If anyone asks…

…I’m still around 🙂 Work has me spinning as fast as I can but I’ve been reading some good stuff. Soon I will be able to sit down, catch up on reading blogs, and write about these lovelies

A Persephone Teaser on Wednesday

Persephone Reading Week is well underway.
My copy of the Persephone Biannually also arrived yesterday. Just in time to spend a leisurely afternoon. I’m reading Tea With Mr. Rochester a collection of short stories written by Frances Towers. So far it is lovely. Here’s a passage from ‘Violet’

It seemed to Sophy afterwards that it wasn’t till Violet came to the house that the pattern of their lives emerged to her eyes. She was the focal point that related the different planes on which they lived to each other. She drew the design together, so that one became aware of values that had hitherto been submerged below the level of consciosness. With her smirks and the sudden gleam of light in her opaque eyes, her nods and becks, she illumined the hidden corners of their minds, she twitched aside curtains and revealed the fears and passions of their hearts, she smelt out their secrets, pounced on them and laid them out like dead mice, and she took a hand in their destinies.

Thanks to Claire and Verity for hosting!

April 4, 1968: Martic Luther King Jr’s Death and How It Changed The World by Michael Eric Dyson

Every year on the third Monday in January America celebrates the life of Dr. Martin Luther King. There are parades and service events and many receive the day off from work. In his latest work, Dyson celebrates the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. by taking a look at how his death has impacted society. After an exploration of King’s thoughts on his own mortality placed against the backdrop of struggle for racial equality Dyson explores what King’s death meant then and what it means for America now.

Dyson examines various aspects of society and asks 2 important questions: What have we done to move forward since King’s death and What do we still have to do? He also evaluates a trio of today’s prominent black leaders-Sharpton, Jackson, and Obama.

Though MLK is one of the most recognized and studied civil rights activists I learned a lot about his life, his internal struggles, and his message for a better America. True to Dyson form, the work is full of social commentary and lots of subjective conjectures, but that’s why we like Dyson. He’s a great orator and he makes me think.

Waiting for Allende

I first fell in love with Isabel Allende’s writing in high school. We were assigned The House of the Spirits and I devoured it. I still have my copy and lovingly brush my fingers across it when I pass its shelf. I have since read many of her other books and have never been dissapointed. So When I saw La Isla Bajo el Mar on the shelf I almost (on multiple occasions) snatched it up and headed to the counter. One problem is it’s in Spanish. Allende writes in Spanish and her works are translated. The conversation in my head would go something like…oh you can read this, it might take a long while and a dictionary but you’ll be able to get through. My spanish is good but good enough to read a novel I don’t know. I would read the first few pages (slowly) and it was wonderful. But I knew I wanted to read faster (in english) and after what seemed like a long wait The Island Beneath the Sea
is available in English (!!!) I’m on the list at the library but I’m
not confident I’ll be able to wait.

NPR is reading it this week