'I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved' - B. R. Ambedkar

Good Afternoon, I am writing this today after finishing a great book whilst relaxing on a rainy Sunday afternoon. As I have some time to spare at the moment, I thought I would get ahead on my reading and this seemed like a great place to start. For my course next year we are doing a module on distopia and utopia. These are my two favourite genres and when I saw the books we were reading, I got really excited. The book I'm reviewing today is a classic that comes highly recommended, but surprisingly I have not actually read much of her work to date. However, after reading this book, I am definitely inclined to take a look at her other works.

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Attwood

Imagine a society where a woman's one role is to get pregnant. They are rarely allowed to leave the house and they are no longer permitted to read. This is the reality for the women of the Republic of Gilead. Women only have value if they are able to fall pregnant because the birth rate is rapidly declining and things are becoming dire. However, things were not always like this, Offred, a subservient handmaid remembers a time when she used to have a job and money, make love to her husband and play with her daughter. Yet, only traces of her old life remains and she does not know how things will ever be the same again. 

Lots of Love, 

Elouise 

xxx

#Book reviews in 140 characters#

The Red Tent, A Novel - Anita Diamant 

# A unique view of biblical women's society, Dinah from Genesis tells her story and reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood. #

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon 

# Daniel holds the last copy of Carax's curious book as someone has been destroying all the other copies in the hopes of hiding a dark secret. # 

 

Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese 

# Orphaned, twins are bound by love which eventually tears them apart. Marion runs away but discovers that medicine cannot heal all wounds. #

Lots of Love

Elouise 

xxx

I'll Be Watching You...

Over the past few weeks, I have been playing around with photoshop and this is one of mock double page magazine articles I have written. I hope you like the design and layout!

This is the article reprinted because I don't think the article is that clear in the picture, it is about the issues of stalking in society, which I think is a really interesting topic. 

Recently, the book world has become 

fascinated with stories from the darker 

side of town. Although you my not 

have realised it yet, the next best seller 

is going to be about stalking..Overnight 

the psychological motivation and the 

consequences of stalking is going to 

become a national obsession.Worryingly, 

in these new releases the blurb suggests 

that not only are they subverting old 

ideas about the subject but they are 

making it glamorous.Women in high 

powered jobs are being targeted and 

a teenager with ‘hot’ stalker comes 

under attack (can anyone else see

this developing into the next twilight 

esque hit?) However, these novels 

may simply be trying to dispel 

the myths, not all stalkers are on 

the fringes of society and claims of 

unwanted sexual advances should not 

be dismissed as simply ‘banter.’ 

 This obsession with stalking 

articulates societies anxiety about 

the blurring lines between love, lust

and unwanted attention. This 

becomes more evident when we look 

at the figures 19% of women and 12% 

of men have experience stalking or 

harassment at some point in their lives. 

I mean, who has never casually facebook 

stalked someone to find out about them? 

There are some who are willing to step 

over the line and this should not be 

ignored. 

Personally, the attention this subject 

is receiving in the book world is mainly 

positive because it brings it to the 

attention of a mainstream audience and

starts conversations which will 

hopefully lead to action. This subject has 

too long been a taboo in the literature 

world and these new book highlight the

real life dangers of stalking in our society.

I really like thinking and writing about issues that really effect society and hope to one day write about these issues for real magazine, I hope you enjoyed reading it. 

Lots of Love 

Elouise 

xxx

Sorry I've been away, exam deadlines and stress has meant that I've hardly had a minute to myself. Thankfully my last exam is tomorrow so I will be able to spend a lot more time to do what I love. For this review I thought I would do something different and look at one of my favourite artists. 

Gideon Rubin    

Gideon Rubin is fascinated by the course of time; in the new series of paintings the artist has used a found photograph album from the 1920’s as his source material. Rubin selects figures and scenes from these amateur snapshots that have some sort of narrative but one that is open to discussion. Installed together and independently the paintings hint at numerous narratives and histories offering no definitive reading or insight into the selected characters. I found it interesting that he just drew people with no fixed story behind them and how the people viewing the paintings had to make up their own minds. In the latter part of my project I took inspiration from his work finding random pictures and making them into something interesting that people would enjoy looking at. I also found it interesting that many of his people lacked faces, I found liked this because it shows how sometimes people lose their identity which is what he has done in his paintings. This also makes the paintings relatable because they could be anybody.

I hope you liked my section on artists, who is your favourite modern artist? 

Lots of Love 

Elouise 

xxx 

A Picture Says a Thousand Words - Anon

Literature is my life. Well, it is as the moment with all my final deadlines for essays following me around like a dark cloud, threatening to rain on my sunny outlook. So, I thought today I would do something I have never done before, a post about a book without words. Exciting!

Lots of Love

Elouise 

xxx