I still have July-September photos... but they will wait! Here is a shot from Montreal in October.
02 November, 2009
29 October, 2009
05 October, 2009
Old pianos hang out in Parramatta.
It's a fact.
Another fact is that I'm finally finished posting my photos from Australia. But no rest for the wicked--I have a bunch of Canada photos to catch up on, now.
19 September, 2009
07 September, 2009
Cockatoo Island
Twilight clouds reflected in the windows of a building on Cockatoo Island, in Sydney Harbour.
22 August, 2009
The Friendship
It's the Friendship, docked in Syndey harbour! I boarded the Friendship on my way to Cockatoo Island for an afternoon of photoing in early June. Am I the only one who thinks it's hilarious this is the name of an actual boat?
Please say no!
18 August, 2009
Succulents in the Royal Botanical Gardens
I really like sinister, dangerous-looking plants! In early June I went on a walk in the succulent garden at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney. Many macro photographs were taken, and I was pleased with the results!
01 August, 2009
Church ruins
At Port Arthur Historic Site, Tasmania. Old jails and old churches are both cool; so an old church at an old jail doubly so.
23 July, 2009
This way to Antarctica!
A shot from the south coast of Tasmania, where there is no more land to the south until you hit the Antarctic.
13 July, 2009
12 July, 2009
Two-Up at the Clovelly
On April 25th, my birthday and also Australia's ANZAC Day (a sibling of Rememberance Day, but different) I went to the Clovelly Hotel to watch and play two-up. Two-up is a betting game that's only legal on ANZAC Day, because it was played by the "diggers"--the Australian and Kiwi dudes in the trenches in WWI.
The "spinner," any volunteer member of the crowd, throws two coins up into the air using a little wooden paddle. The dude in the green hat, the judge (there's a word for him too, but I don't remember it at the moment) looks at the coins, and if they are both heads he'll touch his head--if they're both tails, he'll touch his tail. Meanwhile, before the spinner throws the coins, the whole crowd has been waving money around frantically, shouting out bets, and if they're for heads, tapping their heads with the money they're betting. Bets are made informally between any two individuals--the one betting heads holds the money, and either gives it all back or keeps it depending on who wins. People bet in all kinds of denominations, there were even a few hundred dollar bills being thrown around.
Personally, I stuck to five dollar bets. I won $25, and lost $20. Success!
03 July, 2009
I feel a book post coming on...
The end of the sixth month of the year has passed! Time for the quarterly reckoning of reading.
Since March 31 I have read:
Voila! 24 books (although two were picture books). Of these, six were written by people of colour; I am still way way short of my goal to make that half. (For the whole year, I am running at 12/37; still a massive improvement over last year's 6/60 but Not Good Enough!) Four were on my list for Project Filling in the Gaps.
As I write this I am still working on both Sexing the Cherry and Hard Boiled Wonderland. Both should be finished by the end of the week, so I am leaving them in the second-quarter list.
Some statistical analysis! This quarter I had a definite peak, reading seven novels in two weeks! But there was also a trough, when I read zero novels in two weeks! Remarkable in both cases.
My favourites were Sacred Country, Number9Dream, Motherless Brooklyn, The Good Mayor, and American Wife.
Since March 31 I have read:
- Susan Kurosawa - Coronation Talkies
- Rose Tremain - Sacred Country
- David Mitchell - Number9Dream
- Nada Awar Jarrar - Dreams of Water
- Stephen Dando-Collins - Pasteur's Gambit (nonfiction)
- Audrey Niffenegger - Three Incestuous Sisters (visual novel)
- Audrey Niffenegger - The Adventuress (visual novel)
- Annie Proulx - Brokeback Mountain
- Mudrooroo - Wild Cat Falling (PFitG)
- Jenny Newman - Life Class
- Elizabeth Knox - The Vintner's Luck (PFitG)
- Louise Erdrich - The Master Butchers Singing Club
- Yoshimoto Banana - Kitchen (PFitG)
- Eric Gerome Dickey - Chasing Destiny
- Lev Grossman - Codex
- Khaled Hosseini - The Kite Runner
- Sandra Newman - The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done
- Jonathan Lethem - Motherless Brooklyn
- Andrew Nicoll - The Good Mayor
- Curtis Sittenfeld - American Wife
- Samrat Upadhyay - The Guru of Love
- Jeanette Winterson - Sexing the Cherry
- Martha Cooley - The Archivist
- Haruki Murakami - Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (PFitG)
Voila! 24 books (although two were picture books). Of these, six were written by people of colour; I am still way way short of my goal to make that half. (For the whole year, I am running at 12/37; still a massive improvement over last year's 6/60 but Not Good Enough!) Four were on my list for Project Filling in the Gaps.
As I write this I am still working on both Sexing the Cherry and Hard Boiled Wonderland. Both should be finished by the end of the week, so I am leaving them in the second-quarter list.
Some statistical analysis! This quarter I had a definite peak, reading seven novels in two weeks! But there was also a trough, when I read zero novels in two weeks! Remarkable in both cases.
My favourites were Sacred Country, Number9Dream, Motherless Brooklyn, The Good Mayor, and American Wife.
24 June, 2009
Birds of Prey Show
Falconry is totally badass. While watching the (awesome) birds of prey show at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane this April, I seriously considered a change in career path.
The three people handling birds were all women, and with their hardcore leather gloves, flipping these huge predatory birds around (the one in this picture EATS KANGAROOS, MAN!) they were sooooo cool! I was in awe.
21 June, 2009
Kangaroos at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
The free-ranging kangaroos at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary were the highlight of my trip to Brisbane in April. I bought a $1 bag of kangaroo food and used it to bribe kangaroos into being photo subjects! The food was barely necessary, though--llike these ones, most of them were so relaxed around people that they didn't mind being approached by any fool with a camera, food or no food.
See flickr for many more photos. And if you're ever in Brisbane, I highly recommend Lone Pine!
15 June, 2009
Taking the "Travel" out of "Travel Blog"
I've been remiss again! You haven't heard from me in nearly a month--in fact, so much time has elapsed that you probably don't exist anymore. (Well, you do, but not as a reader of this ill-kept blog.)
But, as is often I think the case, it's the pleasant kind of busy life that really keeps one away from journaling efforts. I've had a good month, travelling to Tasmania and doing quite a few last minute tourist expeditions around Sydney. Expect photos of that, and also my not-yet-posted Brisbane pictures from April, in the next little while.
So there will still be some virtual travel going on, but officially I am now back in North America (specifically the hell known as LAX), soon to be back in Canada. I left Sydney at 13:10 on 14 June and arrived here at 13:20 the same day. Definitely the longest ten minutes of my life so far!
I'll arrive in Vancouver at 10pm this evening, and Victoria some time tomorrow; I'll be there for a week, travel back to Saskatchewan for a month, and then set up shop for the forseeable future in Victoria as of the end of July.
Now that I'm no longer travelling (or "on the prowl" as Revenue Canada would put it) I do intend to keep posting photos and the occasional rambling about reading here, so should you still be out there, dear reader, do come back some time.
But, as is often I think the case, it's the pleasant kind of busy life that really keeps one away from journaling efforts. I've had a good month, travelling to Tasmania and doing quite a few last minute tourist expeditions around Sydney. Expect photos of that, and also my not-yet-posted Brisbane pictures from April, in the next little while.
So there will still be some virtual travel going on, but officially I am now back in North America (specifically the hell known as LAX), soon to be back in Canada. I left Sydney at 13:10 on 14 June and arrived here at 13:20 the same day. Definitely the longest ten minutes of my life so far!
I'll arrive in Vancouver at 10pm this evening, and Victoria some time tomorrow; I'll be there for a week, travel back to Saskatchewan for a month, and then set up shop for the forseeable future in Victoria as of the end of July.
Now that I'm no longer travelling (or "on the prowl" as Revenue Canada would put it) I do intend to keep posting photos and the occasional rambling about reading here, so should you still be out there, dear reader, do come back some time.
24 May, 2009
On Sydney Harbour
Alas, I have not fulfilled my goal to date a cello-playing yacht owner while in Sydney.
However, I have taken some photos of boats.
11 May, 2009
More sunset goodness
On the road trip in February we stopped in a just-a-loo-and-a-flat-space style campground right next to the airport at Moruya Heads. The airport is, I think, about a third of the size of my house! (My house is not big.)
Air traffic did not bother us as we slept.
06 May, 2009
02 May, 2009
Today I am enamored of
WOODEN ESCALATORS.
How cool are wooden escalators. I saw one for the first time yesterday in Wynyard train station, central Sydney. I stepped onto the escalator and immediately noticed that it was not only very noisy but also appeared to be made of wood. I bent down to touch it and confirm this suspicion and it was indeed correct. The rest of the way up, I continued to thoroughly investigate this wonder, reconfirming at least once that the steps were actually made out of wood, and peering over to see if the down escalator was the same! (It was!)
As you may or may not know, escalators make me uncomfortable. Somehow when I was quite young I heard stories about people (children specifically) being horribly maimed by escalators, and my vivid imagination led me to believe that they were unpredictable and dangerous, likely to lead to bloody dismemberment! It was a fullblown fear when I was a child, and for years after I was old enough to understand that no, escalators would not eat me if my foot touched the point of steps-going-under, I continued to go out of my way to avoid them.
But this wooden escalator. It looks much friendlier. Its teeth are bigger, which somehow makes it seem a bit less sinister. Its wooden rumble is really quite cheerful. Its age and lack of blood stains (bound to be obvious and enduring on wood!) made me feel safe.
How awesome are wooden escalators?
How cool are wooden escalators. I saw one for the first time yesterday in Wynyard train station, central Sydney. I stepped onto the escalator and immediately noticed that it was not only very noisy but also appeared to be made of wood. I bent down to touch it and confirm this suspicion and it was indeed correct. The rest of the way up, I continued to thoroughly investigate this wonder, reconfirming at least once that the steps were actually made out of wood, and peering over to see if the down escalator was the same! (It was!)
As you may or may not know, escalators make me uncomfortable. Somehow when I was quite young I heard stories about people (children specifically) being horribly maimed by escalators, and my vivid imagination led me to believe that they were unpredictable and dangerous, likely to lead to bloody dismemberment! It was a fullblown fear when I was a child, and for years after I was old enough to understand that no, escalators would not eat me if my foot touched the point of steps-going-under, I continued to go out of my way to avoid them.
But this wooden escalator. It looks much friendlier. Its teeth are bigger, which somehow makes it seem a bit less sinister. Its wooden rumble is really quite cheerful. Its age and lack of blood stains (bound to be obvious and enduring on wood!) made me feel safe.
How awesome are wooden escalators?
30 April, 2009
26 April, 2009
On Flickr, I'm still stuck in February...
Photos from the Twelve Apostles and other spots along the Great Ocean Road (so worth the drive if you ever have a chance!) are up on Flickr. So I still have maybe three more sets of February photos! And then March and April. Aaaaaaaaaaa!
Yesterday I spent the day winning $5 at two-up (a gambling coin toss game favoured by ANZAC forces in WWII and illegal on every day of the year except ANZAC Day, 25 April), eating delicious pie, and going to a crazy women in uniform party. Nine out of ten Alyssas consider it to have been a successful birthday, and we don't know what that last one is on about!
19 April, 2009
Sydney Library Redemption
Sydney City Library has redeemed itself in my eyes, even if I did have to pay a membership fee. They have copies of Audrey Niffenegger's visual novels, Three Incestuous Sisters and The Adventuress. Today I came upon them and immediately read both of them twice.
"Clothilde knows that the cause of headaches is birds using pieces of her hair to build their nests. Therefore, she saves all her hair in jars hidden in her closet. Despite this, she continues to suffer." - Audrey Niffenegger, Three Incestuous Sisters
They are whimsical picture books for adults. The art is brilliantly quirky, the text is so sparse there are lots of gaps for the images/imaginations to fill in. I can't wait for her second novel! (Her first, The Time Traveller's Wife, is one of my all-time favourites.)
There was live jazz floating down from the swanky cafe on the top floor of the library, so I hung out in the lobby to also read Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx, just out of curiosity really--it's only about 50 pages long. But I loved it. The characters' voices are just right there. I should see the movie.
I had gone to the library looking for books on my Project Filling in the Gaps list; I came away with one from the list and seven others.
"Clothilde knows that the cause of headaches is birds using pieces of her hair to build their nests. Therefore, she saves all her hair in jars hidden in her closet. Despite this, she continues to suffer." - Audrey Niffenegger, Three Incestuous Sisters
They are whimsical picture books for adults. The art is brilliantly quirky, the text is so sparse there are lots of gaps for the images/imaginations to fill in. I can't wait for her second novel! (Her first, The Time Traveller's Wife, is one of my all-time favourites.)
There was live jazz floating down from the swanky cafe on the top floor of the library, so I hung out in the lobby to also read Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx, just out of curiosity really--it's only about 50 pages long. But I loved it. The characters' voices are just right there. I should see the movie.
I had gone to the library looking for books on my Project Filling in the Gaps list; I came away with one from the list and seven others.
18 April, 2009
A Fortuitous Encounter
I am a sucker for both windmills (they're pretty, and also green power! yay!) and sunsets, so in February on the Adelaide-Melbourne road trip, I was tickled pink (actually more of an orange, as you can see...) to run into BOTH AT ONCE!
HEAPS AND HEAPS more photos of similar on my Flickr page. And they aren't even half of the ones I took. It was sheer bliss!
13 April, 2009
Project Filling in the Gaps: World Literature
Lo! Behold! It's a very long list! There are 100 books on it! I hereby declare my intention to read them all!
A few weeks ago, the fantabulous Moonrat of Editorial Ass (and also Andromeda Romano-Lax, whose novel The Spanish Bow I kinda want to read!) began an awesome trend involving making lists of 100 books that one hasn't read, and reading them all over the next 5(ish) years in order to fill the gaps in one's reading background. In other words, in order to approach one tiny baby step closer to acheiving divine Coleridge-ness, I'm pretty sure he once said he'd read everything ever. (And he was Coleridge, so who's going to argue.)
Which I think is a pretty keen idea! Except that I'm only one year out of the (great, excellent, wonderful, never to be criticised) English Honours program that forced me to take classes in things like 17th Century novels and Elizabethan plays (even if I did wiggle out of the Victorian requirement). While I'm still way behind the pack (especially all of those other English majors, I think most of them have lapped me a couple of times...) in the race to have read Everything that is English Canon... I don't really want to catch up! I had a nice big dose in university not-long-at-all ago. Also, I recently made a goal to read more books by people of colour, and one of my esteemed mother's remarks about it was to ask whether I was going to read such books in translation? And the answer was no, I was talking about books written in English, in North America and Britain where most of the books I read tend to have been written. And this is still the case. But it did make me think about how little world literature I have read. So when Project Fill In the Gaps waltzed along, I thought my world literature gaps could use some filling. My personal twist is Project Fill-in-the-Gaps: World Literature Edition!
The only problem is I don't really know much about world literature.
So this list has been compiled somewhat haphazardly by large geographical area, using things like Wikipedia articles and online reading lists, as well as some items from my usual to-read list. In some cases I've taken into account local book awards, and in some cases I've just picked books because the summary on Amazon made me want to read them. I've unwisely tackled canon, contemporary literary fiction, and genre fiction all at the same time. I've also included a few literary theory must-haves that uni made me curious to read, and some feminist and anti-racist theory, because my reading in that area is... argh, I haven't read anything! The "Last 10" are the extras, in cases where I found too many awesome things to fit into my neat little regional sets of 10. My list is pretty arbitrary, and I know there are big big gaps. It's just a start, really! Because once I knock this one back, if it goes well, in five years a savvier me will make another list, and the cycle will begin again. But if you are reading this and you spot something big I've missed, I'd be ever-so-grateful if you would take a moment to point out any glaring flaws, as I'm open to amendment!
I'm giving myself 25 books of leeway, because I know I've probably put some things on this list I won't actually be able to find.
Africa
1. Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart (Nigeria)
2. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun (Nigeria)
3. Yvonne Vera - Butterfly Burning (Zimbabwe)
4. Margaret Ogola - The River and the Source (Kenya)
5. Sarah Ladipo Manyika - In Dependence (Nigeria)
6. Bessie Head - When Rain Clouds Gather (Botswana)
7. Ben Okri - The Famished Road (Nigeria)
8. J. M. Coetzee - Disgrace (South Africa)
9. M. G. Vassanji - The Book of Secrets (Kenya)
10. Zakes Mda - Ways of Dying (South Africa)
East Asia
11. Hwang Sok-Yong - The Guest (Korea)
12. Murasaki Shikibu - The Tale of Genji (Japan)
13. Murakami Haruki - Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (Japan)
14. Yoshimoto Banana - Kitchen (Japan)
15. Louis Cha – The Deer and the Cauldron (China)
16. Eileen Chang – Love in a Fallen City (China)
17. Luo Guanzhong - Romance of the Three Kingdoms (China)
18. Qiu Xiaolong - Death of a Red Heroine (China)
19. Jose Rizal - Touch Me Not (Philippines)
20. Wilfrido D. Nolledo - But for the Lovers (Philippines)
South Asia
21. Kiran Desai - The Inheritance of Loss (India)
22. Arvind Adiga - The White Tiger (India)
23. Amitav Ghosh – The Calcutta Chromosome (India)
24. Anuja Chauhan – The Zoya Factor (India)
25. Arundhati Roy - The God of Small Things (India)
26. Mohsin Hamid – Moth Smoke (Pakistan)
27. Altaf Fatima - The One Who Did Not Ask (Pakistan)
28. Jean Arasanayagam - All is Burning (Sri Lanka)
29. Carl Muller - The Jam Fruit Tree (Sri Lanka)
30. Rajiva Wijesinha - Acts of Faith (Sri Lanka)
Kunzang Choden - The Circle of Karma
Middle East
31. Salim Matar - The Woman of the Flask (Iraq)
32. Orhan Pamuk – My Name is Red (Turkey)
33. Alaa Al Aswany - The Yacoubian Building (Egypt)
34. Bahaa Taher - Love in Exile (Egypt)
35. Emile Habiby - The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist (Palestine)
36. Hanan al-Shaykh - Women of Sand and Myrrh (Lebanon)
37. Meir Shalev - The Blue Mountain (Israel)
38. Iraj Pezeshkzad - My Uncle Napoleon (Iran)
39. Simin Daneshvar - Savushun (Iran)
40. Hoda Barakat - The Stone of Laughter (Lebanon)
Europe
41. Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita (Russia)
42. Milan Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Czechoslovakia)
43. Carlos Ruiz Zafón - The Angel's Game (Spain)
44. James Joyce - Ulysses (Ireland)
45. Miguel de Cervantes - Don Quixote (Spain)
46. Jeanette Winterson - Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (Britain)
47. Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre (Britain)
48. Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time (France)
49. Julia Kristeva - The Old Man and the Wolves (France)
50. Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose (Italy)
Oceania
51. Kate Grenville - The Secret River (Australia)
52. Mudrooroo - Wild Cat Falling (Australia)
53. Thomas Keneally - Schindler's List (Australia)
54. Pramoedya Ananta Toer - This Earth of Mankind (Indonesia)
55. Elizabeth Knox - The Vintner's Luck (New Zealand)
Carribean
56. V S Naipul – A House for Mr Biswas (Trinidad and Tobago)
57. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys (Dominica)
58. Shani Mootoo - Cereus Blooms at Night (Trinidad)
59. Geoffrey Philp - Benjamin, My Son (Jamaica)
60. Marcia Douglas - Madam Fate (Jamaica)
North America
61. David Foster Wallace - Infine Jest (USA)
62. Leonard Cohen - Beautiful Losers (Canada)
63. Jhumpa Lahiri - Unaccustomed Earth (USA)
64. Shyam Selvadurai - Funny Boy (Canada)
65. Maya Angelou – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (USA)
66. Toni Morrison - The Bluest Eye (USA)
67. Alice Walker - The Colour Purple (USA)
68. Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird (USA)
69. William Faulkner - The Sound and the Fury (USA)
70. Eden Robinson - Blood Sports (Canada)
South America
71. Gabriel Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude (Colombia)
72. Laura Esquivel - Like Water for Chocolate (Mexico)
73. Isabel Allende - House of Spirits (Chile)
74. Paul Coelho - The Alchemist (Brazil)
75. Luisa Valenzuela - He Who Searches (Argentina)
76. Carlos Fuentes - Terra Nostra (Mexico)
77. Jorge Luis Borges - Collected Stories (Argentina)
78. Roberto Bolaño - 2666 (Chile)
79. Reinaldo Arenas - The Palace of the White Skunks (Cuba)
80. Juan José Saer - The Event (Argentina)
Literary, Feminist, and Antiracist Theory
81. bell hooks - Feminist Theory: From Margin to Centre
82. Simone DeBeauvoir - The Second Sex
83. Luce Irigaray – This Sex Which Is Not One
84. Helene Cixous – The Laugh of the Medusa
85. Homi Bhabha – The Location of Culture
86. Michel Foucault – History of Sexulity
87. Sherene Razack - Looking White People in the Eye
88. Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum - Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
89. Anne Bishop – Becoming an Ally: Breaking the Cycle of Oppression
90. Paul Kivel - Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice
The Last Ten Books on the List
91. Hsien-Yung Pai - Wandering in the Garden, Waking from a Dream: Tales of Taipei Characters (Taipei)
92. Ye Zhaoyan - Nanjing 1937: A Love Story (China)
93. Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children (Britain)
94. Michael Winter - This All Happened (Canada)
95. Nalo Hopkinson - Brown Girl in the Ring (Canada)
96. Hiromi Goto - Chorus of Mushrooms (Canada)
97. Octavia E. Butler - Fledgling (USA)
98. Romesh Gunesekera - Reef (Sri Lanka)
99. ed. Makeda Silvera - Piece of My Heart: A Lesbian of Colour Anthology
100. Thomas Bernhard - The Loser (Germany)
Bolded are the books that have been read! Hurrah!
A few weeks ago, the fantabulous Moonrat of Editorial Ass (and also Andromeda Romano-Lax, whose novel The Spanish Bow I kinda want to read!) began an awesome trend involving making lists of 100 books that one hasn't read, and reading them all over the next 5(ish) years in order to fill the gaps in one's reading background. In other words, in order to approach one tiny baby step closer to acheiving divine Coleridge-ness, I'm pretty sure he once said he'd read everything ever. (And he was Coleridge, so who's going to argue.)
Which I think is a pretty keen idea! Except that I'm only one year out of the (great, excellent, wonderful, never to be criticised) English Honours program that forced me to take classes in things like 17th Century novels and Elizabethan plays (even if I did wiggle out of the Victorian requirement). While I'm still way behind the pack (especially all of those other English majors, I think most of them have lapped me a couple of times...) in the race to have read Everything that is English Canon... I don't really want to catch up! I had a nice big dose in university not-long-at-all ago. Also, I recently made a goal to read more books by people of colour, and one of my esteemed mother's remarks about it was to ask whether I was going to read such books in translation? And the answer was no, I was talking about books written in English, in North America and Britain where most of the books I read tend to have been written. And this is still the case. But it did make me think about how little world literature I have read. So when Project Fill In the Gaps waltzed along, I thought my world literature gaps could use some filling. My personal twist is Project Fill-in-the-Gaps: World Literature Edition!
The only problem is I don't really know much about world literature.
So this list has been compiled somewhat haphazardly by large geographical area, using things like Wikipedia articles and online reading lists, as well as some items from my usual to-read list. In some cases I've taken into account local book awards, and in some cases I've just picked books because the summary on Amazon made me want to read them. I've unwisely tackled canon, contemporary literary fiction, and genre fiction all at the same time. I've also included a few literary theory must-haves that uni made me curious to read, and some feminist and anti-racist theory, because my reading in that area is... argh, I haven't read anything! The "Last 10" are the extras, in cases where I found too many awesome things to fit into my neat little regional sets of 10. My list is pretty arbitrary, and I know there are big big gaps. It's just a start, really! Because once I knock this one back, if it goes well, in five years a savvier me will make another list, and the cycle will begin again. But if you are reading this and you spot something big I've missed, I'd be ever-so-grateful if you would take a moment to point out any glaring flaws, as I'm open to amendment!
I'm giving myself 25 books of leeway, because I know I've probably put some things on this list I won't actually be able to find.
Africa
1. Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart (Nigeria)
2. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun (Nigeria)
3. Yvonne Vera - Butterfly Burning (Zimbabwe)
4. Margaret Ogola - The River and the Source (Kenya)
5. Sarah Ladipo Manyika - In Dependence (Nigeria)
6. Bessie Head - When Rain Clouds Gather (Botswana)
7. Ben Okri - The Famished Road (Nigeria)
8. J. M. Coetzee - Disgrace (South Africa)
9. M. G. Vassanji - The Book of Secrets (Kenya)
10. Zakes Mda - Ways of Dying (South Africa)
East Asia
11. Hwang Sok-Yong - The Guest (Korea)
12. Murasaki Shikibu - The Tale of Genji (Japan)
13. Murakami Haruki - Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (Japan)
14. Yoshimoto Banana - Kitchen (Japan)
15. Louis Cha – The Deer and the Cauldron (China)
16. Eileen Chang – Love in a Fallen City (China)
17. Luo Guanzhong - Romance of the Three Kingdoms (China)
18. Qiu Xiaolong - Death of a Red Heroine (China)
19. Jose Rizal - Touch Me Not (Philippines)
20. Wilfrido D. Nolledo - But for the Lovers (Philippines)
South Asia
21. Kiran Desai - The Inheritance of Loss (India)
22. Arvind Adiga - The White Tiger (India)
23. Amitav Ghosh – The Calcutta Chromosome (India)
24. Anuja Chauhan – The Zoya Factor (India)
25. Arundhati Roy - The God of Small Things (India)
26. Mohsin Hamid – Moth Smoke (Pakistan)
27. Altaf Fatima - The One Who Did Not Ask (Pakistan)
28. Jean Arasanayagam - All is Burning (Sri Lanka)
29. Carl Muller - The Jam Fruit Tree (Sri Lanka)
30. Rajiva Wijesinha - Acts of Faith (Sri Lanka)
Kunzang Choden - The Circle of Karma
Middle East
31. Salim Matar - The Woman of the Flask (Iraq)
32. Orhan Pamuk – My Name is Red (Turkey)
33. Alaa Al Aswany - The Yacoubian Building (Egypt)
34. Bahaa Taher - Love in Exile (Egypt)
35. Emile Habiby - The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist (Palestine)
36. Hanan al-Shaykh - Women of Sand and Myrrh (Lebanon)
37. Meir Shalev - The Blue Mountain (Israel)
38. Iraj Pezeshkzad - My Uncle Napoleon (Iran)
39. Simin Daneshvar - Savushun (Iran)
40. Hoda Barakat - The Stone of Laughter (Lebanon)
Europe
41. Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita (Russia)
42. Milan Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Czechoslovakia)
43. Carlos Ruiz Zafón - The Angel's Game (Spain)
44. James Joyce - Ulysses (Ireland)
45. Miguel de Cervantes - Don Quixote (Spain)
46. Jeanette Winterson - Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (Britain)
47. Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre (Britain)
48. Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time (France)
49. Julia Kristeva - The Old Man and the Wolves (France)
50. Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose (Italy)
Oceania
51. Kate Grenville - The Secret River (Australia)
52. Mudrooroo - Wild Cat Falling (Australia)
53. Thomas Keneally - Schindler's List (Australia)
54. Pramoedya Ananta Toer - This Earth of Mankind (Indonesia)
55. Elizabeth Knox - The Vintner's Luck (New Zealand)
Carribean
56. V S Naipul – A House for Mr Biswas (Trinidad and Tobago)
57. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys (Dominica)
58. Shani Mootoo - Cereus Blooms at Night (Trinidad)
59. Geoffrey Philp - Benjamin, My Son (Jamaica)
60. Marcia Douglas - Madam Fate (Jamaica)
North America
61. David Foster Wallace - Infine Jest (USA)
62. Leonard Cohen - Beautiful Losers (Canada)
63. Jhumpa Lahiri - Unaccustomed Earth (USA)
64. Shyam Selvadurai - Funny Boy (Canada)
65. Maya Angelou – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (USA)
66. Toni Morrison - The Bluest Eye (USA)
67. Alice Walker - The Colour Purple (USA)
68. Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird (USA)
69. William Faulkner - The Sound and the Fury (USA)
70. Eden Robinson - Blood Sports (Canada)
South America
71. Gabriel Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude (Colombia)
72. Laura Esquivel - Like Water for Chocolate (Mexico)
73. Isabel Allende - House of Spirits (Chile)
74. Paul Coelho - The Alchemist (Brazil)
75. Luisa Valenzuela - He Who Searches (Argentina)
76. Carlos Fuentes - Terra Nostra (Mexico)
77. Jorge Luis Borges - Collected Stories (Argentina)
78. Roberto Bolaño - 2666 (Chile)
79. Reinaldo Arenas - The Palace of the White Skunks (Cuba)
80. Juan José Saer - The Event (Argentina)
Literary, Feminist, and Antiracist Theory
81. bell hooks - Feminist Theory: From Margin to Centre
82. Simone DeBeauvoir - The Second Sex
83. Luce Irigaray – This Sex Which Is Not One
84. Helene Cixous – The Laugh of the Medusa
85. Homi Bhabha – The Location of Culture
86. Michel Foucault – History of Sexulity
87. Sherene Razack - Looking White People in the Eye
88. Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum - Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
89. Anne Bishop – Becoming an Ally: Breaking the Cycle of Oppression
90. Paul Kivel - Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice
The Last Ten Books on the List
91. Hsien-Yung Pai - Wandering in the Garden, Waking from a Dream: Tales of Taipei Characters (Taipei)
92. Ye Zhaoyan - Nanjing 1937: A Love Story (China)
93. Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children (Britain)
94. Michael Winter - This All Happened (Canada)
95. Nalo Hopkinson - Brown Girl in the Ring (Canada)
96. Hiromi Goto - Chorus of Mushrooms (Canada)
97. Octavia E. Butler - Fledgling (USA)
98. Romesh Gunesekera - Reef (Sri Lanka)
99. ed. Makeda Silvera - Piece of My Heart: A Lesbian of Colour Anthology
100. Thomas Bernhard - The Loser (Germany)
Bolded are the books that have been read! Hurrah!
12 April, 2009
Deja Vu on 12th April
Today reminded me of two days in Japan--the first and last days of my visit to Kyoto in September, on my way out of the country.
On the first day, I travelled an hour by train to Osaka in order to pick up some lost property. The previous day I had left a plastic bag containing my favourite black shawl and some Sakamoto Ryouma socks on the JR bus from Kochi. I had called JR up and managed to explain what I was looking for and where I had left it; they instructed me to visit the office at Osaka station the following day. When I arrived, however, my bag wasn't there; it had accidentally gone to Okayama. Thinking back now, perhaps the lost property staff were just curious to meet this shawl-and-historical-figure-sock-losing foreigner? In any case, I spent the morning going to Osaka, walking around the station for a while, and then going back to Kyoto, and that's why today reminds me of it. I left my hostel at 10AM checkout, dropped my backpack off in a storage locker at a downtown train station, and then, realizing that I had left my (new, pink!) umbrella in the hostel, went back to get it. Rather shorter than Kyoto to Osaka, and more successful, too.
On the last day in Kyoto, in spite of heavy rain I decided to go to a forested area in the north of the city. I arrived there, lightly damp, and got my feet totally soaked walking only a little ways into the forest. I glimpsed the big red tori gate of the temple in the forest, my actual goal. But the muddiness of the ground between me and the gate, and the fact that it was still raining and I wouldn't be able to take my camera out at all, lead me to give up at this point and take the next bus back to my hostel. I wanted to get to Tokyo by evening, and I didn't have much energy or enough time to do anything really good--and besides, it was raining--so I ended up heading straight to the shinkansen. It was a bit like that today. Because of my 6pm flight back to Sydney (which I will be boarding in not too long) I couldn't really do anything much, and a serious case of New Shoes Syndrome discouraged me from climing up to the Mount Coot-Tha lookout, so I spent the mid-day floating around the city on ferries and reading in parks, and then caught an earlier-than-necessary train to the airport.
I always feel bad when I waste time like this while travelling, but I guess it can't be helped.
On the first day, I travelled an hour by train to Osaka in order to pick up some lost property. The previous day I had left a plastic bag containing my favourite black shawl and some Sakamoto Ryouma socks on the JR bus from Kochi. I had called JR up and managed to explain what I was looking for and where I had left it; they instructed me to visit the office at Osaka station the following day. When I arrived, however, my bag wasn't there; it had accidentally gone to Okayama. Thinking back now, perhaps the lost property staff were just curious to meet this shawl-and-historical-figure-sock-losing foreigner? In any case, I spent the morning going to Osaka, walking around the station for a while, and then going back to Kyoto, and that's why today reminds me of it. I left my hostel at 10AM checkout, dropped my backpack off in a storage locker at a downtown train station, and then, realizing that I had left my (new, pink!) umbrella in the hostel, went back to get it. Rather shorter than Kyoto to Osaka, and more successful, too.
On the last day in Kyoto, in spite of heavy rain I decided to go to a forested area in the north of the city. I arrived there, lightly damp, and got my feet totally soaked walking only a little ways into the forest. I glimpsed the big red tori gate of the temple in the forest, my actual goal. But the muddiness of the ground between me and the gate, and the fact that it was still raining and I wouldn't be able to take my camera out at all, lead me to give up at this point and take the next bus back to my hostel. I wanted to get to Tokyo by evening, and I didn't have much energy or enough time to do anything really good--and besides, it was raining--so I ended up heading straight to the shinkansen. It was a bit like that today. Because of my 6pm flight back to Sydney (which I will be boarding in not too long) I couldn't really do anything much, and a serious case of New Shoes Syndrome discouraged me from climing up to the Mount Coot-Tha lookout, so I spent the mid-day floating around the city on ferries and reading in parks, and then caught an earlier-than-necessary train to the airport.
I always feel bad when I waste time like this while travelling, but I guess it can't be helped.
11 April, 2009
Scientific Findings on 11th April 2009
1. Toasters are forbidden in the bathrooms and showers of the hostel where I am staying.
2. Carrying a DSLR-looking camera gains you unexpected artist cred with art gallery docents.
3. The "For Kids" summary cards for art at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art are, except for the slightly patronising tone, better (more concisely, with less pointless grandiloquence) written and more insightful than the notes for adults.
Edited to add this critical update:
4. Passionfruit is delicious.
2. Carrying a DSLR-looking camera gains you unexpected artist cred with art gallery docents.
3. The "For Kids" summary cards for art at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art are, except for the slightly patronising tone, better (more concisely, with less pointless grandiloquence) written and more insightful than the notes for adults.
Edited to add this critical update:
4. Passionfruit is delicious.
10 April, 2009
Accomplishments on 10th April 2009
My current location is Brisbane, on a random Easter weekend journey that wasn't planned at all. And if I had stopped to think, I mightn't have gone touristing on public holidays when all of the attractions would be closed! So far the Travel Success Rate of this trip is probably about 75%.
But I'm still feeling pretty accomplished, because today I:
1. Won a staring contest with an emu.
2. Confiscated a brown paper bag from a too-hungry kangaroo.
3. Got lost on the bus in Brisbane for like the 60th time in the last two days.
I went to Lone Pine Koala Reserve. The highlights were the free-roaming kangaroo enclosure in which I also roamed free, and the flying raptor display. Note koalas absent from highlights. Those dudes just sit in trees and eat. Laaaaame.
But I'm still feeling pretty accomplished, because today I:
1. Won a staring contest with an emu.
2. Confiscated a brown paper bag from a too-hungry kangaroo.
3. Got lost on the bus in Brisbane for like the 60th time in the last two days.
I went to Lone Pine Koala Reserve. The highlights were the free-roaming kangaroo enclosure in which I also roamed free, and the flying raptor display. Note koalas absent from highlights. Those dudes just sit in trees and eat. Laaaaame.
07 April, 2009
Adopted Joey
I met the woman whose hands you see here at the Sunday market in downtown Adelaide. She has adopted this orphaned joey, and will raise it and keep it on her country property for the rest of its life. She said it won't be possible to rehabilitate the joey when it grows older, because it has learned not to be afraid of humans. A friend of hers has adopted five kangaroos this way, and continues to care for them now that they are grown. When female kangaroos are hit by cars and die, joeys often survive in the pouch. If they aren't cared for by people, they too will undoubtedly not survive.
The joey was very soft.
04 April, 2009
02 April, 2009
Reading and Race
Earlier this year I stumbled, via the Feminist Science Fiction blog, upon a massive debate about race in fantasy and speculative fiction. I hadn't really thought about representation in SF before, so that was a good kick in the pants... but more importantly, I hadn't thought about the way much fantasy is based around something like medeival English culture. Keyword English. Those taverns, the travellers on horses, the lords and ladies and kings and queens and so on. It was this particular blog entry by deepad on livejournal, which really interested me. (Please do read it, but I have to ask you not to comment on it if you do disagree... the author has had more than enough negative comments to deal with already.)
Being, as I am, a white person of the Celt-blend variety, I never really realized that it's a privilege to look at fantasy novels and see settings that I can relate to as being similar to where my ancestors, if you were to look far enough back, came from. So I took a look at the links radiating from that entry and read bits of the discussion that it was part of, and particlarly I ended up looking at this LJ community, which challenges members to read 50 books by people of colour, and some other book challenges, and through other avenues around the same time I found Carleen Brice's blog, White Readers Meet Black Authors. The same topic came up on Editorial Ass, a blog I follow.
So all of this talk about reading challenges and introductions and affirmative action in reading choices made me wonder... How many books by people of colour did I read last year? The answer is eight. Eight out of sixty is pretty bad. I don't want to aim at a number of books, but I've decided to limit books by white writers to half of my reading this year. So if I read sixty books again this year, thirty of them will have been by people of colour.
Here's my list so far. I'm only at 4 out of 13, even though I've been thinking about it as I make my book choices. But I have 9 more months to make it up! If you're a reader, I encourage you to have a look at what you're reading. Unfortunately, if you stroll into a bookstore or a library, there will be more books by white writers than writers of colour, and that leaves us with this lame unbalanced fictional worldview. I've already really enjoyed some books I might otherwise not have read because of my goal this year. And I'm barely started.
But, without further ado, my reading from January-March 2009!
George R. R. Martin - A Storm of Swords (audiobook)
Michael Crichton - Prey
Geraldine Brooks - People of the Book
Jodi Picoult - The Pact
Amy Bloom - Away
George R. R. Martin - A Feast for Crows (audiobook)
Daniel Mason - The Piano Tuner
Larissa Behrendt - Home
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Love in the Time of Cholera
Kim Edwards - The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Iain M. Banks - Consider Phlebas
April Sinclair - I Left My Back Door Open
Helen Neff - Accident of Birth
Being, as I am, a white person of the Celt-blend variety, I never really realized that it's a privilege to look at fantasy novels and see settings that I can relate to as being similar to where my ancestors, if you were to look far enough back, came from. So I took a look at the links radiating from that entry and read bits of the discussion that it was part of, and particlarly I ended up looking at this LJ community, which challenges members to read 50 books by people of colour, and some other book challenges, and through other avenues around the same time I found Carleen Brice's blog, White Readers Meet Black Authors. The same topic came up on Editorial Ass, a blog I follow.
So all of this talk about reading challenges and introductions and affirmative action in reading choices made me wonder... How many books by people of colour did I read last year? The answer is eight. Eight out of sixty is pretty bad. I don't want to aim at a number of books, but I've decided to limit books by white writers to half of my reading this year. So if I read sixty books again this year, thirty of them will have been by people of colour.
Here's my list so far. I'm only at 4 out of 13, even though I've been thinking about it as I make my book choices. But I have 9 more months to make it up! If you're a reader, I encourage you to have a look at what you're reading. Unfortunately, if you stroll into a bookstore or a library, there will be more books by white writers than writers of colour, and that leaves us with this lame unbalanced fictional worldview. I've already really enjoyed some books I might otherwise not have read because of my goal this year. And I'm barely started.
But, without further ado, my reading from January-March 2009!
George R. R. Martin - A Storm of Swords (audiobook)
Michael Crichton - Prey
Geraldine Brooks - People of the Book
Jodi Picoult - The Pact
Amy Bloom - Away
George R. R. Martin - A Feast for Crows (audiobook)
Daniel Mason - The Piano Tuner
Larissa Behrendt - Home
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Love in the Time of Cholera
Kim Edwards - The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Iain M. Banks - Consider Phlebas
April Sinclair - I Left My Back Door Open
Helen Neff - Accident of Birth
25 March, 2009
Hay Plain
In February, on a road trip, I travelled through the Hay Plain in New South Wales. Does this look familiar to anyone back home? Just a little bit?
And hello to the massive flood of RLP-loving visitors! I must say I'm a little embarassed to know that my love letter is circulating around the staff... but since this is the internet, thankfully none of you can see me blushing. Thanks for stopping by.
20 March, 2009
The Great JP Hunt of 2009: Episode 1
Today I went JP hunting.
My passport has to be renewed, and of course I haven't known any lawyers/doctors/dentists/judges/etc in Australia for more than two years, so instead of a guarantor I need a Justice of the Peace to sign a declaration that I am in fact me.
Apparently JPs can be found in libraries, post offices, pharmacies, banks, police stations, and local council offices. So off I went, thinking I would find one with no problem... but not so! It was a wild goose chase reminiscent of a difficult quest in a video game.
I went to the post office. They said the library had a JP. I went to the library; they didn't, but they suggested I try the Maroubra branch, or the local police station. On the way to the police station I forgot the directions, so I stopped to ask in a bank. No JP there. I found the police station, but they didn't have one either (in fact there was a sign taped to the counter saying no, they didn't have a JP...) but the police officer on duty suggested I ask a chemist, or go to the Maroubra police station. I tried a chemist, and there they told me to try the council chambers... but it was almost five, so off I went to Maroubra. The library told me no, nobody was there today, and that I would have to call ahead. I got directions to the police station. But the police said they do certify documents, but couldn't sign for my identity... I should walk down the road to the Pagewood Hotel, and then go across the street to... a FUNERAL HOME?! Off I went. I arrived at 5:06, 6 minutes after the funeral home closed.
I gave up for the day. Apparently I'm about as good at JP hunting as I am at video games.
My passport has to be renewed, and of course I haven't known any lawyers/doctors/dentists/judges/etc in Australia for more than two years, so instead of a guarantor I need a Justice of the Peace to sign a declaration that I am in fact me.
Apparently JPs can be found in libraries, post offices, pharmacies, banks, police stations, and local council offices. So off I went, thinking I would find one with no problem... but not so! It was a wild goose chase reminiscent of a difficult quest in a video game.
I went to the post office. They said the library had a JP. I went to the library; they didn't, but they suggested I try the Maroubra branch, or the local police station. On the way to the police station I forgot the directions, so I stopped to ask in a bank. No JP there. I found the police station, but they didn't have one either (in fact there was a sign taped to the counter saying no, they didn't have a JP...) but the police officer on duty suggested I ask a chemist, or go to the Maroubra police station. I tried a chemist, and there they told me to try the council chambers... but it was almost five, so off I went to Maroubra. The library told me no, nobody was there today, and that I would have to call ahead. I got directions to the police station. But the police said they do certify documents, but couldn't sign for my identity... I should walk down the road to the Pagewood Hotel, and then go across the street to... a FUNERAL HOME?! Off I went. I arrived at 5:06, 6 minutes after the funeral home closed.
I gave up for the day. Apparently I'm about as good at JP hunting as I am at video games.
19 March, 2009
Retraction
Two posts ago (I keep referring back to the library; I miss it so much I can't stop mentioning it on my blog), I said that Regina, like Kochi and Canberra, had a population of about 300, 000 people. It has been drawn to my attention that this is very wrong indeed! The population of Regina is actually 179,246 (as of 2006), and I have been lying about it to people all over Japan and Australia for a year! Kochi and Canberra, on the other hand, are roughly the same, at about 340, 000 people each. (I kindof thought Kochi seemed bigger than Regina... just a little bit...)
In other words, since the RPL serves about half the number of people in the other cities I compared it to, it is in fact about twice as awesome as previously implied.
In other words, since the RPL serves about half the number of people in the other cities I compared it to, it is in fact about twice as awesome as previously implied.
17 March, 2009
DFW
Hey, my love letter to the RPL was the 100th entry on this blog! I had intended to make a big deal about it, but I forgot. And now I want YOU to forget, too, because for a change I have something more important to say.
While shamelessly reading the entirety of the blog of a volunteer teacher at the Asian University for Women (where I hope to be volunteering myself next year), I stumbled across David Foster Wallace's commencement speech to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College.
I can't possibly quote all of the good parts--go read the whole thing.
David Foster Wallace was a wise man and his death is a terrible loss.
While shamelessly reading the entirety of the blog of a volunteer teacher at the Asian University for Women (where I hope to be volunteering myself next year), I stumbled across David Foster Wallace's commencement speech to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College.
Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about teaching you how to think is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed.
...
If you're automatically sure that you know what reality is, and you are operating on your default setting, then you, like me, probably won't consider possibilities that aren't annoying and miserable. But if you really learn how to pay attention, then you will know there are other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer-hell type situation as not only meaningful, but sacred, on fire with the same force that made the stars: love, fellowship, the mystical oneness of all things deep down.
...
This, I submit, is the freedom of a real education, of learning how to be well-adjusted. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't.
...
The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day.
That is real freedom. That is being educated, and understanding how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the rat race, the constant gnawing sense of having had, and lost, some infinite thing.
I can't possibly quote all of the good parts--go read the whole thing.
David Foster Wallace was a wise man and his death is a terrible loss.
14 March, 2009
Alas, alack!
I have lived in four cities: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada; Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; Kochi, Kochi Prefecture, Japan; Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. All of them are provincial/prefectural/state capitals. About 300,000 people live in each of the first three, and many million in the last. I like them all, but there is one thing about Regina that I have missed ever since I left in 2004, and will miss as long as I live. Yes, I know my true love.
It's the Regina Public Library (oh-so-fondly let us call it the RPL). I miss it with a passion. I miss the woman in the Bothwell branch who asks me every time I go there whether my father has bought me a car yet (she remembers me from the ten-book stacks I borrowed as a child), I miss the weird things that appear in the Dunlop Art Gallery in the Central branch. I miss the garbled digitized voice on my parents' answering machine, informing the household that the book on hold for "Arlyza" has arrived. (If they didn't already know my schedule, my parents could probably plan for my arrival on visits home by waiting to hear that message.) I miss it because it's the best library I have ever encountered. I miss the reference section. I miss the massive collection of unabridged audio books, on CD and cassette tape. I miss the multiple copies, spread out nicely one at each branch, of popular books. I miss the graphic novel collection, from which I have borrowed every volume of Sandman. I miss the classics, especially all of the Ibsen and the multiple translations of Goethe's Faust. I miss the thoughtful thematic displays, changed monthly, from which I have selected many an excellent novel. I miss being able to say "I think I feel like re-reading a Madeline L'Engle series today" and finding that the RPL, bless its little heart, has the whole series at the same branch.
Yes, most of all I miss always being able to find the book I want to read. I'm not saying they have everything--that's impossible, and indeed there are a couple of specific novels I recall not finding there. But they're very few. It was never a question of "I wonder if the library has that" but rather "I wonder if that's at my branch right now, and if not how long will it take it to get there?" The Victoria library doesn't sort its paperbacks, and its collection of books is probably less than half the size of the RPL's. The Kochi library, being in Japan and therefore containing mostly books in Japanese, I really can't comment properly on. Sydney is worst. The library I am entitled to use here is a puny little three-branch suburb affair, which instead of having all of the books I want to read has none of them. The state library is reference-only, and to borrow from a bigger library elsewhere in the city I must pay fees.
I'm homesick for my library. I pine for it. My heart will not mend until I can once again breeze through its automatic doors, open generous hours including evenings and weekends. Can anyone loan me some L'Engle?
It's the Regina Public Library (oh-so-fondly let us call it the RPL). I miss it with a passion. I miss the woman in the Bothwell branch who asks me every time I go there whether my father has bought me a car yet (she remembers me from the ten-book stacks I borrowed as a child), I miss the weird things that appear in the Dunlop Art Gallery in the Central branch. I miss the garbled digitized voice on my parents' answering machine, informing the household that the book on hold for "Arlyza" has arrived. (If they didn't already know my schedule, my parents could probably plan for my arrival on visits home by waiting to hear that message.) I miss it because it's the best library I have ever encountered. I miss the reference section. I miss the massive collection of unabridged audio books, on CD and cassette tape. I miss the multiple copies, spread out nicely one at each branch, of popular books. I miss the graphic novel collection, from which I have borrowed every volume of Sandman. I miss the classics, especially all of the Ibsen and the multiple translations of Goethe's Faust. I miss the thoughtful thematic displays, changed monthly, from which I have selected many an excellent novel. I miss being able to say "I think I feel like re-reading a Madeline L'Engle series today" and finding that the RPL, bless its little heart, has the whole series at the same branch.
Yes, most of all I miss always being able to find the book I want to read. I'm not saying they have everything--that's impossible, and indeed there are a couple of specific novels I recall not finding there. But they're very few. It was never a question of "I wonder if the library has that" but rather "I wonder if that's at my branch right now, and if not how long will it take it to get there?" The Victoria library doesn't sort its paperbacks, and its collection of books is probably less than half the size of the RPL's. The Kochi library, being in Japan and therefore containing mostly books in Japanese, I really can't comment properly on. Sydney is worst. The library I am entitled to use here is a puny little three-branch suburb affair, which instead of having all of the books I want to read has none of them. The state library is reference-only, and to borrow from a bigger library elsewhere in the city I must pay fees.
I'm homesick for my library. I pine for it. My heart will not mend until I can once again breeze through its automatic doors, open generous hours including evenings and weekends. Can anyone loan me some L'Engle?
09 March, 2009
Many Worlds Theory
In an alternate universe, I left Australia this morning. I flew to Singapore, and this evening I'm staying there in the Alston hotel. But in this universe, I'm hanging out at 11 Houston Road just as I was last night...
Yes, that's right--I've extended my travels again. My boss at the clinic offered to buy me an airplane ticket back to Canada if I would stay for a few extra months, and after massive hesitations, I decided to go for it. My original flight, today, has been abandoned (it could have been rescheduled only to April 10, not long enough to bother, because it expired after a year). It was so cheap that even though I've only used two thirds of it, Vancouver-Tokyo-Sydney, I still think that it was a pretty good deal! Unfortunately, it does mean I'm missing out on the three-day stopover I'd planned in Singapore. But I'll have three more months to explore Sydney and Australia, so I think it's a fair trade-off. Singapore will wait for another time. I'll be back in Canada on June 14, and I swear I'm for serious this time.
This is the third plane ticket I've abandoned on this trip, in fact. I had to cancel a flight to Taiwan because I didn't have a re-entry permit on my Japanese work visa, way back in April (hard to believe it was almost a year ago!), and then in May I foolishly got the date wrong and missed a flight to Korea. This time I have a replacement ticket at no cost (to me), so it feels a whole lot better. But next time I plan my travel, I'll be more careful with visas, more cautious with dates, and plan for much more flexibility!
Yes, that's right--I've extended my travels again. My boss at the clinic offered to buy me an airplane ticket back to Canada if I would stay for a few extra months, and after massive hesitations, I decided to go for it. My original flight, today, has been abandoned (it could have been rescheduled only to April 10, not long enough to bother, because it expired after a year). It was so cheap that even though I've only used two thirds of it, Vancouver-Tokyo-Sydney, I still think that it was a pretty good deal! Unfortunately, it does mean I'm missing out on the three-day stopover I'd planned in Singapore. But I'll have three more months to explore Sydney and Australia, so I think it's a fair trade-off. Singapore will wait for another time. I'll be back in Canada on June 14, and I swear I'm for serious this time.
This is the third plane ticket I've abandoned on this trip, in fact. I had to cancel a flight to Taiwan because I didn't have a re-entry permit on my Japanese work visa, way back in April (hard to believe it was almost a year ago!), and then in May I foolishly got the date wrong and missed a flight to Korea. This time I have a replacement ticket at no cost (to me), so it feels a whole lot better. But next time I plan my travel, I'll be more careful with visas, more cautious with dates, and plan for much more flexibility!
08 March, 2009
Mardi Gras
Fat Tuesday is a little bit differen in Sydney. In fact, that's "Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras" to you! But whatever you're going to call it, I participated yesterday and had a really great time. I had so much fun, I'm STILL leaving a trail of cheerful golden sparkles.
Along with two friends who are visiting Australia from Japan, I joined the Amnesty International LGBT Human Rights float. Our sobering t-shirts reminded us that homosexuality is persecuted around the world (queer people are imprisoned in 77 countries and face the death penalty in 7!) and in gratitude for the freedom we are lucky enough to have in countries like Australia and Canada, we celebrated enthusiastically all the way from Hyde Park to Moore Park. (Google Maps says that's 2.7 kilometres, and we danced all the way, baby.) The flag you see in the photo above says LOVE FREEDOM. Sorry about the blur--I was moving AND it was moving!
A great time was had by all. After the parade, we shared excellent Thai food, and then I wandered off into the night to party until the morning bus service got started!
Along with two friends who are visiting Australia from Japan, I joined the Amnesty International LGBT Human Rights float. Our sobering t-shirts reminded us that homosexuality is persecuted around the world (queer people are imprisoned in 77 countries and face the death penalty in 7!) and in gratitude for the freedom we are lucky enough to have in countries like Australia and Canada, we celebrated enthusiastically all the way from Hyde Park to Moore Park. (Google Maps says that's 2.7 kilometres, and we danced all the way, baby.) The flag you see in the photo above says LOVE FREEDOM. Sorry about the blur--I was moving AND it was moving!
A great time was had by all. After the parade, we shared excellent Thai food, and then I wandered off into the night to party until the morning bus service got started!
05 March, 2009
27 February, 2009
Kata Tjuta
The first day of the Uluru tour I went on, we stopped at King's Canyon (that's the one with the pythons!). The second day, we went walking at Kata Tjuta. In the Ananu language (the Indigenous people of the area) the name means "many mounds". It's a GINORMOUS rock foundation, which perfectly lives up to its name. Like the more famous rock, it dates back to the time when much of Australia was under water.
We went on a ~8 km walk up, through, and around some of the area. It was blazingly hot, even though it was morning--due to extreme temperatures, the trail was closed from 11AM! By the end of the walk, I was totally dead! And it was still only 11 in the morning!
25 February, 2009
Reserved
I was fascinated by reserved places in the Alice Springs Cemetary. I've never seen notices like that before! I wonder who's got that spot in mind.
07 February, 2009
Peeing Under the Stars, and Other Outback Highlights
Back to my old tricks, I packed two novels for a five-day trip, three days of which were a camping tour. Then, on the first day, pretty much as soon as I arrived in Alice Springs, I went out and bought another novel. (Home, by Larissa Behrendt, which I strongly recommend!) However, I sped through the new novel and am also almost finished one of the original two, so the third one may come in handy on the plane back to Sydney tomorrow. I guess I'm not that silly after all... and at least I didn't drag a Curious George doll all over the outback (strange things are done under the hot sun...)
Anyway, enough about books--a couple of top moments from my trip from Alice to Uluru (Ayre's Rock) and back, before I forget them! 1234978534631123 zillion photos coming up in a couple of weeks.
1. I saw a goanna, petted a dingo, and rode a camel.
2. I walked through a canyon where pythons are known to live! If that isn't conquering your fears, what is? (If I were less honest, dear reader, I wouldn't mention that I didn't know there were pythons in the canyon until after walking all the way into it.)
3. I didn't see any pythons in the canyon. YES! Actually, I didn't see any of the other many species of highly dangerous snakes I shared territory with. SUCCESS, I AM ALIVE!
4. I slept out under the stars for the first time.
5. I walked 7k in 42 degree heat yesterday, and 8k before 9:30AM this morning. I saw some really beautiful country for my trouble.
6. While dropping my trousers to pee in the bush, I saw a shooting star.
It was a good trip!
Anyway, enough about books--a couple of top moments from my trip from Alice to Uluru (Ayre's Rock) and back, before I forget them! 1234978534631123 zillion photos coming up in a couple of weeks.
1. I saw a goanna, petted a dingo, and rode a camel.
2. I walked through a canyon where pythons are known to live! If that isn't conquering your fears, what is? (If I were less honest, dear reader, I wouldn't mention that I didn't know there were pythons in the canyon until after walking all the way into it.)
3. I didn't see any pythons in the canyon. YES! Actually, I didn't see any of the other many species of highly dangerous snakes I shared territory with. SUCCESS, I AM ALIVE!
4. I slept out under the stars for the first time.
5. I walked 7k in 42 degree heat yesterday, and 8k before 9:30AM this morning. I saw some really beautiful country for my trouble.
6. While dropping my trousers to pee in the bush, I saw a shooting star.
It was a good trip!
04 February, 2009
02 February, 2009
Kirribilli House
Kirribilli House is the official residence of the Australian Prime Minister. It's a pretty nice place--harbourside, little bit of private shore, nice little park...
Looks pretty big. I wonder if they've ever considered renting out the basement apartment to visiting Canadians? You know, as a gesture of international friendship?
22 January, 2009
GIANT WOMBATS
Last week I went to the Australian Museum. I saw lots of neat stuff--VERY cool rocks, lots of crazy birds, and an exhibition of award-winning wildlife photography. But the best part was that I learned about GIANT WOMBATS.
GIANT WOMBATS were the largest marsupials EVER. They roamed Australia in the Pleistocene. It ate leaves and grass. Presumably: a LOT of leaves and grass. In the museum, they have a scale model of a GIANT WOMBAT. Because I was so in awe of the fake GIANT WOMBAT, I didn't actually read anything about it, so I actually learned all of this on Wikipedia. When I stood beside the GIANT WOMBAT, this is what I felt like:
In summary: HOLY CRAP GIANT WOMBATS!!!
GIANT WOMBATS were the largest marsupials EVER. They roamed Australia in the Pleistocene. It ate leaves and grass. Presumably: a LOT of leaves and grass. In the museum, they have a scale model of a GIANT WOMBAT. Because I was so in awe of the fake GIANT WOMBAT, I didn't actually read anything about it, so I actually learned all of this on Wikipedia. When I stood beside the GIANT WOMBAT, this is what I felt like:
In summary: HOLY CRAP GIANT WOMBATS!!!
21 January, 2009
15 January, 2009
Parrots!
Seeing parrots outside for the first time reminded me of my first encounter with palm trees, when I visited BC in high school. I had never seen them before--it was a totally new experience! (Okay, seeing palm trees isn't necessarily an important experience, but it was still new.)
Same for the parrots. Before coming to Australia, I had only ever encountered them in pet stores and so on. I was super surprised when I noticed one just hanging out a tree as I walked by!
Parrots: Not Just Inside After All!
11 January, 2009
Sydney Festival First Night
I spent last Saturday at the Sydney Festival First Night. Sydney Festival is a huge bunch of arts events all over the city throughout January. There are a lot of concerts, and also dance, theatre, and I'm sure other things I don't even know about. For the First Night, there were free open air concerts all over the city. I went to The Domain, a big park downtown, to see The Cat Empire. We left the house at one in the afternoon to secure a truly excellent spot in front of the stage, but were quickly foiled by people standing up in front of us. Anyway, the concert was great. Then we grooved to DJ Mr. Scruff, and finally headed over to Hyde Park to see Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.
In summary: there was awesome. Booties were shaken. I'm looking forward to the rest of the festival.
08 January, 2009
Are you ready for this?
Lots and lots of this? I just put 10 photos of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House on flickr... and I'm just getting started. These photos were taken the on my first weekend in Sydney, way back in October. Now I take a train over the bridge on my way to work two or three days a week... it doesn't get any less stunning!
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