I started blogging in July, but I started tracking my reads in January. I've reviewed a few of the books I read pre-blogging, but I wanted to do a summary of this years' reads that I haven't talked about yet. Also, I'm interested in doing my normal breakdown as to gender/fiction/translation. So, here goes! This is January's installment, and since I only read four books, it'll be brief. Total: 4 books 2 fiction 50% 2 nonfiction 50% 2 female authors 50% 1 works in translation 25% Out of Africa, Isak Dineson: One star, aka, I'm ready to send you to prison for writing this. Dear lord I hated this book. First of all, it's a bunch of annoying ramblings from a white European woman managing a coffee plantain in Kenya. I gave up trying to count all the different ways she compared "the native" to various animals. There are parts where the writing is really beautiful, but it just wasn't worth it. Stick with the movie, if you must visit this story: gorgeous scenery, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep. Still from Out of Africa. Credit Bleak House, Charles Dickens: One star. Yes, I hated this, too. I read this for my book club, a collection of lawyers who just had to read Dickens' polemic raging against the Chancery court. I predicted pretty much every plot resolution from the first few pages. Static, two dimensional characters, healthy dose of misogyny, way too many coincidences - blerg. Eat Me, Linda Jaivin: Two stars. Honestly, I'm embarrassed to admit I read this. As a rule, I don't read erotica. A friend, who shall remain nameless, passed this one to me, promising that while the first chapter was rather explicit, the rest didn't rise to that level. That may be so, but I can be a bit of a prude when it comes to my books. It was pretty funny in some places, and I thought it was a nice representation of women taking control of their sexuality. If you are into erotica, this probably isn't a bad choice. Eating the Dinosaur, Chuck Klosterman: Four stars. Have you read Chuck Klosterman? No? You should. His essays are funny and charming. Some are a bit dated, but I don't really care about that. Yeah, he's kind of annoying, and over privileged, but he's got a healthy sense of self awareness, so that takes the edge off.
From the moment the author arrived in Kenya in 1914 to manage a coffee plantation, her heart belonged to Africa. Drawn to the intense colours and ravishing landscapes, she spent her happiest years on the farm. In this title, her experiences and friendships with the people around her are vividly recalled.
Writers Write is a writing resource. In this post, we share photographs of 23 famous authors' homes.
Susan Seddon Boulet [1941-1997] Brazilian-born American painter, was born in Brazil of british parents who had emigrated from South Africa. Ms. Boulet's early childhood was spent on a large citrus and cattle ranch. She loved the connection to nature offered by farm life and enjoyed a rich fantasy life fed by folk tales told her by her father and by the farmworkers.
It's not quite Kenya 2007, but the worrying signs are there.
Our ancestors probably didn’t need nine hours of sleep either
Koos Bekker (born 14 December 1952) is a South African billionaire businessman and the chairman of media group Naspers.
Photographer Chris de Bode teamed up with Farm Africa to tell the story of how owning goats is transforming women’s lives in Ethiopia and Uganda
Cordale farms Self Catering Cottage on a farm in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley of Hermanus, South Africa
Photographer Chris de Bode teamed up with Farm Africa to tell the story of how owning goats is transforming women’s lives in Ethiopia and Uganda
Located in the foothills of Franschhoek's mountains, just an hour’s drive from Cape Town, is a biodiverse farm – Sterrekopje Healing Farm.
In this absorbing interview, Nic Wolpe shares the story of how Liliesleaf Farm became the incubator from which the new South Africa was born.
While slaves in the U.S. could be called upon to perform for their owners forms of entertainment, such as singing and dancing, male slaves also had the arduous task of fighting for the masters. Fights involving bare-knuckles were arranged by the slave owners for their physically imposing slaves on the same farm to determine who...
Illustration of the Final Design Permaculture Design Course Graduates - Summer 2011 - Stelle, IL Context: Grant Shadden took his PDC Training with us – sum ...
The mutant, called 501.V2, was announced in Cape Town last Friday and is believed to behave similarly to Britain's new Covid strain which is already rife throughout the southeast of England.
Crawford College, Sandton is an alternative, independent school in Benmore, Sandton, Gauteng, South Africa. It is the Sandton Campus of the Crawford Schools.
Photographer Chris de Bode teamed up with Farm Africa to tell the story of how owning goats is transforming women’s lives in Ethiopia and Uganda
William and Ellen Craft were born into slavery. William was born in Macon, Georgia to a master who sold off his family to pay his gambling debts. William’s new owner apprenticed him as a carpenter in order to earn money from his labor. Ellen was … Read MoreWilliam and Ellen Craft (1824-1900; 1826-1891)
The votes have been counted! From 250 down to just one, Kim and Matt of Perth have taken out our 2017 Wedding of the Year competition.
Photographer Chris de Bode teamed up with Farm Africa to tell the story of how owning goats is transforming women’s lives in Ethiopia and Uganda
More than one in five children in Africa are employed against their will in quarries, farms and mines. But others work under fairer terms
African tribe of Musgum. Young shepherds. The dark continent; Africa, the landscape and the people. Nation of Cameroon and the Chad. Tribal Costumes.
The movement to unify the four colonies in South Africa proceeded almost as though blacks had no interest in the outcome. The myth of the "white man's country" was given concrete form in the Union of South Africa in 1910, with dire historical consequences.
The magical Kwazulu-Natal Midlands (South-Africa).
The swarms of locusts are the worst outbreak Kenya has seen in some 70 years. A small swarm can get through enough food for 35,000 people in just one day.
131 b/w photos, 11 b/w ills, 16 maps, 9 colour profiles, 5 colour photos, 3 colour ills
As with Nostradamus, it is easy to retrospectively attribute accuracy to symbolic visions after an event has occurred: “Of course this meant…” His 1911 image of a vast thunderstorm breaking over Europe and raining blood isn’t mysterious after August 1914.
Photographer Chris de Bode teamed up with Farm Africa to tell the story of how owning goats is transforming women’s lives in Ethiopia and Uganda
