The Lit Net Monthly News

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[FONT="Book Antiqua"]June 2009[/FONT][/SIZE][/CENTER][/I]Welcome to the June 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]
The Book Clubs Summer Challenge this year is As for Me and My House by Sinclair Ross
[url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44642[/url]
The Book Club is now reading the June Historical Fiction Read Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott.
[url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44641[/url]
Also, please don’t forget to vote for the July Counter-Culture Literature read!
[url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43908[/url]
Nominations are now open for the August Gothic read.
[url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44643&page=2[/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 June Elimination round is now under way. To vote for your favourite short story, please follow the link below or go to the Short Story Competition forum.
[url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44644[/url]
The winner will be announced in next months edition.

[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: alakungfu
Picture: Pendragon
Subject: Alexar
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 May, to feature in the Litnet Monthly News! I hope you like them too!

[B][U]Waste Not Your Roses by Stargazer86[/U][/B]
inspired by the movie "American Beauty"
You waste your money on roses
And your tears on a stone
I beg you to know that I'm not here
To Heaven I have flown

The roses shroud an empty corpse
And will one day die as well
Understand, I'm no longer here
I've escaped your earthly Hell

Let the roses grow wild
And remember me that way
Of free and natural beauty
You'll understand one day

[B][U]Brian the Conkerer by Delta40[/U][/B]

Bits of string to the wood
where the conkers be
There you might find
Ye old chestnut tree

A small foot in the crook
lifts a boyish body high
Yucky grimy knees
scraped on every side

So go forth young Brian
wrap your hand around
the fattest horse chestnuts
to ever be found

Pluck from its bough
choicest of the wise
stow within your breast
Find you the biggest prize!

Oh Conkerer see others
scrabble at your feet
shake, shake the tree!
let them grab the prickly treats!

leap back down to the earth
and colour autumn best
with the ancient song of herald
throughout the golden forest

'Oddly oddly onker!
Brian has done thee proud
I have my first conker!
begone you beggarly crowd'

[B][U]June By Niamh[/U][/B]

So softly swishes leafy trees of summer
as the gentle breeze caresses the green.
the heat of june shows misty horizons haze,
a blanket for lovers lying lazily in the shade.
Daisies sway and dance a union with blades of grass,
the birds above sing melodies of warm heart filled bliss.


[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 TheFifthElement for her fun profile.
[url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/member.php?u=37531[/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 Pussnboots blog. [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/blog.php?u=42312[/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 News Thread. [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24884&page=66[/url]
Game of the Month is Picture Association Game [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44020&page=8[/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][U]The Maine Woods by Henry Thoreau[/U][/B]

Having read all of Thoreau's other works, I came to The Maine Woods to finish my work of reading his canon. I wish I had come to this book earlier. It easily offers, next to the peerless Walden, some of Thoreau's finest prose and observations of his world.

The Maine Woods is comprised of three chapters, "Katadin," "Chesuncook," and "The Allegash and the East Branch" each of which documents a different trip the Maine woods. (These trips, I should note, are not all terrestrial sauntering; two are canoe trips, primarily). Adding interest to the structure of the book is that each trip occurs over the same geographical area of the Maine woods and, in total, the book spans a time period of ten years -- the chapters/trips roughly evenly spaced out in this time. This structure allows the reader (and Thoreau himself) to observe that changes that have occurred in the area over a considerable amount of time.

Thematically the work deals with the complicated relationship of humanity and the landscape, the timber industry, hunting. . . . the effluvial nature of "wilderness" & co. Interestingly on each trip, Thoreau and his companion hire a different Indian guide, which allows him to comment on and observe the native cultures and individuals with his tender, honest, and naturalist eye that, for this reader, is still unmatched in environmental writing.

The prose is remarkable -- poignant, witty, simple, funny, beautiful.

There is the light-hearted wit: "Red flannel shirts should be worn in the woods if only for the fine contrast which this color makes with the evergreens and the water."

And there is magical writing like this: "If I wished to see a mountain or other scenery under the most favorable of auspices, I would go to it in foul weather, so as to be there when it cleared up; we are then in the most suitable mood, and nature is most fresh and inspiring. There is no serenity so fair as that which has just established itself in a tearful eye."

And, yes, there are Thoreau's countless list of trees, flowers, and scrubs with their Latin names and paragraphs of description given about their appearance, habitat, and value.

. . . . . . .

For me, the best books change our lives -- either in a small way or a big way. After I finished The Maine Woods , I spent the next two days identifying every tree and shrub around my house -- I took my oldest daughter along to help me distinguish between Red Maples (leaves 3-5 lobes, shallow notches between each lobe) and Silver Maples (leaves 5-7 lobes, deep narrow notches between each lobe). Together, we also found jack pines, red pines, white pines, alternate-leaf dogwoods, black spruce, red oak, viburnum, and others.

But more than helping me to better understand the woods around my house, The Maine Woods refreshed my attention to detail; it brought heightened value and mystery to the life around me that, for too long, I had passed as a stranger and wrongly called "friend" (for friends require understanding). I now take more time to understand the wilderness that I share with my family and I refresh my spirit there daily, if not hourly.

Overall rating of The Maine Woods: 10 chiogenes hispidula (creeping cherry) leaves out of a possible 10.

[B][I]The Comedian[/I][/B]

[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"]June 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!
Manolia, Toni, mtpspur, Shea, LadyW, Shakira, sofia82, BulletProofDork, Stanislaw, Frankie Anne, Muhsin, Tournesol, Veva, Amanda Isabel, mazHur.

[I][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"][CENTER]New Additions to the Site[/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/I]
There are some new quizzes added to the forum by Logos. If you have some free time on your hands, why not give them ago! [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/quiz.php?catid=1[/url]

[I][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"][CENTER]Letters to the Editor[/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/I]
There are no letters to the editor for the month of June


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

I would like to thank everyone who helped contribute to the Newsletter, whether they were aware they were contributing or not!
Also a special thank you to all those that subscribe to the newsletter.
Yours truly
The Litnetter