Sydney ushered in the new year with a huge heart pulsing on the Iron Bridge and within that heart are hearts of my soulful girls. Thank you Sydney for staging such a hearty firework. Christopher with Lidia have found the best spot at Rose Bay to watch the amazing colour of light The Greatest Heart
As the smoke clears on yet another midnight fireworks display, today is as good a time as any to take a long, hard look at ourselves in the mirror. I was also a great day to listen to Icerberg stories. Lotfy, Timmy, Nick, Dezza, Dave, Marcus and Ian were at their finest on the New Year Day. Eva from Brno pulled the hearties heads on those cold beers - miracle hangover cure! At the Iceberg, members are increasingly concerned with the meaning of their lives. When we were deprived of comfort we thought if only we had radios and irons and washing mashines, life would be perfect. Now that we have that, we are saying ‘Wait a minute - what is life all about?’ What am I doing all of this stuff for? We are much more focused on immaterial aspects of life .... In 2005 we were short of time not money ... Lets make the time in 2006 a priority. Time for family and friends. Time to swim across the bay. Time to share stories Ready to face a brand new love life
Edith Grossman, translator of the new version of Don Quixote, and Mayra Montero, author of Deep Purple and Son de Almendra, discuss their work at the Washington Post.
Montero : I am not interested in sex for its own sake in my writing. Only two of my nine books are truly erotic. Even when I decide to write about sexuality, even in its more crude variations, I always have a safety valve. Curiously, maybe it's because of my education -- very Catholic, with lots of nuns -- I tend to soften the sex with a substantial dose of humor.
Grossman : No one can write about human beings truthfully and leave sexuality out of the picture. I think people are struck by women who write about sexuality, and so perhaps the erotic characteristics or moments in your books stay in people's minds more than if a man were writing the novel. The Writing Life
Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Is Documentary the New Memoir?
What is the larger social context in which the story unfolds? Does the story tell me something about anyone or anything other than you? If not, you had better be pretty damn fascinating
I am a sociologist who conducts historical research on race and social policy, so my work has something in common with a documentary filmmaker’s attempt to uncover some version of “the truth” (however defined). Maybe this is just my sociological training leaking out, but when I watch a documentary—especially a highly personal, idiosyncratic one—I want to see the bigger picture as well.
• Lonely hearts ads for the literati What A Year! What A Time! What A Town! [Natalie Barney, smart and rich, loved loving women. And if she had many women to choose from? “I would choose love many times” Women in Love ; Read on if you've scanned any good books lately ; More pages than can be managed -- a common enough complaint, but we certainly don't mind ;-) Cold River, the only thing that flows faster than the bullets... Fluid Memoir; We expected this to be a runaway bestseller, but its publication on July 7 must have made it seem just too 'prophetic' for comfort and much of the coverage reflected that The bullets that got away
• · I haven't the slightest idea how I ended up on a list with The Prince Niccolò Machiavelli, Luigi Ricci (Translator), Christian Gauss (Introduction); Communist Manifesto Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels;
Utopia (Yale Nota Bene Series) Thomas More, Clarence H Miller (Translator); Utopia Thomas More, Paul Turner (Translator); Ways of Seeing John Berger, but hell. Thanks, Books-A-Million.com. ( Cold River at a deep discount - The book that no fugitive should be without: Millionaire's Club Price ; Why it's best not to be too merry for the holidays In Pursuit of Unhappiness
• · · There are many painful questions at the end of a marriage, the primary one being "What went wrong?" Bitter or Sweet - Figure out a way to harness your own sunshine; Book-signings — once earnest events in the back rooms of dusty shops — are now celeb fanfests that close streets and attract thousands. What is the appeal? Who Does She Think She Is?A sign of the times
• · · · I am passionate about books and role of editors, and would love to either form or join a book club so that I can share my enthusiasm with others Beached At Bondi ; Cold River Vodka: Potatoes Redefined ; The dream of two brothers -- one a potato farmer, the other a brain surgeon -- has become reality with a shiny new distillery ready to transform humble spuds into premium vodka. People will pay extra for quality, there's no doubt about that
• · · · · Cold War and peace - A courageous storyteller of truth on one hand and a man with a death wish on the other 2006: The year ahead in Books ; Second instalment of this Euro-romance is clunky at times but fun to watch. Russian Dolls
• · · · · · Miracle hangover cure Headache? Dehydrated? Vomiting? Just take your medicine ; How writing about cheap travel became the road to riches for a hippie couple Once While Travelling