Writing is like making love. Don't worry about the orgasm, just concentrate on the process
-Isabel Allende
Six Degree of Separation in the Spirit of Sydney Writers Festival ... from the Literary Larrikin at Matilda; Georgina at Stack ; Zoe at Crazybrave
Passing the Baton: Island Life: May Day
Ach May is not only the month of my real birthday, but also a month when Sydney celebrates the birth of the written word SWF Book Lust Forever! As Zue noted 'memes aren't real so tell your friends’ and Gianna at She Sells Sanctuary passed this on to me this week.
[Most of the monographs and essays I had read in my teenagehood, and especially during my two year compulsory service in the Czechoslovak army, are listed at Eastern European Literature. (Naturally, I also read my essay)]
You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be saved?
War and Peace - by Leo Tolstoy. In UK electors rattled cages, but Tony Blair can continue happily declare: ‘Don’t you worry about that Iraq War.’ History repeats itself, though no two readers agree quite how... I could not agree more with Tolstoy! In Russia's struggle with Napoleon, Tolstoy saw a tragedy that involved all mankind. Greater than a historical chronicle, War and Peace is an affirmation of life itself, as a reviewer put it, 'a complete picture of everything in which people find their happiness and greatness, their grief and humiliation'.
Epic historical novel: originally published as Voyna i mir in 1865-69
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
How long is a piece of Central European string? Czech out books by Milan Kundera in 1960s and books read by Jobs’ girlfriend ;-)
My girlfriend always laughs during sex - no matter what she's reading.
-Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computers
A popular oasis for the finest in original erotic fiction
The last book you bought was...?
With one stone I got two birds:
Dirt Cheap: Life at the Wrong End of the Australian Job Market by Elisabeth Wynhausen
The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing by Michael Mann
The last book you read was...?
Many Unhappy Returns: One Man's Quest To Turn Around The Most Unpopular Organization In America (Leadership for the Common Good) Charles O. Rossotti
What are you currently reading?
I am juggling trojka: I am reading Dr Russel Cope’s draft publication ‘No Continuing City, or the City To Come? Librarianship’s Dilemmas and Retreats'
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond
Knock Them Dead Job Interview Strategies by D.P. Roseberry
Five books you would take to a desert island...
If it can be reread many times I take it with my fotoalbum ...
- Haverleigh and other books by James Cumes
- Milan Kundera, Unbearable Lightness of Being
- 1984 by George Orwell
- SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron
- A Fortunate Life by A. B. Facey
• Who are you passing this stick on to and why?
MJ Rose Buzz, Balls & Hype and Antony Loewenstein at Just what is "the whole truth"? 'Cause both love books and are prepared to risk it all in order to make a difference. [By the way, Boston Globe highlighted last week MJ Rose's blog (though apparently the paper will not print the word "balls" when it doesn't relate to sports, so they leave out the actual name "Buzz, Balls & Hype") as part of "finding effective ways for readers, authors, and books to link up." ;-]