George Gissing

"The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft" by George Gissing

This is another thin red book that is in both English and Korean that I bought at Home Plus in Daejeon, Korea. I never heard of this writer or the book. I just took a chance on it. I have never been so pleasantly surprised as I was with this author. To think, I discovered this English novelist who lived from November 22, 1857 to December 28, 1903 in a country whose primary language is not English. He died at the age of 46 from emphysema from an ill-advised winter walk. He is buried in France.

"The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft" was the most autobiographical work of Gissing and it brought him much acclaim. He had been able to retreat to a more private life to write after receiving a late legacy. This is a story of that new beginning of his writing life.

In the book, the author writes as if he is writing a journal and he writes clearly his love of books, his home, the walks and nature and what he sees on them, his housekeeper and other things in such a way it is warm and comforting to the reader. I can see why Gissing is included in this series of books to help the Korean learn English for the book is easy to read but interesting and well written. The reader can readily see what Ryecroft is experiencing around him.

I looked up Amazon Books to see if any of Gissing books are in print and was happy to see quite a few of them are. I had looked up his name in Google Books and expected to see his novels sitting there forgotten since he had lived so long ago. Not so. He is read now and they are all in print. I can understand it. When I get to the USA in December of this year, I will buy one. I loved this book. What a wonderful mind and eye he must have had to have written the way he did.

J. & W. Grimm Part III

This is a third thin red book that is written in English and Korean on stories by the Brothers Grimm. This book contains the stories of "The Town Musicians of Bremen" and "The Sleeping Beauty". In contrast with the other two red books, there are small drawings in this book that illustrate the stories.

The first story is one that every senior citizen would love. In "The Town Musicians of Bremen" a man had a donkey that served him faithfully by carrying his sacks to the mill, however because the donkey was getting older the donkey's strength began to fail. The man thought that it was time to get rid of it. The donkey was no ass and left one morning before the man got up because he thought his days were numbered. The donkey thought he might become a musician in the town of Bremen or as he thought to himself: it couldn't hurt. After he traveled down the road he met a dog who was in the same position as he was. His master was thinking of killing him because he could not hunt as well as the younger dogs. He joined forces with the donkey to become a musician as he thought he could beat the drums. Then they met a cat who had a mistress who wanted to drown her as she was getting too old to catch mice like she did when she was younger. The donkey and the dog said she could join them and be the singer. Then they walked past a farm and found a cock who was looking at the real possibility of being in the soup that Sunday because he was getting too old to crow in the morning. He joined the group. Off they went to Bremen.

Since they could not reach the town of Bremen in one day, they looked for a place to stay and found a cabin in the middle of the woods that had a bunch of robbers who were sitting down to eat. They decided to sing and the robbers ran from the cabin into the woods. After a while and after the donkey and his friends went in and ate and went to sleep the robbers sneaked back into the house and tried to find out what was going on with the house. The cat scratched them, the dog bit them and the donkey gave them a good sound kick and the cock crowed. The robbers were convinced that the cabin was haunted by a witch and ghosts and left permanently and the musicians found a permanent home and lived there happily ever after.

The second story is "The Sleeping Beauty". Everyone pretty well knows this story of a king and queen who wanted a child and finally got one, a girl. They had only 12 plates of gold so could only invite 12 fairies to the fairy portion of the party following the birth of the princess. The one that was not invited came anyway and said that the princess on her 15th birthday would prick her finger on a spindle and die. Since the last fairy did not get a chance to make her wish, she modified this wish and said that the princess would only fall asleep and the kiss of a prince would awaken her. The king in an effort to make sure this did not happen outlawed all spindles although it was not known what his subjects did for clothes. Maybe they had Walmart Stores. Anyhow, on her 15th birthday, the princess found a spindle in a room that was locked. She had found a key and sure enough it pricked her and everyone fell asleep. This vine with horrible stickers grew all around the castle and another king took over the land for one hundred years. Many other princes heard of the legend of the sleeping beauty but could not get through the stickers and perished. Obviously, there was that darn surplus of princes again. Then one hundred years to the day a prince came by and thought he would try his luck. The vine parted for him and he found the 15 year old princess and kissed her and she woke up. These days he would have been arrested but he got to marry her right away after everyone woke up.
It is unknown whether the king got his kingdom back though.

I think I am more cynical during this re-reading of these fairy tales. In fact, I am sure of it. I see magic being more than some prince marrying someone and they living in some castle forever. I don't think I ever liked that part anyhow. I saw what marriage did to my mother and what it did to the ladies of the neighborhood. It was not such a great job. At least if one lived in a castle one had servants and time to read a book or go to a party ever so often. If one did not like the prince anymore, there were plenty of rooms to move into. That was not possible in a three bedroom ranch house in the suburbs or an apartment in the city. Since men make more money than women and in those days rarely paid child support, times were hard for women if they wanted to live without their princes and that was when I was younger. It is still hard for women now especially men and women running for office wanting to repeal some of women's rights or abolishing the civil rights act. However, these are fairy tales.

Still, we have to be very grateful for the Brothers Grimm for collecting these stories which may have been lost if they did not do this. They inspired others to do it and the tradition is strong and part of our cultural heritage no matter what part of the world each of us are from.

J. & W. Grimm Part II

"Grimm's Fairy Tales" by the Brothers Grimm

This is another one of those thin red books that are written in English and Korean. This book contains the stories "The Elves and the Shoemaker", "The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats", "The Frog Prince", Rapunzel" and "Snow-White and Rose-Red".

The first story, "The Elves and the Shoemaker", is about a very poor shoemaker who lived with his wife and was left with just enough leather to make one more pair of shoes. With a sigh, he cut out the shoes at night so he could set to work the next morning and went to bed with his wife. The next morning, he got up and found the shoes were already made and they were excellent and he was able to sell them for a bigger profit than usual. He bought enough leather to make two shoes and cut them up at night to make in the morning and the same thing happened. Again, the quality was so outstanding he made a great profit and he had enough for four pairs and the same thing happened. Soon he found he was making a good living. One night he said to his wife that he wanted to stay up and see who was doing this for him so they both stayed up and found two naked little men coming in at midnight who were making the shoes. The shoemaker and his wife decided to make some clothes for the elves. The shoemaker made small shoes. They stayed up again to see how their gifts would be received and the elves put on the clothes and danced and said they were no longer cobblers and danced out the door. They were never seen again. Ever since then the shoemaker's business prospered as if they left some magic behind.

In "The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats", there was a mother goat who had seven little goats who she loved very much. Since she was going to into the wood to fetch some food for them, she warned them to be on the watch for the wolf who had just moved in the neighborhood. Be careful, she warned them because he will try and get inside this house and eat you up, skin, bones and all. You will recognize him by his hoarse voice and black paws. Soon after their mother left, the wolf showed up and was sent from the door. First he disguised his voice with chalk and then he disguised his paws with flour he got from the baker. Well, this wolf really wanted to eat them and finally got in and swallowed them whole except one who was hiding in the clock-case. When the mother goat came home and saw the mess the house was in she was horrified and found the last surviving baby goat. She found the wolf asleep and saw his sides still moving and sniped his sides open and found her kids still alive. Then she put some stones back inside the wolf and sewed him back up. That wolf must have really been asleep. When he woke up, he felt like he had been under some deep spell and was very thirsty. He went to a stream to drink but fell in instead and drowned.

To me, "The Frog Prince" was very dissatisfying. The King's daughter had a favorite ball she lost and this frog promised he would get it if she would make him, the frog, her friend. She thought the frog as a nothing and readily promised just to get her ball back. He got it for her and while she was eating dinner that night he knocked at the door and said that he wanted to be her friend as she promised. The daughter was horrified when the king made her keep her promise. Now, the princess was the most beautiful woman in the land and figured she did not have to keep her promise to this ugly old frog. The king said otherwise. Finally, as she went to sleep and the frog wanted to be lifted into her bed, she flung him against the wall with all of her might. Instead of killing him he turned into a prince. Later with the King's permission they got married. If I was the prince, I would have thanked the princess and said goodbye and searched for a princess that had a heart.

"Rapunzel" was about a man and his wife who lived next door to a witch who had a wonderful garden. The wife wanted some rampion that grew in the witch's garden and the wife begged her husband to sneak in there and steal some for her. He loved her with all of his might and he was able to get some. His wife was happy with the rampion he got and wanted more. Unfortunately he got caught by the witch. She was going to do him in but he said it was for his wife. The witch said he could have all of the rampion he wanted as long as he gave her their first born child. The man thought he was safe because they had not been able to have a child. Well, as luck would have it they had a daughter soon after this and they had to give it to the witch who promised to raise it as well as any mother would. Witches in those days must have had a lot of power. Anyhow, Rapunzel was the most beautiful child in the world and when she was 12 years old the witch shut her up in a tower in the midst of a wood. The only way up was Rapunzel's long hair which shone like gold. A few years later as it often does, the prince of the land heard Rapunzel singing and saw how the witch got in and he got in too. The prince proposed to her and being a man also showed her a few other things. Rapunzel accidentally let the witch know of the prince and witch cut Rapunzel's hair and waited for the prince. She had banished Rapunzel in a waste and desert place where she lived in great misery as she was pregnant. Then when the prince came up to see Rapunzel, the witch told him that his love was gone and he escaped from the tower with his life by jumping from the tower but he became blinded from the thorns. He wandered but heard her voice and followed it. When they were reunited the tears from Rapunzel gave back his sight. He took Rapunzel and their twin children back to his kingdom where they lived happily ever after.

Out t of this book, "Snow-White and Rose-Red" was my favorite story. Snow-White and Rose-Red were the daughters of a poor widow who lived alone in her hut in the forest. They were very poor but pious, good, industrious and amiable children. Everyone got along well and the girls got along with the animals of the forest as well. They were kind to the animals and even a big black bear who came knocking at their door. The bear wanted to stay the night and although they felt nervous they agreed. The bear stayed with them until he had to leave so he could protect his treasure from the dwarfs. The young ladies later met a very rude dwarf but they were nice to him anyhow. They saved his life many times by snipping his beard and he just got mad at them for doing that. Finally, when they were helping him from being taken away from a large bird he gave them a bad time for ruining his coat by holding on to him so the bird would not take him away for a meal. The girls had gotten used to the dwarf not appreciating their efforts that they were getting reading to walk off when a large bear appeared and the dwarf told the bear he should eat the girls instead of him. The bear hit the dwarf and he fell down dead. The girls were afraid until the bear said that he was the bear that stayed in their house. His coat fell off and he told them that he was under a spell from a witch and could not escape until the dwarf that took his jewels was dead and that was the dwarf. He was a prince and married one of the daughters and his brother married the other. Everyone moved to the castle to lived including the entire hut where the mother could live on the palace grounds as she wished.

With all of these stories of witches, I could see why they were burned at the stake or women who lived by themselves and did not want to get married. As for princes, well they all sound like there were a surplus in those days and they were all looking for brides. If Princess Diana were alive today, she would not be so positive in her remarks about princes. Prince Charles was one stinker. In history, they were not so hot, but these are fairy tales except many women believe them and I have to admit I did to some extent many years ago. I loved this picture of Snow White I found on the Internet. (If you are a prince reading this blog, don't bother to contact me please.)

J. and W. Grimm Part I

"Little Snow White and Other Stories" by the Brothers Grimm

Just a note about the authors because there are several films about them that have no basis in truth. Jacab Ludwig Grimm (Also Carl) was born on January 4, 1785 and died September 20, 1863. Wilhelm Karl Grimm was born February 24, 1786 and died on December 16, 1859. They were both born in Hanau, Germany. They lost their father and grandfather at an early age and their mother had to struggle to support her children.

Both brothers graduated from the university and became collectors of tales but not the authors. Their tales were immensely popular at the time but were essentially a by-product of the linguistic research which was the brothers' primary goal.

The Brothers Grimm held several academic positions among them professors, librarians, court librarians, head librarians while doing linguistic research. They got along very well together even when one of them married and all lived in one house.

Their research in linguistics is well known. For instance, the relationships between words became known as Grimm's Law. Their last years were spent writing a definitive dictionary , The Deutsches Worterbuch, the first volume being published in 1854. The work was carried out by future generations. (Source Wikipedia)

"Little Snow White and Other Stories", a thin red book, has both Korean and English in it. I bought it from Home Plus and it is not the stories one associates with Walt Disney. The vocabulary is in Korean and the story is taken directly from the Brothers Grimm although there is no mention in English who translated it from German.

The stories in this book are "Little Snow-White", "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", "Little Red Cap", and "Hansel and Gretel". When I was a child, I was allowed to go to the library unaccompanied as often as I wanted. My Aunt Sonia taught me how to use the library and when my own children were growing up, I took them to the library as often as they wanted which was not as often as I wanted. I still marvel at the long distance I was allowed to walk alone along a busy street. Still, I remember reading all of the fairy tales that were in that library and many of them were of the Brothers Grimm. It was a pleasure to read them in this book.

I have other red books that I will report on but this one is of the Brothers Grimm and the stories in it are well known to me. I mentioned that this book is not the version that Walt Disney filmed in movie. It is different.

Snow White was a young child when she was taken to the woods by the woodsman. She stayed with the seven dwarfs for a while before her step-mother found her. After she was poisoned by a deadly apple and placed in a glass coffin above ground, a passing prince fell in love with her and did not wake her up with a kiss but convinced the dwarfs to let him have the glass enclosed Snow White to take back to his castle but he dropped her and the glass broke and the poisoned apple fell out of her mouth. Heavens knows what he was going to do with her once he got her back to the castle so I could see why the Disney people changed that part of the story. The queen is just as evil in both stories but she goes to the wedding of the prince and finds out that the new bride is her own step-daughter. Bummer. I am glad they kept the magic mirror. Good touch.

"The Twelve Dancing Princesses" is a story about a king who had 12 daughters who went somewhere at night and would not tell him where. They wore out their slippers and he was very frustrated. He let it be known that if any prince would find out where they went, then they could have any of the princesses for a bride and his kingdom after his death. However, if they failed in three days, off with the prince's head. Well, I guess there was a surplus of princes and not enough kingdoms so a bunch tried and none of them mysteriously could not stay awake and lost their heads. It came to be that a soldier, enlisted not an officer, was very kind and tired, decided that he would give it a try since he was unable to get a job doing anything else; so up to the castle he went but an old lady, they are very kind and trusting to soldiers, told him not to swallow the wine he is given and gave him a cloak like Harry Potter's that would make him invisible. He was very grateful and went to the castle and did as instructed. He was astonished to see that the princess's beds opened up and they all went below and danced all night. He grabbed some proof and did it for three nights. The princesses all thought he was sleeping and that he would lose his head, but they did not think about his being a peasant with common sense. He went to the king and told them what they were up to. Since the soldier was no longer young, he chose the oldest princess and married her and became king after the old one died. I wondered how he could marry a woman who was perfectly willing to see him separated from his head, but he did get a kingdom and that is a very good job.

"The Little Red Cap" is in reality "Little Red Riding Hood" and I am sorry to say both her grandmother and her got eaten by the wolf but the story teller did offer an alternative ending in which the grandmother and girl outwitted the fox. No one listening to this tale is fooled. The fox got a tasty meal. What is ironic here is that the girl who told the Brothers Grimm ended up marrying one of them. The other Grimm never married. Maybe she told him the alternative ending so his feelings would not get hurt.

"Hansel and Gretel" is about two loving brother and sister who live with their father and step-mother. Step-mothers do not do well in fairy tales and many people would complain about the Brothers Grimm that they hated women. They just collected the stories and recorded them faithfully. They did not change them. In the stories of domestic bliss in today's world, step-fathers do not do well in the police courts. In the stories of fairy tales, it was the step-mothers who wanted to get rid of the children of the dead first wife. This one wanted Hansel and Gretel to be taken into the forest where they would be eaten by wild animals and they would not have to feed them anymore. The brother and sister got lost and came to a witch's house and of course another subspecies of villain ,the witch. This witch was a cannibal. She lived in an eatable house which drew in children. While this pedophile serial killer witch was waiting for the boy to get fat, the girl gave him a bone to give to the witch since she could not see worth a damn. Then when the witch asked the girl to get in the oven, the girl tricked the witch to show her how and shoved her in and locked the oven door. They found some jewels in the witch's house and got home and everyone now had enough money to buy some food.

I loved fairy tales because women won. I didn't like what they won, but at least they won. They were the heroines in their own tales. When everyone was out to get them, they endured. I also liked magic because I was in a childhood that was full of dysfunctional adults. I wanted to believe that somehow I was going to survive. That there were some magic beans or some magical castle that would be real and would be a safe place for me. I could draw up the draw bridge and there would be enough food and clothes for me.

I used to think I was the only one reading the fairy tales. Now, as I read the stories that the kids read, I realize that other children were just like me and sneaking into the library and reading them as well. The stories that the Brothers Grimm collected were popular then and certainly still popular now.

Katherine Mansfield

Short Stories by Katherine Mansfield in an edition that is half Korean and half English. The short stories are:
" Bliss","The Garden Party", "The Stranger", "An Ideal Family", "A Cup of Tea", "The Fly", "Honeymoon" and "the Doll's House".

The first four short stories are taken from "The Garden Party" published in 1922 and the last four are taken from "The Dove's Nest" published in 1923.

I had tried to read Mansfield many years ago and had difficulty for reasons that escapes me. She was well thought of as a writer by D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Wolfe. I saw this book in Home Plus and decided to give her another try. For a woman who lived only 34 years, she wrote many short stories and I enjoyed the ones that were included in this book.

The stories seem to come onto the senses in one way but stay in another for they do stay long after they are read. The one story that has impressed me the most is "The Garden Party" which on its surface is about a pretty young thing that seems very impressible but the story is about life itself and how death can come unexpectedly to teach those of us still living how precious life is. Even that sense is a bit trite in describing this wonderful story. I don't think I would like the protagonist in the story but I like what she sees in life.

That is what all of these stories are. They sneak up on the reader and take one by surprise as being one kind of story but really are something else entirely. At least that is how I viewed them. I can see how I would not have liked them when I was younger and expected my fiction to be one way and not to change in midstream so to speak. I wanted more certainty in my life then and now I don't mind uncertainty at all. Some of the stories do not spell out what is happening and some do.

It is really quite sad that her life ended so soon. It would have been really interesting to have seen how her fiction would have changed through the years. It is really possible she was a genius in that she was just learning her trade when TB cut her life short.

Agatha Christie

"Agatha Christie's Short Stories" by Agatha Christie

This is a book of short stories featuring Miss Marple that I would title "The Tuesday Night Club". I bought this book at Home Plus for very little and it contains six stories. Unfortunately, this slim book is half English and half Korean; but when in Korea you take what you can get. Still, I enjoyed reading this book, some of the stories were ones I had read before and some were new to me. None of the stories were only partial but the entire ones which is a joy for I love reading Christie.

There is a reason, to my mind, that Christie wears so well after so many years. It is because she wrote uncommonly well. She wears well. The prose is crisp and clean and easily understood. The descriptions are clear and concise. Many of the older mystery writers tend to be wordy when read today but not Christie. Her books and short stories are virtual time capsules that today's reader can view the world that Christie was writing about without any difficulty. It is more than describing the people and the British times, it was the atmosphere and a period of time that no longer exists.

Everyone at the Tuesday Night Club assumes that the little old lady sitting in with them would not know about the things and events the rest of them were talking about let along come up with the solutions to the mysteries they were discussing; but Miss Marple does time after time. Even her own nephew does not think much about his dotty old aunt. Those who tell the stories all find out that Miss Marple is one great criminologist. There is no sleigh of hand by the author. The mysteries are solved and the reader can see how the crime was done and Miss Marple illustrates how easily the events in the world is very much like the events in a small British village.

Diana Wynne Jones

"Howl's Moving Castle " by Diana Wynne Jones Greenwillow: 1986

This is a wonderful book for young adults that I picked up at Home Plus. I had no idea, again, that it was for young adults. Oh, good books are sometimes wasted on the young because I found this book to be a terrific read. The main character, Sophia, is convinced she is destined for failure because she is the eldest of three daughters. Her mother died when she was young and then her father after marrying again dies too. Her step-mother is not what one would expect in these stories and tries to find a way of providing for both her own daughter and her step-daughters after it was found out that the father had not left very much money to provide for all of them.

Sophia and her family lived in the town of Market Chipping which was in Ingary which is not where the rest of us live. They have a king and a prince. There is magic everywhere. There is the Witch of the Waste who for some reason walks into the hat shop where Sophia works and upon seeing her turns her into an old lady.

Everyone in the book are having adventures including Sophia and of course there is Howl who has the moving castle and his ever-moving castle and mysterious blue fire-demon in his fireplace. There is one mystery layered upon another and the author skillfully solves them all in very satisfactory ways. As with real victims, Sophia has to find out her own part in the making herself into an old lady by the witch before she can break the spell.

There is a movie that was made from this book, but I have not been able to find it. It was premiered in Korea which would explain why the book was in a book store in Daejeon. The author of this delightful book creates a wonderful and complex plot of living and breathing characters and resolves all of the questions such a plot raises in a very satisfying way. If I get a chance to read more of this author, I will certainly do so no matter what the age group the particular book is intended for.

e.l. konigsburg

"The View from Saturday" by e.l. konigsburg Atheneum: 1996

I have written before that I read young adult books and in Korea I read any books in English I can get my hands on. I honestly did not know this book was a young adult book. It had a picture of four cups of tea on it and thought it was a murder mystery. All of the books in the Home Plus Book Store are tightly sealed with plastic and thumbing through a book before buying is not possible.

What I did encounter was a warm and wonderful book about a teacher returning to teaching after being paralyzed in an automobile accident and four of her sixth-grade students who had banded together calling themselves "The Souls."

I love the way the book was written. It was a series of short stories that were inter-connected by the fact that each story was about each of the member of the Souls and of course the teacher. On the back cover, the writer stated she had written some of the stories earlier and just edited them so that they were about the same group of students in one classroom.

One of the threads was a academic bowl and how the Souls became the unlikely state championship winners. Everyone learns something important and there is enough of a plot to keep the reader going until the end. The book may be for the younger reader, but I learned a lot about life and had a good time reading it. I picked it up and never put it down.

W. Somerset Maugham

Maugham, W. Somerset "The Moon and Sixpence" Penguin: 1919

This is another book that I had read many years ago and just re-read recently because it was in the English library of the university where I teach. I must have been a teenager when I read it the first time and a senior citizen now. I will admit that I did not understand this book the first time that I read it. This is a story of a man who walks out of a normal middle class and successful life in England to pursue painting. Supposedly, it is based on the life of Paul Gauguin.

As a teenager, I did not feel the draw of artistic expression and why anyone would suddenly just give everything up just to run a paint brush over a canvas. Now, I understand more although I rather doubt if this is the story of Gauguin as he did not do the things that are outlined in the novel for he was active in painting before he decided to pursue painting full time.

I was more conservative in my younger years. Making enough to pay the bills, raise the kids and keep a roof over my head seemed a very high calling. If I caused children to be born, I could not leave them and take up something else. Even now, I have trouble understanding that point of view. It is true the painter was a genius but why couldn't a painter paint on the weekends and on his days off? After all, he had a wife to do the the domestic chores. He could build a studio. What is the big deal of Paris?

However, now that I am older I can see someone doing this after they raise the kids and retire and many people do. I think this is well worth reading but Maugham had his own artistic vision and I don't think it was resolved at the time he wrote this book. Maugham did the same thing and gave up medicine for the theater and writing.

Some writers and critics have never made up their minds about Maugham. I have always thought he was a great writer and don't believe the complaints that he did not write original stories. I love his short stories and I usually don't like this form of fiction. I loved "Of Human Bondage" and "Razor's Edge".

For me now, I think of this book as the least successful of his novels. There were too many issues that Maugham left unfinished in this book. Yes, he had the artist family posturing their Christian values. He had done that successfully in other works especially in the short story, "Rain". I don't think he ever explained why the artistic vision hit the artist the way it did in the book and why he suddenly reversed his life the way he did.

Even the least of Maugham books are worth re-reading and certainly this one was even if it was to learn how much I have changed over the years. I could see someone having the obsession of creating art. I am not sure I would understand living a life of discomfort after living such a life of comfort. I understood Gauguin's life but not Charles Strickland. What has changed in me is that I admire the strength of some people's sense of artistic vision. I envy someone who can give all to something because he or she loves it.

Maugham kept two sets of books all of his life and it was implied that Strickland gave up his life of ease because he could not stand to live that way any longer. Maugham lived his life as a closeted homosexual and was blackmailed by his nephew so he would keep his mouth shut. In this regard, I could see how Strickland's unwillingness to accept the life as prescribed by society would have been attractive to Maugham and at the same time repugnant. That is simply one reader's viewpoint to cover the lack of information in the novel. Usually, Maugham gives enough to create a living breathing story full of credible characters. I think he almost does that here.

"The Moon and Sixpence" is a novel that is worth reading if the reader is curious about what constitutes the artist and what is involved in being honest with oneself. The one thing that the protagonist of this novel seems to admire in Strickland is his total disregard of what society and anyone else in society thinks of him. To be able to toss that aside would be to give one a degree of freedom rarely enjoyed by many people. I did not envy that in anyone as a teenager, but I know now how wonderful such a freedom can be.

"Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief": The movie

"Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief": The movie. Normally, I don't review movies on this blog, but I got the chance to see this movie. It does not resemble the book at all. It is true the book was a bit light and resembled Harry Potter's books, but the film does not resemble the book by Rick Riordan at all. In fact if I was the author, I would never do business with the company that did this film ever. It was one lame movie. They should have stuck to the book.

No film can completely follow a book or even a short story although there has been some notable exceptions such as "Sophie's Choice" which won the screen writer an Oscar. The only thing this film did was kept the names of the characters although I did like the actors that played the three heroes, his mother, Gabe and Charon. It wasn't their fault that they were given a lousy script. I doubt if there will be any more Percy Jackson movies unless someone hires a better script writer.

Rick Riordan and Edith Hamilton

Riordan, Rick "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief" Puffin: 2005

Hamilton, Edith "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" Grand Central: 1942

I have mentioned that I read books that I can get in Korea. This book was bought at Home Plus for more than it would have cost in the United States, but I was planning on reading it last year but never got around to it. I often read books for young adults, and this one look interesting.

As luck would have it, I also found Edith Hamilton's book at the same time and read it again. I took Greek Mythology in college and this was the required text. It was fun re-reading it as the Riordan novel is heavily steeped in Greek mythology and I needed a refresher course.

In the Riordan novel, a youngster who finds himself in trouble because of unexplained magical powers all of the time. There are many similarities to the Harry Potter series. Percy finds that he has extra powers because his father is a Greek god. Things heat up considerably and he is in danger and his mother make a dash with him to a camp just for the half-blood kids of Greek gods. Just as Percy is almost at the camp, his mother is zapped in a golden light while his smelly step-father stays home and plays poker with his friends.

Even for half-bloods, Percy is special. He finds out later that his father is Poseidon. He has his enemies even among his fellow campers. Soon he has to go on a quest to save the world from an all out war between the gods because someone has stolen Zeus' lightening bolt and they think it is his father or even Percy. Two other people offer to help him. One of them is Athena's daughter.

The novel is full of references and experiences with the different Greek gods. The head of the camp is Dionysus, a favorite of mine who is being forced by Zeus to abstain from wine. I don't agree how the different gods are portrayed but they are for the most part accurate or at least according to Hamilton. I don't believe the idea that Zeus would forbid Dionysus to drink wine and found Riodan's attempts to ridicule Dionysus a bit too much.

Again, I thought the novel was a bit thin but it did keep my interest and I stayed with it without any difficulty. As stated, Harry Potter did come to mind on more than a few occasions, but I love the Harry Potter books and found them far more fulfilling and delightful. I doubt if I would stay with this series as long as the Harry Potter series.

As for Hamilton's book, I found her book to be as delightful as it was the first time I read it. The binding and paper is much cheaper now than it was when I first read the book. Still, the book is the same and that is what counts. I had gotten mixed up on several of the Greek heroes and gods and got that straightened out. For instance, I got Jason of the Golden Fleece and Perseus scrambled. Also, I did not know that the Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon when she was killed by Perseus and that is why Pegasus, another favorite, was born. I am not sure why Poseidon is associated with horses but he is. That is in both books but not the reason why. I found a very attractive picture of him in the surf with horses outlined in the waves that I have included. I could have fallen for that Poseidon if he walked onto the beach where I was myself.

Rainer Maria Rilke

"The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge" by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Michael Hulse
Penguin: 2009

This is the only novel by the poet, Rainer Maria Rilke and summing this book up is no easy task. I waited a few days to give me some perspective. It did not happen. It was a surprise. I knew that Rilke had issues of loneliness and fears of death. That shows in these notebooks because this novel is just that, a series of notebooks by Malte Laurids Brigge, a stand-in for the author. Yet, this book is so much more.

I did not have to "plow" through this book as I expected to. In it, are story after story of what had happened to the author during his life. It is full of ghosts, people drawn from the author's life along with the fears he was feeling when he wrote this book. He was in Paris and a large city, inhospitable to the young man and yet full of what he wanted to know and experience.

So many of us have felt this in our lives when we arrive in a strange city, away from our home and our family members and young without the maturity of seeing the reality that existed on the pavements, in the small apartments and the oddity of people that we are seeing for the first time as it really is and not filtered through our fears. Rilke was full of fear and knew that the only way he could deal with these fears was to examine them through his own writings.

Many things filled him with fear and dread including illness, being treated by an uncaring health professional and being around people with life-threatening disease and problems. He would listen to his unseen neighbor who was a medical student, follow people with gross physical problems and watch the buildings with their ugly facades. He would remember the stories of his youth and the odd and strange ghost episodes that he saw with his father.

Everything is narrated by exceptional prose that showed Brigge trying to make sense of his life. It is exceptionally well written and a joy to read out loud which is what I did from time to time. There is so much in this novel that it can only be read and re-read again and again. Unfortunately, it is a book from the English library of the university. I can only get books that happen to fall into my hands. I will have to return it.

If a reader comes across this book, I really recommend a slow and easy reading in order to savor its wonderful words, its style and the way it is put together. Then after the first reading, I would read it again because this book like Rilke's poems bears reading over and over again for the hidden and deeper layers that will come to the surface. I don't think there is a way of exhausting the deeper meanings and stories of this book.

Revisiting Paulo Coelho

I have mentioned before that I am in Daejeon, South Korea. Getting books in English is very difficult, however I was very lucky to have found "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho in the university's small English library. I had bought it in the United States intending to read it and then lost it in my house for some reason. I read it and reviewed it on Sunday, May 23, 2010.

To my surprise, another professor here in Korea took me to task for that review. He said that "The Alchemist" was one of the worst books ever written and that I should have known better. He is younger than me by about 20 years and comes from The United Kingdom and has a PHd. I looked on the Internet and found several places that list "The Alchemist" as a terrible book but found other views that said it was wonderful. I went back to the book which was still sitting on the shelf in the English section of the library and reread it.

I stand by what I wrote about that book. There are sentences and phrases that still echo in my head from time to time from "The Alchemist". Yes, it is written in a simple and easy to read prose. That does not mean it is a simple book. I mentioned this fact to this professor and he said that the example I used," The Great Gatsby"by F. Scott Fitzgerald was another lousy book. That is when I stopped considering what he had to say. I think the book, "The Great Gatsby", is one of the great American novels. Fitzgerald may have written some flawed books but that one was perfect.

I asked that professor to write why he did not like "The Alchemist" on my blog. I accept all comments. I may not agree with everyone but I don't censor comments. The only thing that I want people to say why they don't like a book or writer and not to just say it is lousy or it is bad and just leave it at that. He said he did not have the time. I should have known better anyhow.

I can say I love reading "The Great Gatsby" because it is a word and visual feast. As a reader, I can see and feel everything in the book and the story is told on so many different levels that the reader can read it many times getting a different story each single time. With "The Alchemist", when I read it again in the library it was a simple story but full of the wonderful things that make the human condition. It is true the message is strong in the book but what a message and the quest is what makes all of us so human. I loved reading it again.

I would like to invite anyone to make comments on my comments. I don't think I write the best so-called reviews of the books that I can find over here. Most of the time I am reading old books which is what I am doing now. Still, many of those older books are like wine and improve with time.

Mark Haddon

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" By Mark Haddon
Vintage: 2003

I live in Korea and it is often hard to optain books in English. This is another book I found on the shelves in the university English library where I work and had read it when it first came out. I decided to re-read it and I am so glad I did. It stands out, in my mind, as a remarkable achievement in describing the mind of an autistic teenager. It gives the reader an unforgetable introduction to the world of autism since many of us do not have this background. It is believable and memorable.

It is a murder mystery and involves the death of a neighborhood dog with hints of Sherlock Holmes thrown in with the mysteries of the universe and mathmatical theories and a 15-year-old boy who is trying to understand a very strange and alien world the rest of us live in and think of as normal. One of the achievements this book does is to show the reader how strange this world can look to an autistic person.

Christopher discovers the dog, Wellington, speared through with a pitchfork. The owner of the dog sees this and calls the police. The police officer makes the mistake and thinks the autistic boy Christopher is to blame and grabs Christopher who can't stand to be touched and the boy hits the officer who then arrests the boy. This is the beginning of a series of misunderstandings.

Christopher decides to solve the murder and to write a book about it. Using cunning, his own brand of logic, the help of others and single-hearted bravery he does succeed and brings plenty of suspense and humor as well as warmth to this novel.

On more than one occasion, I wondered if the author was autistic because he discribes Christopher so well. Between the chapters, Christopher introduces the reader to his favorite things and to things he doesn't like. I did not understand the mathmatical puzzels and I don't think it is important to the book to do so.

This totally engaging novel is wonderful, easy to read and the logic would make Sherlock Holmes proud.

J.K Rowland

"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" By J.K. Rowland
Bloomsbury: 1999

This book is the second out of the Harry Potter series and is a favorite of mine and another book I found on the shelves of the university's English library here in Korea. I also read it while I was waiting for my own departure from a regretable situation although not as bad as the fictional Potter's is but still bad enough because it was real. I have not gotten paid from my job and was very low on funds and had very little food.

The plot in this book is the same as the previous Harry Potter in that Harry is mistreated at home by the Dursleys who is his aunt and uncle. Rowland does a good job in discribing this family. It seems to me that the success of these books can be attributed to the way the author brings her characters to life. The stories are character-driven although the story or plot is a fantastic romp through a fantastic world in which a mistreated young man proves his worth and defeats not only evil in the guise of Lord Voltermort but the everyday evil of those who mistreat those who supposedly can't fight back. The readers care what happens to different characters who appear in these books and all who surround Harry.

As I stated in the last description of the first book, Harry does find love and acceptance in the wizarding world but like the real world there are good wizards and there are some who are not so good. Some say that muggles are people who do not see the magic in the world around them such as non-artists, those who can't see the use of poetry, literature and so on. Those who can such as poets, writers, artists can see the magic but are full of faults as all of us are and make mistakes and some can rise above this and become the heroes that we are all capable of being.

I am writing this review of a book I re-read years after I read it. It is also a time after I was able to get out of the situation I was in when I wrote this several months ago. Things are much better now. I have begun to see Korea as it really is and not from the point of a bad situation. I still don't understand what was happening then and probably will never will. I told someone that maybe it was a cultural misunderstanding. Who knows? What I do know is that I really enjoyed reading this book one more time.

J.K. Rowling

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" Scholastic Press: 1997

I read this book on a dare from a friend in 1997. He put a copy of the book on my desk where we both worked at the time and said: "I dare you to read it! You will love this book. Trust me on this."

My heart sank. I don't like the fantasy genre. I looked at the cover. It still did not interest me. I read that it was about a boy who went to a school for wizards and again it seemed dull. However, I really liked the man who put the book in front of me and wanted to keep his friendship. He was one of the few people in the workplace that did not carry a concealed knife and plunge it into his fellow workers' back. He was a decent man and still is. I took the book home on the weekend and finished it the next day. Ed was right. I did not regret it and introduced Harry Potter to my son and friends who became fans too.

Since then I have read all of the Harry Potter books and some of them more than once. I have bought all of the DVD's of the movies that were made of the books.

I now find myself living in a foreign country and was feeling frustrated in a culture that I didn't always understand and I found myself in a contract that seemed to be shifting beneath my feet. I reached out for some comfort and found it in the first volumn of the Harry Potter series that I found in the university library.

Reading it again did not disappoint me. I experienced the same feelings I had when I first read it. It is the story of a boy who was dealt a severe blow with the murder of his parents, was given to unfeeling and selfish relatives and finds his own place, acceptance and love among others. Reading it the second time was like the first, the putting on of a very comfortable cloak, not unlike Harry's invisability cloak in that others don't see it but its there all the same. In the end, Potter finds justice for himself and for others around him. What could be better than that?

I had to ask myself why this boy and this story attracted me in the way it did. Certainly there are plenty of fairy-tales in which Cinderellas find their Prince Charmings but we all know those stories rarely work out. We have to find our success ourselves as J.K. Rowling did for herself with her novels of Harry Potter. Maybe it is this combination of success and justice both real and fiction all of us crave in our lives.

Again, I remember the first time I read "Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone". I was working in a job that was enjoyable in that I helped people find employment and or training. It paid a decent wage and was protected by a strong and fair union. At the time we had medical insurance and Social Security although the medical benefits grew more and more expensive and more cumbersome to use. The difficulty I was experiencing then were a desperately unhappy supervisory staff.

During the time I was there, the supervisory staff were shouting, screaming at the regular staff and sometimes even the customers.The staff responded by yelling at each other. The union was in the office trying to understand what the problem was and especially with the ineffective stewards. Most of the problems were coming from the one manager who had serious problmes not unlike Lord Voltermort. Luckily, enough people filed job actions and won that forced the agency to forceably retire the manager. Unfortunately, he was replaced with someone who could not handle the huge ground-swell of problems that he left behind.

Some fortunate set of circumstances occured and I was able to go somewhere else as well as my friend. It took a long time to recover from that awful experience. I thought I did recover until I came here. It is not the same situation for I teach at a fine university without the same set of problems. However, one person who is not employed but in the mix of things has problems and is causing some difficulties with one special student. It has echoes of that past time.

When we read books, we sometimes incorporate what we are reading into our lives and what is going on with us. I have another "He who must not be named" in my life. I think each of us always have such people. In the book, Headmaster Dumbledore says Voltermort who is not alive cannot die. In latter books, Voltermort is spelled out, filled out as a boy who was not loved or wanted by his parents. I remember how awful my father was because he was unloved by his parents. Who knows how the Voltermort in my life got that way. I do know she is older than her husband or looks that way. Maybe in Korea, this is a serious problem.

Harry is not loved or at least he is told he is not by the Dursleys, but he finds out he is loved by others. His parents gave their lives for him. He finds mentors along the way. He finds secret talents and strengths. He finds friends. He discovers that he is not a bad person afterall but a good person. He builds strength within. This is something that Lord Voltermort never can do nor can his followers. They see doing evil as a short cut to feeling stronger and feeling better about themselves. It is a short cut but a short cut to prison.

Too often people don't win against adversity at least not during their lives. Murderers are not always caught, but karma is the cause and affect of our actions. There is justice but not on human terms. We just don't always see it. There were many times in my life that people were mean to me and I never knew what happened to them. In Harry Potter, we see it, experience it and feel his victories. No one can bring back those who suffer and die in real life but it is good to hear about the Harry Potters of this world. Harry Potter is only fiction, but it is fiction that makes us all feel good about our lives.