During the French colonial period in Vietnam, authorities exacted a tax on boats. So the people of the fishing villages got creative: “These aren’t boats. They’re baskets.” We saw these boats all over the beaches around Da Nang. Sometimes they were upright, as here, but often they were inverted to provide a waterproof covering for […]
The Basket Boats of Vietnam Read More »
Related Post: I recently realized that I often feature links to articles that pertain to Life Stories in Literature without explaining exactly how those articles fit into this topic. To help you grasp how wide-ranging this topic is, here’s a group of links with a bit more explanation than usual. Whose Story Is It? These
Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature Read More »
We went traveling between June 8th and July 9th. And now we’re about to leave home again. Normally we wouldn’t be taking major trips this close together, but the current exploration is the last of our postponed then rescheduled trips from the COVID-19 times. This time we’ll be gone for three months on an itinerary
We’re Off to Sail the Seas Again! Read More »
Conservative book ban push fuels library exodus from national association that stands up for books This summer, the state libraries in Montana, Missouri and Texas and the local library in Midland, Texas, announced they’re leaving the ALA, with possibly more to come. Right-wing lawmakers in at least nine other states — Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana,
The Hours at 25: The book that changed how we see Virginia Woolf The 2002 film version of Michael Cunningham’s novel The Hours “has come to define the popular image of Virginia Woolf in the 21st Century,” writes Lillian Crawford. The Hours is “a modern reinterpretation of Woolf’s 1925 novel Mrs Dalloway.” Crawford explains how
This month we start with Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder, which was published in July 2023. The book details the life of writer Eileen O’Shaughnessy, who married George Orwell in 1936. Anna Funder uses newly discovered letters between Eileen and her best friend to get to know Orwell’s wife, who has been
6 Degrees: From Being a Wife to Being Dead Read More »
Seven Books for the Lifelong Learner Chelsea Leu suggests seven books that “describe the experience of becoming absorbed by a skill or craft, and deliver insights into what mundane activities—say, playing sports or learning a foreign language—can tell us about how we live today. Look closely enough at any human endeavor, these books suggest, and
No longer are just books under fire, but also the library administrators, teachers and long-beloved librarians who are defending them. They’re being shouted down by parents, vilified on billboards, reported to the police, and trolled online, leaving many fearing for their safety. Source: How librarians, kids and the country are paying for the ongoing rancor
How librarians, kids and the country are paying for the ongoing rancor : NPR Read More »
Levelling up: how Gabrielle Zevin’s gaming novel became the book of the summer I was gratified to read about the popularity in the U.K. of My Most Surprising Read of 2022. Categories: Author News, Book News, Fiction Negative capability “When it comes to our complicated, undecipherable feelings, art prompts a self-understanding far beyond the wellness
