The Lit Net Monthly News

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[FONT="Book Antiqua"]February[/FONT][/SIZE][/CENTER][/I]


Welcome to the joint February 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.
The Lit Net News Team

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

The Book Club is now reading the February read Villette by Charlotte Bronte [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50489[/url]
Don't forget to vote in the March Reading Poll [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49886[/url]
The nomination period is under way for the April Read [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50490[/url]
Also for anyone who is interested, the 2010 Valentines read is Breakfast at Tiffany's By Capote [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50694[/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 first elimination round for the 2010 Short Story Contest is open for Voting. Please follow the link and vote for your favouite entry
[url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50517[/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 three 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] , [URL="http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23444&page=34"]The Form Poetry Contest [/URL] and [URL="http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38056&page=4"]The Subject Poetry Contest[/URL]. There is also a new contest set up The [URL="http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50408"]Minimalist Poetry Contest[/URL]. Why not pop in and give it a go. You might just win!
The current winners are;
Form: Not announced
Picture: Not announced
Subject: Not announced
Minimalist :Qimisung
Congratulations to you all!

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

[B]Rubix Cube By D.Rose[/B]

There are those who spin
There are those who turn
Few know the formula
The many, like children, and too eager to learn

If I could match up the yellow
Look to the sun and the light
Instead of being like a drunk fellow
Always looking to fight

If I could match up the blue
Let things roll off the shoulder
Maybe it wouldn’t hurt as much
When God sends down a boulder

If I could match up the red
Extinguish the fire
Because dynamite lies
At the end of the wire

If I could match up the green
Like I was planted yesterday
Be forever young
And never decay

If I could match up the orange
Lay a new focus on the table
Get farther than ever before
And cease to make myself unable

So much to match, so much to spin and turn
And since the formula is out of my grip
When I work on one side the rest will burn
But, I didn’t com ill-equip
Time after time I have gotten this tip
This tip that there is still one more side to write
The side of white

If I could match up the white
As long as I don’t cheat
I can see the light
And all sides will become complete

[B]The Meaning of Self by Dark Muse[/B]

It was amid tangled sheets
and twisted limbs
she once hoped to transcend.

A desire undefined within
to be reborn again
through another's eyes.

Weighed down by the definitions
imposed upon her
from the outside.

Those who sat smoking in her den
spoke in a language
she couldn't quite comprehend.

But that it was of her they
spoke she knew
in their slitted glances.

And she became their creation
of multiple-syllabolic obscured words
which she wore as her albatross.

Then a stranger saw her
as something else, which
she couldn't quite believe in.

But she conceived he could change her
with the movement
of his limbs.

Yet in the end she had not become
the other self she sought
instead of gained she felt she lost.

Removed for a moment from
the verbal charades
she experienced weightlessness.

Sadly when restored back into the den
she long could not evade
their theatric word games.

So at last she decided
she really was just
jumbled pretentious slang

[B]Long Awaited Rattled Ship by NickAdams[/B]

Long awaited rattled ship
Oared onto the earth
Whose crew doth seek to fill
A green devoured purse.

A token to please their fancy
Doth currency plow the field
Thou Captains shall dine at tables;
Thou mates shall second taste their meals.



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[I][CENTER][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"]Profile Of The Month[/FONT][/SIZE][/CENTER][/I]

This months I have selected Scheherazade's profile, as the Profile of the month for its grey theme, and for finally getting around to doing it up. ;) [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/member.php?u=3093[/url]

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

This months blog of the month is Aunt Shecky for her word blog. Check it out. [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/blog.php?u=34775[/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 Lit-Net Family Tree [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50570[/url]
Game of the Month is Wrong Answer [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50863&page=3[/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.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The book starts out with a very intriguing concept in the portrayal of a young girl telling the tale of her own murder, and watching those she left behind deal with her death on earth. Sebold handles the real life elements of grief rather well in the way each individual handles the death of Susie Salmon in their own way. The way in which people are both pulled apart and brought together by the tragedy.

As a person with a fascination with alternative realities the construct of heaven within the book is also quite an interesting feature of the story. There were some original and provocative ideas relating to the after life which unfold within the book and some rather beautiful visual scenes.

The book should also be given credit for the beautiful poetic prose work which it caries throughout. Some of the lines are quite stunning and captivating and when I first began to read I found myself engaged within the story and pleasantly surprised.

But for all that, somewhere within the middle the book begins to falter and does not live up to the full potential which it presents within the beginning of the story. After a while the story takes on the feeling of starting to drag on and leaves the reader forever waiting with the feeling that something is going to "happen" something big or unexpected is just waiting around the corner, and yet it never comes.

As the story progresses it begins to flat line at a point, in which after a while it becomes wearisome moving back and forth between Susie and her watching her family carry on through their daily lives. It gives the impression that the author is making a promise which she cannot deliver. It ultimately ends in an anticlimactic fizzle.

The end of the story leaves something to be desired and I think was quite ruined by that tacking on of a rather unnecessary epilogue which did not enhance the reading, but rather left the reader with a feeling of confusion.

While the ideas relating to the afterlife, and the construct of heaven are initially interesting, the last pages of the book seems almost to be almost contradictory and leaves the impression that Sebold had not completely flushed her ideas in relation to heaven, and was not completely sure herself exactly what sort of vision of the after life she wanted to give.

The last chapter of the book ends in a way that could have been very powerful and perhaps helped salvage some of the earlier portions of the book, but the addition of the epilogue feels insecure as if like Susie, Sebold herself is not ready to completely "let go"

In an odd way, this last effort at what seems like an attempt to bring closure ends up having the very opposite effect.
Dark Muse
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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"]February 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!
Optimisticnad, Dark lady, Petrarchs Love, Brad Coelho, Mathor, Downing, Satan, PrinceMyshkin, Michael T, Janine, Hira, Lys, Tulysg1982,


[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]
There have been some recent upgrades to the forum. If you are interested in seeing what Admin has now created and changed, please follow the link below. [url]http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45417[/url]

[I][SIZE="4"][FONT="Book Antiqua"][CENTER]Letters to the Editor[/CENTER][/FONT][/SIZE][/I]

There are no letters for the month of February

[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 over the last year, whether they were aware they were contributing or not!
Also a special thank you to all those that subscribe to the newsletter.
Yours truly
Niamh- The Litnetter
Kilted Exile- Personal Poetry

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