What are you reading?

Originally posted by FMF
I got the distinct impression it was for General Forum regulars only.

the general forum is like the house in one of those hammer house of horror films, you ask someone for directions to it, and a fearful peasant gazes up to it, from the edge of the forest parapet and forebodingly claims, 'you dont want to go up there, nooooo, you dont want to go near there', as a raven caws in the distance

Originally posted by FMF
I got the distinct impression it was for General Forum regulars only.

i'm not a general forum regular, and i've entered and done feedback! 🙂 i think it's more the merrier really - people who've entered would surely like as many people to read their laboured over/hastily scrawled* efforts as possible

* delete as appropriate

Originally posted by Biffer Spice
i'm not a general forum regular, and i've entered and done feedback! i think it's more the merrier really

You're right, I'm sure. But it just never crossed my mind to submit anything even though I write short stories for a hobby. The thread announcing the contest just seemed like a General Forum thread so I didn't bother. Just one of those things. People started to bicker 'wittily' and I never visited the thread a second time. Maybe next year.

Originally posted by FMF
You're right, I'm sure. But it just never crossed my mind to submit anything even though I write short stories for a hobby. The thread announcing the contest just seemed like a General Forum thread so I didn't bother. Just one of those things. People started to bicker 'wittily' and I never visited the thread a second time. Maybe next year.

Similar experience. Last year's was the first one I entered. It's fun. But even if you haven't entered, you can still enjoy reading the entries and voting.

Originally posted by Green Paladin
Country of My Skull - Antjie Krog

How do you like it?

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
How do you like it?

It's an excellent and complex book.

Krog relates the unfolding of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission as seen through the eyes of a liberal Afrikaner: the TRC's naive beginnings; the harrowing testimony of Apartheid atrocities; the renegotiation of an Afrikaner selfhood; the denial of responsibility by the former regime; the ANC's protection of its public image; racial tension within the commission itself.

It seems that the poor came off worst. As usual. Seven years after the first hearing not a single reparation had been made to the victims [not sure about now but I doubt it]. Politicians and the rich guilty of violations knew they were better off in court than applying for amnesty so the only ones who applied had nothing to lose.

The Amnesty Committee had expected about 200 applications but ended up with over 7,000! 5,500 of these were refused which leaves the responsibility with the courts [and those are just the ones that applied for amnesty]. It seems doubtful that all of these will be brought to book. Despite its failings at least the 'truth' came out.

It wasn't just NP crimes against the ANC either. Human rights violations happened on all sides. Most shockingly, Joe Mamasela's savagery as a member of the notorious Vlakplaas askari against his own people.

Tutu's humanity really shines through though and it's his guiding light that time after time manages to transcend all the pettiness. An amazing human being.

Like most good books it provides a foundation for further inquiry. A must-read for every South African.

Originally posted by Green Paladin
It's an excellent and complex book.

I enjoyed it, but I think she really hit her stride with 'A Change of Tongue'.

Do you read her poetry? There are some readings by her up on lyrikline.org ...

Geulincx, Ethics -- with notes by Samuel Beckett! 😲

1421

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
I enjoyed it, but I think she really hit her stride with 'A Change of Tongue'.

Do you read her poetry? There are some readings by her up on lyrikline.org ...

I'm not familiar with her other stuff. I'll keep an eye out for A Change of Tongue.

Thanks for the link... she has a powerful voice.

'A Fraction of the Whole' by Steve Toltz. Excellent read, sad, clever, funny, and it's his first novel.

The Masks of Christ: "behind the lies and cover-ups about the man believed to be God" by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince.

very interesting.

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
Threads move slowly in this forum; slowly enough for such a one, perhaps.

Fernando Pessoa: The Education of the Stoic: The Only Manuscript of the Baron of Teive.

if it sits idle for two months or so it'll be stuck forever, like a fly in amber.

just finished Alistair Cooke's The Americans, third in the collections of his Letters from America radio addresses; includes four entries on Watergate.

before that it was How De Body?, an account of Sierra Leone's troubles by a Belgian reporter who was stuck there.