Quotes 2

To learn something, to master something, anything, is as sweet as first love.
Geoffrey Wolff

November 5, 1937: Happy 76th birthday, Geoffrey Wolff! The American biographer, novelist, and memoir writer is the brother of author Tobias Wolff. When their parents divorced, the two grew up separately, and both wrote noted memoirs of their difficult childhoods. Geoffrey's, The Duke of Deception, describes life with their dashing liar of a father.


  

Fainted

     I am sitting in the park, the grass under me is plenty of life, the breeze moves gently the trees, bringing to me the aroma of the flowers, the bushes, the rain… it is cloudy. Curiously also the aroma of vanilla. This village is excellent for resting from the noise of the city. Some meters away from me, my horse neighs. It does it everytime someone is apporaching, but it is only a dog. I see it has a ribbon with a little note. I take it and see it says: “Tonight, under the plum tree of the plaza, at 9:00 pm.” I look around but there isn’t anyone. He surely followed me.

     That night I get teady to go out, I notice surprised that my horse is already with the seat on, brushed and even with a flower crown. This might be a joke, but I go anyway to the plaza, in this village everybody is very kind. When I arrive, I notice there is another note sticked to the tree, it is a poem but I don’t understand a thing. Far from me (or is it near but it walks slowly?) I hear a horse walking, followed by the sound of fabric touching the floor. It must be a sheet… suddenly, someone puts me a vanilla flower in my hands, I turn around and get into a hug… it’s a guy… and he smells like vanilla….
He’s on a hood, he is surely a traveller… my heart beats faster… he’s a little bit taller than me; with strong, sure arms. The arms of an experimented rider; strong, muscled, well defined; but at the same time slender and delicated, capable of hugging strongly and without hurting… just like now. The hood hides his face; slowly, I approach the hand to remove it, but regret and take the hand back.
“It’s ok, do it. Don’t be afraid.”
I take away the hood slowly and I finally see him… my heart beats even faster… he’s cute, and blushes when he stares at me. His big brown eyes are beautiful, they let me see he is plenty of knowledge, the spark they have tells me he loves to read… he has a bow and green arrows. I sigh when I notice he is identical to… it’s actually him. Why does he have a bow? Does he know to use it, just like he who I'm thinking about? This is too much for me. I faint in his arms. The last thing I see is his smile, a warm smile that sends me deeper to the darkness… 



     When I wake up I notice I’m in another place… it is a cabin, but the bed’s comfortable. I look around and next to me, sitting on a chair is him, observing me worried.
“I thought you would never wake up” he is smiling at me as he says that, obviously he is happy that I’m awake. I try to stand up, but I’m not in form. He stands up quickly, kneels next to me and carefully pushes me against the bed, smiling. I don’t oppose, concentrated as I am on his face, his pale, brown, skin is soft; his hands are slim; and his hair is long to the ears, and swings with every move he makes. My surprise might be obvious, because he continues “We left the village yesterday, and they gave me a wagon to transport you, but it started raining, I saw this cabin, and entered here. It’s abandoned, but don’t worry, there’s a stable next to it, there is enough grass for both horses. Don’t you like the sound of the rain?” I say yes with my head. I thought I was unconscious for less time. Like he would have done if he hadn’t seen me, continues his story “You woke up in the hotel, after you passed out. After you ate you fell asleep.”
“I don't remember a thing” I tell him.
“By the way, aren't you hungry?” I suddenly notice how hungry am I, but he’s already offering me a plate with fruit. After I’m finished eating, I fall asleep again.

Hi.

Well, I think I just haven't posted in a while, and I was passing thorugh, so... well, here am I. I'm curious, which book ´re you reading? My ten books list reduced to 2, I'm not at home in a while so... :( I'm really sad. I am now reading Lord of the Rings and The Golden Compass (book 3), I´m goin' to start a book 'bout french... unfortunately it's not a novel or a story. However, it'll be useful to me. How many books do you like to read? I don't like to read only one, and I HATE to read when I have to.

June Vagsto (2)

Journey Overseas

[Berelia wakes up in a boat, tied to the floor. As she looks around, she discovers more women in the same situation. Next to the wall, there are some kids, scared. She tries to get free of the chains that hold her to the “ground”, and meets a young woman: Kathary. They discover there is a man going downstairs, right where they are. Berelia asks for help because she is pregnant, but this just makes the situation worse. A storm makes the boat sink, and Berelia saves part of the prisoners. They arrive to an island.]

June goes to Loredella after she discusses –again- with Faruh. This had become very common since they arrived to the valley, so she went alone to the market: Against to what they had planned the day before. After she returns home from the market they go to eat with Vitero and Abato, a traveller that had arrived when June was leaving the valley. It is in that moment when Vitero gives June a scroll of paper, which is a drawing of a beautiful lady: It is June´s mother. They go to look for her, and go to the south, for Rotharam is at the North, The queen escaped from Rotharam ¿Where if not was she going to be? 15 years. Fifteen years had Rotharam been without queen. They go asking from market to market in each great village they hear of, until they ask for her to a famous shoe seller. They go ask for the woman he tells them to a tavern, where they find her… but it is not the queen. She is older and this woman is young. They continue the journey, and arrive to a village where children are disappearing. Blond children. They find a strange man, with a blue eye and a black eye. When they capture the man who steals children

With Jard -their new partner- they arrive to the port of Saseb, where they find a sell of slaves, a woman shouting and a handless slave. They buy the slave and free him, but pay with Sua, June´s mare, the one she captured in the desert where she met Faruh. June, Jard and Faruh go to heal the handless man, and after this is done, the man receives the new name of Karo. Karo´s seller marries the shouting woman and gives her Sua as a wedding gift. When June finds a ship that can take them to the other side of the sea, the port of Tocope. But Faruh is disappeared. When the ship goes to sea, and it is going away, Faruh returns with Sua, but there is no return. June shouts Faruh to meet her at Rotharam. They are attacked by pirates, but the whale that June saved from being hunted saves them, like in gratitude to that favour. As they continue the journey, after the captain –friend of June, Karo and Jard- dies, the ship is attacked by an iron monster. June dismays, and wakes up inside of the monster. She discovers that the monster-machine is saving children and taking them to a secret island… the Hope Island. They leave and arrive to Aguzul, where they are received by a fifteen years old boy, named Odei, who gives them a liquid that makes Karo and Jard vomit. The cure to that joke leads them to a farm: The Pretty, and the owner, Odei´s mother recognizes Jard… and June. Her name is Berelia, and she is the queen of Rotharam, wife of King Mustha and mother of Princess June and Prince Odei.

Two guards from the temple to the god of the Pasterra volcano kidnap Odei, Trying to rescue him Jard dies, but they rescue part of the other children (100) that were going to be sacrificed in honour to the god. The volcano erupts and they run to Tocope, where they find Karo, who had gone there after saving 7 girls form the temple before they went up on the volcano. They had survived to the eruption and Suro, a boy, finds his father. They sail to the island, and then they go to Rotharam.

[The peregrine that had kidnapped children was really happy; he had reached the peak of the Mountain of the Penitent. He turned back and discovered another man, dressed in animal skins. One sweared to be innocent, the other admitted his fault. The innocent killed the other, and ate him (there was no other eatable thing near). Some time after, he had survived to the punishment. He went to a village and asked for a dove to send a message to Rotharam. Therador asked for his prize. And for his revenge.]

 

Fernanda León 

June Vagsto

Journey to the Kingdoms of the North

Enui is the daughter of a miller. One day, a messenger arrives to the valley of Lore, where she lives, but is killed by an arrow. A black arrow. The miller shouts to Enui to run away, but he is also killed by the same group of messengers that killed the first one. Enui flees on time, arrives to her teacher´s house, but faints when he is going to welcome her. One day, Vitero (who is Enui’s teacher) helps her to flee again, to give the message to the one who sent it: the king of Rotharam at the north. Rotharam as one of the Five Kingdoms of the Five Rivers. After she went out of the valley, she discovered her friend Suroma, and took whim to the Monastery of Batercklo to visit Suroma’s brother Gio. They meet an old monk, Brother Brimeltu, who protects Enui from the other monks because she is a woman, so they do not trust her. The director of the Monastery arrives when Suroma and Enui are still there, held by a monk of another monastery. The director is very sick, and is taken to the hospital. Enui helps to cure him with the help of Brother Brimeltu, but another monk catches them and starts saying that Enui is a witch, and Suroma, with his red hair were sent by the Devil. Once more, they are forced to run away when the monk calls to the police.

Traveling to the north, they are forced to go through the Dry Swamp. They are attacked by the inhabitants of the Swamp, but before they are taken away, they are saved by a gardhel, Faruh. He takes them to the desert where his people live: the oasis of Almadret, which by pure bad luck starts burning. Enui and Suroma start helping, and that night they celebrate that Almadret was saved, and Enui falls in love to Faruh. The gardhels catch 2 horses for Suroma and Enui, so that they ride them, and their mule carries their things. They continue the journey and arrive to a town, where they find the men who killed Enui´s father and the messenger. Haklos, one of them; apologizes to Enui, and takes his mates to another direction, for they are looking for Enui. Enui and Suroma take a different path and meet on the way a huge man dressed in wolf skins. He saves them from being eaten by a pack of wolves, but when the mule gets her paw hurt, he buys her and kidnaps Suroma. Enui camps near the man´s house and starts crying, and while she tries to figure out how to save Suroma, Faruh (arrived somehow from she doesn’t know where) rescues Suroma.

The three continue to the North and cross the Patur Mountains, where they are challenged to a bow and arrow competition. Faruh accepts, but uses his blowpipe and wins. As a prize, they obtain the gratitude of the village of Xetan and are helped to cross the mountains. When they cross, they arrive to the Bombadox River, where the other 4 rivers end: Rotharam, Zerba, Woroll, and the Nergöroh. After they arrive to Rotharam, they find a friend of Batercklo, and an unexpected person: Haklos, but Enui doesn´t trust him still. They go to palace, the summer palace of King Mustha, where Enui finally reads the message. She discovers that she is not the daughter of a miller, but the princess June Vagsto, heir of the throne of Rotharam. She understands that all the prophecies were referring to her, and because of that, there will be a war, which is coming soon.

The four kings of the neighbor kingdoms are called to Rotharam with their armies: Queen Deliobe the Beautiful of Zerba, Queen Fira of Bambadox, King Sofar of Nergöroh, and King Bevei of Woroll. When they are forming the troops, they surround to Count Therador: paturs by the South, the people of Lauria, Nergöroh and Bambadox by the North, Rotharam, Woroll and Zerba by the side, and paturs and gardhels by the other. The Company of the Black Arrow (Therador’s army) starts singing the song-prophecy, and the war it talks about, as said in the song, never begins. They capture Therador as his army vows and promises loyalty to June. Therador is sent to the Mountain of the Penitent, and the different nations that went to help Rotharam return home. June does so, but returns to the valley of Lore with Faruh and names Suroma prince of Rotharam, leaving Yhio, her dog, with Suroma. Her ferret Wezo had returned to the wild in the way to Rotharam. Haklos is named King of the Great Plain, to replace Therador.

When they arrive to Lore, they find the mill restablished. Vitero had rebuilt it, after Haklos burned it, with help of his –now dead- partners. They go to live to June’s house at the Valley. But she keeps the name of June.

How does reading a book may change your life?

     Your way of thinking, your imagination, even your way to see the world; to see the things change when you read a book. And when you read more than one, you find common things between those worlds, those characters, those events, because there are similar names. It is then when you say yourself: What if all of these places were the same one, but with another name? It is in that moment, and from that moment on, when you find it the most obvious thing of the world, even if it is perhaps unreasonable: maybe impossible. But, couldn´t it be part of the same story, with changing names across time? Words evolve, life evolves too; so, why not? Ah! How would you like then to be the author of those ideas, those stories, those books! And it is because of this that people who read have such a good memory. I think that it is feeling all of this that makes our memory grow, our memory improve.

     All of these feelings reduce into one: nostalgia. And it is complicated to feel this because each feeling, each emotion, has a particular characteristic. It is not the same to be happy because you are going to receive something than to be happy because you are going somewhere or to meet someone. You also imagine your life, your future in a different way. If for example, you read Harry Potter, you will imagine your house in a different way than how you would imagine it if you read Eragon, or both. This is felt a t the same time. Once you get used to it, it is the most beautiful thing, even though it is sad to feel it. Opposite to what others may say, reading has never satisffied my soul. You always want the story to continue. And when you find your favorite song to read, you can relate it to any story, to any event; may it be sad, happy, funny, boring... there is always something to calm you down, making you troubled, worried and pulling you more towards, calling you louder and louder every time.

     If you read while listening to music that you like, you enjoy the story in a very different way than to if you read it is silence or with noisy background. If people disturb you a lot and you listen to music while reading, you learn to read in a special way; ignoring everything around you, concentrating just in the story but without stopping to listen that music. Later, you can hear just specific sounds without losing concentration.

The farther you go... the harder it is to come back. The world has many cliffs, and it´s easy to fall of (Anderson Cooper).

                                                                                                                                            Fernanda León

How does it feel to read a really interesting book?

     It is a strange thing; for it is one thing that you feel, but many at once... for a long period of time. You feel a "knot" in the heart; you have the feeling that you will laugh... or cry. It somehow depends on the hour, the mood, and evon on the climate; really. A deep nostalgia for which never was, and never will be. A deep wish to at least for a moment, get lost in the worlds of which books are talking about. You let yourself be carriend by the emotion, but you are never satisfied. There is always something. One thing that, like having received orders from that of what you are reading, pulls you, tied with invisible chains that leave you vulnerable, and attract you even when you do not have the possibility to arrive there. There is always a key to untie the chains, but that key is thrown into the garbage and is confused with another key: the one given to you, which is another feeling: you fall in love with a character, you identify with another... that feeling just makes the knot tighter, calling you to what will never be.

     It makes you propose to yourself to quit anything else you're doing; to be there just a moment; and when you close the book and return to reality, you get disappointed. Because, how beautiful is that world! That with each inconvenience, each problem, becomes more perfect! How you wish to be there! Meeting even the most evil, just to get closer to a small part of the story! How fortunate are the characters to be part of that world! Each book has its own chains, an when you read to much, the mind gets lost. How it confuses you! And after some time, even you don´t know what you have in your mind, and when you try to find out, you get lost even deeper in your mind, questionig what in the beginning were solid columns of rock now have reduced into threads. You feel a character, a character of that book you love so much; all of your thoughts go to it. That character you would like to be. That character you would like to meet.

Quotes 1

"Ghosts don't haunt us. That's not how it works. They're present among us because we won't let go of them."

April 24, 1940; Sue Grafton: The alphabet lover and popular mystery writer was born in Louisville, Kentucky. Goodreads.com  27/5/13

"It is never too late to be wise." 
April 25, 1719: British writer Daniel Defoe published his first novel, the enduring Robinson Crusoe, 294 years ago today.  28/5/13

"Some of these things are true and some of them lies. But they are all good stories."
May 2, 1536; Hilary Mantel: It's been 477 years since Anne Boleyn was arrested and sent to the Tower of London to make way for Henry VIII's next wife, Jane Seymour. 29/5/13 

"Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are." 
May 3, 1469: Would Niccolò Machiavelli have thought that celebrating birthdays was a betrayal of weakness? The Renaissance Italian philosopher was born 544 years ago today.  30/5/13

"Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard, are sweeter." 
May 5, 1816: He burned bright and died young. The English poet John Keats had his first sonnet published 197 years ago today, when he was just 20 years old. He died five years later.  31/5/13

There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do. 
May 6, 1940: John Steinbeck received a Pulitzer Prize for his best-seller, The Grapes of Wrath, 73 years ago today. The title, based on a lyric from "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," was suggested by his wife. 1/6/13

"There must be those among whom we can sit down and weep and still be counted as warriors."
May 16, 1929: Poet, activist, and MacArthur "genius" Adrienne Rich was born in Baltimore, Maryland, 84 years ago today. In 1997 she turned down the National Medal for the Arts in a protest against the disparity of justice in America.  2/6/13

"The world's perverse, but it could be worse." 
May 9, 1921: Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mona Van Duyn was born in Waterloo, Iowa, 92 years ago today. In 1992 she was named Poet Laureate.  3/6/13

"Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough." 
May 11, 1918: A theoretical physicist who made his work accessible and appealing, Richard Feynman was born in New York City, 95 years ago today. He won a Nobel Prize, worked on the Manhattan Project, and authored a series of irreverent science books.  4/6/13


"Do your thing and don't care if they like it."
May 18, 1970: Happy birthday, Tina Fey! The superstar comedian and author of Bossypants turns 43 today. Blergh!  6/6/13


"The bravest people are the ones who don’t mind looking like cowards."
May 29, 1906: Born in Bombay to British parents, T.H. White's novels, including The Sword in the Stone, popularized the Arthurian legend and were a strong influence on J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. 7/6/13


"Strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody."
May 31, 1669: As a concession to his failing eyesight, Samuel Pepys stopped writing in his famous diary, 344 years ago today. The decade-long volume is a valuable look at daily life during the Restoration. 8/6/13


"Art and love are the same thing: It’s the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you." 
June 5, 1972: Happy birthday, Chuck Klosterman! The journalist and essayist was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota, 41 years ago today.  9/6/13


"I read a book one day and my whole life was changed." 
June 7, 1952: Happy birthday, Orhan Pamuk! The Nobel Prize-winning Turkish writer was born in Istanbul 61 years ago today.  10/6/13


If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. 
June 8, 1862: Enigmatic poet Emily Dickinson formally asked literary critic Thomas Wentworth Higginson to be her friend, launching a lifelong correspondence that was vital to Dickinson's artistic growth.  11/6/13


"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth, 
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings" 
June 9, 1922: An aviator and a poet, John Gillespie Magee Jr. was born to missionaries in Shanghai, 91 years ago today. His poem, High Flight, is still memorized by cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy today.  12/6/13


"A book is really like a lover. It arranges itself in your life in a way that is beautiful." 
June 10, 1928: Oh Maurice Sendak, we love you so! The prickly, big-hearted children's book writer was born 85 years ago today in Brooklyn, New York. The monsters in his classic, Where the Wild Things Are, were inspired by his immigrant family.  13/6/13


"Love the world and yourself in it, move through it as though it offers no resistance, as though the world is your natural element."
June 13, 1963: Happy birthday, Audrey Niffenegger! The author of The Time Traveler's Wife famously received a $5 million advance for her second novel, Her Fearful Symmetry. She turns 50 today.  14/6/13