the portal

Book review by Tyrone C.

I sometimes like to compare the journey of reading a book to entering a world of complete mystery; where everything around me is constantly changing – even more so than Earth – and I feel suddenly connected to all of my senses, and the characteristics of everybody become known to only me. I feel like I am sitting in the sky, watching over everything… 

However, admittedly, this does not occur very often; it only happens when I am reading a book that I truly like, that I am engaged in, and that I feel like I could read over and over again – although somehow I never get around to doing the latter of these. Recently, I was pondering over the biographical section when the title Wild Swans seemed to drift out of the shelf and float into my hands. I sat down at home later that day, the book nestled in my hands like a fluffy cygnet – the irony had already sunk in – and I began to read… Wild Swans, by Jung Chang, explores the moral, although mostly immoral ramifications of the Cultural Revolution in China, as well as perhaps half a century before and after. It does this through telling the stories of three directly related women (grandmother, mother, and daughter) who suffered the many sufferings of this time. The plot was somewhat engaging, the description very refined, and most importantly of all, the author knew how to use her emotions to portray the animosity that she felt towards Mao, without having to constantly contradict herself as she was writing about how her generation were taught to love Mao and never to distrust him – and this took the majority of her time at school!  

What is also interesting is the style in which she writes about terrible occurrences; she is able to keep a very controlled tone, yet if necessary, she can raise or lower this, but never by more than what is requested. I would recommend this book to anyone – solely on account of this factor, as I have read other books of the same genre that have not achieved this sense of power – yet it does take quite a while. However, a book like this cannot be missed. Wild Swans is a great read.

Image: http://www.amazon.com 27/3/08 

Perhaps the most famous of all science fiction writers, Arthur C. Clarke died in Sri Lanka on Saturday, at the age of 90. Apparently he asked for this to be inscribed on his tombstone, ‘Here lies Arthur Clarke. He never grew up but didn’t stop growing.’  (New York Times, 24/3/08).

Clarke was the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Hailed as a science visionary, he also foresaw communications satellites and in the 1940’s predicted man’s landing on the moon.

Mrs Sweeney

Image : http://www.clarkefoundation.org/images/ACCportrait.jpg  25/3/08

Sonya Hartnett has won the Swedish Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for children’s literature. This is a prestigious and truly international award worth 5 million swedish kronor (over AUS $800 000)! Previous winners include Philip Pullman (UK) and Ryoji Arai (Japan) in 2005, Katherine Paterson (USA) in 2006 and Banco del Libro (Venezuela) in 2007. Congratulations to Sonya!

 Sonya’s writing is not for everyone, but if you like stories that are gritty, emotionally intense, beautifully written and often a little bizarre, give her a try. My favourites are Sleeping Dogs and Thursday’s Child.

Mrs Sweeney

(Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/28/Sonya_Hartnett_

2006.jpg/240px-Sonya_Hartnett_2006.jpg  , 17/03/08).

A big thankyou to Brendan Gullifer who launched The Portal yesterday, during our inaugural ‘Longest Library Literary Lunch’. As always Brendan was inspiring and amusing, sharing his enthusiasm for books and writing.

The lunch was a great success – yummy food, stimulating conversation about our favourite books, and of course…prizes! You’ll have to book early to get in next year!

Mrs Sweeney

There are lots of ways to win prizes on The Portal!

To start with, the first ten people to have a comment published (longer than 10 words) will win something yummy;

and…each month I will choose a worthy post or comment and award an exciting prize to its author.

For stupendously interesting, erudite or hilarious posts or comments there will be surprising instances of spectacular generosity!

Now before you fall, stunned,  off your perch ….check out the rest of the portal —there are promises of rewards in unexpected places!

Happy hunting!

 ( Image from http://www.mercantilelibrary.org/groups/images/Marcel-Proust-1.jpg   9/3/08 )

Olivier Normandin, owner of Chez Olivier in Melbourne, recently organised a dinner with Marcel Proust as the prearranged topic of discussion. He was bemused when people enquiring about the event asked if Proust would be there in person!

 Did you know that Philip Pulman will be writing for a new weekly comic published by Random House in Britain, starting from May 2008? I wonder who will be drawing his characters.

( Image from http://www.bridgetothestars.net/images/ppcharac.gif  9/3/08 )

Do we have any budding cartoonists out there who’d like to publish some of their work on The Portal? Just ask a librarian!

 (These interesting tidbits were found in The Weekend Australian Review, 8-9 March, p. 9).

Mrs Sweeney

Hunter Vettori has one ambition in life – to catch a massive mulloway. The trouble is his mother runs the caravan park in Dogleg Bay, where no mulloways have been sighted since the estuary was dammed.

The caravan park hosts ‘permies’ like Saphonia, the vego hippy who subsists on dips and jatz , thereby earning the nickname dippyhippyterian,  and her twin daughters whom Hunter refers to either as ectoplasmic blobs or desirable babes, depending on his mood.

There’s an annual influx of  ‘God Botherers’, members of the Charismatic Church of the Former Day Saints’ whom Hunter is sure must buy their clothes from the ‘Christian Smart Casual’ section of Target, and this year Warwick the paleoichthyologist has come to search for fish fossils. Hunter sees a lot of Warwick as he brushes and flosses and hypothesizes about the UFOs (unflushable objects) Hunter is obliged to purge from the caravan park dunnies.

Determined to catch his mulloway, Hunter enlists the help of Skulster, the computer freak who is so white he glows like a neon sign. Skulster hacks into the computer system which controls the dam barrages, releasing 200 000 million litres of water into the thirsty bay. The consequences are far more than Hunter was fishing for and the chapters that follow are full of irreverent humour, priceless fishing tackle and unique smells. Jetty Rats is a clever, crude, original and immensely enjoyable read, especially appealing to fishermen, undertakers or those who clean toilets regularly.

Mrs Sweeney

Sex is notoriously difficult to describe in words. Why else would we have awards for bad sex writing? It follows that writing about gay young adult sex will be even more difficult, if not to write, then certainly to have published, approved and even liked. Andreas Steinhofel should be applauded. Not that Centre of my World is primarily a novel about sex, but it is admirabley erotic. Descriptions of sex are brief but palpably sexual, leaving much to the  imagination.

What is this book about? So many things. Great friendships, loyalty, public disgrace; first love, notions of identity, the tangled webs we weave.

Phil and Dianne are twins who drop from their mother’s womb into a cold, inhospitable landscape peopled by strangers. They grow up at ‘Visible’, a crumbling edifice of frightening towers and attics surrounded by an untameable profusion of undergrowth. The villagers shun the twins’ mother ‘Glass’, who entertains male visitors with immodest regularity and who later counsels the sad and desperate women of the town, becoming the feared but needed keeper of their secrets.

Labelled as witches, Phil and Dianne are inseparable until Dianne inexplicably withdraws into her shell and begins mysterious forays into the dark night forest. Forced to seek company elsewhere, Phil forges a close friendship with Kat, the headmaster’s daughter, and the only villager deaf of indifferent to the rumours about the twins. She accepts Phil’s gayness and his family’s strangeness. However this stong bond is tested when Phil becomes infatuated with Nicholas, the handsome, aloof newcomer at school. There follows an intense, sensitively told story of love versus need, secrets that corrode trust and the growth of self-belief.

Steinhofel’s characters are interesting, often quirky and well drawn. The language is at times lyrical, the story always engaging. Let’s hope we see more translations of such high quality overseas literature gracing our Aussie shelves.

Mrs Sweeney

Diego, run! is an enthralling tale about a boy on the cusp of manhood living with his mother and small sister in the San Sebastian Women’s prison in Bolivia. He ekes out a living as a human ‘taxi’ – helping to pay the rent on his mother’s cell whilst dreaming of ways to make big money & escape the prison. Along comes Mando with entrepeneurial ideas and no fear, but there’s only one way to make money fast in Bolivia – the drug trade. Diego’s story is fascinating, and the final exhilarating chase through the jungle replete with snakes, quicksand and ricocheting bullets is terrifying!

Mrs Sweeney

Here is the transcript of an interesting conversation between Philip Pullman, Tamora Pierce and Christopher Paolini.

http://www.alagaesia.com/news_interview.htm