To continue the literary theme, I found a wonderful quote about the butterfly life cycle when I was reading Keri Hulme’s volume of short stories, “Stonefish”.
The actual story concerned is called “Hatchings” and the quote is as follows:
“….and this wonder loses its voracious appetite at last, and darkens; in an almost apathetic way, seeks a suitable twig and begins to spin a weatherproof retreat, pouring out its caterpillarhood into a shelter for its next new self….”
Ruth.
Hi Geoff & Jacqui
Thank you for the tip-off about Barbara Kingsolver’s latest novel, Flight Behaviour.
I’ve been a fan of her novels for a long time now, but had no idea she’d just put out a new one and especially that it was about monarchs! So far I’ve only read just over 100 pages, but finding it thoroughly engrossing and wish I had more time to get on with it quicker….
Have also got the real things to entertain me, with 4 butterflies recently hatched, and another 22 chrysalises to look forward to…
Ruth.
Barbara answers some pertinent questions in Audobon magazine here:
http://www.audubonmagazine.org/articles/living/barbara-kingsolver-and-butterflies#.UPIgeA0AnAI.wordpress
The National Audubon Society (Audubon) is an American, non-profit, environmental organisation dedicated to conservation. Incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and uses science, education and grassroots advocacy to advance its conservation mission. It is named in honor of John James Audubon, a Franco-American ornithologist and naturalist who painted, cataloged, and described the birds of North America in his famous book Birds of America published in sections between 1827 and 1838. A bit like the USA answer to F&B here in NZ.
And only $12 from book depository. http://tinyurl.com/afcujgt
I agree, Geoff. It has a great message about climate change and the threats to Monarch butterflies and all of mankind.
I loved the captivating characters – even the children – well-rounded and quite believable. I could picture them in their Tennessee community – very real. And I enjoyed the conversation(s) and messages about things such as the educated vs ‘hillbilly’, awareness of Nature vs those who aren’t, and poverty/wealth. The author has done her research – great to read a book and not lose enthusiasm because the author got their facts wrong, or didn’t check it out.
There is only one thing I didn’t like and that’s the roughcut pages. Found them very hard to turn over, often into the thick of the plot and then realised I’d turned over two pages at a time and lost the gist of the story. But perhaps that added to the appeal of the book for other people.
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