Life of Pi by Yann Martel

From Marlo:

I get it. Why BLOG stuff people can see for themselves on the Net, right?

For book reviews

Especially interesting is the review by Nicholas Carvan:
For discussion questions, go to here and here.

P.S. Here's a short animated clip inspired by LIFE OF PI.

(Note: from Sally. I found this interview with the author to be revealing. The Guardian provides us with more info about Martel.)

A Bend in the River by Naipaul

Note: I've edited Marlo's original email. Please click on the links for more details.
More goodies from Marlo:

Analysis

Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul [emory]

Biography [emory]

Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was born in Chaguanas, Trinidad, on August 17, 1932. His Hindu grandfather had emigrated there from W.India as an indentured servant. His father, Seepersad (1906-53), was a journalist, whose literary aspirations were inherited by V.S., and his brother, Shiva. The family moved to Port of Spain, where Naipaul attended Queenís Royal College. In 1948, he was awarded a Trinidad government scholarship, which he used to study literature at University College, Oxford, beginning in 1950. Following his graduation in 1953, Naipaul worked as a free-lance writer with the BBC, hosting the program "Carribbean Voices," and with the literary journal, The New Statesman. He married an English woman--Patricia Ann Hale--in 1955. Since then, he has resided in London, travelling extensively and writing many critically acclaimed novels, short stories, and essays. In 1990, Naipaul was knighted by the Royal family. His wife died in 1996, and he was remarried shortly thereafter, to a Pakistani woman named Nadira.

Link to the Nobel Prize site on Naipaul.

Scholars link.

More analysis of A Bend In the River

Analysis: critical consciousness

Edward Said on Naipaul

Robert Boyers on Naipaul

A provocative critique of Naipaul, on spitting

The Atlantic Monthly on Naipaul

Transcript of his Nobel prize acceptance speech

His Banquet speech

His Nobel lecture

His PBS interview

Critique

Critique: UCLA

PS Re: Post modernism

From Marlo:

P.S. For those who are postmodernist enthusiasts, there's a Norton Anthology called Postmodern American Fiction by Paula Geyh, Fred G. Leebron, Andrew Levy. Of course, after they read a ton of this stuff, they may be too wiggy to participate in future book-group discussions....

A Bend In the River by V. S. Naipaul

is our book for this month.

Thanks to Shelley who points out this great site: The Literary Encyclopedia.

The essay below might be helpful.

V. S. Naipaul's A Bend in the River was first published in 1979, after Naipaul had firmly established his considerable reputation?one that
would lead to the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001. Treating such
topics as the cultural interdependence of Africa and Europe, the
influence of ideology and ethnicity on an individual?s identity, and
the complexities of African nationhood following independence from
Belgian colonial rule, the novel grapples with weighty post-colonial
themes in an undaunted manner for which Naipaul has been both praised
and bitterly criticized.

The novel is set in Zaire (currently the Democratic Republic of the
Congo) during the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko in the late 1960s and early
1970s, a period of great social and political upheaval in the Congo.
However, though major historical events?including armed coups, cold-war
political machinations, guerrilla rebellions, urban riots, rural
massacres, and widespread social reforms?occur in the novel?s backdrop,
Naipaul avoids depicting those events directly; indeed, the country of
Zaire and its president Mobutu are never explicitly named in the book.
Instead, the narrative focuses on the personal life of Salim, the
novel?s first-person narrator. The book is divided into four parts as
follows.

Continues on here. On the sidebar on the left, click "One Work". Then enter the title of this book in the search field.

From Marlo: here's the link from the group email.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

This month's book.

I found these websites on the Hmong FYI.

http://www.hmongnet.org/
http://occr.ucdavis.edu/html/hmong_websites.html

Update: Adding this link to the NPR report on the Hmong.

More on Walker Percy

wood s lot celebrates Walker Percy's birthday.

On The Moviegoer by Percy Walker

From Shelley:

Thanks to our discussion the other night at the book group meet I decided to find out what existentialism really meant. although I have read a raft of fiction with the subject, I have not studied philosophy in any way. My first step was to look up the word in the dictionary and ....viola! there was the explanation of how I lead my life.... I had never had a definition or an explanation before and I was so happy to finally have a way to define my modus operandi...

What the definition is according to my dictionary (and the way I understand it) is a philosophy that contends that each person is responsible for his/her own choices, feelings, reactions etc and for the meaning....or lack thereof is his/her life, in a world without purpose.

So ....some of the discussion was about whether Binx was an existialist hero. I feel that he was not because he did not take responsibility for anything (in my estimation) but just went through the motions of life. I felt that he eventually did take some responsibility when he married his cousin. I think that my views are not shared by most of the other book group however because several people felt that by marrying Kate he was simply following his Aunts requests and allowing himself to be controlled by her and the old order of the south, in which everyone has a certain role to play. I thought that the Aunt represented the South as it had been but was no longer....all granduer and emply gestures but with a strong hold on those who came into her/its sway.

(ed: Shelley, I edited it a tiny bit. Many thanks for contributing this. )

From Linda

More on Percy Walker. Check it out.

From Marlo

Here's a book list I happened to run into on the Net. (I love the focus on books -- we can get in English -- from other countries.)

Around the World in 80 Books
Summer Reading 2002

This summer, join us for a trip of the imagination with some of these books chosen for your enjoyment by the Wilton Library staff. Unless otherwise noted, books are shelved in fiction under the author's last name.

Europe
Camilleri, Andrea. The Shape of Water. (Sicily, Italy)
De Bernieres, Louis. [Captain] Corelli's Mandolin. (Greece)
Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. (London, England)
Durrell, Lawrence. The Greek Islands. (Greece) [914.958]
Fermor, Patrick Leigh. Between the Woods and the Water. (much of Europe) [914.7]
Gabaldon, Diana. Outlander. (Scotland)
Gainham, Sarah. Night Falls on the City. (Vienna, Austria)
Gill, Bartholomew. Death of a Joyce Scholar. (Ireland) [Mystery]
Hoeg, Peter. Smilla's Sense of Snow. (Denmark)
Isherwood, Christopher. Berlin Stories. (Berlin, Germany)
Leon, Donna. Acqua Alta. (Venice, Italy) [Mystery]
Llewellyn, Richard. How Green Was My Valley. (Wales)
Perez-Reverte, Arturo. Seville Communion. (Spain)
Rankin, Ian. Dead Souls. (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Sagan, Francoise. A Reluctant Hero. (France)
Sienkiewicz, Henryk. With Fire and Sword. (Poland)
Undset, Sigrid. Kristin Lavransdatter. (Norway)
Unsworth, Barry. Umbrian Music. (Italy)
Africa
Bowles, Paul. The Sheltering Sky. (Sahara Desert)
Dinesen, Isak. Out of Africa. (Kenya) [916.7]
Huxley, Elspeth. The Flame Trees of Thika. (Kenya) [916.762]
Keneally, Thomas. To Asmara. (Eritrea)
Kingsolver, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible. (Congo)
Paton, Alan. Cry the Beloved Country. (South Africa)
Rush, Norman. Whites. (Botswana)
Rushby, Kevin. Eating the Flowers of Paradise. (Ethiopia) [916.3]
The Middle East
Kaplan, Robert. The Arabists: Romance of an American Elite. (Middle East) [327.73056]
King, Laurie R. O, Jerusalem. (Jerusalem) [Mystery]
Mahfouz, Nagib. Palace Walk. (Egypt)
Uris, Leon. Exodus. (Middle East, Europe)
Wallach, Janet. Desert Queen: the Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell. (Arabia) [B Bell]
Asia
Buck, Pearl. The Good Earth. (China)
Clavell, James. Tai-Pan. (Hong Kong)
DeMille, Nelson. Up Country. (Vietnam)
Fraser, George MacDonald. Flashman. (Afghanistan)
Gilman, Dorothy. Incident at Badamya. (Burma)
Godden, Rumer. The Peacock Spring. (India)
Golden, Arthur. Memoirs of a Geisha. (Japan)
Harrer, Heinrich. Seven Year in Tibet. (Tibet) [951.3]
Higginbotham, Jay. Fast Train Russia. (Russia) [914.7044853]
Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies. (India)
Mishima, Yukio. The Sound of Waves. (Japan)
Newby, Eric. Slowly Down the Ganges. (India) [915.41]
Pasternak, Boris. Doctor Zhivago. (Russia/Soviet Union)
Oceania/Antarctica
Bryson, Bill. In a Sunburned Country. (Australia) [919.4]
Conway, Jill Ker. The Road from Coorain. (Australia) [B Conway]
Franklin, Miles. My Brilliant Career. (Australia)
Hulme, Keri. The Bone People. (New Zealand)
Marriott, Edward. The Lost Tribe. (New Guinea) [919.53]
Melville, Herman. Typee. (Polynesia)
Shute, Nevil. A Town Like Alice. (Australia)
Wheeler, Sarah. Terra Incognita. (Antarctica) [919.89]
South America
Allende, Isabel. The House of the Spirits. (Chile)
Banks, Vic. The Pantanal. (Brazil) [918.172]
Chatwin, Bruce. In Patagonia. (Patagonia) [918.27]
France, Miranda. Bad Time in Buenos Aires. (Argentina) [918.211]
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. The General in his Labyrinth. (Columbia)
Mueller, Marnie. Green Fires: Assault on Eden. (Ecuador)
Theroux, Paul. Mosquito Coast. (Belize)
Vargas Llosa, Mario. The War of the End of the World. (Brazil)
North America/Caribbean
Berendt, John. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. (Savannah, Georgia) [975.8724]
Burke, James Lee. Heaven's Prisoners. (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Davies, Pete. Storm Country: a Journey Through the Heart of America. (American Heartland) [917.8]
Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. (Mexico)
Evanovich, Janet. One for the Money. (New Jersey)
Guterson, David. Snow Falling on Cedars. (Washington)
Hamill, Pete. Snow in August. (Brooklyn, New York)
Hassler, John. North of Hope. (Minnesota)
Hillerman, Tony. The Fallen Man. (American Southwest) [Mystery]
Innes, Hammond. High Stand. (Klondike)
Jenkins, Peter. Looking for Alaska. (Alaska) [917.98]
Jewett, Sarah Orne. The Country of the Pointed Firs. (Maine)
Kincaid, Jamaica. Annie John. (Antigua)
Kinsella, WP. Box Socials. (Alberta)
Norman, Howard. The Bird Artist. (Newfoundland)
Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. (Jamaica)
Richler, Mordecai. Solomon Gursky Was Here. (Ontario)
Smith, Martin Cruz. Havana Bay. (Cuba)
Waller, Robert James. The Bridges of Madison County. (Iowa)
And finally...
Tyler, Anne. The Accidental Tourist. (Baltimore and beyond from the comfort of an armchair)

Prayer for Animals

Note to Bishop-Elect Smith: We understand that at St.John the Divine back East, dogs receive communion. That even gives us animal lovers pause (no pun intended). Marlo

Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our friends the animals,
especially for animals who are suffering;
for animals that are overworked, underfed and cruelly treated;
for all wistful creatures in captivity that beat their wings against bars;
for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry;
for all that must be put death.
We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity,
and for those who deal with them we ask a heart of compassion
and gentle hands and kindly words.
Make us, ourselves, to be true friends to animals,
and so to share the blessings of the merciful.

-- Albert Schweitzer