tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12872672976862446802024-02-18T21:56:03.686-08:00Olive ReadsOlivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-79664265298089320912016-04-20T15:14:00.003-07:002016-04-20T15:14:49.104-07:00Olive Has Moved!Hello Devoted Readers!<br />
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Its been awhile since you've heard from me. That's because I've been busy dusting, painting, and buying new furniture for my new home! No, I don't mean I've finally bought my beloved cottage by the sea. What I have done is create a fresh virtual home! You can now find me sailing on <i><a href="http://anolivesea.com/">An Olive Sea</a> </i>(www.anolivesea.com).<br />
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All my old posts are archived there, and new ones are already up! I've also integrated my other blog, <i>Olive Writes</i>, onto this site.<br />
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Before I take down this blog, would you be so kind as to <a href="http://anolivesea.com/subscribe/" target="_blank">subscribe </a>to my new site? No spam, I promise! Only good reads, sweet outfits, and cups of tea.<br />
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I look forward to giving you the grand tour of my new house! Should we start in the library, or the closet?<br />
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<i>Olive</i>Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-82965204265909133022015-03-20T13:47:00.000-07:002015-03-20T13:47:04.805-07:00Eat, Drink, Read<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/408983209884735507/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXArc-kn3656Hk8NZv23DqoF01DrhaeD8cdtFCs26l0im4nbAFNxZlrplPFTSJ5ZcQ6gnfnNIAYcc9YKdcSsCc9jF60QdTwoccIq_-EUTuwoBEgKTXNlTDv3H4qgQGvJOukoEz0DhfplA/s1600/d372f0291e6f9efba660efdf34f11b9b.jpg" height="640" width="519" /></a></div>
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Is reading a ritual for you? In other words, is it more than picking up a book and starting to read?<br />
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Reading is a ritual and a luxury for me. As such, when I do open a book it is more than plonking myself down in a chair. I need to create the right ambience, the right setting.<br />
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I also need a little something to eat and drink. What I'm reading often dictates what I choose to enjoy with it. A mystery usually needs tea (black) and a cookie or a slice of cake. Poetry needs a small glass of sherry, plays a strong coffee.<br />
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Some people like to attend wine and food pairings, but I've just had a brilliant business idea: book, food, and drink pairings! While I get starting on my business plan, you tell me what you like to eat and drink while you read.<br />
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<br />Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-19156662904763855702014-10-01T10:38:00.000-07:002014-10-01T15:35:44.101-07:00October Giveaway!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgC8mAMbk6V9U48r7AbCAnz3TRY3hhQ4vyuXKZbqvm5AOdHTpqSaqxF1-IB7MGFmcnlUIQt04YvYzxuv8l1AXmsxs50R6ApE9fHXSd_9qtXj_btey1LkkQwdjSt7qVw5l8UfelKK6DJbs/s1600/cover24722-medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgC8mAMbk6V9U48r7AbCAnz3TRY3hhQ4vyuXKZbqvm5AOdHTpqSaqxF1-IB7MGFmcnlUIQt04YvYzxuv8l1AXmsxs50R6ApE9fHXSd_9qtXj_btey1LkkQwdjSt7qVw5l8UfelKK6DJbs/s1600/cover24722-medium.png" height="640" width="414" /></a></div>
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Pinch, punch, first of the month! A happy October to all. This is the true autumn month for me: orange is everywhere, pumpkin sneaks its way into every kind of food, and, best of all, the leaves are ripe for crunching.<br />
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I ushered in the season with a new blue duffel coat and some preppy tan loafers (Oops! How did you end up in my shopping cart, silly shoes.) To even out this selfish splurge, I thought I would usher in <i>your</i> October with a very special giveaway!<br />
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And what is Olive giving away? Only a lovely copy of her favourite Barbara Pym novel, <i>A Glass of Blessings.</i><br />
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The contest is open worldwide and will run until October 8th. You have a few ways to enter -- just use the form below. May the best reader win!<br />
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<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b46ec3131/" id="rc-b46ec3131" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//widget.rafflecopter.com/load.js"></script>Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-7216367880260844602014-09-26T13:40:00.000-07:002014-09-26T13:40:03.851-07:00Friday Forge-on: Wallace Stevens<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>What the heck is a "Friday Forge-on," you ask? Just a little treat I dreamed up to lead my readers gracefully into the weekend. You can read about it <a href="http://olivesbooks.blogspot.ca/2014/09/a-friday-forge-on-treat.html" target="_blank">here.</a></i></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/idea-order-key-west" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/idea-order-key-west" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnXZrqZUHuasMYSBfFlLu3lk6tZYE0u3ZVHNud7GY9Y-PCwNV0gToFSGCiWilMdtXPmwTdaDohtlIQpVgCh5lVOohVxeMyOGl7eyE8qRFkUV469_wnO9_ukv4XmHiVhVwCXTEOxZkN4H4/s1600/WallaceStevens_NewBioImage.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Without meaning to sound contrary, I don't like being asked what my "favourites" are: colours, movies, flowers, even books. I just can't decide on one!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There is one exception, however: for the past year I've prized one poet about all others. By the title of this post, you've probably guessed that it's Wallace Stevens. I fell into him a year ago, and I'm almost afraid of that day when he loses his position as <i>the</i> poet for me. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I'll offer more biographic detail of him for you one day, but for now you can savour one of my favourites (and one of Stevens' best known) poems.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Idea of Order at Key West</span></span></div>
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<pre><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">She sang beyond the genius of the sea.
The water never formed to mind or voice,
Like a body wholly body, fluttering
Its empty sleeves; and yet its mimic motion
Made constant cry, caused constantly a cry,
That was not ours although we understood,
Inhuman, of the veritable ocean.
The sea was not a mask. No more was she.
The song and water were not medleyed sound
Even if what she sang was what she heard.
Since what she sang was uttered word by word.
It may be that in all her phrases stirred
The grinding water and the gasping wind;
But it was she and not the sea we heard.
For she was the maker of the song she sang.
The ever-hooded, tragic-gestured sea
Was merely a place by which she walked to sing.
Whose spirit is this? we said, because we knew
It was the spirit that we sought and knew
That we should ask this often as she sang.
If it was only the dark voice of the sea
That rose, or even colored by many waves;
If it was only the outer voice of sky
And cloud, of the sunken coral water-walled,
However clear, it would have been deep air,
The heaving speech of air, a summer sound
Repeated in a summer without end
And sound alone. But it was more than that,
More even than her voice, and ours, among
The meaningless plungings of water and the wind,
Theatrical distances, bronze shadows heaped
On high horizons, mountainous atmospheres
Of sky and sea. </span></span></pre>
<pre><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> It was her voice that made
The sky acutest at its vanishing.
She measured to the hour its solitude.
She was the single artificer of the world
In which she sang. And when she sang, the sea,
Whatever self it had, became the self
That was her song, for she was the maker. Then we,
As we beheld her striding there alone,
Knew that there never was a world for her
Except the one she sang and, singing, made.
Ramon Fernandez, tell me, if you know,
Why, when the singing ended and we turned
Toward the town, tell why the glassy lights,
The lights in the fishing boats at anchor there,
As night descended, tilting in the air,
Mastered the night and portioned out the sea,
Fixing emblazoned zones and fiery poles,
Arranging, deepening, enchanting night.
Oh! Blessed rage for order, pale Ramon,
The maker’s rage to order words of the sea,
Words of the fragrant portals, dimly-starred,
And of ourselves and of our origins,
In ghostlier demarcations, keener sounds.</span></span></pre>
<pre><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></pre>
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<pre><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Taken from <a href="http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/idea-order-key-west" target="_blank">The Poetry Foundation </a></span></span></pre>
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Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-7031489807054022802014-09-24T12:42:00.000-07:002014-09-24T12:42:24.686-07:00Author Spotlight: Barbara Pym<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.barbara-pym.org/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.barbara-pym.org/" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEvfog_gZz35gJzQUgvOW9jtqzmwIg5EG_Pag8sgxplBEiAcGjURzpFJKyXPzn7Idme46n9e9dS3t6svlbZSrHHSx_f9g5FSJzLnmU8NMG3RbUD0mB3MY1LX_I51c-zbTGX5yOykdoqvQ/s1600/Gerson_cropped_op_298x311.jpg" /></a></div>
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Let's say it's a drizzly, early fall afternoon in London, 1948. In a flat in Pimlico, a woman sits quietly revising a novel.<br />
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We ring the bell and, although uninvited, the kettle is put on, bread and butter are brought out, and we sit down to chat with author Barbara Pym. <br />
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Should I stop this little fantasy here? Maybe you haven't heard of Pym? I hadn't until Alexandra McCall Smith (Mr. <i>No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency</i>) championed her 1952 novel, <i>Excellent Women</i>, in a 2008 article in <i>The Guardian</i>.<br />
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What luck I did find her! Pym is an author whose oeuvre I dread finishing, only to know that I will read her again and again.<br />
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Great you say. But what what does this Pym write about? First of all, if you're into the school of "write what you know," Pym's your woman. What she knew, broadly, was this: church life, academic life (she read English Literature at St. Hilda's College, Oxford), Italy and the Wrens (she was posted to Naples in 1944), and anthropology (from her work at the International African Institute in London).<br />
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From this collection of experiences, Pym sets down a group of characters (the more you read, the more familiar they become) and lets their lives cyclically unwind across the seasons of a year.<br />
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Much has been made of Pym's focus on the everything, the small detail (it's hard to find her named without coming across Jane Austen at the same time). This is true. The minutia of life is gently and methodically enacted in her works but, despite the cups of tea and cake, the clergymen, and the -- dare I say it -- feminine details, Pym is not saccharine. She offers dry humor and a touch of modern existentialism, but always with a deft hand. There is never too much of anything in Pym's world. Moderation rules. I think this is what is attractive to me, at least, in her work. Just as she lays her plots against the natural balance of the year's unfolding, her characters' navigate a post-WWII world that, through glimpses, we can see is precarious, but which we also discover was liveable and well-lived.<br />
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For more Barbara Pym:<br />
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<a href="http://www.barbara-pym.org/Homepage.html" target="_blank">The Barbara Pym Society</a> (must of the above biographic details are taken from their excellent site).<br />
Alexander McCall Smith's <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/apr/05/featuresreviews.guardianreview30" target="_blank">article</a><br />
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And finally, two of my favourites:<br />
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<a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Glass-Blessings-Barbara-Pym/9781480408043" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.bookdepository.com/Glass-Blessings-Barbara-Pym/9781480408043" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUn_qXUJgjWKrWVzFMXVLpZhlGjCQXzj-84zAymFFWVD6Pxbkq1jDSSxTCVBUUaA5LRHp87FkgoTw1UYn1IgbS-owpDGRgKdNJY9PZnWsB3o7vdCopcjKXbBRRoItn2zn-c7lP_Hz1-tA/s1600/9781480408043.jpg" height="320" width="296" /></a><a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Excellent-Women-Barbara-Pym/9780143104872" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.bookdepository.com/Excellent-Women-Barbara-Pym/9780143104872" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP7DcV3-Kk1jeMEDBq9tcl5a83BN8aAJEJ_VNU3exgcfjLndi16vx_2eoD3k_T-hbqVpyTo1KzB_0ul0IgL6iUTvsmjP-vr_8Nh_qBVcULQDS0n5jtV2lwBT2lz_Gudy519gMksxSHMQw/s1600/9780143104872.jpg" height="320" width="297" /></a></div>
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<br />Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-15055936858194010592014-09-22T20:07:00.000-07:002014-09-23T11:27:35.878-07:00Mystery Monday: The Haunted Bookshop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNawodxFK4mZjJOIHZcwjDp4UEPYPNLqpZO0aysMvnTlKTVW_DBSDbsqS7KP8tsmT2ZzJwPHecLGyb_yBVP0U3rZYvXctoMytJ8UbHbHPyrwUD8U_XbAgDHEBe_I6NhEljXSOWiN89mIs/s1600/the-haunted-bookshop-christopher-morley-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNawodxFK4mZjJOIHZcwjDp4UEPYPNLqpZO0aysMvnTlKTVW_DBSDbsqS7KP8tsmT2ZzJwPHecLGyb_yBVP0U3rZYvXctoMytJ8UbHbHPyrwUD8U_XbAgDHEBe_I6NhEljXSOWiN89mIs/s1600/the-haunted-bookshop-christopher-morley-001.jpg" height="640" width="416" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<pre wrap=""><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> THIS SHOP IS HAUNTED by the ghosts
Of all great literature, in hosts;
We sell no fakes or trashes.
Lovers of books are welcome here,
No clerks will babble in your ear,
Please smoke--but don't drop ashes!
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Browse as long as you like.
Prices of all books plainly marked.
If you want to ask questions, you'll find the proprietor
where the tobacco smoke is thickest.
We pay cash for books.
We have what you want, though you may not know you want it.
Malnutrition of the reading faculty is a serious thing.
Let us prescribe for you.
By R. & H. MIFFLIN,
Proprs.
(From <i>The Haunted Bookshop)</i> </span></span></pre>
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<pre wrap=""><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></pre>
<pre wrap=""><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Tomorrow is the autumnal equinox, which maybe explains why I've started to "draw in," if only mentally. I love a bit of cozy: warm fires, woven blankets, and <i>books</i>. Books that ooze indoor comforts and give me a little excuse to put the kettle on just a few more times a day.
One of the best for doing this is my old friend <i>The Haunted Bookshop. </i>Written in 1919 (handy because the book is now in the <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/172" target="_blank">public domain</a>) by Christopher Morley, it features a suspenseful little mystery that's really just a vehicle to let our hero, bookstore owner Roger Mifflin, extol the power and wonder of books. There are plenty of warm fires to be had in this Brooklyn shop, and Mr. Mifflin would be happy for you to join him in front of one. I come every year and he's always happy to see me.</span></span></pre>
Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-87053773279471407582014-09-17T00:00:00.000-07:002014-09-17T00:00:13.988-07:00Review: Catch-22 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Catch-22-Joseph-Heller/9781451621174" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.bookdepository.com/Catch-22-Joseph-Heller/9781451621174" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitPZlt_rp42DUughj4SFlElWEnwCrS5elOrIf6C-DEE2KjlcvG_XTujSQcpAFVyKPSmoKca3cq9BVOkNpq69-R9zVQinOYNIc0wcw6-e4HN-Pg9-qWoVwefHzcB32u27QDQWBHdmSr2Hs/s1600/9781451621174.jpg" height="640" width="594" /></a></div>
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I find it difficult to review a book that, in the period since its 1961 publication, has become a modern classic. Whatever I want to say comes out like an essay and, hallelujah, having graduated in May, I'm on a break from those. <br />
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Thus (oh no: essay speak) I'm going to offer not <i>another</i> critical analysis of this worthy piece of writing, but my emotional, almost immediate impression of it.<br />
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But first, what is Joseph Heller's most famous work about?<br />
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That is not so easy a question as a basic synopsis would suggest. Heller uses a very particular non-chronological narration to his plot: nothing is in order, events overlap, jumping backwards and forewords through time and place, and merge in the most outlandish ways. (Do you remember the fictional "War Room" in Stanley Kubrick's <i>Dr. Strangelove</i>? I somehow picture Heller needing a massive screen like that on which to project his convoluted, yet masterfully controlled plot.)<br />
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Let's say this:<br />
Time: World War II<br />
Place: The island of Pianosa in the Mediterranean<br />
Characters: U.S. Air Force personnel<br />
Main Character: loosely, Captain John Yossarian (the novel circles around a number of other characters).<br />
General theme: How do the Air Force men fulfill their increasing number of missions while attempting to retain their sanity?<br />
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I should also say that it is a satire. And, yes, it's going to remind you of M*A*S*H. You will laugh, probably heartily.<br />
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You will do far more than that, however: Catch-22 is a visceral ride (I am going to use flight analogies here, be warned). By the end -- which took me three months to reach -- you will be hung out, wrenched dry, and probably heaving (from laughter and nausea). I was bored -- the generals and colonels made me want to run in circles and chase my own tail -- and awed. I was haunted, not just after the fact, but during the reading: what happened to Snowden and Yossarian, after all? And the ending. I was prepared for a tremendous decline, a last falling drop. But Heller has a kind of last burst to propel us out with. Why not end with frenetic elation and possibility? <i>Catch-22</i> has something of the retro-fantastic about it. You can't believe it, but you're not reading a fantasy either. That's one of it's powers, of course -- Heller's hurtling insistence that you <i>must </i>believe. <br />
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One last note: What of the phrase "catch-22?" Heller did invent it, although his original choice was "catch-18." Read the novel to create for yourself a full-bodied definition.<br />
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<br />Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-15151187909046201872014-09-15T16:10:00.000-07:002014-09-15T16:10:26.102-07:00Mystery Monday: I Spy Edition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM3BCpOZtdQbAuuGLwG4B102tgFlxiriznA3ztfZrEqbX4plXue6y_PI_x0I6cjwcIWBkYWjikGBTFesnKchb_h8CuNdbVhwDgw6_QV5R_b0x0BukppfmpwH8zNMYHWf2bQQCl02AoYAQ/s1600/2+Cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM3BCpOZtdQbAuuGLwG4B102tgFlxiriznA3ztfZrEqbX4plXue6y_PI_x0I6cjwcIWBkYWjikGBTFesnKchb_h8CuNdbVhwDgw6_QV5R_b0x0BukppfmpwH8zNMYHWf2bQQCl02AoYAQ/s1600/2+Cropped.jpg" height="640" width="492" /></a></div>
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I never really liked playing "I Spy" when I was younger, but I did love the<i> I Spy Books</i> by Jean Marzollo and Walter Wick. Do you remember them, those meticulously planned photographs and rhyming riddles? <br />
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For this week's <i>Mystery Monday</i>, we are playing a more grownup version of those much-loved childhood favorites. The library above is from the Manhattan apartment I cited in a previous blog post. Your challenge? Find the copy of Hemingway's <i>The Sun Also Rises</i> the owner of this library has wisely chosen to include on their shelves.<br />
<br />Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-305799750124354812014-09-12T13:29:00.000-07:002014-09-15T16:11:19.290-07:00A Friday Forge-On Treat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/498140408757928515/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/498140408757928515/" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsBtDC2koJ1U6hwfZJJw1k8mXGs2Wp7CU3JrfzF0UNhpYlrcng4Ch8YGKf821mXbXyTyLOkuHmoIcAEF8oK_o3648SG-SLUSN0iPDu76OraIBkxSiJomkLYfEw9K1w0GS0U25pbbiheiw/s1600/7bc0672bedaa405acdb633a8853f0bee.jpg" height="640" width="424" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"When that I was and a little tiny [girl]" to paraphrase <i>Twelfth Night</i>, my mom used to reward my sister and me for forging through another week of school (we were not enthusiastic scholars). This happy treat was named a "friday forge-on." It was generally something food related. My favourite was tea with scones, the latter liberally heaped with clotted cream and jam. (All served by a very jolly Scottish women who one night suddenly closed her shop, leaving me bereft of my very best Friday joy. I suppose there is not much profit to be made in tea and scones these days.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Still, the phrase "Friday forge-on" lives on. Yes, maybe it's more of a G&T and a glass of sherry these days, but it's the <i>idea</i>, darlings: something to reward yourself with for slogging through what can sometimes be the murk of life.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While I sip my sherry, I'm here to offer you a little literary Friday forge-on. If you like it, perhaps we can make it a weekly treat?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Today's comes courtesy of the poet Amy Lowell. I've been reading her collection, "A Dome of Many-Colored Glass," and this one is from that 1912 volume.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Behind a Wall </span></div>
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<pre><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;"> I own a solace shut within my heart,
A garden full of many a quaint delight
And warm with drowsy, poppied sunshine; bright,
Flaming with lilies out of whose cups dart
Shining things
With powdered wings.
Here terrace sinks to terrace, arbors close
The ends of dreaming paths; a wanton wind
Jostles the half-ripe pears, and then, unkind,
Tumbles a-slumber in a pillar rose,
With content
Grown indolent.
By night my garden is o'erhung with gems
Fixed in an onyx setting. Fireflies
Flicker their lanterns in my dazzled eyes.
In serried rows I guess the straight, stiff stems
Of hollyhocks
Against the rocks.
So far and still it is that, listening,
I hear the flowers talking in the dawn;
And where a sunken basin cuts the lawn,
Cinctured with iris, pale and glistening,
The sudden swish
Of a waking fish
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Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-49261858665303917182014-08-20T13:21:00.000-07:002014-08-20T13:32:53.988-07:00Decline in the Dining Room<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiicmA76eUQ2E-ars39uhyihx98NuubD-JmrbXsEZYMmIU-Ve01KY2EmDUe4T5CN_0iiuKv2cvciT715Ekdd8iCy5X2VoLj_G0K7j1UMEdd6s1qfH4rj5I7gERX7x67h2PLRZjAHA1iIN4/s1600/1+Cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiicmA76eUQ2E-ars39uhyihx98NuubD-JmrbXsEZYMmIU-Ve01KY2EmDUe4T5CN_0iiuKv2cvciT715Ekdd8iCy5X2VoLj_G0K7j1UMEdd6s1qfH4rj5I7gERX7x67h2PLRZjAHA1iIN4/s1600/1+Cropped.jpg" height="640" width="498" /> </a></div>
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<i>Olive Reads</i> is not turning into <i>Olive Interiors</i>, but I couldn't help sharing this photo from a spread in the May 2014 issue of <i>Elle Decor. </i></div>
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You may need to lean in or get out a magnifying glass, but that's a passage from Gibbon's <i>The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire</i> in mural form on the dining room wall! There's a way to keep dinner conversation going: have each guest read a paragraph.</div>
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Actually, text passages appear all across this Manhattan apartment (appropriately designed by Jim Luigs, who is also a playwright, lyricist, and director). </div>
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That leads me to today's query to my readers: if you were going to be so bold as Luigs and his client and festoon your walls in literary passages -- I'm not talking about the "Live, Love, Laugh" variety -- what would you choose?</div>
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It's King Lear for me.</div>
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No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison:<br />
We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:<br />
When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,<br />
And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live,<br />
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh<br />
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues<br />
Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,<br />
Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out;<br />
And take upon's the mystery of things,<br />
As if we were God's spies: and we'll wear out,<br />
In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones,<br />
That ebb and flow by the moon.</div>
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See more of Jim Luigs <a href="http://www.jimluigsdesigns.com/" target="_blank">here </a></div>
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Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-80985577654047507982014-08-18T18:23:00.000-07:002014-08-18T18:23:33.761-07:00Tumblr TuesdayYesterday was <i>Mystery Monday</i>, where I was a titchy bit cranky and proclaimed two mysteries that I've never embraced. Today is Tumblr Tuesday, where I am a wee less cranky, if only to tempt you over to what is really a happy corner of the Olive universe: her <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/blog/olivewritesblog" target="_blank">Tumblr</a> page.<br />
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Pretty pictures and short little ramblings -- that about sums it up. Here's a sample from Sunday:<br />
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<i>I’ve
never combined books and tea cups — possibly my two favourite things —
on one bookcase. And yet, why not? I just need a gas ring next to the
fire to make a cup without trotting down to the kitchen (as they seem to
do in the Barbara Pym’s I’ve been reading lately).</i><br />
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Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-16418254514800774392014-08-17T18:34:00.000-07:002014-08-17T18:35:05.304-07:00It's a Mystery<div style="text-align: center;">
And you thought I'd forgotten about <i>Mystery Mondays</i>. Tut tut. Despite an alarming upturn in the humidity, I am here. Nonetheless, perhaps the weather is making me a little cranky: I am here, but I'm not telling you what mystery to request from the library. No, instead I admit to two (well one book and one series) that I've never been able to lose myself in. </div>
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<a href="https://www.tumblr.com/search/mystery+novels" target="_blank"><img alt="https://www.tumblr.com/search/mystery+novels" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzTZIg4u8xSFzgNkUvUHYcXZ0iuIIRB3PNvHIbKOu37IOJDFWMZKqi5b2X26CNZWqdmzXgaN24SszGy_E1qh6DRy50ffN70ZGvYPrfZ9CSaRHyUmollg7Z51tEE5MYS_d0tmGgpsIspg9o/s1600/tumblr_mz8tefNt6a1rqv5kro1_500.jpg" height="640" width="428" /></a></div>
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A classic mystery novel that any aficionado should have polished off before you can say Hercule Poirot. Unfortunately, I've barely made it through 10%. Should I have persevered or was I right to decline <i>The Moonstone</i>?</div>
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<a href="http://magicoficecream.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/father-brown-the-essential-tales-modern-library-21219266.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="http://magicoficecream.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/father-brown-the-essential-tales-modern-library-21219266.jpg" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15IiiBCkdB71HRNeO__k7kYAOwqgVppBpdkq23ZVM-TeNMb08MpoR4z8kwNUDNf-G0dbZFdHMhazX2Ma6Q0gjbJ0BOORq8P7bHh-aukfLs3w0WDZMsTZ7lQdaVsnQzgSsBxyesgI6pEnE/s1600/father-brown-the-essential-tales-modern-library-21219266.jpg" height="640" width="414" /></a> </div>
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Dear Father Brown: why am I bored by you? Why does your priestly charm fail to win me over? Can a kind reader tell me which of your 50-odd short stories I should read if I'm to give you another chance? </div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05313959443083684007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-23126507900919538312014-08-04T10:52:00.001-07:002014-09-10T14:34:35.142-07:00Mystery MondayHello Fellow Wanderers in the Written Word! (That's perhaps a bit too wordy, though it is meant endearingly.)<br />
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It's Monday but, in this part of the world at least, a provincial holiday. It's also pretty darn hot. Olive has never been known for coping well with the heat, and now that I'm a <i>bit</i> old for my mother to bounce me up and down under a cool tree, the only thing for it is to head into a book and forget the perspiration (to put it delicately).<br />
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What better time to initiate a new tradition then: Mystery Monday! I'd say it's pretty self-explanatory: Monday rolls around, I suggest a new mystery.<br />
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Except the heat is making me rebellious, so for this first time around I am offering the mysteries I hope to read before the summer is out. If you've read them, tell me: are they worth the hot drive to the library?<br />
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Pour the iced tea (I take mine unsweetened, thanks). It's not getting any cooler.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Time-Josephine-Tey/dp/0684803860/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407087395&sr=1-1&keywords=the+daughter+of+time" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Time-Josephine-Tey/dp/0684803860/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407087395&sr=1-1&keywords=the+daughter+of+time" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7d0xIgSvGMoT4cHX0QxX84w9eqt9RhBpVVnidgpczmMsMzWoucsOnetkQHXNXnrkA8TV_yuebGtWznmiu29folGx-cWnoKKk5W5OtOZ088h9b1iryJwM68ukFmHhI9xXbBIi06AL5SfM/s1600/daughter+of+time.jpg" title="" /></a></div>
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I've read nothing of Josephine Tey, but was put on to her by author Gretchen Rubin (whose own <i>Happier at Home </i>I'm currently reading).<br />
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Are there any Tey fans out there? Should I start with <i>The Daughter of Time</i>?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9VMzdmd8K4jv5agKT_uDXyJ5HwxZYCkFB4WKAMDGO-8jX2StSBQ6-KzKorig-3pixDNl1OsKoK1hvSX1fBDcYXe-mBye8chQQ5ukbcBblH5IYfC7OZzbE2eAb_NR5vT57sNFquh4SDB4/s1600/9780143569787.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9VMzdmd8K4jv5agKT_uDXyJ5HwxZYCkFB4WKAMDGO-8jX2StSBQ6-KzKorig-3pixDNl1OsKoK1hvSX1fBDcYXe-mBye8chQQ5ukbcBblH5IYfC7OZzbE2eAb_NR5vT57sNFquh4SDB4/s1600/9780143569787.jpg" height="640" width="392" /></a></div>
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Now to Nicolas Freeling's <i>Gun Before Butter </i>(yes, the title caught me first). I heard about this one through yet another author, this time Jason Goodwin (who himself writes an excellent mystery series set in 19th century Istanbul). Is Mr. Goodwin correct to give it five stars on Goodreads?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAw9gskP51ECWkIU_e1vztdzsTpcJOMGnUlIlTjGcfzW-dnmkboK1BH7ow-HfaqN9y3nquWkPlgplYoYLurQxVKAnLqf6JUmaPszn43VQq3AOMpLK5gDJJCLtH7opdoBJxCdhXHdpHEE/s1600/Penguin-1216-b+Allingham+Tiger+in+the+Smoke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAw9gskP51ECWkIU_e1vztdzsTpcJOMGnUlIlTjGcfzW-dnmkboK1BH7ow-HfaqN9y3nquWkPlgplYoYLurQxVKAnLqf6JUmaPszn43VQq3AOMpLK5gDJJCLtH7opdoBJxCdhXHdpHEE/s1600/Penguin-1216-b+Allingham+Tiger+in+the+Smoke.jpg" height="640" width="390" /> </a></div>
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Finally, what of Margery Allingham's <i>The Tiger in the Smoke</i>? This one was read of via J.K. Rowling in her interview with mystery author <span style="width: 464px;">Val McDermid at the </span>Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. She said <i>The Tiger in the Smoke </i>is "a phenomenal novel." Do you agree?</div>
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Well! I'm so excited to wait for your responses that I've not complained about the heat for a full twenty minutes! So go on, keep me cool and let me know your recommendations for Mystery Monday.</div>
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PS. I didn't set out to include only mysteries from Penguin's green Crime Classics series, but the colour cohension is so pleasant I'm thinking of starting a collection for my bookshelf. Wouldn't that look crisp and orderly.</div>
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Links: </div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684803860/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0G6YDR8T1RVP34MJSPM7&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846" target="_blank"><i>The Daughter of Time</i></a> by Josephine Tey</div>
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Gretchen Rubin's<a href="http://www.gretchenrubin.com/happiness_project/tag/josephine-tey/" target="_blank"> mention</a> of it.</div>
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<i><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Gun-Before-Butter-Nicolas-Freeling/dp/0394752309" target="_blank">Gun Before Butter</a> </i>by Nicolas Freeling</div>
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Jason Goodwin on <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/43056.Jason_Goodwin">Goodreads.</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Tiger-Smoke-Margery-Allingham/Olive_Reads" target="_blank">The Tiger in the Smoke</a> by Margery Allingham</div>
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J.K. Rowling's <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28381658">mention</a> of it. </div>
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<a href="http://www.booktopia.com.au/the-green-popular-penguin-crime-classics/series2572.html">Penguin Crime Classics</a> to start your collection (and mine)</div>
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<br />Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-35846959126411266622012-04-29T16:28:00.000-07:002014-08-03T09:55:18.575-07:00Goodreads<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://stefanoancea.tumblr.com/post/20163985115" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhF_L01Hpge7TrjdndD5WxBgS8en6Cym9JHELur3XQuAuIBXmYQRD2PdigCy7aTkMDKHHcwO4uScXiVQoFuNhzANKiHjBQyv8H9HUZN0DhyUPvZaN1hmLqjDqf0DmvU8eCdWXK1Xqw_4w/s1600/tumblr_m1oxszKGex1qc4q9io1_500.jpg" height="427" width="640" /></a></div>
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No, this is not a post on <i>good reads</i> (although watch for those in the future!). Instead, this is a warm invitation to join Olive on <a href="http://goodreads.com/">goodreads.com</a>! Haven't heard of it? Gosh, it's only one of Olive's favorite ways for keeping track of what she's read, what she wants to read, and what she thinks she <i>has </i>to read. Pop over and see the books Olive has rated 5 out of 5 or, oh dear, given only one star and see if you agree. I'm username "olivewrites." Add me as a friend, and let me see your good reads.<br />
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<br />Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-30978518861042380552012-04-22T14:30:00.000-07:002012-04-29T16:56:55.657-07:00Literary Heroes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://weheartit.com/entry/2674532" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3pHHMcc1veXYlxKZM-i_Y32gwwfc8RycTC_BgBzCX3vtlhDuZRCBdTLZJWjJ6o6b0_Q8wuAoFFECBB0WaufoWCzbv5JG4EKS9o2DyzinWTdWfFnW7EqwCg7jUi19T7v7keNti_P-1irk/s1600/tumblr_l4c4wrQhLP1qzf3i1o1_400_large.jpg" /></a></div>
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If you had seen Olive's Facebook page this week, you would have noticed that she was madly engaged in one pursuit: entering the Chapters Indigo <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ChaptersIndigo/app_157806757675676" target="_blank">"My Fictional Hero"</a> contest. Fifty "literary heroes" were nominated the first week of the contest -- characters who inspired readers for one reason or another -- with the characters slowly being whittled down week by week. Olive was sorry to see Bertie Wooster fall back, but she is still cheering on a fighting Anne Shirley. <br />
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Aside from her fevered wish to win the fifty books that Chapters Indigo is offering as a prize (where they will go she doesn't know), Olive was intrigued by this idea of a literary hero. Who would <i>you</i> vote for? Someone like Bilbo Baggins who forged on through Middle Earth despite his diminutive size? Maybe you admire the moral strength of Atticus Finch? Or perhaps the quiet resilience and loyalty of Jane Eyre? (Olive voted for all three, in fact.)<br />
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Let's have our own vote, shall we? Tell me who your literary hero is, and why!Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-76077817464443338092012-04-19T18:55:00.001-07:002012-04-29T16:56:30.195-07:00Welcome!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With much warmth, welcome to <i>Olive Reads</i>! As the title implies, this is a blog devoted to the glorious art of reading!<br />
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If you've found your way here from Olive's other blog, <a href="http://olivewrites.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank"><i>Olive Writes</i></a>, thank you for wandering over. (Don't worry, there will still be as much writing as reading.) If you are newcomer to the Olive universe, don't hesitate at the door; step over the threshold. The tea is always on, the scones are warm and, here especially, the conversation bubbles over with reading delight.<br />
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And this is indeed about conversation! Reading can be rather solitary (those blessedly so at times), but that doesn't mean we can't emerge from the pages from time to time for a chat over our old favourites, our new finds, and the simple wonder of a perfect sentence.<br />
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So read on, my fellow wanders on the written world! Olive cannot wait for you to join her.Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1287267297686244680.post-32684108688000078672012-03-26T15:57:00.002-07:002012-04-30T16:57:08.217-07:00Secondary Sources Requried<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Olive has always considered this a bad habit: she often prefers reading <i>about</i> a book to reading the book itself. <br />
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With the discovery of podcasts (rather late, I know), this has now morphed into a preference for <i>listening</i> to knowledgeable, articulate folk talk about books, even authors discussing their own works. There was first British Booker-winning author Penelope Lively on <i>Moon Tiger</i> via BBC's <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003jhsk" target="_blank"><i>World Book Club. </i></a>Absolutely absorbing and hosted with admirable restraint and poise by Harriet Gilbert, you needn't have read the book in order to enjoy this hour long-conversation. Olive is always impressed by the depth of the questions BBC World Service listeners send in, and by the thoughtful answers the authors provide, discussions which often delve into their craft, how they work as authors. Perhaps one day I shall have the courage to call in myself. Until then, why not join Olive, and pop an episode onto your iPod? The rhythm is just perfect for an hour-long walk.<br />
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Do you have any favorite podcasts, websites, book, et cetera, on books? Any irresistible reviews that leave you itching to read? <br />
<br />Olivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07803215688042048566noreply@blogger.com0