Well, I had my eyes tested yesterday. It was a surprise to learn that my distance vision has actually improved but my reading has worsened slightly. Found some frames in the sale (Gucci!) but the cost of lenses is so expensive that I still ended up with a bill of near-on £300. I'm still coming to term with it.
I've just heard that I have two new poems and a book review about to be published in Areopagus. I'm thrilled about this. I'm determined to keep at it and try some other writing magazines again. I also finished my poetry assignment on Monday and was really pleased with the second poem.
Read a couple more books. One is Voices from the world of Samuel Pepys by Jonathan Bastable. Took me back a bit to history lessons at secondary school! It was a really interesting account of life in those times, 1600's. I especially enjoyed the accounts of the plague (it is hard to comprehend what it was like but the first hand accounts really bring it to life) and also the fire of London. The part about science was not so interesting for me, but only because science and me don't mix (I think that was a pun!) but it did have its moments. There were some great snippets about Pepys personal life from his diary including how he would visit churches to eye up and even touch-up the women during services! The famous cheese burying is mentioned (when he thought his house would burn in the fire he buried his Parmesan cheese in his garden!) and he had several 'flings' with women, only one it seems his wife found out about, but from his writing it seemed he did love his wife and was devastated when she died at 29 years of age. It makes a good account of on the spot witness to our historical past and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about that era. It is well put together with a chronology at the back.
Black Gold of the Sun by Ekow Eshun is a personal account of one mans' search for his home. Born in England in 1968, he spent some of his childhood in Ghana (where his parents were born) before returning to England. Eshun deals with the difficulties he had growing up in England with all its prejudices and name calling at school, of a feeling of never belonging. The book passes between the present and the past as Eshun travels back to Ghana in 2002 aged thirty-three to try and discover his past. But even here he finds class systems and prejudices and most disturbing he discovers that his ancestors were slave traders (a Dutch man marrying an African slave - very common). There are haunting descriptions of Elmina castle, the dungeons and Through the Door of No Return as well as 'holding camps' deep into Ghana. This is a brilliant book and true story. I was so hooked I read it in a few days.
I'm just about to finish The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar (I have one chapter left to go and will probably take with me today when I go out). This story is set in Bombay and revolves around two families, one the well off, educated Dubash family and their servant Bhima who lives in the slum with her granddaughter Maya. As the book progresses it becomes apparent how much Sera Dubash and Bhima have in common and how they rely on each other. Neither family is what it seems but the two women share their secrets and despairs over the years until one final betrayal threatens to split them apart. I don't want to spoil it for you by telling you more because this is one fantastic read. It brings home too the difference education makes to everyone. The poor will stay poor if they never get that opportunity. You are, in effect, a nobody. With education and money you can be taken seriously but also with that power comes a responsibility, but this is often abused and used against those who are at the bottom end of life. The vivid descriptions of the slums....well you can almost smell them. But the portrayal of family life is also very real, very currrent even to those of us in the west. A very thought provoking but compelling read.
I've just heard that I have two new poems and a book review about to be published in Areopagus. I'm thrilled about this. I'm determined to keep at it and try some other writing magazines again. I also finished my poetry assignment on Monday and was really pleased with the second poem.
Read a couple more books. One is Voices from the world of Samuel Pepys by Jonathan Bastable. Took me back a bit to history lessons at secondary school! It was a really interesting account of life in those times, 1600's. I especially enjoyed the accounts of the plague (it is hard to comprehend what it was like but the first hand accounts really bring it to life) and also the fire of London. The part about science was not so interesting for me, but only because science and me don't mix (I think that was a pun!) but it did have its moments. There were some great snippets about Pepys personal life from his diary including how he would visit churches to eye up and even touch-up the women during services! The famous cheese burying is mentioned (when he thought his house would burn in the fire he buried his Parmesan cheese in his garden!) and he had several 'flings' with women, only one it seems his wife found out about, but from his writing it seemed he did love his wife and was devastated when she died at 29 years of age. It makes a good account of on the spot witness to our historical past and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about that era. It is well put together with a chronology at the back.
Black Gold of the Sun by Ekow Eshun is a personal account of one mans' search for his home. Born in England in 1968, he spent some of his childhood in Ghana (where his parents were born) before returning to England. Eshun deals with the difficulties he had growing up in England with all its prejudices and name calling at school, of a feeling of never belonging. The book passes between the present and the past as Eshun travels back to Ghana in 2002 aged thirty-three to try and discover his past. But even here he finds class systems and prejudices and most disturbing he discovers that his ancestors were slave traders (a Dutch man marrying an African slave - very common). There are haunting descriptions of Elmina castle, the dungeons and Through the Door of No Return as well as 'holding camps' deep into Ghana. This is a brilliant book and true story. I was so hooked I read it in a few days.
I'm just about to finish The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar (I have one chapter left to go and will probably take with me today when I go out). This story is set in Bombay and revolves around two families, one the well off, educated Dubash family and their servant Bhima who lives in the slum with her granddaughter Maya. As the book progresses it becomes apparent how much Sera Dubash and Bhima have in common and how they rely on each other. Neither family is what it seems but the two women share their secrets and despairs over the years until one final betrayal threatens to split them apart. I don't want to spoil it for you by telling you more because this is one fantastic read. It brings home too the difference education makes to everyone. The poor will stay poor if they never get that opportunity. You are, in effect, a nobody. With education and money you can be taken seriously but also with that power comes a responsibility, but this is often abused and used against those who are at the bottom end of life. The vivid descriptions of the slums....well you can almost smell them. But the portrayal of family life is also very real, very currrent even to those of us in the west. A very thought provoking but compelling read.
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