Buttercupchappati Chronicles

Goodbye Russell Hoban

Oh my, the sad news is that Russell Hoban has left us. The good news is that he leaves some truly wonderful books behind.

"Bread and Jam For Frances" was one of my favourite books as a small girl, I remember constantly getting it out of the reading trolley. There was great joy in buying it to read to my own boys when they came along.

One of the best things about being a mother is that you get to re-connect with your childhood books again. It was one I had to really hunt for at the time, the thrill of a book chase!

Frances is every little girl to me (sorry boys - I can only speak from my own experience) who finds that she can chose, but learning about choice and changing your choices is good too. The illustrations are gentle, friendly and charming. Who wouldn't love this little badger! Although, I do have a badger thing I must confess.

His most widely acclaimed adult book "Riddley Walker" gave me a headache, I found it nearly impossible to read stylistically. I should have another bash at it one day. A friend read it, and laughed all the way through!

You can read the New York Times obituary here.

I'll have to go and get it off the shelf and read it to myself tonight in the absence of small people to cuddle with and read to.

because it is perfect

“Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad.”

To Kill A Mockingbird
Harper Lee

Possibly my favourite book (and movie), ever. It was the first time a movie - I saw it before I read the book - changed me.
What a wonderful thing.

And

It is the most perfect book to movie marriage - ever.
And if anyone dares to try a remake, there may be bloodshed.
Gregory Peck is forever Atticus Finch.
Amen.

 

What this has to do with monday morning, I have no idea.

what did I read/watch/listen to?

A few people have asked what I read while away, (I am taking them at their word as my irony filter is out of practice) so here is a little list for those who want to know.

I read - all in electronic format on Darth the mini-tablet-e-reader-thingy:

A Tiny Bit Marvellous, Dawn French

Mrs Fry's Diary, Mrs Stephen Fry

A Dance with Dragons, George Martin

The Stephen Fry Chronicles, Stephen Fry

These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer

Devils Cub, Georgette Heyer

Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Game of Kings, Dorothy Dunnett

Kolymsky Heights, Lionel Davidson

Queens Play, Dorothy Dunnett

Vacant Possession, Hilary Mantel

Old Path White Clouds, Thich Naht Hahn

Disorderly Knights, Dorothy Dunnett

The Manicurist, Phyllis Scheiber

Pawn In Frankinsence, Dorothy Dunnett

The Ringed Castle, Dorothy Dunnett

What Makes You Not A Budhhist, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse

Checkmate, Dorothy Dunnett

The Hare With Amber Eyes, Edmund de Waal - just finishing this one now.

I listened to recorded books:

Bleak House

The Journey of Crazy Horse

Rebel Buddha

And I watched, with great pleasure as always, Out of Africa, even on my ipod a marvellous film. (And really, how gorgeous, rugged and perfectly handsome was Robert Redford then, sigh.)

Music? Many many things at different times and on different days. There was one morning driving to Xining from Mahlo, the sun was coming up over the mountains to the sounds of Deva Premal and the Gyuto Monks chanting, a perfect moment in all times and all directions. My lift your spirits, get going girl, you can do this, songs were essential many days. I may share that list, another time...

Of course this is just the recreational stuff, I dipped in and out of my study texts the whole time I was away, it was great to have them just to hand to refer to, thank you Darth!

So now you know.

lock and load

Hmmm, less than two weeks before I leave and I am fairly sure I have my digital entertainment options covered. (What is this fear of boredom!) Now may have to stop distracting self with electronics and look at more mundane packing requirements like knickers and shampoo...

So - actual books in hand? Two: Modern Oral Amdo Tibetan and Tibetan-English-Chinese Dialogue In The Hospital, winners both.

On Darth the mini-tab/e-reader thingy? This is where it gets seriously fun:

All 6 books of the Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett -
    Game Of Kings
    Queens Play
    The Disorderly Knights
    Pawn in Frankincense
    The Ringed Castle
    Checkmate
Anna Karenina*
Jane Eyre*
Pride and Prejudice*
Japanese Fairy Tales*
The Wind In The Willows
War and Peace*
Siddhartha*
The Three Musketeers*
These Old Shades
Devils Cub
The Heart Of Understanding - commentary on the Heart Sutra
What Makes You Not A Buddhist
Niccolo Rising
The Spring Of The Ram
The Mists Of Avalon
The Hare With Amber Eyes
A Tiny Bit Marvellous
Mrs Frys Diary
Old Path White Clouds
Wolf Hall
A Clash Of Kings
A Dance With Dragons
A Feast For Crows
A Game Of Thrones
A Storm of Swords
*free to download from a benevolent internet deity

Now the ipod, here is the stuff to listen to, the spoken books, (oh and The Lord Of The Rings e-book)

Is the list too long? Should I run it together like Rat does when describing his picnic hamper to Mole when they have their first adventure together?

"What's inside it?" asked the Mole, wriggling with curiosty.
"There's cold chicken inside it," replied the Rat briefly; "coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenchrollscresssandwichespottedmeat
gingerbeerlemonadesodawater -"
"O stop, stop." cried the Mole in ecstasies: "This is too much!"
"Do you really think so?" inquired the Rat seriously. "It's only what I always take on these little excursions;"

Or should I just say lots.

Lots.  (Twenty six, but don't tell anyone)

Hundreds of hours of listening pleasure, in my own language.

And music, again, lots.

And things to watch - may all the Gods bless you Mr Jobs, I love my Apple stuff! I have the last two episodes of Sex and the City, Rear Window, Out Of Africa, an episode of Dr Who - The Waters Of Mars, and four episodes of Invader Zim, because I can.

Think I'm good to go.

p.s.
there is quite a lot of poetry too, I'd forgotten about because its stored in a different location, and of course all my text books and manuals!

p.p.s.
The Wind In The Willows is one of my most loved books forever and I always take it with me if I can. I even took it on our honeymoon - a truth!

p.p.p.s.
TWITW actually has two perfect picnics:
      "Rat hurried off home. There he got out the luncheon basket and packed a simple meal, in which, remembering the stranger's origin and preferences, he took care to include a yard of long French bread, a sausage out of which the garlic sang, some cheese which lay down and cried, and a long-necked straw-covered flask containing bottled sunshine shed and garnered on far Southern slopes."

 

yes, I confess, there will be real books too

just a few essentials

 
These two are the most important.

But I also have a secret language weapon...

This is my dear dear friend Sonam when we first met in 2006. I call him my Tibetan son, and he is.

And here we are last year at the Yellow River. Like any good son, he tolerates being hugged by his "mother"! I can't wait to see him again.

Help me Luke Skywalker!

I have gone over to the dark side!

Everyone knows I am a book girl. Real books that you can hold in your hand, read, look at, lend to a friend, put on the shelf until the next time you need to visit the world between those particular covers.

In theory I have admired the idea of ebook readers, but wasn't wanting one for myself. If I commuted to work, maybe, in one year I could probably read my way through a small forest. I think the printed word is one of our great acheivements on this blue planet. All you need to read is a book (and adequate light, yes I know). One book can be read by many many people. Anyway that is a rant for another time.

But here's the thing. My upcoming travels have sedced me over to ownership of this previously scoffed at item.

Looks innocent enough, doesn't it?

Being the resident Hermione Grainger of my TTM class means I was planning on taking all my texts and notes with me for the three months I'll be away, good revision time I thought.

That's a big chunk of my luggage allowance right there.

So there was the perfect rationalisation! (Plus I love a new toy.)

But the other big thing that has been worrying me is the lack of reading material. You cannot buy english language books where I go; and I cannot carry three months worth of reading, not without much excess luggage and a small troupe of muscular boys to carry it for me.

That was enough to make it a "necesary purchase", next is the fun part! Yes, yes, loaded up the pdf files of all the texts and notes for my TTM studies. Now filling up the clever little device with pleasure reading.

I am a comfort reader. I love to re-visit favourites over and over. So that's what I am taking with me, my library of favourites.

A much bigger pile!

 
That's not all of them, its the ones I could find easily this morning. And I have discovered something wonderful, lots of these books are available for free, and the others are a fraction of the cost of a hard copy. I have pre-ordered the new George R. R. Martin, due out in a couple of weeks, and it will be delivered directly to my device! So I can see myself a happy resident in the electronic reading camp and the actual book in hand camp.

This is my favourite picture: everything, and the wee black case that has it all and more.

 
Think I'll name it Darth.

Mind you, I still love a big pile of books, that says happiness to me!

 

 

just so you know

because I don't want anyone to feel left out (although if you have not heard my elated screeches - where have you hidden your eardrums?)

I GOT MY VISA! Yes, it is in hand, and in the other is a ticket to Beijing. Smiling sounds too simple for what is going on, but it will do.

So, much happy dancing, and much much excitement at the thought of spending three whole months studying and practicing TTM. And of course huge amounts of gratitude to all those who helped make this opportunity mine.

Did I mention I was excited?

The countdown is on, leaving at the end of July.

And yes, already worrying about three months worth of reading in a place where there are no english language books for sale. (And let's not even go there thinking about three months without a hair dryer!) Minor sacrifices - especially the hair, I don't have to look at me.

Serious thinking about language skills as well. Classes are on in earnest and I am trying to quell the thought that I am way too old to be learning Tibetan. Come on, even Tibetans find it hard. And really, I need to improve my repertoire in the Chinese area as well; two phrases - hello and thank you - get you points for politeness but that's about it. (And they tend to lead taxi drivers to leap to the assumption that I speak fluent Chinese, sorry, I smile in many languages however).

"Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good"
 

 

have books, will live anywhere

I am moving house.

To Bath, I could live in Bath, very beautiful, history, culture, architecture, gorgeous countryside. And the house of my dreams. The whole second floor is a library. You can find in on page 78 of the latest Country Life magazine, the one with the badger on the front.

Teeny glitch in the planning, the 2.25 million pounds price tag.

And who knows what the annual outgoings are. A library that size, I would have to have a butler to open the front door, I couldn't possibly run up and down the stairs all the time. Same goes for cups of Russian Caravan tea on a regular basis.

Still, everyone needs a dream...

Plan B could well be living in this building, whimsical! Love it!

 

 

book rescue

A Better World Books day on friday, happy dance.

In this parcel is a lovely second hand Everyman edition of the The Complete Poems of John Donne. It was printed in 1991, so not very old, but it looks like its had a life. This one was printed and bound in Germany.

It's an ex-library book; I love getting these because I think of all the people who have read it before me, or sometimes , like the Tibetan Medicine books I acquire, I just know that no-one has read it at all before me.

This one I am not so sure, there are a few pencil marks next to some of the poems, so I am guessing a student borrowed this for their semester on Donne, or English Poets.

What makes me smile is that it's from The Public Library of Nashvile and Davidson County, and I keep trying to play Donne in my head with a Country and Western flavour.

But what makes me wince is the callous stamp inside the front cover:

"Discarded
from the Nashville Public Library"

Ouch

Couldn't that have been phrased a little better? After 20 years of faithful service?
No longer required, let go, not popular, deemed surplus to requirements.
Discarded is awful.
I am officially rescuing this book and promising to give it a good home!

And now good morrow to our waking soules

 

Oh, I nearly forgot!

One of the orders I placed last week for my TTM books (work not play, remember, I am sticking to that) has been cancelled, even although they had already emailed me to say it had been shipped...

book karma? is it real?

scary stuff