Saturday 14 June 2014

Weekly Update 14 June

I don't know if it is because Friday was both the full moon and Friday the 13th but
I just stopped reading for a couple of days. In reading my last post I think in hindsight I was just a bit burned out. Last night I found myself watching an old Steve Martin movie The Lonely Guy instead of reading.  I had not seen it before, it was completely silly and not the type of movie I am usually drawn to but I laughed throughout. It has a happy ending which is what I needed. I just needed some down brain time I think.
Just for fun. 
I finished my allotted chapters of Moby Dick. I think it was stressing me out how I would review this book.  There is so much in it and it is absolutely outside of my expertise to appropriately review everything in this book. I will instead offer this wonderful review from Roof Beam Reader.  It is his blog that is hosting the Moby Dick Readalong and the insights he has into this book are wonderful.  I could not improve upon it and reading the review really helps in reading the book.

We are up to Chapter 38 this week and although there are parts where I really must concentrate and reread bits I am continuing to enjoy this 'whale' of a book. (Sorry, couldn't help myself.) So I suggest you read his review if this book interests you.  I can read what he says and certainly see all of what he says in my own reading so I am getting what I wanted from this book. I just don't want to try to express all of what he says about the book myself. I don't think I would do the book justice.

I am just awed by the fact Herman Melville sat down at a table with a pen and paper and wrote this book. It is really wonderful. The fact he never got recognition for his writing in his own lifetime is truly heartbreaking.

Another blog I follow, A Moleskin Reader displayed a wonderful literature map which I have borrowed from him to put here.  I really got sidetracked adding names to this wonderful little tool of the internet. Do have a look at it because it is good fun. It is interesting, when I put my favourite author's name, John Steinbeck into it,  the authors names who came up really are ones I have been attracted to. Will definitely spend more time with it.  The names closest to Steinbeck's name are those authors who are most similar to him.

This week has only seen me working my way through Moby Dick, the Australian Book Review magazine and the literature course I'm doing on line at Sheffield University (see last post).  I have to get rid of the expectations I have in my head of reading more numbers of books. I need to  focus on the quality of the ones I do read.

I have been arguing with my inner self about whether to keep on blogging or not and then I realised how silly I am being in thinking I must read and blog about more books each week.  I had to ask myself who on earth am I doing this for? Myself? or the Phantom Readers I think may read this out there....wherever out there is. So I sorted that out quite quick smart in my own ditzy head.

Today there is a big rally at noon down at Parliament Lawns in Hobart. Although this blog is not political in anyway this is something I do feel strongly about.  Tasmania has pristine wilderness forests that have not been touched. The forests are old, large and filled with native animals that live only in this state worldwide.  The forests are heritage listed internationally and people come from all over the world to see them because they still exist unlike many countries that cleared their forests long ago.
Our government in all their idiocy have determined they want the international heritage organisation to delist the heritage listing of them so they can be mined and logged.  You can imagine how people feel about this. The short sighted forestry workers want to bulldoze them and the rest of the world wants to save them.  It is looking like it may not happen because fortunately the international community is a bit smarter than the local politicians but it is still a possibility. The decision is going to be made soon.  Maybe this whole scenario is what is giving me a crabby mind this week because I certainly feel it.

I will certainly be attending this rally and hopefully the streets will overflow with people who will be there.

Then perhaps I'll come home, curl up on this rainy day and continue with the next allotment of chapters for Moby Dick or maybe I'll read something absolutely fluffy for the weekend and get back to Moby on Monday.  I need to catch up with my lessons too with the Country Homes of England and Literature.  But for now I need to concentrate on the forests of Tasmania and all the animals that live inside these wonderful castles of nature.

10 comments:

  1. I hope that the rally was very well attended!

    And as one of your readers, I am also hoping that you will continue to blog - about books, cats, bikes, whatever takes your fancy.

    I have never read Moby-Dick, it's one of the books that intimidates me (I've been mocked for saying that, but I don't mind admitting it).

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    1. Thanks Lisa for your comment. Moby Dick is intimidating but I don't as much so as Ulysses. ha ha That one scares me. The rally had over 5000 people there. It was massive and really good. I'm glad I went. The liberals are already telling us that "the greens have the wrong information" The rally today wasn't about any political party. It was about Tasmania and Australia and if they can't see that then they're blinder than I thought. I'll be very surprised if the heritage wilderness is delisted. It's only been done once before in a 3rd world country for Tanzania in Africa because of economic considerations for a starving population and then they did a swap in land and listed something else and changed it around. The decision is made towards the end of next week so stay tuned.

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  2. I hope you blog for yourself - because it is YOU we readers want to read about. Never feel obligated, but know that there are people out here who like you, find you interesting, and want to get to know you better through your blog.

    I wish I could be / could have been at the rally. We're no better in the U.S. We mine and log and build roads in protected areas. We round up and stockpile wild horses that are federally protected just so ranchers can graze their cattle on public lands for less than $20.00 per steer per year.

    We as a species are so stupid. People natter on about 'for the children, for the children', but the children don't need another soccer field or more computers. They need a natural world as pristine as possible, clean water and clean air, which you can't have without trees and plants to purify them. We definitely need to learn to live and let live with other species and to respect them and leave their habitat alone. I think the world would be much better off if all the people disappeared, sucked off the earth by aliens!

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    1. Hi Joan, I have often said I'd gladly turn the planet over to the animals of the world and get rid of all the humans. It is important to still stay positive though. Though that is hard at time. We had over 5000 people at the rally today and it went very well. The decision to delist the wilderness international heritage area will be end of next week. I am feeling hopeful because there are 4 criteria to get world heritage listing in the first place and most places that got it only meet one criteria. We met all four criteria when it was listed a couple of years ago. The committee is linked to the United Nations and it would be most embarrassing for Australia to want to delist world heritage forest for logging. Fingers crossed and thanks for your other nice words. I grew up in Michigan and lived in the U.S.A for almost 40 years before we moved to
      Australia 26 years ago so I am familiar with what they have done there too. It's the whole world of greed but we do what we can.

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    2. Good luck with your efforts. I'll hope for good news.

      I knew you lived in the U.S. and ended up on the other side of the world. I'd love to hear how that happened!

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  3. If you write me at psbparks at ymail dot com I'd be happy to tell you. Hope your weekend is going well.

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  4. I'm so far behind with Moby-Dick now :S Hoping I catch up this week!

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    1. Some chapters are quite tedious but then the action begins and I pick up and go. Kind of like the waves in the ocean. You hit some quiet swells and then a big comes along and carries you through it. :-)

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  5. I'm so glad the rally went well.

    I'm sure you see from my blog comments lately that I completely sympathise with your blogging apathy. I think the key simply comes from laying the pressure off we put (crazily) on ourselves. As you say, who are we doing this for at the end of the day?! Just enjoy it AND I love your blog so please don't stop! ;)

    I have to thank you for filling up a good hour of a Saturday afternoon for the boyfriend and I with this literature map! We're seeing how obscure we can go.....

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  6. Your comment is here. It has to come to moderation before it goes up. I've been getting a lot of spam lately. I'm glad you liked the literature map. It is a lot of fun. I took it off someone's else's blog. Nice to share things around. Thanks for your nice comments. Hope your weekend is going well.

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