Plainsong is a great book by an author new to us… Kent Haruf. This book is well worth your time. The story is told by a variety of narrators, all of the “voices” are interesting and the writing style spare and masterful. I’m looking forward to digging out more of this man’s work.
Jane spotted the film “I’ve Loved You So Long” (Il y a longtemps que je t’aime) on someone’s list of the films that should have won oscars but weren’t even nominated and last night we watched it (courtesy of the excellent VPL DVD collection) and it really is a great performance by Kristin Scott Thomas et al. This is a very good film and certainly should have had a nod from the 2008 Oscars. Highly recommended.
This briliant book is right up there with Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes”. It’s another book about a bleak and terrible (American) childhood from the viewpoint of the child that lived it and survived to write about it. And as with AA somehow the biography transcends the harshness of that life and finds gems in the story of poverty, neglect and pain and life with a brilliant but damaged, dreamer of a father. (more…)
Warning! This short book is dangerous, you might find yourself up at 2:00 AM unable to put it down. Taking as his setting the last shifts at a Red Lobster that is closing down during a snow-squall in New England, the author (Stewart O’Nan) has crafted a tight little microcosm that just reeled me in. (more…)
Pictures from our trip are gradually being prepared for display. Click this link to view the page of available slideshows and for photos from our time AFTER SASAC, please click this link
We’re back home safely (tonight was the first where I actually slept until morning light). The final flight was the only one that actually (more…)
Yesterday morning we were walking the ghats of Varanasi, but by evening we were in Delhi enjoying the wonderful cuisine?? of the “Y”. We’ve both got colds but we hauled our sorry selves out to a wonderful craft museum/village featuring the tribal and village crafts of India. (more…)
Apologies for not writing more sooner but we’ve been either too far from Internet access or too busy to get to this record. We’ve just arrived in Varanasi after a great few (more…)
I know I’m skipping a few days but Sunday was such a special day that I have to write about it first. It really begins with Friday, our ‘Darjeeling Day’ when we were all assigned a ‘guardian angel’… a SASAC student who would be our guide to Darjeeling. Our angel was Rakesh, a 13 year old, bright as a whip. (more…)
Well. Where to begin? It’s Thursday morning Kurseong and we’ve got a few hours free before our next event. Elevation about 4200 ft. Narrow winding mountain roads that make any logging road in British Columbia seem like the 401. We had a min-monsoon mid-afternoon the other day and the result is washouts and potholes that could nearly swallow a jeep. All traffic on the roads is jeeps or mini-vans that rarely get out of second gear. (more…)