Pale Fire

Pale Fire

Author: Vladimir Nabokov

ISBN: 978-0-679-72342-4 

Pages: 313

 

 

I have a love/hate relationship going with this book.  It is a novel containing a forward, poem of 4 cantos, commentary and an index.  Upon first picking this up for a paper I was studying, I thought I just had to read the poem.  No, this is more than a poem.  The poem is written by the character, John Shade.  Charles Kinbote writes the introduction and the commentary.  The commentary is about a norhtern land of Zembla and the Zembla king...  This has little to do with the poem but Charles manages to make the poem out to be about his own story of his land.  It is quite a novel, full of puzzlement.  You have little idea of what is really going on until the final pages.  Yet, you are still left wondering what is really true. 

 

Valdimir Nabokov wrote a very interesting novel here.  I was quite happy to just read the poem.  I love poetry and really enjoyed reading it.  That is why reading the rest of the novel just confused the enjoyment I got from the poem.  There is not even a hard and fast way in which this needs to be read.  You can read the poem first, or the commentary, or read from the introduction to the end.  It's all up to the reader.  Very interesting style of writing.

 

I have to say though that by the end of all the reading, I actually enjoyed it.  I went from hating it to having an appreciation for the story and the writing.  It was unlike anything I have ever read.  Give it try and see what you think. 

 

This was available from: Book depository, Fishpond and Amazon

 

http://www.bookdepository.com/Pale-Fire-Vladimir-Vladimirovich-Nabakov/9780679723424

 

http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Pale-Fire-Vladimir-Vladimirovich-Nabakov/9780679723424

 

http://www.amazon.com/Pale-Fire-Vladimir-Nabokov/dp/0679723420/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411276005&sr=8-1&keywords=pale+fire

 

 



The books of elsewhere - The shadows

 

The books of elsewhere - The Shadows
Author: Jacqueline West
ISBN: 978-0-14-214872-7
Pages: 241

Olive moves house to a old house on Linden Street that feels strange and weird.  When Olive discovers an old pair of glasses and puts them on she finds she can climb inside the paintings to Elsewhere, a sinsiter world with strange secrets which Olive soon finds herself trying to escape from. 

 

This book is full of suspense.  For a childrens book I found it very well written, giving full credit and praise to the author for imagination and plot.  It was unlike any other childrens story I have read and I found I struggled to put it down in places.  The Shadows is the first book in the series and I think I will read the others.  My daughter wanted me to read this as it is one of her favourite series and now authors too.  I can what has caught her attention.  There are talking cats, adventure, suspense and a battle between good and evil.  All the things a young reader wants in a novel today.

This was available from: Fishpond, Book depository and Amazon

http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Shadows-Jacqueline-West-Poly-Bernatene/9780142418727

http://www.bookdepository.com/Shadows-Jacqueline-West/9780142418727

 http://www.amazon.com/The-Shadows-Books-Elsewhere-Vol/dp/0142418722/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1411001391&sr=8-5&keywords=jacqueline+west
 

Assassins in the Cathedral

 

Assassins in the Cathedral

Author:Dave & Neta Jackson

Yacabo is thrilled to write a play about Uganda's first Christian martyrs for the cathedral's Centennial, but terror strikes when Archbishop Luwun is killed by assassins and Festo Kevenger, the famous Ugandan evangelist, is forced to flee the country. 

 

As Yacabo writes his play, Uganda's leader takes more control over Uganda.  Anyone who expresses a difference to his ruling dissappears.  Yacabo's family comes under this threat which soon becomes reality as his younger brother is taken.  This is a very heart touching story.  There are moments of disbelieve as the past reality is brought to life in this book.

 

This was available from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=assassins%20in%20the%20cathedral

International Literacy Day!

What are you doing for International Literacy Day? 

We are curling up on the couches with books and reading both aloud and silently.  Then we will eat, drink and curl back up with a book.  When the inspiration hits we will get our writing brains in action and write. 

Hope you find time to enjoy it!