blackandwhiteandcolours: "He had spent four months in the swamps"

Friday, July 17, 2009

"He had spent four months in the swamps"

"He had spent four months in the swamps" - The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht

15 comments:

Joan Elizabeth said...: Mmm four months in the swamps doesn't sound to pleasant to me.

Regarding contemporary Australian writers. I am not the right person to ask, I rarely read novels and certainly not literary ones. The problem is that I find them too engrossing so they intefere with life's responsibilities so I read poems, much shorter :-) Authors include David Malouf, Peter Carey, Tim Winton, Geraldene Brooks, Kate Grenville. The only one I have read of recent years is Tim Winton. If you like surfing and the sea Breath is his latest. Ask Julie I'm sure she is much more literate than me.; 18 July, 2009 10:32
Martina said...: Joan Elizabeth, some authors' names I could look for are enough thx :-), and yes, I was going to ask Julie too.
It just came to me that I didn't know anything about contemporary Australian literature, don't think I own a book.; 18 July, 2009 10:57
AB said...: That is a charming, if rather fierce, character. Any tips on where to find him?; 18 July, 2009 13:56
Martina said...: AB, here; 18 July, 2009 14:02
AB said...: Merci. The worlds most visited cemetry!; 18 July, 2009 14:59
Martina said...: AB, fortunately there weren't many people around and we spent a very quiet and calm afternoon there until they asked us to leave - because the cemetery is closing at 18hrs (I am not sure, might be 17:30h or 18:30h - we completely forgot time, ;-)).; 18 July, 2009 19:37
Julie said...: Hah ... as soon as I read "world's most visited cemetery" I knew which one you meant. I got engrossed there during my first visit to Paris in 2002 but was only a p&s photographer at that stage so my images are boring!

I do like this fellow though: he looks like something rising up from the murky depths covered with slime.

Re Australian writers: I find Malouf, Winton & Carey a hard read, as was Patrick White. However, more accessible are Brooks and Grenville, especially Grenville. You might also try Richard Flanagan and Roger McDonald.

Start with "The Secret River" by Kate Grenville and "Mr Darwin's Shooter" by Roger McDonald. I loved both of these because they are based on Australian history which is a passion of mine.; 19 July, 2009 01:18
Joan Elizabeth said...: Ohh now isn't that interesting. At the risk of turning this post into a discourse on Australian literature ... Grenville drives me nuts, I've never been able to finish one of her books but I find Winton really accessible. So I guess it is a case of dive in and see what YOU think.; 19 July, 2009 04:58
Martina said...: That's cool with me, Joan Elizabeth, the discourse I mean.

I did a little research (mostly reading wikipedia entries and some reviews) and ended up with these three for a start:
David Malouf - Remembering Babylon
Kate Grenville - The Secret River
Roger McDonald - The Ballad of Desmond Kale
Julie, "Mr Darwin's Shooter" sounds very interesting indeed but not "australian enough" for my purpose, ;-)
Since I got a huge pile of books at my bedside I don't know when I will start my Australian literature journey but you will notice with the quotes ;-) Thx to you both, :-); 19 July, 2009 12:21
Martina said...: Hm, Roger McDonald - The Ballad of Desmond Kale isn't available at amazon.de at all and only from third-party at amazon.co.uk. Strange. So I have to do with two novels for a start ...; 19 July, 2009 12:32
annalarssonphotography said...: This is an amazing artistic shot!

I love your b/w work.
Do you always have novels behind your shots or do the lines come to you afterwards?

Someone have for sure already asked you that question, but I haven't heard the answer.

You are extremly talented!

Anna; 19 July, 2009 19:26
Martina said...: Anna, a friend asked me once but no one else did so far. Usually I start with the photo - I can not know what I will be reading in some weeks when I take the pic - then I browse through the pages of the novel/short story I am currently reading.
By now - with a database of around 15000 pics I sometimes read a sentence and think: oh, you have to find a pic that works well with this quote. But that is unusual. And it never works, ;-)
What to me really is amazing: I do not think much about anything, just browsing through files, browsing through sentences - it usually takes me three minutes for the posting. But to read the next day what others are thinking or interpreting, that is really cool. It is like telling someone a dream and the one says: oh, the meaning is this and that and you are so astonished because you are thinking: Oh yes, sure, why did this not come to me as a interpretation?

Hm, am I babbling? I feel like I do ... ;-)

Ha, and _you_ calling me talented, ha! :-D; 19 July, 2009 22:27
Joan Elizabeth said...: There is some sort of wierd divide in the publishing world between the UK and USA. Maybe it affects Amazon as well.

I look forward to the Aussie quotes.

Maybe I will branch out and read those books too :-); 20 July, 2009 03:39
Joan Elizabeth said...: Just went and checked my bookshelf because I remembered reading a Malouf which I finished but was hard work. It turned out the one I had read was "Conversations at Curlew Creek". However, I found nestled beside it "Remembering Babylon" which my husband must have read as some time -- but it does have some of my old airline boarding passes in it so it most likely me who bought it. I'll give it another go.; 20 July, 2009 03:48
Martina said...: Joan Elizabeth, usually amazon.de sells both versions, the uk and us editions with english books :-). Hahaha I am not the only one who doesn't know what books she owns hahaha (nowadays I have an excelsheet I must admit); 21 July, 2009 18:42