Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee

Disgrace is a novel by J. M. Coetzee, published in 1999. It won the Booker Prize. The writer was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature four years after its publication.

David Lurie is a South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his good looks, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect his own daughter. …

His “disgrace” comes when he almost forcibly seduces one of his more vulnerable students which is thereafter revealed to the school and a committee is convened to pass judgement on his actions. David refuses to apologize in any sincere form and so is forced to resign from his post. …

… he takes refuge on his daughter’s farm in the Eastern Cape. For a time, his daughter’s influence and natural rhythms of the farm promise to harmonise his discordant life. But the balance of power in the country is shifting. Shortly after becoming comfortable with rural life, he is forced to come to terms with the aftermath of an attack on the farm in which his daughter is raped and impregnated and he is violently assaulted. …

disgrace

Dark.

Thought provoking.

Very well written.

Fast paced, succinct and compelling to read.

I wouldn’t recommend you read it, however. Pick a more uplifting book.

The Power of One, perhaps.

related – The film Disgrace, starring John Malkovich as the professor, premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was awarded the Prize of the International Critics.

Roger Ebert on travel

I came across a statistic the other day that claimed only about ten percent of Americans have traveled outside their country. There is no reason for this. The recession is not an explanation …

… I count among my friends the most-traveled man in history, Paul Theroux. Not only has he written many wonderful novels and short stories, but a shelf of travel books. …

He is the most widely-read man I know, and he suffers my company because I have heard of Mrs. Gaskell and Oliver Onions, and I share his opinion that for a book to read on a journey, nobody beats Simenon.

I told him one quiet afternoon that with his eyes he had seen more of the surface of the earth at ground level than any other man had, and any other man ever would. He said he had never thought of it that way. …

Has travel broadened him? He says not. He is rather notorious for having written, “Extensive traveling induces a feeling of encapsulation; and travel, so broadening at first, contracts the mind.” …

Why then, does Theroux travel? “The greatest justification for travel,” he wrote in Dark Star Safari, “is not self-improvement but rather performing a vanishing act, disappearing without a trace. …

A slow boat to anywhere (2009)

I rather doubt that Theroux, one of my favourite writers, is the most traveled man. But he’s up there.

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Life of Pi

Great book.

And a remarkably skillful film adaption by Ang Lee.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave Life of Pi 4 out of 4 stars, referring to it as “a miraculous achievement of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery” as well as “one of the best films of the year.” He particularly praised the film’s use of 3D that he described as “deepen[ing] the film’s sense of places and events.”

I was enthralled the entire time. The CGI didn’t bother me even once.

Hoping to see it again, but next time in 3D. 🙂

your life story in print – $1350

Anne Farries will interview you — or more likely one of your parents or grandparents — and write up a biography. And print 6 copies.

Great idea. 🙂

confidentialinquiries (a) farriesbiographies.ca
1-855-756-9185

Details on her new website – FarriesBiographies.ca

Farries

I see she’s already got the cover photo for my own life story. 🙂

the truth about Jessica Lynch

In war, truth is the first casualty.

Aeschylus

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Jessica Lynch (born April 26, 1983) is a former United States Army soldier who served in Iraq during the 2003 invasion by U.S. and allied forces.

On March 23, 2003, Private First Class Lynch was serving as a unit supply specialist with the 507th Maintenance Company when her convoy was ambushed by Iraqi forces during the Battle of Nasiriyah. …

… Actually, she was in a convoy of cooks and mechanics who got lost driving at night, sadly driving right into the heart of Iraqi controlled Nasiriyah. By accident.

Many were killed unnecessarily. Her friend, Lori Piestewa, leading the convoy was one of them.

Lynch was seriously injured and captured. Her subsequent recovery by U.S. Special Operations Forces on April 1, 2003 received considerable media coverage and was the first successful rescue of an American prisoner of war since Vietnam and the first ever of a woman.

Of course the rescue wouldn’t have been necessary if a U.S. convoy could read a map. Follow the GPS.

Bush press aid Jim Wilkinson was blamed for spinning and exaggerating the story. Later he was cleared of most of the blame for headlines like this.

Lynch kept firing until she ran out of ammo

lynch_headline_post

The media, quick to accept unsubstantiated reports, are more to blame.

… On April 24, 2007, she testified in front of Congress that she had never fired her weapon; her M16 rifle jammed, and that she had been knocked unconscious when her vehicle crashed. Lynch has been outspoken in her criticism of the original stories reported regarding her combat experience. When asked about her heroine status, she stated “That wasn’t me. I’m not about to take credit for something I didn’t do… I’m just a survivor.” …

I believe she’s a teacher now. And a Mom.

Don’t trust politicians. Especially in times of war. Especially this guy.

Bush catapulg

Catapult the propoganda. (VIDEO)

In war, casualties are the second casualty.

related – I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story

Krakauer – Pat Tillman and American Wars

Tillman500Pat Tillman, a free-thinking, hard-hitting safety for the Arizona Cardinals, walked away from a multimillion-dollar contract after 9/11 to enlist in the Army.

He joined an elite unit, the Rangers, and was killed on April 22, 2004, in a canyon in eastern Afghanistan.

The story did not end there: Tillman’s commanders and possibly officials in the Bush administration suppressed that he had been killed accidentally by his own comrades. They publicly lionized Tillman as a hero who died fighting the enemy and fed the phony account even to Tillman’s grieving family. The sordid truth, or most of it, came out later.

The best-selling author Jon Krakauer … told the full story in “Where Men Win Glory.” …

read more in the NY Times review by Dexter Filkins, author of “The Forever War.”

I read everything Krakauer writes. An odd guy, he’s one of our best living writers.

Why did Krakauer pick Tillman?

PAT TILLMAN

The story is symbolic of the disaster of the USA invading the Middle East.

What did cost?

What did the American people gain from invading Iraq and Afghanistan?

It’s unlikely the USA will ever again have enough money to engage in a war that ineffective.

I recommend the book. Especially for any young people considering joining any Military.

krakauerbook_custom-700b33c5da722664913b3d904872131ffb20f7bb-s6-c10

Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman

related:

Pat’s brother Kevin wrote an anti-war essay titled Revisiting ‘After Pat’s Birthday

Pat’s Mom Mary TillmanBoots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman

Pat’s wife Marie Tillman – The Letter: My Journey Through Love, Loss, and Life

whither Lonely Planet?

I’m gone again

MARCH
14-15 – London, England
18-22 – Nigeria
23-30 – Senegal

APRIL
1-17 – South Africa (holiday)
6-10 – Otter Trail
18-21 – NCAA WAG Championships, Los Angeles

3596-Southern_Africa_Travel_Guide_LargeI’m traveling with Lonely Planet South Africa. The book, not the downloadable PDF chapters.

… Up until 2008, the guidebook industry had few signs that the bottom would soon fall out of their business. Sure, website usage was up — both on some of their own sites and digital-only competitors — and user-generated sites like TripAdvisor were eating some of their cake, but sales were solid.

In 2007, combined U.S. sales from the big five travel publishers that represent over 80% of the market (Frommer’s, Dorling Kindersley, Lonely Planet, Fodor’s, and Avalon’s Moon/Rick Steves) were just over $125 million, according to Stephen Mesquita’s “World Travel Guides Market” report for Nielsen BookScan. The following five years were tough, to say the least: By 2012 combined sales had dropped nearly 40% to $78 million. …

gb-revenues

Lonely Planet and the rapid decline of the printed guidebook

Exclusive: BBC selling Lonely Planet to Kentucky cigarette billionaire Brad Kelley:

… What Kelley and his team plans to do with Lonely Planet is confounding insiders — including the irony that a historically environmentally forward-thinking brand like LP will now be owned by someone who made a fortune with cigarettes and now is a land-buying environmental conservationist.

Who knows?

I’m a lot more excited about Google buying Frommer’s for $23 million.

Mike Sissons artwork

My old friend is an artist and art teacher.

Right now he’s working on art for a new book called In Retrospect by Ellen Larson.

… In the year 3324 the Rasakans have attacked the technologically superior Oku. The war is a stalemate until the Oku commander, General Zane, abruptly surrenders. …

ellen_cover

Actually, that’s just the working cover.

Final art and animation are still in the works.

Sissons

Ellen’s trying to get the writing funded through Kickstarter – $3000 goal.

happy with Audible.com

Letting my credit card expire without explanation led to problems.

Audible.com cancelled my plan, keeping the book credits I had paid for.

After ranting about it on this site, their social media support team got back to me. Restored my credits. And did not try to strong arm me into rejoining.

Good service.

THANKS Andrew R.

Audible-free-audiobook

Audible, owned by Amazon, does not have enough competition, however. And audio books are still priced too high.

Here’s the original post:

Dear Rick McCharles,

We have some unfortunate news. We’ve tried several times to renew your AudibleListener Gold membership plan and have been unable to process the charge with the credit card information we have on file. As a result, we’ve had to cancel your membership.

We find that these automatic cancellations are often unintentional, so we’d like to help you restore your membership. In fact, if you call within the next 14 days we can also restore up to four unused credits.

Please contact us and we’ll gladly assist you:

Sincerely,

The Audible Team

_____

So …, I neglected to update my credit card. NOW they’re taking away my PAID book credits.

Here’s my response:

What?

Why are you taking away my credits?

My Audible account has been inactive since I’ve not gotten around to updating my credit card. But my Amazon account is active.

I thought they were now one and the same.

This seems a SCAM to keep credits I’ve paid for. … Am I wrong on that?

I want to keep my credits. And will update my credit card information to do so.

But I’m too busy right now to listen to new books. That’s why I was quite happy to take a break from keeping my credits.

How can I update credit card without starting up monthly payments?

Hey. I’m quite comfortable with Bittorrent.

If you’re going to take away credits from paying customers, no problem. There are less expensive alternatives.

Let me know.

Rick

_____ After some delay in email response, I got this very friendly message:

There seems to have been a misunderstanding here, and we want to make it right. We value your business tremendously and appreciate your loyalty as an Audible Listener.

We’d like to restore your membership and the credits on your account. Please email us at social-support@audible.com so that we can update the billing information on your account.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Have a great day.

Andrew R, Customer Care Specialist
Audible.com

writer Peter Matthiessen

Peter Matthiessen (born May 22, 1927, in New York City) is a three-time National Book Award-winning American novelist and non-fiction writer, as well as an environmental activist.

His nonfiction has featured nature and travel, as in The Snow Leopard (1978), or American Indian issues and history, as in his detailed study of the Leonard Peltier case, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (1983). …

Matthiessen received the National Book Award for Fiction in November 2008, at age 81, for Shadow Country, an 890-page revision of three novels set in frontier Florida that were published in the 1990s. For The Snow Leopard he won the 1979 Award in category Contemporary Thought and the 1980 Award in category Nonfiction …

You might only know him for At Play in the Fields of the Lord.

I’m rereading Killing Mr. Watson, part of the Shadow series.

cover

… ”Killing Mister Watson” is Peter Matthiessen’s sixth and most impressive novel, a fiction in the tradition of Joseph Conrad, as fiercely incisive as the work of Sinclair Lewis, a virtuoso performance that powerfully indicts the heedlessness and hidden criminality that are part and parcel of America’s devotion to the pursuit of wealth, to its cult of financial success.

The book is based on the historical Edgar J. Watson (1855-1910), a hard-working, ill-educated, jolly and jingoistic American farmer and entrepreneur who lived on the western coast of the Florida Everglades roughly a hundred years ago. He talked drunkenly now and then of having killed 57 men, but was arraigned just once …

NY Times

tombstone

I can’t think of a better living writer than Matthiessen.