Ahira's Hangar

I've been reading a little book (I believe it was once a short story, which has since been published by itself in a little book) called Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx. It is so very sad. Well written - but so very heartbreakingly sad. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I am reading a short story collection by one of my favorite writers, Susan Vreeland. The collection is called Life Studies and the stories are about great artists and the way that they and their art impact the lives of the people around them. So far there have been many stories about the French Impressionists. Great stuff. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I have started reading a historical novel by Diane Haeger called The Ruby Ring. It is about the great artist Rafael and the working class girl who becomes his mistress and his great love, a baker's daughter...it is reading more like a historical romance than a history novel, but it is interesting nontheless...the various painters have some pretty heated rivalries going, and there is a lot of Church politics as well...

Here is a link which shows Rafael's portrait of his lover:...
www.ima-art.org/featuredExhibitionForna ... exhibition

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Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I am embarking on a classic novel of World War I which I have not previously read. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque tells the story of a German teenager who faces the trench warfare of WW1. The Nazis ordered the book to be burned and took away the author's German citizenship! ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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Yesterday I started reading Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. It is a little book and i have been reading it on my breaks at work and when I am stuck in traffic, etc.

So far the story seems fairly simple - an old fisherman is making a fishing trip in a small boat off the coast of Cuba. He has not been lucky in his fishing for nearly three months and is hoping to catch a big fish... ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I've been catching up with some classics lately that I have never previously read. Currently I have been reading Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage. It's a bit of an odd little book. While it is set in the American Civil War - specifically the events of the Battle of Chancellersville in Virginia - it is not a war story per se. Rather, it is a psychological study of one archtypical soldier. While he and his friends have names, they are usually not referred by those names by the author. One is usually called the youth, one is the tall soldier, and one is the loud soldier. I believe that this is deliberate on the part of Crane. He is not exploring the Civil War as such, or the psyche of these soldiers as individulas. Rather he is exploring what an untried and inexperienced youth feels and thinks when pressed in extreme circumstances.

The battle could be any battle in any ninteenth century war, and Henry could be any completely average and untried teenager serving in that war... ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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For years people have been telling me that if I like Jane Austen I should give Georgette Heyer a try. I recently read a little novel by her called The Talisman Ring. It tells the story of four cousins in Britain a couple of hundred years ago, and is equal parts filled with mystery, madcap adventure, and romance. It was really very charming, and I am very glad to have read it. I think I will read another Heyer book soon. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I am now reading another Heyer book, this one called The Convenient Marriage. During the early years of the American Revolution, two noble houses in England wish to make alliance. The youngest daughter offers herself as the bride to the Earl, as her older sisters do not wish to wed him. She is young and high spirited, and the Earl's enemies decide to try to use his young and madcap bride against him via manipulation of the young and inexperienced girl. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I am reading a third Heyer book called The Black Sheep. In Regency Bath, a young and beautiful heiress is being courted by a somewhat slimey fortune hunter. His uncle, the family's black sheep, is courting her favorite aunt at the same time. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I just finished up the fourth and last of the four Heyer books someone gave me, The Unknown Ajax. It was completely charming and I love the hero.

Right after the Napoleanic Wars, an elderly and despotic lord's oldest son and his only son are killed in an accident. The lord is forced to take his disgraced second son's only child as his heir. That son had been tossed out of the family for marrying a tradesman's daughter. The grandson has been fighting overseas, and had reached the rank of Major in the army. As soon as he arrives at the ancestral estates for the first time, and meets his father's family (again, for the first time), Hugo realizes that his aristocratic relatives all expect him to be an ill educated lout, big and dumb as an ox. So he plays up to that, even though he is in fact, quite the opposite. It's very funny and very charming. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I have recently read Cotillion, a regency era romance by Georgette Heyer. A lovely young girl is the ward and heiress to a very crotchety old man. He tells her that she must marry one of nephews in order to get the money when he passes. She has a variety of nephews to choose from, and her final choice surpises both the reader and the family. Very charming story. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I recently read a beautifully written novel called The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg. It tells the story of the fifty something Bette Nolan, a recent widow. Bette and her husband had no children, and they had been so close to each other that they didn't really have many friends, either. He had been a mental health professional, and on his deathbed he had urged Bette to pursue their dream of leaving Boston, moving to the Midwest, and finding new careers. So she sells the brownstone at a huge profit, and moves to Illinois. She then has to learn how to live again, how to regain old friends and make new ones, and how to find pleasure in life. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I read March by Geraldine Brooks. I had some serious doubts about the premise of this book when I began reading it, even though I have previously read the same author's Year of Wonders and thought it was a gem. The book tells the story of Mr. March, the father from the classic novel Little Women, during the time he was offscreen in that book being a Union Army chaplain during the American Civil War. I had some more doubts when a huge coincidence from his past pops up in the early going. Yet, by the end, Brooks hauled me in. She tells the story of a good man who is changed by the savagery he sees and the horrid crimes committed by both sides during the course of the war. It ended up being very good and meaty stuff. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
<i>Edited by: Duchess of Malfi at: 8/21/06 9:48 am
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March the fanfiction text that won a Pulitzer Prize. Let's be clear by labeling it as fanfiction, I'm not commentiing on its literary merits nor on its ability to please, satisfy or entertain readers. My label is just a descriptive of a particular variety of prose. taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Buffy fans Chicago
my livej<i></i>

I have no problem with it being labeled as such. It did end up being quite good, though perhaps not up to the author's earlier novel, Year of Wonders.

But I have no problem with fan fiction a such, either. As with anything, I have read some that sucks and some that is quite good.

One of the problems I had reading the book was not remembering much of Little Women, as I have not read it since I was a child. And the little I remembered was about the four girls rather than their parents.

If I had remembered more of that book, I am sure I would have gotten more enjoyment out of March. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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