In "A CHOREOGRAPHER'S CARTOGRAPHY", the Indo-British poet Raman Mundair has crafted a varied collection of poems that reflect her love for the life and language of the Shetland Islands (e.g. 'Stories fae da Shoormal'and 'Hairst Mön Hamefir') as well as poems conveying the anguish the war, "the dynamics and historical by-ways of the waltz", "the movement of people and the crossing of boundaries", in addition to the effects of thwarted passion. 

Special Note: There is a 'Notes and Translations' section in the book that provides the English translations of the poems that are written in the Shetland Islands dialect as well as the small number of Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi words scattered across 3 of the poems ('A Choreographer's Cartography', 'A Servant's Tale III', and 'Vicky and the Sikh' - which refers to the close relationship Queen Victoria had with her Sikh manservant, Harminder Singh Sahib, during the latter years of her reign). 

(reblogged from Nicholas Rossis)

 

Continuing my infatuation with maps, I came across this fine 16th-century example of a cartographer’s imagination running wild in an excellent post by Urvija Banerji of Atlas Obscura.

 

 

 

 

The creatures depicted on land in the 16th-century Carta Marina are not particularly unusual: the map’s lands contain knights on horseback, wild boars and bears climbing trees. The west side of the map, however, shows a much more fanciful plethora of wildlife. Cartographer Olaus Magnus created the Carta Marina above while staying in Rome, between the years 1527 and 1539.

 

However, Magnus was originally from Sweden and chose to depict the Nordic countries in his map. The Carta Marina was one of the most precise depictions of any part of Europe at the time. Which is more than can be said about its portrayal of the oceans. As you can see, the northern seas are filled to the brim with all kinds of aquatic monsters. Some maps of the era depicted dragons to metaphorically indicate uncertainties or dangers in a region.

 

But the Carta Marina’s mythological sea creatures were thought to really exist at the time Magnus drew them. He even identified each creature in the map’s key. You can take a closer look at some of them below.

 

Magnus described this creature as a whale whose skin resembled the sand on a seashore. An English ship is depicted as having laid anchor on the whale, and two unwitting sailors are cooking a meal on its rump.

Read the rest of the post here.

4.75 starsReview Summary: A wonderful friends-to-lovers tale with older characters, one I loved despite (what else?) a lack of good editing.Review: I loved this story, maybe even more than the first one, though it's been too long since I read the first two for that to be an easy comparison. This can stand alone as a wonderful friends-to-lovers story of finding love in your fifties, if you'd rather start with it than Chiaroscuro. But I enjoyed the first two books and recommend them as well, and having read them added depth to the story told in this book.Not that this book lacks depth, with its underlying theme of loss and starting over and finding greater happiness while still suffering some regrets, because "every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." Not only the main characters, but some of the secondary characters too. These enhanced rather than distracted from the primary story, as they were related in the context of a main character recognizing similarities to their own lives and learning from the effects of others' choices.Leo was very believable as the heart-broken man who at first wants only to get his old life and love back. I felt like smacking him a few times, but that was part of the realism, watching him take two steps forward and then one back. Leo is a really, really good man, one whom I dearly wanted to see find true happiness. There are many wonderful quotes sprinkled throughout this book, but one of my favorites gives a great sense of Leo's character:"You know what my favorite thing is about England?""What?""That all the exit signs say Way Out. It's not a cold exit sign, telling us to get on our way. It's being set free."I didn't like Stuart much when I first met him in Chiaroscuro, but he's one of those people who improves upon further acquaintance. I loved seeing his redemption in this book, and found it painful to see him vilified by other characters, even as their actions were understandable. I thought Stuart's reasons for being single made sense, but I started to get nervous that after so much time spent convincing me he was incapable of a forever sort of commitment, how believable could a HEA be? Fortunately, his character growth and development enabled me to believe in it, and to really root for his happiness.However, this book was not without some significant flaws, which kept it from being a 5-star book. None that disturbed me as much as Micah intending to take BART at 3am in Something Beautiful. That's guaranteed to seriously piss off anyone who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, as it's a major issue that BART stops running at midnight. Of all the factual errors in all the books I've ever read, that still stands out as one of the more egregious (no, I'm not bitter. Not at all. Really). But in this one there were confusing typos like Micah sighed, took out his wallet and gave Micah a five.More importantly, I was disoriented by the mention of Leo's seemingly many former lovers. He and Adam got together when Leo was twenty-one. Adam cheated regularly, but the impression I got in Something Beautiful was that Leo was faithful. I suppose Leo could have had a wild and crazy youth and racked up his share of lovers in just a few years, but the wording seemed to suggest that these past lovers were accrued over decades. So either I was wrong about his faithfulness, or he and Adam played with others over the years. While either of those is plausible, neither fits my impression from Something Beautiful. I even went back and read over those parts, to see if I'd misremembered or misinterpreted. Nope, still have the same impression. So I have no idea what to make of that.I was also confused by Ben's characterization. I remember loving him in the first two books, but in this one I barely recognized him. I certainly didn't like him much. So either he's changed a lot, or I have. And I thought Adam was a bit of a caricature of an awful ex, something that startled me after he and Leo had spent twenty-eight years together. I suppose there are people who suddenly turn out to be so awful after so long, but I had to work at convincing myself it was believable. Stuart swimming in the Thames also surprised me, but if there is anywhere nice enough to be able to do so, he could certainly afford to live there.So while I didn't have any single issue as big as taking BART at 3am (!!!), there were several little issues that niggled at me throughout the story. Even so, it was engaging and engrossing enough for me to mostly ignore them. When I love the characters, when I get engaged in a story, I'll forgive, overlook, or ignore many things. This story is a great example of that. It's great as it is, but at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I really, really wish it had gotten good editing.Despite the niggles, I loved this and recommend it whether you've read the earlier books or not. The series could end here, but there was obvious potential for a secondary character to get his own story, one I'd love to read. And I'd love to see at least one more book simply because I love the characters and want to spend more time with them.This review was originally posted at Reviews by Jessewave, where I received the book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Wendy Lamb Books – July 14, 2009

WHEN YOU REACH ME was a one-sitting read for me.

Miranda lives in New York City with her mother. She and her best friend, Sal, spend most of their time together, navigating the ins and outs of life, school, and their neighborhood. One day when walking home from school, Sal gets punched in the stomach by an older boy that hangs out down the street from their apartment building. Sal pulls away from Miranda after that and stops hanging out with her. Miranda feels completely lost without him.

Since Miranda isn’t spending much time with Sal anymore, she has plenty of time to help her mother prepare for an appearance on The $20,000 Pyramid. Miranda and Richard, her mother’s boyfriend, drill her every night on different questions that could appear on the show. Sal’s mother even takes notes on the game show every day to help.

Losing Sal’s friendship bothers Miranda a lot. Not having him to talk to is bad enough, but she really hates walking home alone. Not only does she have to walk by the group of older boys by herself, but she has to walk home alone. Not only does she have to walk by the group of older boys by herself, but she has to walk by the crazy, old man by the mailbox. Then, the notes start arriving – notes telling her things about the future.

Can Miranda trust the notes? Can she really save the life of someone she knows by doing what they say? You’ll love following along with the mystery to find out what Miranda does, who she saves, and what the old man has to do with it.

If you like WHEN YOU REACH ME, you need to find THE POWER OF UN by Nancy Etchemendy. It is fantastic and shares some of the same story elements.

When You Reach Me is a coming of age book set in 1978 New York. It is about Miranda, twelve years old, and her best friend, Sal, a boy who lives downstairs from her, and the changes their friendship goes through.

Sal & Miranda are babies when their mothers, both moving into the apartment building on the same day, meet and from then on Sal & Miranda were always together. One day as they walk home from school Sal is punched in the face by a boy named Marcus and runs away. It is after this that Sal stops being friends with Miranda. On her own now, M must start making other friends. She does so slowly and in the process learns things about herself and the people around her that she's not always comfortable with.

As M's Mom prepares to appear on $25,000 Pyramid Game, a TV show hosted by Dick Clark, she begins receiving mysterious notes from someone whom it seems can predict the future.

I've long been a fan of time travel mystery as a plot device and found this book's use of it very entertaining and was even taken by surprise as to whom it turned out to be in the end. I also greatly identified with Miranda's struggle to branch out on her own and make room for more than one special friend in her life. I went through something similar in 3rd grade.

I give this book a solid B+.