Homesick Creek

By Diane Hammond 2005

ISBN 0-385-50944-8

This is a five star book.

Themes of love, family, friendship, faithfulness, privilege and parenting are treated in a very sensitive fashion.

The plot is skilfully unfolded with layers of complexity unfolding gently without any sense of being rushed or any of the confusion that can occur when a story is written in a non-sequential manner.

Sections I particularly enjoyed:

“Bunny had got out of the habit of leaving town. There wasn’t anything beyond Hubbard that she really wanted. She wanted Vinny to give her grandchildren and be around to care for her when she got old. She wanted to have enough money for a new deck and decent wallpaper in the bathroom and a washing machine that didn’t walk around during the spin cycle. She wanted to have a wine cooler with her mother, Shirl, in the afternoon sometimes and to get on a later shift at the Anchor. She wanted to be the wife of someone who planned to stick around. Those weren’t the kinds of things you could get over in Sawyer.” Page 17

“…four months ago she had found a rat in the toilet. The property manager had told her just to put something heavy on the toilet lid and give it an hour. That was when Anita knew she might as well stop waiting for her real life to begin, the life that included a nice yard and a man who could maintain it. This was her real life, right here, right now, waiting in a piece-of-shit dump for a rat to die in her toilet.” Page 42

“You know what you end up asking yourself?” Fanny said. “How little can I live with? You ask yourself how little can I live with, and how much do I need. And the answer keeps getting smaller, and your marriage keeps shrinking. In the beginning it fits fine, you know, roomy enough to keep you warm, and you can move all around in it. Then you have the kids, and when your husband stay away from you, you’re mostly glad, because They just get in the way, and who gives a shit about sex when you haven’t had two minutes to yourself in five years? And all that time your marriage is getting smaller and smaller, except you don’t notice because it hasn’t occurred to you to notice, and why should you? You just pull it down and stretch it out, and if you feel a draft now and then, you ignore it because you don’t have time to deal with ti anyway. By the time you do, your marriage is this little tiny thing that doesn’t cover shit and you’re freezing to death out there in the cold.”

The Dirty Dollar

by Gerald Hammond (2002)
ISBN 0-7278-5842-4

This was a feel-good book about a young woman who went from rags to riches via a stint of swimming for a life in the midst of the Florida Everglades, complete with crocodiles in mid-breeding season. A non-challenging but satisfying read, with a strong main character who had what it took to grab life with both hands.

Seduced by Moonlight

by Laurell Hamilton 2004
ISBN 0-345-44356-X

This one surprised me and I nearly gave up. Trying to get my head around the Seelie and the Unseelie, sidhe, mortals, fays and hybrids, Kings, Queens, Princes and goblins and starting part way through a series was not a good idea. However I persevered and enjoyed some of the lyrical descriptions of wings, eyes and other body parts.
From a review by Alisa McCune it appears that this is not the best of the series so perhaps I should follow up on the earlier ones. However two of my requested books arrived at the library yesterday and will keep me busy added to term starting again on Monday.

Sugar Skull

by Denise Hamilton 2003
ISBN 0-7432-4539-3

Sugar skulls - I knew nothing, but now I do.
The past history of Eve Diamond and Silvio was also new to me.
It is weird reading a series backwards, at times it seems pointless when you know what is going to happen next, but it does fill in the background.
I finished reading this two weeks ago at PPTA Conference in Auckland, and can't remember much about it, but I did learn stuff, and I did enjoy it, and now it is due back to the library. It is much easier to write about books when they are fresh in your head!
I marked some pages but am a bit vague about why now.

1. On page 23, Eve writes "I felt acutely aware of my own dishabille." Is that spelled right? Having now researched it I see that is in fact correct, although it comes from the French déshabillé which is why I was confused, I guess. (I studied French all my time at high school.)
2. On page 47, Eve is avoiding police on a hillside and peeking into a cabana through windows that open onto a bathroom. She sees through the bathroom to a bedroom and observes "a man's black Speedo racing suit crumpled" at the foot of the bed. It strikes me as unlikely that anyone could be so sure about this observation in these circumstances.

New resolutions: to make notes about each book as I finish it, even if I don't have the Internet on tap, and to write pencil notes on pages that I mark.

Renfield Slave of Dracula

by Barbara Hambly 2006
ISBN 0-425-21168-1

Renfield is mad and he eats flies and spiders to maintain his strength.
This book is a "re-imagining of Bram Stoker's classic novel - told from the point of view of Renfield himself - exploring the chilling circumstances of his madness, his devotion to the Vampire Prince, and the mortal fear that feeds his need for revenge." As Dave Roy says at the start of his review, having not read the original Dracula made me wonder whether Renfield would make any sense. I suppose there are subtleties that I missed because of this lack of preparation, but I still found the book intriguing.
I loved the fly-spider theme as it developed from page 1 (20 May: 7 flies, 3 spiders) onwards.

Red herring: "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly. I don't know why she swallowed a fly. I think she'll die!" - see a delightful animation of this children's song.

And an explanation: I am not reading these books as fast I am posting comments on them - I have a pile that I have read and not recorded that I need to process before they are overdue.

Adverbs

By Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) 2006
ISBN 978-0-06-072441-2

A weird concept this, with separate vignettes about people who may or may not be the same people. After all, sharing a name does not make two people identical! There is also an on-going thread of song lyrics, taxis, volcanoes, and birds (especially magpies). Having read a section in Creative Journal Writing by Stephanie Dowrick yesterday on free association, this book serves to illustrate the concept in an intriguing fashion.

A quote to explain the title:
"It is not the nouns. The miracle is the adverbs, the way things are none."
Each chapter has an adverb as its title, descriptive of the particular love story. Reminiscent of Love Actually, but less soppy.

Wet Grave

By Barbara Hambly (2002)

ISBN 0-553-10935-9

This “novel of suspense” is another instalment in the life of Benjamin January. Sequentially, the first few pages precede and the bulk of the story follows A Free Man of Color. Tales of piracy and hurricanes, of love and slavery, of treasure and illness, of mosquitoes and alligators, of fire and flood – a good holiday read. Characters also sympathetically described, and relationships drawn with a fine brush. As a teacher, I enjoyed my first meeting with Rose Vitrac, who tutored Artois and encouraged his pursuit of understanding of scientific principles.

Representing nature

Waking up at Tauranga Bay south of Westport on Monday 21^st April, I pondered on the view from my bed. The picture shown here is taken the following day, and does not have the same sky. My photography skills have not captured the texture of the distant hills.

My pondering was around the idea of representing the view artistically. The sky asked to be rendered in water paint. The foreground suggested embroidery. The hills could be brocade, or oil paint. But what about the waves? They need to be video, or at least animated, because they are moving.

So the next question became, why is video always rectangular? There is an obvious and easy answer – because the screen/viewing space is rectangular. But that does not satisfy me, and when I get back to “civilisation” I will be talking to my media studies contacts and filmmaking friends about whether any work has been done on non-rectangular film.

And then, how could we create the described multimedia product – a combination of digital and analogue media is truly MULTImedia!

We could digitise the painting and collage and set it as an irregularly shaped border to our video somehow. But then the result is all digital.

Or we could overlay the water paint and collage on a rectangular screen, with just the waves showing. But I want more than that.

More on Blogging

Great to know that three teachers have looked at my blog! Thanks to Mandy, Brian and Luke. Luke tells me that he prefers wordpress (easier to use and better functionality) to blogger. He has used it to set up a blog for his classes. You can see how he has structured it, and that students have commented on his posts. I do encourage you to have a play with this powerful, easy and FREE way of having a web presence!

Knight of the Demon Queen

(Click here if you are looking for my blog post about blogging for teachers.)

by Barbara Hambly (2000)
ISBN 0-345-42189-2

This book is a sequel to Dragonsbane and Dragonshadow, but I did not find it as compelling to read. This may have been my state of health at the time, or may have been a function of reduced lyrical beauty and increased desperation and despair. Other reviewers have made similar comments. However I still care enough about John and Jenny, their children and their world to want to carry on.

In this book, John goes on a quest for the Demon Queen which involves him visiting different Hells, all of which have their snares. One of the aspects of the book that I did find intriguing was the hell he visited that was reminiscent of the worst of our civilized world - advertisements and drugs everywhere, no sunshine or trees.

"Day came. The rain ceased for a time, but the gray blank overhead smelled of more. Te crowds increased, unbelievably." "The noise was dizzying, the sides of the buildings plastered and patches with garish lights and flashing panels of color. Panels of pictures, too, that moved as if living: tiny as a thumbnail or towering a dozen stories up the side of a building whose uppermost floors were wreathed in low-hanging cloud. These pictures spoke, and music - if it was music - rivered from them, but because the speech was artificially produced he could not understand wast was being said."

Blogging in Education

At our school staff meeting on Monday I suggested that staff might like to have a go at blogging, largely because it is an easy way to have a regular web presence. I see three main reasons why you might want to have a blog:

1. To communicate. Examples of this include

• my blog, which currently is mostly about my reading but can be used for anything I feel like talking about
• Kim's blog that she made over the summer when travelling, using Internet cafes in the main. I did not teach her how to do pictures before she left, so hers is text only.
• Rosa's blog, also made when travelling. Note that Rosa has great pictures on her blog but the file sizes are large so it is slow to load and I wouldn't even try on dial-up.

2. To reflect. Educational research suggests that reflecting on our teaching practice is an essential part of refining our technique. An example is Kay's blog, which she is using to reflect on her appraisal goals. You will also find here links to lots of cool ICT tools and ideas that you may wish to try out.

3. To summarise. A class could be rostered to summarise the activities and main points of each day's lesson in a blog, which would be a great exercise for them and a great resource for the class.

To make a blog, you could start at www.blogger.com

One of the features of blogs is that people can comment on each posting - try adding a comment to a blog that you find of interest.

Prisoner of Memory

by Denise Hamilton (2006)
ISBN 9780743261944

My first Eve Diamond book was a good read. Eve is a reporter, and her involvement with reporting and investigating a murder puts her at risk but also helps her to understand herself and her family better. The story includes Cold War spying, hacking, Russian Mafia, and the drinking of tea while holding a sugar cube in one's mouth.

A Free Man of Colour

by Barbara Hambly (1997)
ISBN 9780553102581

An historical novel of suspense set in New Orleans in the 1830s, this is gripping story that kept me intrigued.
The hero has three black grandparents but is a free man. He is accused of murder and has to save himself by finding out who the real murderer was. The backdrop to the story includes Carnival costumes, social distinctions of the time, issues of slavery, voodoo and attitudes to the incoming Americans and riverboat men.
Having enjoyed this book I was pleased to find that it is one of a series, so I can follow the fortunes of Benjamin and his family.

Dragonshadow

by Barbara Hambly (1999)
ISBN 0-345-42187-6

Sequel to Dragonsbane, this book adds demons to the fantasy mix. I love the concept of dragons being rainbow coloured when young and growing into their particular colouring as they develop the music that describes them and is their name. The drama and battle with evil continues with the addition of fabulous machinery invented and constructed by one of the main characters. The story does not end yet - I have requested the next volume, The Knight of the Demon Queen.

Amazing Disgrace

by James Hamilton-Paterson (2006)
ISBN 0-571-22939-5

A crazy book with recipes, medical "experimentation"; musical references and poetic quotes/inventions. The hero is a writer who works with sports people to "write other people's books for them" and sees his work as "the personal toad beneath which I have suffered for years", referring to Philip Larkin's Toads.

The recipes are incredible, probably inedible, and explained in detail. One can imagine them but they don't exactly set the saliva flowing!

The Daily Telegraph is quoted as saying that the author has "a genius for comic witticisms". Here is one I particularly enjoyed:
"... here we all, drowning in food and goodies as though to the manna born."
Another clever use of language that kept me on my mental toes was the character named Christ - to rhyme with wrist - I found it impossible to make my brain see Christ and think anything other than the obvious/religious one!


I finished reading this book over the weekend of my 50th birthday, and wondered if there was an omen in the tragic ending - but you will have to read the book yourself to express an opinion as I do not want to spoil the tale. (There is a hint in the picture on the front cover of the book!)

Endeavour's Children

by R.J. Tinsley (1992)
ISBN 1-86948-090-2

Found on my bookshelf when out of library books, I started this from desperation for something to read.
To start with I found it irritating, as the descriptions of nautical terminology used so many of what I assume to be the correct words, that I felt like I was being lectured without having taken the prerequisite beginners course. There continues to be a didactic tone to the writing style, but I found it less annoying as I became more attached to the main character. Set in the early days of the European exploitation and settlement of New Zealand and Australia, and based on a true story, this is a jolly good yarn. If the original heroine had a fraction of the spirit of Lisla (with a silent s) in the book, she would have been an amazing woman.
I would really have appreciated a map to go with the story - set mostly in the South Island of New Zealand, and using place names that were known around 1800, i should have done some research to get the geography straight in my head.
I can't find a picture of the cover and don't have a flat bed scanner at home, hence no picture this time.

SQ-EQ Test results

While researching programming aptitude tests I found a paper that showed a correlation with SQ-EQ test results. I then took these two tests online and got the following results.
EQ: 44
SQ: 94
Brain Type: Systemizing

These results show a fairly extreme systemizing tendency, while my empathizing tendency is lower than average for women.

If you want to take the tests yourself you can use this website.

2nd Chance

by James Patterson with Andrew Cross
2002
ISBN 1 876590 80 7

Following on from 1st to Die, this is another tale of the Women's Murder Club. More drama for Lindsay, Cindy, Jill and Claire, and new threats to life and well-being. The killer gets personal and Lindsay's father turns up from the distant past - what is the connection? Again, a good beach/airplane/sick bed story.

1st to Die

By James Patterson
2001
ISBN 0446610038

A great read for holiday or sickbed - I read it when suffering a nasty cold that kept be off work for a few days. Four strong women form a club to track a vicious killer of newlyweds. Also Negli's aplastic anemia and a new and promising relationship for Lindsay, the homicide inspector and heroine.

Next

Michael Crichton (2006)
ISBN 978 0 7322 8363 6

Another Rotorua purchase, this one is a thriller with a basis in genetics. It has some characters with surprising characteristics and poses questions about ethical practice in the field of genetic science. An author's note at the end gives Crichton's opinion on some of the core issues. I am not a genetics expert but it seemed to me that this book could be a useful starter for discussion around the issues for Biology students and I will offer it to my colleagues who teach Biology. The novel also talks about "wet art" so may be of interest to Art teachers as well! A section on Internet Sources at the end points to articles about

• the Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi whose fat was removed by liposuction and then made into soap.
• the Chilean artist who cooked meatballs in his own fat and served them for dinner.
• the New Zealand boatie who powered his speedboat with fuel made of fat from his backside.

An interesting side issue to ponder is that the IT professional in the book invented a syndrome to explain the oddities of her stepson and embedded it in the Internet so that it looked real.
Overall a stimulating book and a great read.

The Lovely Bones

By Alice Sebold
2002
ISBN 978-0-330-48538-8

I bought this in Rotorua, the first in the display of Whitcoulls Top 100 List that I had not yet read.
I had heard about the movie-in-the making, and was not sure that I would like the book but did thoroughly enjoy it. The characters made sense, as did the concept of life-after-death that is central to the plot. The idea of an "intake counselor" in heaven took me by surprise, and I loved the way that the younger brother grew up after the early loss of his big sister. Now that I love the book, I don't know whether I will ever want to see the movie!

Beach Road

James Patterson with Peter de Jonge (2006, ISBN 9780755323135)

Different from my normal choice of reading and not part of my progression through writers starting with H, I picked this up to bring to Rotorua with me. Small enough to fit in my laptop bag and not too heavy either physically or mentally it has been good for those in between moments presented by the hectic programme of keynotes, breakouts, eating and socialising. The story of a black teenager wrongfully accused of several cold-blooded murders and his defense, it is not as straight forward as it first seems. I did not find it ‘unputdownable’ as The Times is quoted as saying on the back cover, and I did find it hard to get inside the head of the actual murderer. I guess it is written to be read in a hurry and not analysed to death, but I prefer more meat to my reading.

Lilah

By Marek Halter
Translated from the French by Howard Curtis
2006

Third in the series which includes Sarah and Zipporah, this is a tragedy.
Lilah is the sister of Ezra, and encourages him to lead the exiled Jews to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. At great personal cost she accompanies him.
As the story moves from Susa to Jerusalem via Babylon and its ziggurat, hope gives way to despair. Zealotry and the desire to be pure to please Yahweh lead to the tragic ending.
As with the other stories in this series, Biblical stories are brought to life and ancient cultures described in a way that adds colour.

UML A Beginner's Guide

Jason T. Roff
2003

Knowing nothing about UML, other than a rough idea of what it is, I found this a very useful reference book and am ordering a copy for school from Fishpond.
Each module follows a similar format, addressing the topics of

• defining the type of diagram described
• explaining why the type of diagram is used
• identifying the components of the diagram type
• demonstrating how to make the diagram

Each module then offers a project that follows the "how to" steps, and then shows a model answer.
The book is supported by online diagram files (click the Code link on this page to download a zipped folder of the project diagram files).

Love Without Hope

By Rodney Hall 2007

Madness - or insanity, or even lunacy - are these set and scientific states, or are they labels applied to suit personal agendas?
In this book, an elderly lady is put into an institution controlled by the "Master in Lunacy". Other residents wear coir head protectors in case of epileptic fits. An equally elderly alcoholic doctor comes to a dramatic rescue, and there is a bull involved.
Quotes I liked:
"You are not dying because you are ill. You are dying because you are alive." Montaigne
And, describing a view from the main character's bedroom, when she thinks she can hear a storm approaching:
" Each tree stands in its customary pot of shadow. Upright remains upright. Reflections on the dam lie flat. And down at the sea's edge sculpted dunes expose flanged and sensuous curves to the sun. Grasshoppers swarm unharmed and unswept from the sky till the non-impeded birds swoop among them for a mid-air harvest."

Introduction to Programming Using Visual Basic

Introduction to Programming Using Visual Basic by Petroutsos et al
2008
978-0-470-10188-9

I found this book by chance on the library shelf and have ordered a copy to use with my second and third year programming students this year - coincidentally we have just made the move from VB 6 to VB 2005, which is the version used by this book. I have read as far as Chapter 8 and have found the explanations and examples to be pitched right to make sense. It is also good to see a student website that supports the book with pre-tests, post-tests and files to download.

Dragonsbane

Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly
1985
ISBN0345349393

I started reading the third book in this series, and realised that I needed to go back to the beginning to make sense of it. I am glad that I made the effort to request Dragonsbane and now look forward to reading the rest of the series.
Themes include magic, power and the secret desires of mages, dragons, gnomes and humans. And it is a great story, with vivid descriptions. There are very strong female characters.
If you want to know more about this book read this comprehensive review or get the book yourself.

Note that I am not posting so often now as I am back at work again!

Hangover Square

Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton
Originally published 1941, the edition I read was a Penguin Classic. Sometimes when selecting books I avoid the old ones in favour of the modern, but I have really enjoyed some of the older ones that I have tried recently. This one is acclaimed as "One of the great books of the twentieth century" but I spent most of the time I was reading it being puzzled by the decision to republish this very dated book, set in 1939 England. Things that did grab my interest early on were

• the acknowledgment of quotations taken from Roget's Thesaurus
  
• the definition of schizophrenia from Black's Medical Dictionary early in the book
• the refrain, introduced in the first chapter: "...he had to kill Netta Longdon. He was going to kill her, and then he was going to Maidenhead, where he would be happy."

The poor man suffers from periodic clicks in his head, which change him from one state to another. In one state, he is consumed by love for Netta, who treats him with scorn, and in the other state he needs to kill her.

The story grew on me, and by about 3/4 of the way through I really did care about what was happening to the characters. However it is not a joyful easy read.

The Design of Future Things

The Design of Future Things by Donald Norman
2007
ISBN 978-0-465-00227-6

This author is a guru of design, and I have his "The Design of Everyday Things" aka
"Psychology of Everyday Things" also in my reading pile - not being a library book it is getting less attention, in spite of having better pictures!
One thing that really impressed me was the author's willingness to admit to changing his maind about things in a public forum - shows integrity.
The book talks about intelligent cars and smart houses which are being developed in research facilities now. It discusses rules for good design, and considers (in a playful Afterword) how machines might feel about people. An interesting discussion is the difference between automation and augmentation. I think it was a green book with dormouse in the title (John Markoff's What the Dormouse Said ) which first alerted me to the centrality of this debate in the early years of computr design and development.

The Raw Shark Texts (Part Two)

The Raw Shark Texts Part 2

This story continued to intrigue and challenge right until the end.
Described on the spine of my copy by Mark Haddon as "The bastard lovechild of The Matrix, Jaws and The Da Vinci Code"! Also has overtones of "The Old Man and the Sea", and a book I read just before I started blogging on my reading which was a thriller involving deepsea fishing and technological tracking of fish.
Thoroughly recommended.

An aside to explain what I am doing here. About 25 years ago I started at A in the Fendalton Public Library. I am currently reading H from the South Library (still in Christchurch). My online library account reports on authors I have read but is not yet smart enough for me to be able to find information on books I read previously. I particularly enjoy making links between themes, styles and content matter, and I was looking for a topic to blog on. So here I am.

The Raw Shark Texts (Part One)

The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
2007
ISBN 9781921145742

I am only up to page 77 so far, but I am intrigued by this book which has code, puzzles, illustrations, accompanied by loss of identity, loss of girlfriend, loss of memories AND a cat called Ian. It also has a "Ludovician conceptual fish", and the "non-divergent conceptual loop" to provide protection from said Ludovician.
The accompanying website is way cool but Define: Ludovician in Google gives nothing.
I am looking forward to getting further into this book and will report back later.

Why software sucks...

Why software sucks... and what you can do about it by David S. Platt
2007
ISBN 0-321-46675-6

A reminder that programmers are the last people who can possibly understand the average user, by definition. Should make normal users feel happier - and less alone - about their frustrations in using software. And should make programmers think more carefully about what they are doing and why. Some lovely examples and jokes.
Visit the book's website or see Plattski's own blog.

Disobedience

Disobedience by Jane Hamilton
2000
ISBN 0-385-50117-X

A seventeen-your-old boy, Henry, discovers his mother's affair by reading her email over a period of time. Meanwhile his father and younger sister reenact Civil War battles, with the sister pretending to be a boy. A tarot reader suggests that Henry and his mother were married in a previous life, and Henry develops the theme to consider all members of his family in different combinations in past lives. Henry is growing up and preparing to leave home but is also closely engaged with his family's day-to-day life.

Bulletproof Web Design

Bulletproof Web Design by Dan Cederholm
2006
ISBN 0-321-34693-9

A very clear description of how to mark up and style web pages so that they can be resized and viewed on different browsers without becoming destroyed.


Existing page layouts are shown and the problems they generate a re described. The markup structure is set up, and then the styling is built up step-by-step. The new page is then shown to be bulletproof. Links to many useful hacks and articles are given.

The Accidental Time Machine

The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
2007

A bit like "Back to the Future" and its successors, but more thought-provoking.
Matt Fullar is working at MIT when he discovers that he has created a time machine. With the help of a turtle he discovers that he can send it into the future and then wait for it to reappear. Then he sends himself into the future, and the story develops as he experiences different future worlds.
In one future, MIT is an institute of Theosophy instead of Technology!
And ultimately, Matt meets a Very Important Person who helps him to understand life and find happiness!
Physics enthusiasts may enjoy this book.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
2007
ISBN 978-0-241-14370-4

An intriguing tale of a Pakistani who is educated in America and begins to make great money working for an American firm. When the Twin Towers are destroyed and he returns to Pakistan for a holiday with his family things begin to change for him.
The tale is told in the first person. The narrator has met an American stranger in a Lahore cafe and begins to tell his life story, interspersed with drinks, a meal and descriptions of the local people and happenings.

Zipporah

"Zipporah" by Marek Halter
ISBN 1-84617-119-9 Large Print version
2005

A tale of Zipporah who became an important part of Moses' life.
Set in Biblical times and surrounded by the people and happenings of the times, this is a romance. Customs and beliefs of ancient times are described. The central character, Zipporah, is convincingly portrayed as a pivotal person in the development of Moses the leader.
Although the theme is religious, it is possible to read this book without a particular set of beliefs.
Written by a man, but with a strong message of the influence of women on events.
Themes include the treatment of people who are different from the norm, either physically, racially or in beliefs.
This is the second book of the Canaan trilogy. The first centres on Sarah and Abraham. Both include visits to Egypt.
Translated from the French.
Note that the book pictured here is not Zipporah, but shares the same picture "Young Kikuyu Woman" by Karen Blixen of Out of Africa fame.