|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
Have you come across a piece of creative writing (probably a novel) that you think others may enjoy? Please share the ideas here in an ongoing thread designed to welcome contributions over time, as the inclination suggests. The idea is that this will be based on current reading rather than “my favourite novels” – my feeling was part of the interest would be in prompting a discussion about what different people are reading at the moment.
The criterion for entry is a recommendation of some piece of creative writing encountered that (in the view of the entrant) is particularly enjoyable, technically unusual or otherwise commanding of more than usual respect and notice.
Please include
1 Full title, author & publisher info
2 A brief reason why it moves or interests you
3 A brief sample of the style of writing
4 Web links if available or appropriate (but don’t make a chore for yourself!)
I would also suggest we cut to a side bar with the novel’s title for discussions on particular topics that may arise, rather than let them carve their meandering passages through these hills. We can cross-refer to keep easier track, whilst still keeping this thread of more potential interest to newcomers, if that makes sense to folks.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
Girl With A Pearl Earring
A novel by Tracy Chevalier
HarperCollins, ISBN 0 00 651320 4
GWAPE appeared a couple of years back. It is a fictional construction based around a portrait of a young girl painted by Vermeer – it is narrated in the first person in a delightful pellucid prose that hides much artfulness. The contents include lots of evocative detail of a 17th century Dutch painter’s domestic and studio circumstances; but is a compelling personal story even if you know nothing and care little for this school of painting. Tracy’s themes include personal worth and social duties, love and aspiration, and the growth of character. She builds the novel, just like Griet’s description of the master’s painting, in a series of increasingly definitive steps that though tiny in themselves, build into a radiant and atmospheric picture that is very satisfying.
’I see you have separated the whites,’ he said, indicating the turnips and the onions. ‘And then the orange and the purple, they do not sit together. Why is that?’ He picked up a shred of cabbage and a piece of carrot and shook them like dice in his hand.
I looked at my mother, who nodded slightly.
‘The colours fight when they are side by side, sir.’
He arched his eyebrows, as if he had not expected such a response. ‘And do you spend much time setting out the vegetables before you make the soup?’
‘Oh no, sir,’ I replied, confused. I did not want him to think I was idle.
From the corner of my eye I saw a movement. My sister, Agnes, was peering round the doorpost and had shaken her head at my response. I did not often lie. I looked down.
The man turned his head slightly and Agnes disappeared. He dropped the pieces of carrot and cabbage into their slices. The cabbage shred fell partly into the onions. I wanted to reach over and tease it into place. I did not, but he knew that I wanted to. He was testing me.
edit 8th Feb 02 brought back into sight re Milum's review
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544 |
mav - I too enjoyed this book quite a bit. In fact, my whole household (at least the 4 adults) has read and enjoyed it. My housemate made the interesting observation that the protagonist is not really very likeable, but one is still very compelled to follow her progress through the story.
Although I did enjoy it, I also felt that the excerpt you gave, which appears at the very beginning, was the best single part of the book.
As to my contribution to this thread - although it's not fiction, I'd like to put in a plug for the book I'm reading. Its info:
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
by Simon Singh
Anchor Books, 1999
ISBN 0 385 49532 3
I've always had an interest in cryptography, as it seems to call on its practitioners to invent new languages and decrypt new languages invented by others. Singh covers very early codes, such as those used by Julius Caesar, goes on through the role of codes and codebreaking in the death of Mary, Queen of Scots, covers the complexities of the WWII German Enigma codes with great clarity, and (although I haven't finished the book) promises to cover modern computer encryption technology. He talks about the personalities involved in this field as well as the intricacies of creating and breaking codes. There's even a long, fascinating digression into the decypherment of hieroglyphics and Linear B, which I'm in the middle of now.
For those that find code-making and -breaking intriguing and are interested in a good broad survey that helps one understand an issue that is, perforce, a tricky one, this is a great find. I echo an excerpt from the Seattle Weekly's review "A good read that, bless it, makes the reader feel a bit smarter when it's done."
[/effusive promotion]
p.s. I had to share that Ænigma proposed, for the B in Linear B, Babbage, who is credited with first breaking the very difficult Vigenére cypher, as well as inventing a little toy known as the Difference Engine, first precursor to the cursed machine you're staring at right now. Perhaps Ænigma knows more than we think?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
GWAPE appeared a couple of years back. It is a fictional construction based around a portrait of a young girl...
Was her name Ruth?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609 |
I second Hyla's nomination of The Code Book. It also has exercises in breaking examples of the codes from Caesar to RSA public key, which had a prize for the first to break all 10 (which has gone now). There is a similar book by the same author, The Science of Secrecy, but this is a watered down version of the same material published to cover the TV program based on the original book. Colleagues who have read this have been disappointed but your mileage may vary.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anonymous
Unregistered
|
|
Anonymous
Unregistered
|
I read _The Girl With the Pearl Earring_ this morning, and found it a *terrific* read. Mav, your description was spot on. The only thing I *didn't like about it was the ending... and then not because of the content but just for the mere fact that it had the audacity to *end when I was so thoroughly enjoying it. Hyla, I couldn't fail to agree with your housemate(s) more ... I found the protagonist to be exceedingly likeable, particularly considering the situation from which her character emerged. She followed her heart, for better or for worse. She *lived, refusing to hide behind convention. To each his own, I suppose, but I'm guessing she never looked back and wished she hadn't taken risks... and she also didn't have to spend the rest of her days wondering what might've been.
Thanks for the recommendation, Mav
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
I'm reading it too (I heard about it on a radio 4 book prgramme) but first I lent it to a friend (who reads approximately ten times quicker than me) - she loved it, so I packed in my travel bag for my next airport delay. all my travels seem to involve delays at airports
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anonymous
Unregistered
|
|
Anonymous
Unregistered
|
hi folks ~ sorry to dig up an old thread, but i wanted to share an excerpt from a novel which i just started reading... i thought it was so beautiful that perhaps you guys might enjoy it: (describing the mountains in a fictional part of south america:)For the first seven thousand feet it is the Garden of Eden, a luxuriance of orchids, hummingbirds, and tiny streams of delicious water that run by miracle alongside every path. Above this height for three or four thousand feet is a world of rock and water draped like hanging gardens with alien lunar plants in shades of brown and red and yellow with a habit so curious and enchanted as to be found in books of legend and romance. Above this is the Venusian world of ice, of sudden reckless mists of palpable water, of lichen and trickling springs of fragmenting shale and glistening white peaks, where human realities become remote and ridiculous, where the sky is actually below you and inside you, where breathing is an accomplishment in itself, and where condors, inconceivably ponderous and gigantic, wheel on the upcurrents like lords of a different and fantastic universe.from _The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts_, by Louis de Bernieres ©1990 Vintage Int'l ISBN 0-375-70013-7T~ arrrgggghhhh my first post in MONTHS and i managed to get caught online.... sorry honey  my timing bites.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
I'm reading The Girl With a Pearl Earring now. I'm certainly intrigued enough to want to know more about Vermeer's life and household.
Bingley
Bingley
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
I forgot to say. I did read it on holiday. I always find that books I've read on holiday are always remembered with the warm glow of the associated sunshine.
I quite agree with Maverick's description, I love the way that the story is made up of so many tiny steps. I always disagree with a friend who would have liked to have lived in an earlier age. I always identify more with the person who had to scrub the grate or who suffered the agony of pre-anaesthetic childbirth, than a high society hostess or wolrd leader. It reminds me of the tragedy behind the untold stories on the walls of our art galleries. I wish that a world of religious mistrust and misunderstanding was part of our history not our present. I wish that child labour was in our past not our present.
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,386
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
790
guests, and
3
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
