The Lit Net Monthly News

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[FONT="Book Antiqua"]April 2009[/FONT][/SIZE][/CENTER][/I]Welcome to the Sixth edition of The Literature Networks online newspaper. Every month, we will keep you updated with information regarding threads, contests, Book Club and lots more!
Happy Reading.

[I][CENTER][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"]Forum Book Club[/FONT][/SIZE][/CENTER][/I]
Its that time of year again! The Book Clubs Summer Challenge is in its nomination stage so make sure you get over there and nominate! If no more nominations are allow, read what has been selected and choose what you would like to vote for! [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43172[/url]
The April Novel of Manners read is The Awakening by Kate Chopin [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43144[/url]
Don’t forget to vote in the May Detective Reading Poll! [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42326&page=3[/url]
The Book Club is also now nominating for the June Historical Fiction Read. [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43145[/url]
The Forum Shakespeare Discussion Group is currently starting on Henry IV Part I. Pop over to the sub forum is you are interested in participating in the Discussion or any other forum Discussions. [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=5895[/url]

The Forum Book Club is always happy to have new participants. If you are interested, you can find it in the Reading section of the Forum Index page.

[I][CENTER][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"]Official Forum Contest[/FONT][/SIZE][/CENTER][/I]

The April elimination round of the Short Story Competition 2009 is upon us!
There are only two short stories entered for this elimination round so please read them all and vote for your favourite. The winner of this round will be apart of the final vote at the end of the year.
Please read and vote for your favourite entry
[url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?p=697784#post697784[/url]

[I][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"][CENTER]Unofficial Poetry Contests[/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/I]

The Personal Poetry forum is one of Litnets’ most active forums and comes complete with a sub-forum dedicated to poetry games and contests. We have two very popular poetry contests located in the sub-forum; The Picture [URL="http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23675&page=42"]Poetry Contest (continued…) [/URL] and [URL="http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23444&page=34"]The Form Poetry Contest [/URL]for anyone who would like to join in.
Also one of our resident poets Pendragon has set up a new contest [URL="http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38056&page=4"]The Subject Poetry Contest[/URL]. Why not pop in and give it a go. You might just win!
The current winners are;
Form: Firefangled
Picture: Mazhur
Subject: no winner yet.
Congratulations to you all!

[I][CENTER][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"]Featured Personal Poetry[/FONT][/SIZE][/CENTER][/I]
This month we have selected two poems from The Personal Poetry Forum, posted during the month of March, to feature in the Litnet Monthly News! I hope you like them too!

[B]Aloft and Silent By ShadowFire[/B]

I watch the moons pass
Every night longer than the last

I draw breath into me
The fog making each harder to be

I cry a single salty tear
Just one every passing year

I listen to the river run
As I count the seconds since I begun

I touch the cold rocks
The wind whispers and mocks

I smell the sweet grass
Of every meadow I can't enter, but pass

I sit alone on a branch of a tree
Aloft and silent for all to see

[B]How to Pick a Fight with the Universe by Aunt Shecky[/B]

Hey, you! I'm talking to you,
Fate or Chance or God–
or whatever name you decide
this week –
com’on, just me and you,
outside.

Com’ on, let’s see what
you're made of, you cold,
unfeeling, insouciant,
expanse of cosmic
nothingness!

For your indifferent bliss
and stony deafness
to Nature’s earthly kiss,
take [I]this [/I]–

as for the flowering dreams
you took for lowly weeds
and mowed ‘em down flat –

take that
and that --


and [I]that![/I]


[I][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"][CENTER]Forum Advertisement[/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/I]
Do you want to let off that steam and vent your anger? Then why not visit [URL="http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25259&page=27"]Get it off your Chest![/URL]
Or if you are looking for advice, but want to remain unknown then why not contact Scheherazade and have your problem posted in [URL="http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36313&page=5&highlight=personal+anonymous"]Personal and Anonymous[/URL]. Your fellow Litnetters will pass on their own words of wisdom.

[I][CENTER][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"]Featured Members Profile[/FONT][/SIZE][/CENTER][/I]

Each month we will be sifting through Litnets member profile pages and selecting one as our Featured Profile of the Month. So get personalizing, decorating and designing your profile.
This months profile of the month is ~* Dark Faeries*~ for their beautifully coordinated profile. [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/member.php?u=16600[/url]

[I][CENTER][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"]Blog of the Month[/FONT][/SIZE][/CENTER][/I]

Each month we will be selecting a blog and awarding it the title of Blog of the Month right here in Lit Net Monthly News.
This months Blog of the Month is BeccaT’s blog Breezefinger [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/[/url]

[I][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"][CENTER]Featured Threads of the Month[/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/I]

Every month we will feature different threads and games. This months Thread of the Month and Game of the Month are:
Thread of the Month is the All The Kings Men Group Discussion in General Literature. [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42434[/url]
Game of the Month is Ten Song Titles. [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43234[/url]



[I][CENTER][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"]Lit Net Book Reviews[/FONT][/SIZE][/CENTER][/I]

This month’s book review was randomly selected from the Write a book Review sub-forum in general Literature.

[B]The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga [/B]

There has always been a fascination with India in the Western mind. The Subcontinent is mysterious to us, somehow more spiritual to us, a place we can go to find ourselves, a place we can become one with the universe. Even my ‘Lonely Planet’ guide book ensured me that once I’d traveled to India I would be changed forever.

But, of course, that’s all horsesh*t. It’s a myth, foisted on us mostly by other over-fed, dreamy-eyed, self-absorbed Westerners. It is also one of the ideas Aravind Adiga gets at fairly well in his novel, The White Tiger.

But that’s not what the novel’s about; it just happens to be one of its hilarious side currents. The White Tiger is a story told pragmatically by Balram Halwai, an Indian from the darkness. He tells his story over the course of a week by way of nightly e-mails to the Chinese Premier who is planning a visit to India in the near future to learn of Indian entrepreneurialism. Here’s Balram in his first e-mail:

“Apparently, sir, you Chinese are far ahead of us in every respect, except that you don’t have entrepreneurs. And our nation, though it has no drinking water, electricity, sewage system, public transportation, sense of hygiene, disciple, courtesy, or punctuality, does have entrepreneurs. Thousands and thousands of them. Especially in the field of technology. And these entrepreneurs – we entrepreneurs-have set up all these outsourcing companies that virtually run America now.”

So, Balram is a successful Bangalore businessman as he is telling his story to the Premier. And the story is about his journey from peasant son of a rickshaw-puller in the town of Laxmangarh to coal-breaker in a local tea shop to 'lifelong' driver/servant to a rich man in New Delhi to private businessman in Bangalore.

One of Gandhi’s projects was to rid India of the caste system but it has proved resilient in the minds of the people, making vertical mobility difficult there. Balram’s last name is Halwai which means ‘sweet maker’ in Hindi and thus, his caste. So why then was he born the son of a rickshaw-puller? He explains that there are no longer a myriad of castes in Indian society such as sweet-maker, cowherd, goldsmith, landlord, or feces-sweeper; now there are only two castes: fat-bellies and skinny-bellies. In fact, the book is loaded with comparisons – fat vs. skinny, rich vs. poor, darkness vs. light, upward vs. downward mobility, east vs. west, servant vs. master, Hindu vs. Muslim – it goes on and on.

I suppose the other inevitable comparison is between The White Tiger and Slumdog Millionaire. There certainly are similarities between the novel and the movie but the literary models are fundamentally different. Slumdog, it seems to me, is a quest movie, complete with a maiden in distress, a knight in shining armor, a number of fire-breathing dragons, and a holy grail. The White Tiger, on the other hand, is a Faustian novel. To become a successful entrepreneur, Balram must make a deal with the devil – he murders his master. I know, I know, you-all are crying ‘foul’ right now, but believe me: that wasn’t a spoiler. Balram admits to us (or rather to the Chinese Premier) that piece of information in his first e-mail.

At any rate, I thought The White Tiger was a very enjoyable book. Balram is a well developed and interesting character. He is even somewhat endearing – for a murderer – and his story is infectious. The book is contemporary and valid in a global-market sense and Aravind Adiga is a trustworthy source on these matters. He was formerly a financial correspondent for Time magazine. He is an Indian national but was educated in the west and has lived in many places around the world; he now resides in Mumbai (Bombay). His unique life experience makes Adiga uniquely qualified to write this book.

Anyhow, give it a read. I’ll bet you’ll like it. It’ll make you laugh and you might even learn a thing or two about the mass of humanity living in the darkness, oh yes and also some beautiful Muslim poetry. So there you go and as with my other book reviews for the Lit-Net, I’m going to chop this one off abruptly right here – the plane’s about to land so I have to power-down the laptop. By the way, this time it wasn’t a nice, comfy wide-body on transcontinental flight but rather a freakin’ RJ into Oklahoma City! But hey, the Stews tend to be a lot younger and a lot less jaded on these little jets.

Sancho

[I][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"][CENTER]Forum Advertisement[/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/I]
Wondering what Litnets top 100 books are? Why not pop on over to Dark Muses Lit Nets Top 100 Books Official List and see for yourself! [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40711&page=7[/url]

[I][CENTER][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"]April Birthdays[/FONT][/SIZE][/CENTER][/I]

Here are this months Litnet birthdays! Also, don’t forget that many of these members will be sent an interview, so look out for the [URL="http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36273&page=4"]Getting to Know You thread[/URL].

Happy Birthday!
NikolaiI, PoeticPassions, thelastmelon, Jean-Baptiste, PeterL, Anza, Genoveva, Pinkmoon, BookThief, Subterranean, TheInsomniac, HyacinthGirl, adilyoussef, Baddad, pussnboots, Beautifull, Andave ya, Weeping Willow.

[I][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"][CENTER]New Additions to the Site[/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/I]
This is a new section to the Paper. Any new Additions to the site will be mentioned here for all to read.
As you all may have noticed, Admin has recently added two new sub-forums to the General Chat Forum. They are general Music, Movies and Television [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=8592[/url] and Serious Discussion [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=8591[/url]

[I][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"][CENTER]Letters to the Editor[/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/I]
Firstly, I'd just like to say how fast this year has gone! It's been an absolute pleasure getting to know you all over the past year, I think I've made some really good friends! Secondly, I'd just like to thank all who helped me attempt to reach 5000 posts! We didn't quite make it, but it really warmed my heart to read your encouraging words! - sprinks

[I][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"][CENTER]Special Thanks[/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/I]

It has been six months already since the first edition on the Litnet Monthly News was blogged. Amazing how time flies! I would like to thank everyone who helped contribute to the Newsletter over the last six months, whether they were aware they were contributing or not! Also, I would like to especially thank all the Mods for their help and support, and Admin for giving me the opportunity to do up a newsletter in the first place. This would not have been possible without any of you. And finally, a special thank you to all the readers and subscribers of the newsletter.
I would also like to take this opportunity to praise Scheherazade on her recent attempt to break the Forum Most Users Online Record. Unfortunately, it was not a success, but it would not have been attempted without your dedication and campaigning. So, on behalf of everyone, thank you. May there be many more attempts and many more fun avatar weekends!
Yours truly
The Litnetter