Reading right now: The End of the Affair

I've had the movie on my wish list for years, but the lure was Ralph Fiennes, I'm sad to say. Recently I was reading a book blog discussion of the best novels on infidelity and discovered that The End of the Affair is based on a novel of the same name by Graham Greene. I hadn't read Greene since childhood, so off I went to the Amazon store and got myself a used copy.

Glad I did. What I liked most about this book was the author's honesty in dealing with the emotions involved in a love affair, in this case an illicit but profoundly affecting one. This 'affair' was no casual dalliance but the kind of 'once in a lifetime' connection that the parties could not get past. Greene explores all of it - the joy, despair, jealousy, pain, hopelessness, desperation and destructiveness inherent in such a relationship. I'll be accused of being sexist here, but I haven't come across a novel written by a man that explores such a theme in such a truthful manner, one that faces full on the vulnerability of the male in matters of the heart. I'm well acquainted with the woman's emotional perspective; it was fascinating to get a good look at the man's. Nor have I read any similar story that deals as sensitively with the cuckolded husband in a love triangle.

This is a superbly written, brave, honest book, and I'm glad I read it. It explores profound themes, including the nuances of forbidden love between men and women as well as the complexity of love of God, and the tangle that ensues when these intertwine and intersect. Now to get my hands on the film and see the delectable Mr. Fiennes at his sensual, intense best...

Sorry. Got a bit carried away there.

Sweet & sour

I'm posting over on Novel Spaces today about two women with Caribbean roots, one of whom is Trinidadian, whose novels made it to the list for this year's Orange Prize for Fiction.

There are some out there who think a writing prize for women is no longer relevant, this being the age of feminism and equality and other such wonderful ideas. They think men should be allowed to compete for the Orange, or that there should be a men-only literary award. I talk about that too.

Oranges and Lemons

My other columns for Novel Spaces are here.

Random yard shots: purple petrea goes berserk

Toward the end of the recent drought the purple petrea by the front gate struggled to flower for weeks, managing only a few scattered sprays. Two weeks ago the rain came and it got a good drenching. This is what followed:



Looks a bit like photos I've seen of wisteria, but not as drapey, and ours is a shrub, not a vine. The pink poui has also been displaying itself for weeks, almost too beautiful to be real, and now its gold cousin is popping all over the hillsides and verges. Makes me glad to be alive!

[I took these photos with my ratty cell phone camera. My son needs to drop by with his trusty Canon to do this thing justice.]

The Joy of Rejection

Today on Novel Spaces I take a look at some famous writers whose work was repeatedly, scathingly, cruelly rejected. Compared to some of their stories, our rejections are gravy.

WHO Was Rejected?

CLS interviews Vaughn Stanford

My writing buddy Vaughn has an interview up on Caribbean Literary Salon this week. Some of you might remember him: he once caused a bit of a stir among a couple lady-bloggers who hang out here. He said if I didn't announce his interview on my blog I'd be in dire trouble and he'd de-friend me. I'd be so lucky...

Vaughn is an author and mathematics teacher in Trinidad. He has written, produced and directed theater plays, and also writes screenplays, short stories and novels. Remember ladies, we don't want his head swelling up now, so don't be too nice!

Interview with Vaughn T. Stanford at Caribbean Literary Salon

El Tucuche, sacred mountain

Let me tell you about my favorite mountain. It's in the northern range of the island, to the east of Maracas Bay, that very bay featured in the masthead above (Ed. note: the masthead changes so the one you see might not be the one that features Maracas Bay). See the cloudy area at the top right of the photo? Go inland a bit, and east some more, and there's my mountain: El Tucuche. In school we were taught it was the second highest mountain on the island, and according to local lore, it was considered a sacred place by the Amerindians. The only known Amerindian glyphs in Trinidad occur on a rock outcrop here. I've hiked El Tucuche twice in my fitter days when I belonged to a naturalist group.

That first time was the hardest hike I've ever tackled, and I've been on quite a few. It makes No Mercy Hill on the trail to Paria Bay look like something in a child's sandbox. The first time I ventured up there I didn't think I'd make it home alive. On the way back down the mountain I was sick and trembling and wanted nothing more than to lie at the side of the trail and die. But, with the help of a fellow hiker (wonder what became of Vibert?) I made it down more or less intact (although my toenails slowly turned black and fell out and took forever to grow back).

El Tucuche, Trinidad
Image courtesy Carole Anne Ferris/CafeMoka Gallery

But the climb was so worth it. It's another world up there on the peak, where mists swirl through the trees and imbue everything with an eerie other-worldliness that defies description. The vegetation is different, and so is the fauna. Strange bird calls abound, and the frogs are painted in such brilliant colours they must surely be poisonous. This is the home of the El Tucuche golden tree frog, found only here and on that other bump on the local landscape, El Cerro Aripo. The ground is cushioned with super-thick, bright green moss that's a balm to feet that have been abused for hours.

After the last steep scramble there you are, on the plateau at the summit of the mountain, with the world spread at your feet. At first you're too exhausted to do anything but sit or lie there, semi-comatose, dreading the long, arduous hours of descent still ahead, but as your breathing slows and your heart stops pounding and there's a glimmer of light in the dark vortex of weariness that has become your world, the euphoria begins to set in. You did it! My first-hand experience of the devastating beauty of the physical world, especially on these hikes where I'm able to climb above the clamour of man-made existence, is one of the main reasons I'm not an out-and-out atheist. To me, it's as irrational to think that the universe is some random accident as my strange substantiation of intelligent creation must be to a nonbeliever.

But I digress. The second time around, El Tucuche was still a long, hard, exhausting climb to the top and back down, but I fared much better. The "never again!" of the first round gave place to "well, maybe I can be persuaded to make it a hat-trick".

There's an amazing footnote to the El Tucuche anecdote. Some years ago, there was an announcement that more accurate measuring technology had revealed that El Cerro Aripo, formerly believed to be Trinidad's highest mountain, was actually the second highest, and El Tucuche assumed its rightful place as the point on the island that comes closest to touching the heavens, a fitting tribute to that strangely shaped rock at the top of the world. Well, my world anyway.

...and another amazing footnote:
Raymond Banfield contacted me after reading the article above. He's a 90 year old veteran climber who has scaled El Tucuche more than 100 times over his lifetime - and still climbs it! His most recent ascent was earlier this month as part of his 90th birthday celebrations. The local media covered the event; the link to the Trinidad Express article is here.

Raymond "Don Ramos" Banfield gives the thumbs up signal on his historic
ascent to the summit of Mount El Tucuche, November 2010

Raymond is planning his next hike to the top for early next year. I can think of nothing I'd like to do at 90 that tops this. Keep on climbing, Raymond! You have become my great inspiration. Hope to see you on the summit some day soon!
- November 20, 2010

Note added 19-Nov-2011: Raymond passed away on November 10, 2011, three days after his ninety-first birthday. I'll climb El Tucuche again, and I know he'll be there hiking next to me - in spirit.

Random yard shots, March 2010 edition

The drought has been terrible and the hills are burning, but in my mother's parched garden these plants continue to pleasure the eyes and the spirit.

Ground orchid

Another orchid in a hanging basket. Don't know the name of this one...

Or this...

Oncidium or bee orchid growing happily in rubble in a basket

Marigolds in the background. Phlox and chives in the foreground. Yeah, my mom mixes it up, vegs and flowers in the same beds and borders.

Photos copyright R.S.V.P. Studios. Please contact blog owner for permission to reprint.

World Literature: The Caribbean - Part 2

Come join me on Novel Spaces today as I continue my feature on the works of great Caribbean writers!

World Literature: The Caribbean (2)

T.G.I.F: In the pink

In the news today...

My writer-buddy Vaughn celebrated a birthday recently so I took him out today to induct him into the Death by Chocolate cult of which there are two members I know of, my friend D and me. (I neglected to take a photo of the DbC so I'll just say it's large, and there are lots of chocolate things in it, like chocolate ice-cream, chocolate sauce, chunks of brownies and more stuff that I can't recall. Then there's whipped cream and a cherry on top. And an umbrella; umbrellas are important.)

Vaughn seemed to have a slight problem first with the fact that, according to him, there were no men in the place. When I pointed out three of his gender he complained instead that the place was, ah, pink. He seemed to think that particular colour scheme indicated dire things about portion size. (Men are really hung up - no pun intended - on size.) He eventually looked at the menu and discovered there was actual food to be had, and not just dainty, pretty, small things, so he brightened up considerably. By the time the Death by Chocolate dessert came around he had settled down and was as close to normal as he gets, which ain't sayin' much. Here he is in the pink place, with the initial get-me-out-of-here expression on his mug:

I have another photo of him rolling his eyes and looking really freaked out, but I'll refrain from posting it as we don't want to scare the, ah, horses.

Verdict: the membership now stands at three. D, we've got a convert!

In other news... I read the Sandra Bullock-Jesse James revelations and could not help but feel sad for the woman. The timing well and truly sucks, for one thing, and for another, Ms. Bullock appears to be such a great person. I know from personal experience that many (most?) good people get effed over in matters of the heart. The hardass badasses, on the other hand, seem to thrive. But then that's probably my cynicism, always at war with my romanticism, kicking in.

And to round up the Friday bulletin: The school to which I applied requested a sample of my writing. I'm enclosing a copy of Café Au Lait but knowing how snobbish universities tend to be about the romance genre, I'm also enclosing a serious review I wrote a while ago that was published in newspapers in Trinidad, the Bahamas and Florida, as well as a short story and a personal essay. Hopefully the powers that be will forgive me for writing a romance novel - long enough to let me into their program, anyway. Wish me luck.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Update: Vaughn thinks I should refrain from enclosing a copy of the novel with my sample writing. You know what? He's right. Out it goes.

Caribbean Literary Salon

Anouska Kock, moderator of Caribbean Literary Salon, has posted her interview with me on the brand new site:

Interview with Liane Spicer

CLS is a treasure house of all things literary in the Caribbean, and I can tell I'll be spending a lot of time there. Ms. Kock is from Aruba, a Dutch island in the Caribbean, and the CLS site showcases not only English-language related information on the world of West Indian books, writers and poets, but also a Dutch-Caribbean version with the focus on Suriname, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Maarten, and, of course, Aruba.

The community site features, among other things:

• Interviews with writers
  
• Readings
  
• New books
• Articles
• Discussions
  
• Events
• News
• Photos
• Videos
• Book groups
• Profile pages for members
• Community guidelines
• FAQs
• Bookstore
• Reviews
• Links to related sites (English and Dutch)

Caribbean Literary Salon is just three days old and already I'm very excited about it. Membership is open to anyone who enjoys books about the Caribbean and the works of Caribbean authors. I signed up today; come join me!