control.

Jo got us a new toy for our anniversary. She got a bit tired of watching me trying to get snippets of the news from MSNBC and such so she got us the News package for the TV. Of course, now we find ourselves spending our afternoons watching not only CBC and CTV News but also the American networks.... and of course shouting at the TV a lot more. But that's OK.. :) The main problem is that Morning Joe on MSNBC starts at 3 a.m. here on the West Coast so we only manage to catch the last hour. But we have been enjoying Rachel Maddow and some of the other News shows.

Finished Reading

I am still managing to squeeze in some reading between all this news watching. This morning I finished The African Queen by C.S. Forester. I've read quite a few of Forester's books over the past few years - around 12, actually. I've especially enjoyed the Hornblower books, but I've also read some of Forester's stories set during WWI & II (the General and The Ship) as well as one of his mysteries. All were excellent and varied.

My review of The African Queen is below.




"The African Queen by C.S. Forester might be better known for the movie based on this excellent book. I've seen this movie, starring Kate Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart many times and I'm glad to finally have finally sat down to enjoy the book.
The book was originally published in 1935 and is set during the First World War in Central Africa. I've read a fair bit about WWI but generally it's been focused on the European theater. It was interesting to read a book set in this location. Rose Sayer and her brother Samuel have been many years in Tanzania, her brother a missionary and she his assistant and house keeper. The war has come to home as they are located in German South Africa and their workers and their goods have been taken by the German Army. This has broken her brother and Kate is now on her own. She joins Charlie Allnutt, a Cockney sailor who plies the Ulanga river for a Belgian mine. Allnutt is also on his own and he allows Kate to take control and agrees to head downriver to try and sink a German cruiser that plies the Lake, hindering British efforts to push the Germans out of Africa.
There are many excellent features to this story; the journey and all its trials and tribulations, the growing of Kate as a person, one who had been under the thumb of her family and brother for the first 30+ years of her life; the budding relationship between Allnutt and Kate, etc. It's a fascinating story, made more interesting because it basically features two people in close quarters. The adventure is tense, their ingenuity at solving their issues as the sail downriver.
There are key differences to the movie, especially the ending, but the book is every bit as interesting and entertaining. The development of the characters and the challenges they face and work together to resolve make it all the more interesting. I've enjoyed so many of Forester's books; he writes such varied stories, the Hornblower tales, interesting mysteries, excellent war stories and of course, this. (5 stars)"

Currently Reading

With finishing The African Queen, I have now completed my 2nd 12 + 4 Challenge of the year. I'm going to focus on my Individual Challenges for the last 4 months. Of course, that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking of what I might do as my 12 +4 Challenge for 2018. One idea I had was just to read the 12 + 4 books I've had the longest on my Goodreads To Be Read list. The other was maybe picking 16 books that I have that start a new series. I might save that for one of my Individual Challenges though.

Anyway, back to the present. I've taken a book by one of my all-time favourite authors down off the bookshelf as my next book, that being A Town Like Alice by English writer, Nevil Shute.

"It was unbelievable to Joe that this smart, pretty girl in a light summer frock was the tragic, ragged figure that he had last seen on the road in Malaya, sunburnt, dirty, bullied by the Japanese soldiers.

One of the great novels of our time. This is a magnificent, moving, and invincibly readable story of courage and endurance, of enterprise and love - in war and in the aftermath of war."

I've been reading more of Shute's books the past couple of years and I've been looking forward to trying this story for awhile now.





Great Historical Events

Today's excerpt finishes off 1786.

"Dec. - Shay's rebellion in Massachusetts. After the war there occurred a series of outbreaks against the Government, which were caused by the impoverished condition of the country, and the feeling of discontent and dissatisfaction of the soldiers, who had as yet received little toward satisfying their claims, and also, as a consequent result of war, by a demoralizing influence which was ready to be kindled into a flame by every appeal to passion or selfishness. A rebellion was organized under the command of Daniel Shay, Luke Day, and Eli Parsons, which attempted the overthrow of law and order, and the establishment of mob force. They proceeded to march upon Springfield, and prevent the sitting of court, and if possible, seize the arsenal. But Governor Bowdoin summoned the militia, numbering over four thousand, under command of Gen. Lincoln, and by prompt and decisive measures it was quickly suppressed."

Science of Common Things

Today's excerpt from Prof. L.G. Gorton discusses refraction... something like that anyway.. :)

"If a straight stick be partially submerged in water at an angle why does it appear to be bent? Because the rays of light coming from the part of the stick which is under water are bent as they leave the water. For the same reason the apparent depth of the water is deceptive."

The Birth Date Thing 10 November 2008

US Billboard #1 Single 10 November 2008

Whatever You Like by T.I. T.I. (born Clifford Harris) is an Atlanta, Georgia rapper and actor. Whatever You Like was his first US #1.

UK #1 Single 10 November 2008

Hero by X Factor Finalists. Hero was co - written by Mariah Carey.

New York Times #1 Fiction Best Seller 10 November 2008

Extreme Measures by Vince Flynn. Extreme Measures is the 9th book in Flynn's Mitch Rapp thriller series. I've read the first book so far and have enjoyed. I guess I'd better get moving on the rest, eh, as there are another 15 books in the series. In this book, Rapp works with CIA agent Mike Nash to battle a Taliban jihadist.







 Pulitzer Prize Winner 2008

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Juno Diaz. This is the only novel written by Dominican American writer Diaz. She has written short stories and children stories as well. "The book chronicles both the life of Oscar De León, an overweight Dominican boy growing up in Paterson, New Jersey, who is obsessed with science fiction and fantasy novels and with falling in love, as well as the curse that has plagued his family for generations."






Nobel Prize Laureate 2008

JMG Le Clezio (French Mauritius). JMG Le Clezio is a French-Mauritian writer and professor who has authored over 70 works. He was awarded the Nobel Laureate as an "author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization".

Hugo Award Winner 2008

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. This is the fifth novel by American novelist Chabon. It's a book I've looked at a few times but I haven't yet decided that I want to read it. The novel is a "detective story set in an alternate history version of  the present day, based on the premise that during World War II, a temporary settlement for Jewish refugees was established in Sitka Alaska in 1941 and after the fledgling state of Israel was destroyed in 1948."





Edgar Award Winner 2008

Down River by John Hart. American writer Hart is another writer who I have yet to try. He is also noted for Redemption Road amongst other books. Down River was his second novel after The King of Lies. His stories take place in North Carolina.








Man Booker Award Winner 2008

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. This book is the debut novel by Indian writer Adiga. "The novel provides a darkly humorous perspective of India’s class struggle in a globalized world as told through a retrospective narration from Balram Halwai, a village boy. In detailing Balram's journey first to Delhi, where he works as a chauffeur to a rich landlord, and then to Bangalore, the place to which he flees after killing his master and stealing his money, the novel examines issues of religion, caste, loyalty, corruption and poverty in India."




Giller Prize Winner 2008

Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden. Through Black Spruce was Boyden's 3rd published work. It is set in Moosonee, Ontario and is narrated between form bush pilot Will Bird and his niece Annie Bird.









Winding this down over the next few weeks and then it will be time to start thinking about what books to read in 2008.. How exciting!