Sunday, December 22, 2013

BW52: 2013 Year End Wrap Up!






It's official - Winter has arrived. Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Los Posadas or Happy Winter solstice. Which also means it is time for our year end wrap up. This year went by way too fast in my opinion, was a bit more stressful than normal and I'm ready to relax for the next couple weeks, getting cozy on the couch with some good books. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's year end list of reads, which is sure to expand our wish lists and cause our already teetering TBR piles to grow exponentially. 
  1. How many books did you read and did you meet or beat your own personal goal? 
  2. What are your top 5 (or more) favorite stories?  Top 5 least favorites? 
  3. One book you thought you would never read and was pleasantly surprised you liked it? 
  4. Most thrilling unputdownable book? 
  5. Did you come across a story that you enjoyed it so much, you turned around and read it again or plan on  rereading it again in 2014? 
  6. One book you thought you would love, but didn't? 
  7. Which book or books had the greatest impact on you this year? 
  8. Do you have a favorite cover or quote from a story you'd like to share?  
  9. What book would you recommend everyone read?  
  10. What was your most favorite part of the challenge? Did you do any of the mini challenges? 
To round out the rest of the year, we'll be having a winter read-along,  reading all those books with winter in the title or set in the season of winter.  Which works quite well if you are still reading books set in the Antarctic for the Continental Challenge.  Join me in reading Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale.   

 Thank you to everyone who joined me in this reading journey this year and congratulations!  Reading to me is as necessary as breathing. It doesn't matter how fast or how slow you read or whether you are reading classics or contemporary books, the most important thing about the whole challenge is reading. I'm happy to have shared the experience with all of you.  I'm looking forward to hearing about everyone's reading year and to more fun in the coming new year. 

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Link to your reviews or year end wrap up posts:    Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post. 


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Sunday, December 15, 2013

BW51: Challenge News


No, you aren't going crazy. There are actually 2 1/2 weeks left to the year and week 52 will be a long one since I didn't include the last 1/2 week in my count.  You may have noticed I posted the information for the 2014 challenge and the I'm participating thread below this post. I've been brainstorming with the gals over on Well Trained Mind forums and came up with a list of readalongs and monthly themes.  Hopefully everyone will enjoy all, some or a few of the things planned for the coming new year. I know some folks like to plan ahead so here's what I have so far:

January:     Haruki Murakami's 65th birthday - Wind Up Bird Chronicles Readalong
February:    700th Anniversary of Dante's Inferno - readalong
March:        Sully Prudhomme (French) 1st Nobel prize Winner -  birthday 3/16/1839)
April:          National Poetry Month
May:           Art History Mysteries - Monuments Men Readalong   
June:          Steampunk month (gear con) (steampunk.com)
July:           Anniversary of Thomas More's Death - Utopia /  Utopian/Dystopian literature 
August:       World War 1 100th Anniversary / Fiction or Non fiction readalong 
September: Banned Books Month   
October:     Spooktacular 
November:  Non Fiction November   
December:  Inspiration read month


Now mixed in with all those things, we have a geography Challenge and a decades challenge, so my plan is to try to tie those things in. Such as with Murakami readalong, also read other authors or books from Japan; for Prudhomme, turn it into an all things french month and visit different decades.  That's the plan, but who knows how it will really work out.  Because you know those rabbit trails that pop up while you are reading? They kind of send you off on side trips and before you know it, you started off in France but end up reading about the scientific theory of Gnomes.

Speaking of Gnomes, since next Saturday, the 21st is the first day of Winter, I'll be following a winter theme and be reading Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale, followed by Susanna kersley's  Winter Sea.  So join me in all things winter for the remainder of the year.  


 For those anxious about what the wrap up questions will be, check out the list from last year to get started. 
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Friday, December 13, 2013

2014 Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks


Click on the home button to join our 2017 round of 52 Books in 52 weeks

2014 52 Books in 52 Weeks

Are you ready for another round of Reading 52 books in 52 Weeks? Whether you are just joining in or continuing on for another round, the rules are very simple. The goal is to read one book (at least) a week for 52 weeks. Make the year easy and casual or kick it up by exploring new to you authors and genres. Challenge yourself to read at least some classics or delve into that chunkster (more than 500 pages) you always wanted to tackle. Do you have books gathering dust on the shelves just waiting to be read? Then now is the time. The goal is to read 52 books. How you get there is up to you. 

 I have included several mini challenges to make it fun:

 Read Around the World:  You can read books set in and/or written by an author of a different country each week.  You can hang out in one country, exploring their history and culture or strike out across the world, mixing and mingling.  It's entirely up to you how fast and how far and how many books you want to read.  Have fun exploring!  

Nobel Prize Winners in Literature:  read books written by winning authors

 Well Educated Mind:  Continuing exploring the classics in 5 categories: Fiction, Autobiography, History/Politics, Drama and Poetry. 

52 BaW Reader Recommendations:  Read books recommended by participants in 2013

Dusty Mini challenge: Limit buying new books for 1 - 4 months and read 4 to 12 or more books gathering dust on your shelves prior to 2013. 

Chunky Mini Challenge -books more than 500 pages.

 The mini challenges and weekly challenges are optional, Mix it up anyway you like. 


  1. The challenge will run from January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014. 
  2. Our book weeks begin on Sunday. 
  3. Participants may join at any time. 
  4. All books are acceptable except children books. 
  5. All forms of books are acceptable including e-books, audio books, etc. 
  6. Re-reads are acceptable as long as they are read after January 1, 2013. 
  7. Books may overlap other challenges. 
  8. Create an entry post linking to this blog. 
  9. Sign up with Mr. Linky in the "I'm participating post" below this post. 
  10. You don't need a blog to participate. Post your weekly book in the comments section of each weekly post. 
  11. Mr. Linky will be added to the bottom of the weekly post to link to reviews of your most current reads.

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I'm participating in 2014

I'm participating in 2014 



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Sunday, December 8, 2013

BW50: Nobel Prize for literature challenge

Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Peace Prize



In 2010, I took a Nobel Literature class and thoroughly enjoyed it. Although it was a lot of work, I read several books that probably normally would never have considered reading including Jean Paul Sartre's Nausea, Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain, Gabriel Garcia 
Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude,and Kenzaburo Oe's The Silent Cry.  After reading these books, it made me want to read more selections from the literature prize list. Since then, I've read one or two authors from the list each year.

The history behind the Nobel Prize for literature is quite interesting and well worth perusing when you have the time.  Alfred Nobel was Swedish and when he died, he requested the bulk of his fortune be used to establish a prize which would be divided in 5 equal parts. 

Excerpt from his will:

"The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows:

one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics;
one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement;
one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine;
one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction;
and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.

The prizes for physics and chemistry shall be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences; that for physiology or medical works by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm; that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm, and that for champions of peace by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Storting. It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be Scandinavian or not."

He also specified who would be responsible for selecting the noble laureates and for literature, the responsibility was given to the Swedish Academy.  A big question has always been how do you get nominated.   Well, an author cannot nominate himself.   He must be nominated by what the Academy considers a qualified person.  Who is qualified?   

  • members of the Swedish Academy and of other academies, institutions and societies similar to it in membership and aims;
  • professors of literary and linguistic disciplines at universities and university colleges;
  • former Nobel Laureates in Literature;
  • presidents of authors’ organisations which are representative of the literary activities of their respective countries.
Then the academy gleans through the candidates, eventually narrows down the nominations to a select few, reads their works and decides whom will win the prize.   The members of the Academy don't always agree and it seems there have been some controversial and what some consider politically motivated awards handed out to writers.  Plus there has been controversy regarding some of the authors who haven't won, whom some considered better qualified.  And then you have some authors who didn't want to accept the prize because they considered it the death of their career.

And you have a group of 18 people who are interpreting Nobel's words "the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction."   It depends entirely on their definition of ideal.   The members of the academy are a diverse group of linguists, literary scholars and historians.

My main thought while reading all this was where did the money come from. Was Alfred Nobel independently wealthy, did he inherit the money himself, where did all this money come from that is being used to fund the prize?   Long story short, in 1867 he invented Dynamite.  He had factories and laboratories in over 90 places in 20 different countries.  He had initially created dynamite to be used for mining and because it ended up being used for purposes he never intended, he created the Nobel Prize.


The Nobel Prize Winners in Literature 


Which Nobel prize winners have you read?

If you haven't yet, that's okay. I'll be adding Nobel Prize for Literature as one of the main mini challenges for 2014.   

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Link to your reviews:    Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post.


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Sunday, December 1, 2013

BW49: Australia or Antarctica




We are heading into the last month of the year and if you've been doing the continental, there are two continents left.  I have been debating between being adventuresome and heading up into the cold, windy antarctic or being lazy and hanging out on the warm, sunny beaches of Australia. Call me crazy, but I am going to be adventuresome.  Currently in my backpack is An Antarctic Mystery by Jules Verne.  We'll see what I pick up along the way.  

Meanwhile, check out the links above to Australia Adventure or Chillin in the Antarctic. Plus,  Rosie, our resident expert on Australia had a few suggestions:
Robbery Under Arms
Anything by Nevil Shute
Bryce Courtenay wrote a lot of Australian novels. They make me want to jab myself in the eye, most of them, but maybe they'd be more appreciated by non-Australians. He's responsible for getting a lot of boys reading, though.

Garth Nix's trilogy- Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen for those who like fantasy
You could always download The Magic Pudding off Librivox. A children's classic, that one.

For the Term of his Natural Life  seems to be free for Kindle. It's ugly, but I think a must read for that part of Australian history. Not that I particularly recommend reading Australian history...

We of the Never-Never

For teen fiction- The Silver Brumby (There's a whole series)

Into Bullo if you like autobiographies


Happy travels! 

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Sunday, November 24, 2013

BW48: Happy Thanksgiving

November Evening  
by 
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Come, for the dusk is our own; let us fare forth together,
With a quiet delight in our hearts for the ripe, still, autumn weather,
Through the rustling valley and wood and over the crisping meadow,
Under a high-sprung sky, winnowed of mist and shadow.

Sharp is the frosty air, and through the far hill-gaps showing
Lucent sunset lakes of crocus and green are glowing;
'Tis the hour to walk at will in a wayward, unfettered roaming,
Caring for naught save the charm, elusive and swift, of the gloaming.

Watchful and stirless the fields as if not unkindly holding
Harvested joys in their clasp, and to their broad bosoms folding
Baby hopes of a Spring, trusted to motherly keeping,
Thus to be cherished and happed through the long months of their sleeping.

Silent the woods are and gray; but the firs than ever are greener,
Nipped by the frost till the tang of their loosened balsam is keener;
And one little wind in their boughs, eerily swaying and swinging,
Very soft and low, like a wandering minstrel is singing.

Beautiful is the year, but not as the springlike maiden
Garlanded with her hopes­rather the woman laden
With wealth of joy and grief, worthily won through living,
Wearing her sorrow now like a garment of praise and thanksgiving.

Gently the dark comes down over the wild, fair places,
The whispering glens in the hills, the open, starry spaces;
Rich with the gifts of the night, sated with questing and dreaming,
We turn to the dearest of paths where the star of the homelight is gleaming. 
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Sunday, November 17, 2013

BW47: Candide by Voltaire

Francois Marie Arouet aka Voltaire
I happen to share my birthday with the philosopher Voltaire so highlighting his book Candide which can be read online here.

Chapter I.

How Candide was brought up in a magnificent castle and how he was driven thence.


In the country of Westphalia, in the castle of the most noble baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh, lived a youth whom nature had endowed with a most sweet disposition. His face was the true index of his mind. He had a solid judgment joined to the most unaffected simplicity; and hence, I presume, he had his name of Candide. The old servants of the house suspected him to have been the son of the baron’s sister, by a very good sort of a gentleman of the neighborhood, whom that young lady refused to marry, because he could produce no more than threescore and eleven quarterings in his arms; the rest of the genealogical tree belonging to the family having been lost through the injuries of time.


The baron was one of the most powerful lords in Westphalia; for his castle had not only a gate, but even windows; and his great hall was hung with tapestry. He used to hunt with his mastiffs and spaniels instead of greyhounds; his groom served him for huntsman; and the parson of the parish officiated as his grand almoner. He was called My Lord by all his people, and he never told a story but every one laughed at it.

My lady baroness weighed three hundred and fifty pounds, consequently was a person of no small consideration; and then she did the honors of the house with a dignity that commanded universal respect. Her daughter was about seventeen years of age, fresh colored, comely, plump, and desirable. The baron’s son seemed to be a youth in every respect worthy of the father he sprung from. Pangloss, the preceptor, was the oracle of the family, and little Candide listened to his instructions with all the simplicity natural to his age and disposition.

Master Pangloss taught the metaphysico-theologo-cosmolo-nigology. He could prove to admiration that there is no effect without a cause; and, that in this best of all possible worlds, the baron’s castle was the most magnificent of all castles, and my lady the best of all possible baronesses.

It is demonstrable, said he, that things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for as all things have been created for some end, they must necessarily be created for the best end. Observe, for instance, the nose is formed for spectacles, therefore we wear spectacles. The legs are visibly designed for stockings, accordingly we wear stockings. Stones were made to be hewn, and to construct castles, therefore My Lord has a magnificent castle; for the greatest baron in the province ought to be the best lodged. Swine were intended to be eaten, therefore we eat pork all the year round: and they, who assert that everything is right, do not express themselves correctly; they should say that everything is best.

Candide listened attentively, and believed implicitly; for he thought Miss Cunegund excessively handsome, though he never had the courage to tell her so. He concluded that next to the happiness of being baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh, the next was that of being Miss Cunegund, the next that of seeing her every day, and the last that of hearing the doctrine of Master Pangloss, the greatest philosopher of the whole province, and consequently of the whole world.

One day when Miss Cunegund went to take a walk in a little neighboring wood which was called a park, she saw, through the bushes, the sage Doctor Pangloss giving a lecture in experimental philosophy to her mother’s chambermaid, a little brown wench, very pretty, and very tractable. As Miss Cunegund had a great disposition for the sciences, she observed with the utmost attention the experiments, which were repeated before her eyes; she perfectly well understood the force of the doctor’s reasoning upon causes and effects. She retired greatly flurried, quite pensive and filled with the desire of knowledge, imagining that she might be a sufficing reason for young Candide, and he for her.

On her way back she happened to meet the young man; she blushed, he blushed also; she wished him a good morning in a flattering tone, he returned the salute without knowing what he said. The next day, as they were rising from dinner, Cunegund and Candide slipped behind the screen. The miss dropped her handkerchief, the young man picked it up. She innocently took hold of his hand, and he as innocently kissed hers with a warmth, a sensibility, a grace — all very particular; their lips met; their eyes sparkled; their knees trembled; their hands strayed. The baron chanced to come by; he beheld the cause and effect, and, without hesitation, saluted Candide with some notable kicks on the breech, and drove him out of doors. The lovely Miss Cunegund fainted away, and, as soon as she came to herself, the baroness boxed her ears. Thus a general consternation was spread over this most magnificent and most agreeable of all possible castles.

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Sunday, November 10, 2013

BW46: Literary Birthdays




Time to celebrate a few more author birthdays and load up your wishlists for 2014!!!

 November 10 

Winston Churchill (Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953 - political/historical nonfiction)
Neil Gaiman (science fiction/fantasy novels, comics and films)
Jacob Cats (Dutch poet)
Oliver Goldsmith (Irish novelist)

 November 11 

Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russian Literature)
Kurt Vonnegut (science fiction)
Carlos Fuentes (Mexican novelist)
Mircea Dinescu (Romanian poet)

 November 12

Roland Barthes (French literary critic)
Wally Shawn (American Playwright)

November 13 

Robert Louis Stevenson (Scottish novelist)

 November 14

 Astrid Lingren (Swedish children's writer)
Norman MacCaig (Scottish Poet)

November 15

Tim Pears (British novelist) 
Gerhart Hauptmann (Nobel Prize in literature in 1912 - German novelist)

 November 16

 Jose Saramago (Nobel Prize in literature in 1998 - Portuguese novelist)
Chinua Achebe (Nigerian novelist)



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Sunday, November 3, 2013

BW45: National Novel Writing Month and Nonfiction November



Welcome to November and colder days and early nights, curling up in a comfy chair, with a good book or two or three!  November is also the month of writing craziness, National Novel Writing Month in which participants try to write 50,000 words in 30 days.  I discovered NaNoWriMo back in 2007 and have been doing it ever since.  My son joined in last year and will be doing so again this year writing a fan fiction story combining several characters from different video games and movies. 

I'm being a rebel this year and totally reworking a story I started three years ago.  A minor character turned into a major character and it became her story. I had multiple points of view and plot holes the size of Wyoming.   So, I decided to rewrite the whole thing.  I'm combining or eliminating other characters altogether.   I've been in a writing slump for quite a while, so hoping the challenge will get me back in the habit of writing everyday.  

I'm also declaring November to be Nonfiction November.  I don't read a lot of nonfiction and have all these books sitting on the shelf feeling neglected.  Plus I created the C.S. Lewis and Inspiration Mini challenges at the beginning of the year and failing miserably at those. Decided now would be the perfect time to plunge into those books.  I'm going to keep it simple and not bite off more than I can chew, like I usually do. I'm committing to one a week.  Waiting in the wings are Lewis's Mere Christianity, St. Theresa's A Life of Prayer and  George Orwell's Why I Write.  For my husband, since he's already read the book and driving me crazy about reading it -  Yes, Your Teen is Crazy: Loving your kid without losing your mind by Michael J. Bradley.

What reads are on your nightstand for November? 

Daylight Saving Time ends tonight so don't forget to set your clocks back an hour if you are in the U.S. or a country that observe DST. 

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Sunday, October 27, 2013

BW44: Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The 15th book in Susan Wise Bauer's list of great fiction in Well Educated Mind is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.   It was released in England in 1884 and in the United States in 1885.  It is written from the viewpoint of Huckleberry Finn and he uses some very colorful language.  The book has been criticized because of perceived use of racial stereotypes and the use of racial slurs.  Readers have to look at the period of time in which the book was written and take into account the culture of that time frame.  I read Huckleberry Finn for a literature class in college and  it lead to some great discussions about culture and race, slavery and freedom, friendship and life.





CHAPTER I.
YOU don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly -- Tom's Aunt Polly, she is -- and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before.

 Now the way that the book winds up is this: Tom and me found the money that the robbers hid in the cave, and it made us rich. We got six thousand dollars apiece -- all gold. It was an awful sight of money when it was piled up. Well, Judge Thatcher he took it and put it out at interest, and it fetched us a dollar a day apiece all the year round -- more than a body could tell what to do with. The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn't stand it no longer I lit out. I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied. But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So I went back.
The widow she cried over me, and called me a poor lost lamb, and she called me a lot of other names, too, but she never meant no harm by it. She put me in them new clothes again, and I couldn't do nothing but sweat and sweat, and feel all cramped up. Well, then, the old thing commenced again. The widow rung a bell for supper, and you had to come to time. When you got to the table you couldn't go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn't really anything the matter with  them, -- that is, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and the things go better.

 After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers, and I was in a sweat to find out all about him; but by and by she let it out that Moses had been dead a considerable long time; so then I didn't care no more about him, because I don't take no stock in dead people.

 Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn't. She said it was a mean practice and wasn't clean, and I must try to not do it any more. That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don't know nothing about it. Here she was a-bothering about Moses, which was no kin to her, and no use to any-body, being gone, you see, yet finding a power of fault with me for doing a thing that had some good in it. And she took snuff, too; of course that was all right, because she done it herself.

 Her sister, Miss Watson, a tolerable slim old maid, with goggles on, had just come to live with her, and took a set at me now with a spelling-book. She worked me middling hard for about an hour, and then the widow made her ease up. I couldn't stood it much longer. Then for an hour it was deadly dull, and I was fidgety. Miss Watson would say, "Don't put your feet up there, Huckleberry;" and "Don't scrunch up like that, Huckleberry -- set up straight;" and pretty soon she would say, "Don't gap and stretch ike that, Huckleberry -- why don't you try to be-have?" Then she told me all about the bad place, and I said I wished I was there. She got mad then, but I didn't mean no harm. All I wanted was to go somewheres; all I wanted was a change, I warn't particular. She said it was wicked to say what I said; said she wouldn't say it for the whole world; she was going to live so as to go to the good place. Well, I couldn't see no advantage in going where she was going, so I made up my mind I wouldn't try for it. But I never said so, because it would only make trouble, and wouldn't do no good.

 Now she had got a start, and she went on and told me all about the good place. She said all a body would have to do there was to go around all day long with a harp and sing, forever and ever. So I didn't think much of it. But I never said so. I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together.

 Miss Watson she kept pecking at me, and it got tiresome and lonesome. By and by they fetched the n****rs in and had prayers, and then everybody was off to bed. I went up to my room with a piece of candle, and put it on the table. Then I set down in a chair by the window and tried to think of something cheerful, but it warn't no use. I felt so lonesome I most wished I was dead. The stars were shining, and the leaves rustled in the woods ever so mournful; and  I heard an owl, away off, who-whooing about some-body that was dead, and a whippowill and a dog crying about somebody that was going to die; and the wind was trying to whisper something to me, and I couldn't make out what it was, and so it made the cold shivers run over me.

 Then away out in the woods I heard that kind of a sound that a ghost makes when it wants to tell about something that's on its mind and can't make itself understood, and so can't rest easy in its grave, and has to go about that way every night grieving. I got so down-hearted and scared I did wish I had some company. Pretty soon a spider went crawling up my shoulder, and I flipped it off and it lit shriveled up. I didn't need anybody to tell me that that was an awful bad sign and would fetch me some bad luck, so I was scared and most shook the clothes off of me. I got up and turned around in my tracks three times and crossed my breast every time; and then I tied up a little lock of my hair with a thread to keep witches away. But I hadn't no confidence. You do that when you've lost a horseshoe that you've found, instead of nailing it up over the door, but I hadn't ever heard anybody say it was any way to keep off bad luck when you'd killed a spider.

 I set down again, a-shaking all over, and got out my pipe for a smoke; for the house was all as still as death now, and so the widow wouldn't know. Well, after a long time I heard the clock away off in the town go boom -- boom -- boom -- twelve licks; and all still again -- stiller than ever. Pretty soon I heard a twig snap down in the dark amongst the trees -- something was a stirring. I set still and listened. Directly I could just barely hear a "me-yow! me- yow!" down there. That was good! Says I, "me-yow! me-yow!" as soft as I could, and then I put out the light and scrambled out of the window on to the shed. Then I slipped down to the ground and crawled in among the trees, and, sure enough, there was Tom Sawyer waiting for me.


Read online here or here.

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Sunday, October 20, 2013

BW43: Sorted Books





A while ago I stumbled across artist Nina Katchadourian and her sorted books project.   Since 1993, Nina has been taking from two to five books and creating poems.  In April of this year, they were compiled in Sorted Books, a whimsical collection of witty poems she's created in the past 20 years. She is an artist working in a variety of mediums including photography, video and sound.  She now has me looking at my bookshelves in a whole new way, putting together titles in a variety of ways.  I have way too much time on my hands.   I decided to give it a go, see what kind of incredibly short story I could come up with, using a few titles.  Of course, Melvin had to get in on the picture. 












 

Would you like to play along. See what you can come up with. Use 2 to 6 books and see what short story you can come up with. 

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