Mama Namibia by Mari Serebrov /Friday 56 and Book Beginnings

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"Most of them have been in South West Africa for years. Some of them stayed after their army service ended, many of the younger ones were born here. A group of women, Herero prisoners, are washing clothes for the soldiers. Some of the women are fully clothed in long cotton dresses, the others, covered from head to foot in some kind of reddish paste, are in what must be their traditional dress. Leather aprons hang from their waist in both the front and back. Except for an assortment of beads, their chests are bare. ..Beaded hide bands or copper rings encase their wrists and ankles. Altogether, their dress is both regal and curious."http://www.fredasvoice.com/2014/05/the-friday-56.html

Mama Namibia

JAHOHORA

FIRST DAY

"I wave at the morning sun peeping over the mountains....I run to the kraal to help her get sour milk. Mama's belly is big with a baby so she walks slowly. Her bangles and iron beads make music when she walks. I want bangles. But I have to wait until I'm a woman. I have beads on my skirt. And in my hair. They don't make music like Mama's beads." http://www.rosecityreader.com/

Wondrous Words

http://bermudaonion.wordpress.com

Define Actaeon at Dictionary.com. Actaeon. Actaeon. a hunter who, for having seen Diana bathing, was changed by her into a stag and was torn to pieces by his own hounds.

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Your bloodhounds bay at the copper

creek, your velvet cape’s aloft

in the chiaroscuro breeze, you’re near, nearer,   

hieing, heying, I’m falling, failing,

gashed, gutted, kneed-up,

muddy and galled—call me

Actaeon...." Poem by Jonathan Galassi  (Poetry Foundation)

Cat Thursday

For this one maybe his face isn't as funny as what he is saying. 

First Chapter First Paragraph

http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com

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"Leah Raber sank wearily onto the porch swing, causing the chains to jangle. She leaned her head back, closed her eyes, and imagined herself free-her skirt and apron flung carelessly over the branches of a prickly mulberry, her legs running to the pond, her hair blowing behind her as she leapt into cool, deep waters. She could almost feel the splash as she plunged into the secret world of water and swam among the fronds of the dark pond bottom, the silky liquid sliding against her arms and legs as her feet kicked out, over and over."

Teaser Tuesday

http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com

He sips his wine before continuing. "The key to conquering seasickness is learning the rhythm of the waves. Once you have mastered that rhythm, you'll be fine. I also suggest you take some ropes to tie yourself in bed, in case you run into a storm."

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

http://www.bookjourney.wordpress.com

I finished The Frangipani Hotel by Violet Kupersmith. Now I'm reading Mama Namibia  by Mari Serebrov for Great African Reads on Goodreads.  Also have started The Miting byDee Yoder.

Book Beginnings

Leah Raber sank wearily onto the porch swing, causing the chains to jangle. She leaned her head back, closed her eyes, and imagined herself free--her skirt and apron flung carelessly over the branches of a prickly mulberry, her legs running...."

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I loved and finished Casting The Net by Pam Rhodes.   http://bookjourney.wordpress.com

I'm nearly finished The Frangipani Hotel by Violet Kupersmith. It really gives a taste of postwar Vietnam and the people, in this case the characters. It's short stories.

I've started Jaspar's War by Cym Lowell. It reads like a movie adventure. At the moment I'm running through the streets of Rome dressed as a nun. This woman's two children have been kidnapped. At almost the same time, she gets news that her husband has been killed in a plane crash. She's determined to find her children.

Still dying to get to The Returned by Jason Mott and I want to read The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Well, I have a long list like all book bloggers of what I'm dying to read. Won't bore you with a long list.:)

Plus, I have two more review books.

The Frangipani Hotel by Violet Kupersmith

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"HER DAYS were measured in banh mi now. The taste of them haunted her every hour of the day, a thousand times worse than any imagined sandwich she had concocted in her head. After spending the lunch hour rearranging the rice in her bowl with her chopsticks, Thuy would retire to the balcony with Kieu, feigning sleepiness while her stomach gurgled in anticipation...Then, when she was certain that Kieu was asleep, she would free herself and disappear into the winding Saigon alleyways, where her feet and her empty stomach led her to where the sandwich vendor was always waiting."http://battleofthebanhmi.com/

These are short stories that take place somewhere in Vietnam. Each story is very different from the one before it. (NetGalley) http://www.bethfishreads.com/

Wordless Wednesday

http://www.create-with-joy.com/

First Chapter First Paragraph

"Most of the time he just looked down at his boots, counting each dogged step as he paced, becoming more rugged, with unexpected outcrops of sharp rock, and cambers on the scrubland that could easily dislodge his footing or twist an ankle. The straps on his rucksack were starting to chafe his shoulders through his cotton T-shirt, and he could feel a sticky trickle of sweat coursing down his back, even though he'd stripped off his jacket and tied it round his waist a mile down the hill. The sun rose steadily in the sky towards the height of the day."http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com

Canyon by Brenda Jackson

"That's why I need to ask you some pertinent questions. Someone is trying to scare you and I need to know why and who."http://www.shouldbereading.wordpress.com

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

http://www.bookjourney.wordpress.com

 I finished Lights Over Emerald Creek by Shelley Davidow. Now I'm reading The Frangipani Hotel by Violet Kupersmith. These are short stories about Vietnamese experience. I am also reading Casting the Net by Pam Rhodes. I am really excited about this one. Still reading Derek Walcott's The Prodigal, a wonderful poem.

Wanted to start The Returned by Jason Mott. Didn't get to it. So upset with myself because I know it's good.

Lights Over Emerald Creek by S. Davidow ? NetGalley

Emerald Creek, North Queensland, Australia

"At sixteen, Lucy believed she was a pragmatic realist, but what she'd seen twenty four hours ago seemed to defy all logic. It was so inexplicable that it had made the difference between wanting to die, and wanting to live."http://www.rosereader.blogspot.com

"Behind the dune, the landscape was hazy. Intermittently, she thought she saw lights flicker briefly beyond the dense fog."
 http://www.fredasvoice.com

First Chapter First Paragraph

"I can hear the air going in and out of my brother's nose. I am awake. He is two years old and almost three and he bugs me lots of times because I am five years old and soon I will be six but it is warm sleeping next to him. I call him Stick. He always falls asleep before me and I listen to the air of his nose. I can hear my parents' voices. They are farther away than I can reach and whispering because they think I can't hear. I let out a squeak to let Momma know I am awake and she says "We're right here" from too far away. I squeak again and the tent zipper undoes and I can see the sky in the crack. Her cool hand brushes my hair back and her fingers touch my cheek. "Shh, Anna," she says and the sky zips away again. When I am inside a tent the outside is far away."http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com

Teaser Tuesday

"I scoop my hands in the water a lot of times but I can't turn the canoe around. I don't know what to do and worry that I am bad again. I look at the canoe and think what Momma said that a canoe is the same pointy on both sides. I need to climb around to where the back is pointing and I can go that way. Only it will be hard not to be tipsy. I put my hands on the sides of the canoe and move my feet."http://www.shouldbereading.wordpress.com

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I finished reading The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley.

I've started The Bear by Claire Cameron.

I want to start The Returned by Jason Mott.

Friday 56

"Yet she knew she was right. It was fear of falling short. Of not knowing if a person lived right enough or obeyed the rules enough or did enough kind works and deeds to get into heaven. According to the Ordnung, no one could know their eternal destination until death, so although death should be a happy homecoming for the good Amish person, it was instead a time of dread andand fear.""http://fredasvoice.com

"Claire's garden had a fairy-tale look to it, bordered as it was by the tall trees of the Wild Wood. Whatever grew here grew in shade. A trailing vine heaped tiny buds of honey suckle all along the waist-high wall of stone built in the tight-fitted herring waist-high wall of stone....Cornwall, and the back of the garden was lush with soft ferns and tall spikes of something that looked darkly tropical. Yet, in defiance of the shadows, Claire had set a sundial squarely at the centre of her garden in the one place where the sunlight always reached, and with a ring of upturned earth around it, ready to be planted."http://fredasvoice.com

"Yet she knew she was right. It was fear of falling short. Of not knowing if a person lived right enough or obeyed the rules enough or did enough kind works and deeds to get into heaven. According to the Ordnung, no one could know their eternal destination until death, so although death should be a happy homecoming for the good Amish person, it was instead a time of dread and fear."http://fredasvoice.com