Emu with a Clue

Those lucky little Catholics ...

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:32:43 -0700

being force-fed vegemite on their pilgrimage to Sydney. Is this a test of faith? I don't think I have ever met a non-Australian who likes vegemite. Also didn't know that baked beans were traditional Aussie fare. Someone had better tell Mel Brooks.

Pilgrims to tuck into tradition

June 9, 2008 - 3:39PM

Iconic ... the pilgrims' menu will feature typical Aussie tucker.

Pilgrims heading to Sydney for World Youth Day (WYD) next month will get a taste of Down Under courtesy of a traditional Aussie menu.

Over the six-day event from July 15-20, 3.5 million meals will be served, including breakfast at 400 accommodation venues, lunch at 250 sites and evening meals in the city.

To cater for the masses, 210,000 slices of bread, 425,000 chocolate bars, 200,000 meat pies and 300,000 servings of Weet-Bix Crunch have been ordered.

"We want to provide pilgrims with a good feed and a little bit of an Australian taste," WYD director of services Geoff Morris said.

"We have tried to do that by including some of our more iconic items such as Tim Tams, Weet-Bix Crunch, Vegemite, lamingtons and good old baked beans," Mr Morris said.

On the second day of the festivities, 200 barbecues will be held simultaneously, an event dubbed the "WYD Big Aussie BBQ".

An estimated 125,000 international visitors are expected to visit Sydney for WYD.

AAP

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Friday 13: 13 books I studied at high school

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:19:21 -0700

Lord of the Flies

William Golding

Julius Caesar (The New Folger Library Shakespeare)

William Shakespeare

John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat (Picture Puffin)

Jenny Wagner

The Plague (Penguin Modern Classics)

Albert Camus

Tirra Lirra by the River

The Crucible (Penguin Plays)

Arthur Miller

Madame Bovary (Penguin Classics)

Gustave Flaubert

Washington Square (Penguin Classics)

Henry James

The Age of Innocence (Barnes & Noble Classics)

Edith Wharton

Macbeth (Folger Shakespeare Library)

William Shakespeare

The Power and the Glory (Penguin Classics)

Graham Greene

Sleep It Off, Lady (Twentieth Century Classics)

Jean Rhys

The Getting of Wisdom

Henry Handel Richardson

Can you tell I went to a very traditional, all girls school? The one that stands out for me is the picture book, John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat. We only got to study this because of a visiting American teacher we had who was obviously way ahead of his time. The other thing that I find interesting about this list is how few Australian books we studied. I am pretty sure that The Getting of Wisdom and Tirra Lirra by the River were the only ones in four years.

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Book log

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:11:05 -0800

Decided to use this blog mainly to keep a record of my reading as I often forget what I have and haven't read. Started reading a lot of 'young adult' fiction a few years ago when I was doing my English teaching course and was overwhelmed at what a rich, untapped (by me) source of great books this part of the library was. Have continued to read my way through this section of the library since then. Find this genre particularly good when I am in the mood for something not too taxing but not insulting and simplistic either.

Latest YA reads include:

The Truth About Emma

Gary Crew

which I didn't enjoy as much as other (more 'boyish') Gary Crew books such as:

Strange Objects

Gary Crew

and

The Watertower

Gary Crew

Another Australian novel which I really did enjoy was 'Joel and Cat set the Record Straight' by Nick Hornby and Rebecca Sparrow. The focus of this novel is a tandem story writing exercise which the two title characters are forced (very much against their will) to cooperate on. Would be interested to find out more about how the two novel writers worked together on this project and how much the process resembles the tandem story exercise within the larger story.

Have also read a few UK YA novels recently including:

The Passionflower Massacre (Signature)

Nicola Morgan

and

Paralysed

Sherry Ashworth

Paralysed was great. It explored the relationships between a group of friends when one becomes severely injured in a sporting accident.

The Passion Flower Massacre was also interesting - about a troubled girl who takes a job fruitpicking in the English country side only to find herself mixed up in a cult. Also uses a 'story within a story' device but this done a bit clunkily. Read on the cover that this writer mostly does more science fiction/fantasy type books (this one partly futuristic as the bracketing story set 25 years into the future) so maybe this is something new for her.

The fruitpicking theme has lead nicely onto a very different (and non-YA) book, Two Caravans, by the author of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (which I have not read). Finding Two Caravans a nice change of pace. Only a short way in but enjoying the interactions between the characters who are mostly fruit pickers from Eastern Europe earning some quick money on a 'sweat shop' type farm in rural England.

Two Caravans

Marina Lewycka

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