Dedication:

For Bob and Dash

22 photographs of both house and internees.

Opening:

Part 1 The House on the Hill
June- November 1940

All genuine poetry is in a sense the formation
of private spheres out of a public chaos. - WH Auden



In the town there were two mutes, and they were
always together. Early every morning they would
come out from the house where they lived and
walk arm in arm down the street to work...
- Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Summer in New York is never pleasant, as tempers rise with the temperature and the noises, smells and colors of Manhattan intensify in the humid air. In June 1940, conditions were made worse by the alarming state of world events.

Astounding reading that should have garnered a 5* but for the repetition by the author - once noticed, it became glaring. However that did not detract too much from finding about that year, and those people in a one-off situation.

Auden & Britten: http://youtu.be/zmciuKsBOi0
Danny Kaye: Tchaikovsky: http://youtu.be/hh-wOvuOHPE



Listopia linked to this book: http://www.goodreads.com/list/user_vote/2010063

bookshelves: fraudio, winter-20122013, philosophy, china, spring-2014, re-visit-2014, re-read, e-book, essays

http://youtu.be/ksVgOSJ_Kv0



Opening:
''You see, Pooh," I said, ''a lot of people don't seem
to know what Taoism is ... "
''Yes?" said Pooh, blinking his eyes.
"So that's what this chapter is for-to explain
things a bit."
''Oh, I see," said Pooh.
"And the easiest way to do that would be for
us to go to China for a moment."
"What?" said Pooh, his eyes wide open in
amazement. "Right now?"
"Of course. All we need to do is lean back,
relax, and there we are."
"Oh, I see," said Pooh.

Page 39:

Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie ...

Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
A fish can 't whistle and neither can I.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie ...

Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
Why does a chicken, I don 't know why.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie ...

Short and sweet like Pooh himself, however there is an undercurrent that I quite dislike. If one was to take this literally and follow the indicators, learning and action would be seen as irrelevant if not downright bad. Helpful doctrine if one lives in a repressed society where outward signs of the personality are discouraged and the hive community applauded. I would be more inclined to point youngsters toward the existential questions that arise in ANTZ (1998)

bookshelves: danish-root, one-penny-wonder, mystery-thriller, winter-20122013, tbr-busting-2013, paper-read, under-500-ratings, next

Translated from the Danish by Charlotte Barslund.

Opening: Solnhofen, Southern Germany, 5 April 1877

Anna Bella Nor was dreaming she had unearthed Archaeopteryx, the earliest and most primitive bird known. The excavation was in its sixth week, a fine layer of soil had long since embedded itself into everone's faces and the mood had hit rock bottom.

Front cover quotes:

"Danish Crime Novel Of The Decade."

"If you enjoyed The Killing you'll love this."

Let's see...

on and on and on it went but I forced myself through all the 536 pages (400 pages too many). Can't say I'd pick up this author again.

#47 TBR Busting 2013

bookshelves: winter-20122013, radio-4, published-2013, nonfiction, poetry, biography, fradio, history, italy, costa-whitbread-winner

BOTW
The Pike
9780307263933

pub 2013
BBC Radio 4
winter 2012/2013
non-fic
italian
poetry

blurb- Haydn Gwynne reads from Lucy Hughes-Hallett's biography of this remarkable Italian poet and political agitator whose words triggered riots. Once d'Annunzio's fame as a great wordsmith was established he used it unashamedly to sell his work, seduce women and promote his extreme political views.

In 1915, d'Annunzio's incendiary oratory helped drive Italy to war. In 1919 he led a troop of mutineers into the Croatian port of Fiume and established a delinquent city-state. Futurists, anarchists, communists and proto-fascists descended, as did literati and thrill-seekers, to experience d'Annunzio's utopian experiment.

Abridged by Penny Leicester

Note to any passing librarian: this book is called 'The Pike'...

...'Gabriele D'Annunzio: Poet, Seducer, and Preacher of War' is the strapline.

Opening and closing music
Track 13: Etude in D sharp minor, Op. 8, No.12
Composer: Alexander Scriabin
Performer: Garrick Ohlsson
Label: Bridge Records