Candelarian Readings

Four Days of Reading while in Candelaria

I just returned from four days in Candelaria in Zambales, a province in the northern end of the island of Luzon.  It is 250 KM from Manila, a city of some 15 to 20 Million, with a population of 5000.  It is the family home of my wife and we were there to celebrate the 70th birthday of her mother.  Almost every one in the town is related by marriage or birth and most families go back as far as records can be traced.  I tell people it is 250 KM from Manila and 50 years back in time.  There is no traffic, the air is beautiful too  just breath, there are no malls, no fast foodsp, no internet, no cable TV.  Our children love to go up their to visit their cousins.  We are located on a big lake and almost across the street to the Sea of China.  There are giant old mango trees, sometimes there are troops of monkeys raiding the trees.  While my wife and daughters catch up with their relatives and friends I love to sit out under the trees and read.  Thanks to my IPAD  I can bring a virtual library with me.   Here is what I was able to read.

Books

1. The Face of Another by Kobe Abe -brilliant work about masks-
2. Occasions of Sin:  Sex and Society in Modern Ireland by Diarmaid Ferriter-completed-invaluable 

I will do a post on both of these books soon.

Short Stories

1. "Ten of December" by George Saunders. Great Story.
2. "Memories of the Space Age" by J. G. Ballard-I stopped reading this 60 page story about 15 pages into it as it seemed unoriginal
3. "Flesh and the Mirror" by Angela Carter-there is no bad Angela Carter
4. "Kennedy" by Desmond Hogan-I will post on this soon.
5. "The Duc de L'Omelette" a rarely read Edgar Alan Poe story.
6. "Willing" by Lorrie Moore-wonderful story about an aging actress.
7. "Dance in America" by Lorrie Moore
8. "Cubs" by Vona Groake-I might post on this for ISSM3
9. "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" by Hurakami Murakami -so glad I read this and I will probably post on it soon.
10. "The No Fathers Club" by Tomoyuki Hoshino-closely tied in to some of the themes I have spoken about during ISSM3 on Fathers
11. "The Resignation" by Premchand-wonderful India short story from the 1930s-translated from Hindi
12. "Death of an Indian" by Kishori-trans. from Oriya
13. "The Bride of the Innisfallen" by Euroda Welty-I am so glad I read this story, it is set on a train in England to the port for the Cork, Ireland boot.  Welty was staying with Elizabeth Bowen at Bowen Castle when she wrote this.  I will for sure post on this story during Irish Short Story Week Year III.
14. "Leaving for Kenosha" by Richard Ford -glad to have at last read my first work by Richard Ford.
15. "Hester Lilly" by Elizabeth Taylor-I am pondering if I should invest in her complete short stories
16. "Everything Empties into the Wild Blue" by Gabriel Rockenstick-translated from Irish
17.  "The Habit of Loving" by Doris Lessing-so glad to have begun to read her work.
18. "Clare de Lune" by Guy de Maupassant-not his best work but not bad
19. "The Loss" by David Constantine-by a master of the genre
20. "The Sea" by Yoko Ogawa-my high expectations were not disappointed
21. "Delilah" by Hitomi Kanehara-from the dark side of the Tokyo Night-by the author of Snakes and Earrings-R rated, at least
22. "The Shadows"  by Abbas Zaidi-by an author from Pakistan I will soon be featuring in a Q and A
23. "By the Water" by Paul Bowles-my first Bowles-I might do a read through of his stories one of these days.

I was happy to read for the first time a number of authors, some well known others not.  

Some of these short stories I will probably post on.  Some time in 2013 I hope to spend six weeks focusing on short stories of the Indian subcontinent.  

Mel u