Novel Tea: EOI

Showing posts with label EOI. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

The Sound of Stories - FINALISTS

We had a lot of entries by students from Negreira, Ordes, Ribeira, Sar and Vite. Thank you very much to all of you for your stories, they were really interesting to read. High literary level too, so it was difficult to choose the finalists, but here are 15 stories for your enjoyment. Please, read and vote for your favorite!

1. The daily melody
Today it was also with me. It’s the daily melody that accompanies me a long time ago. A melody that mixes the horrible noise of the alarm clock or phone, with the soft sounds of the water of the shower or walk through the field. It’s always there, accompanying me, always faithful, day after day. Sometimes I wonder how I have come to this situation. And, suddenly, I remember: It’s the melody of civilization. It is the price to pay for living in it. And I stay quiet again. And tomorrow, as a merry-go-round, return to start.

2. Bad
This is the sound... the bad sound, this is the day... the bad day. I need to be clean today, after I am going to be dirty... maybe tomorrow. Before I need to have a dirty breakfast... like my life. Am I afraid...? No, not really. The phone!!!... the bad sound of the phone... Nobody answers, but it’s better, I am a bad man, and I have a bad goal today. It is the moment, people call me, maybe a good day for a bad day for somebody. I am a bad boy in a bad day.

3. Never alone
I’d always wanted my grandmother´s house. It’s cozy and has a small garden. Five months ago, I moved there. Since then I don’t live alone. When her alarm clock rings, I rise and we start our daily routine. I’m a writer and work at home because this house is very inspiring. But when she’s bored she plays around. She phones me or rings the doorbell. There’s never anybody. She makes me walk around the house like a cat and mouse game. I can hear my grandmother’s ghost steps on the bed of leaves going away through the garden.

4. Back in Wonderland
It's a sunny day. I'm with Alice, the Rabbit and the Mad Hatter. A lovely carousel goes round and round. The alarm sounds. Damn! It's Monday! I get in the shower thinking about the beautiful feather hat of the Mad Hatter, I prepare coffee while I´m thinking about the White Rabbit... I would like to live adventures every day in Wonderland...The phone rings, but it's too late. Who was it? Don't know... The doorbell rings. I open the door and... here's the Hatter. While I leave home the music sounds, the carousel appears and here I am, in Wonderland.

5. IN LATE AUTUMN (mixed feelings)
Another day, another lie
This time, I’ll dare tell you.
I don’t want to hear that voice, again.
HOPELESS, HOPEFUL
I’ll make this all just one dream!
Ding, Dong!!! Who will it be!!!
Can´t I cry my pity?
I can’t read, my tears hinder.
EXCITED, EASE.
I walk slowly, hearing a squeak in autumn.
The sun is still in the sky and shining above me
I feel like shouting, laughing, singing, loving....
I hear the child’s smile
ENJOY, HARMLESS

6. Sophie
From my bed I could hear neighbours going into the stony path to feed the birds. When the alarm clock went off I was still awake, in my head was beating the tick-tock of the clock and the picture of Sophie in the bath. I could still feel her blood running down my body while I was hugging her tight against my chest. Later chaos came; the phone and doorbell rang steadily. Quickly the house was full of people, dolls, toy carousels and sweets. I still don't quite understand how my wife could give birth to Sophie in the bath.

7. The signal
The silence of the room was only broken by the ticking of the alarm clock, but she didn't open her eyes. Later she had a shower, prepared a cup of coffee and drank it while looking through the window . It was raining. How long had she been hiding there? Days, weeks… The insults, the punches, his cruelty... resounded still inside herself. Somebody phoned her, but nobody uttered a word. The signal! The bell rang, she opened the door anxiously and walked along the gravel path towards the car. The cheerful music of a new life began to sound!

8. HopeAfter thinking of her all night, he knew there was no way back. The ticking of the clock was his only friend during useless thoughts. He turned off the alarm clock and woke up, maybe a hot shower and a hot cup of coffee would turn him back to reality. It was pouring, the sound of a phone broke the silence. He picked up but nobody answered, he looked at the door and the bell rang, he opened it hoping she was there. Love’s like being lost in a forest, hope is the music that allows us to keep dreaming.

9. Flying high
Like every morning for the last sixty years, Ana turned off her alarm clock and woke up; prepared to face another routinary day. While having her breakfast, the doorbell broke the silence. Ana picked up the phone but nobody answered. ‘Would it be the call which she’d been waiting for so long?’ After a while, somebody knocked on the door. Ana smiled; the moment had come! She opened the door and walked to the big circus tent. In the end, she would be able to fulfill her dream. Just little before she died, Ana would become a trapeze artist.

10. Oh Alice!
An alarm clock? Where am I? I see a bathroom, I take a shower, MMMMM smells good! Coffee, eggs, who made breakfast? Riiing! Hello!, no one, ding dong, my red shoes knock on the floor, I find the door and open it, a chorus of birds greets me, a man with a long white beard looks at me, gives me a ring, smiles and goes walking on the grass, I follow him to a village, what is Gandalf doing in Oz if the music I hear is from another film?
ALICE, WHAT KIND OF MUSHROOMS DID YOU GIVE ME?

11. Lady Duplo
Lady Duplo truly thinks that her lucky number is two. For that reason she waited so long for today, the second of the second, to be the greatest day. Her clock rang twice and she went to take a shower and soaped herself two times. She let the phone ring twice before answering it and she prepared a bouquet with two flowers, but when Tom knocked on the door............ only once!......... lady Duplo worried............. but she, looking at him, felt doubly happy, because Tom, who will be her husband in two hours, made two hearts beat inside her.

12. Trapped
My heart’s beating faster than the alarm. A shower? What for? What I did has stained me forever. Now that he is absent, the coffee maker, the frying pans, breakfast time… everything turns so unfamiliar… The phone rings. My mother. She knows what I have done. No more blows now, no more cries. I get out. As I penetrate into the forest, the sound of the leaves makes me feel more alive. Am I free? Perhaps I am more imprisoned than ever. Trapped inside myself, entrapped by my conscience.

13. Destination unknown
The day everything was over began like any other day two years ago. That night, as usual, Leia barely slept. After switching off the useless alarm, she started her routine: a quick shower, scrambled eggs and coffee for breakfast… Then, her phone rang. Leia answered it, expecting to hear the voice of another agent. Instead, somebody hung up. She immediately knew what it meant, and the doorbell ringing confirmed her suspicions. She opened and no one was outside. Strangely calm, she took out her guns and walked into the forest. Maybe they caught her, but she wouldn't make it easy.

14. Yellowknife
“Morning awakening is the time I expect the most everyday. I love how Miley stretches herself to leave the warmth I breathe in. She moves into the bathroom and feels how water gives her a new, fluent, appearance. We left Tri-Cities under an unusual rain."

‘Jared, please, stop scribbling and answer the phone, will you?’ ‘Too late, no answer’ Someone’s just rung. Miley opened the door. Surprised, she could see an old man crossing the backyard. Miley´s (formerly Rayon´s) childhood spun one more time in the carousel. Stared at by his father, hieratic. He turned as pale as snow.

15. Synesthetic breath
These four windowless walls of my writing protect me from the stabs that sunlight settles on my ears, soaking me completely deaf facing the brightness of your lifestyle which blinds my eyes with just a clock whisper. I ask whether this faint hypoallergenic world of silence where I'm captive may become better than the outside world you perceive, in which you want to talk but nobody listens, where your steps make you the companion of death during the stroll to the end of everything and nothingness, where our worlds become the chilling smell of scream of the last breath.

LINK to the sound file that served as inspiration.

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

THE SOUND OF STORIES - Short Story Contest

Short story contest of the year!
Do you feel like writing but the muses don’t visit you anymore? Listen to the soundtrack we suggest and get inspired! We can think of no better way to celebrate World Book Day than reading and writing stories. And, of course, winning prizes for writing them!
To enter the contest, read the Terms and Conditions and download the Soundtrack

Problems? Send an email to: thesoundofstories@gmail.com

Thanks to Mariló Vélez for the idea and for organising it!

Sunday, March 22, 2015

BENEFITS OF JOINING A BOOK CLUB

I was just checking to see how long we have been writing this blog, and it's already been 5 years! Not too shabby :)

How are you enjoying the book club experience this year? I love the format we are following, discussing the book half-way through and then meeting again once we finish the novel. Thanks for proposing the idea, I think it is enriching and it adds more to the reading experience. It's hard to stop at a certain point, but it builds suspense too, it helps create some expectations, and it keeps us guessing! I think it has definitely been an improvement.

I have been thinking and reading some articles about the benefits of joining a book club, like this one or this other one. I am going to write the ones I share and some of my own:

1. The people factor. Some of you are regulars of our book club, and I love that. We have moved from a teacher gathering with students to discuss a book to a group of friends exchanging impressions about a text. Love that dimension!

2. An enriched reading experience. It seems you always notice some details that have escaped me, some lines, some aspect of the character, or a different interpretation of some aspects of the plot.

3. A wonderful linguistic workout. I can't but feel proud of all the processes that come together each time you express your opinion, summarize an extract or judge a character. And it fills me with joy to see your fluency, the variety of structures and vocabulary you have, and how you seem to enjoy the reading experience more and more without being so concerned about understanding every single word.

4. A path intersecting with so many others. I am thinking of the connections books have led us to make: with other books, movies, songs, personal experiences.

5. It has forced me to read slowly. Let me bring in this quotation by Sir Francis Bacon, which I love: "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention". It felt like lately I was kind of gulping down books. I got so excited I tended to read in bouts until I finished it! Book club has forced me to take it slowly, to "taste" and "digest" again.

6. Let's not forget the sheer enjoyment and the nerdiness of just being able to get together with a group to discuss books, drink tea and eat cake. Love Tuesdays at 8pm in Room 101! :)

What about you all? What have the benefits of our book club been for you? Feel free to comment!

Finally, what do you think of the idea of having a rotating roster of leaders in our book club, maybe next year?

Monday, October 8, 2012

BOOK CLUB 2012-13

We are looking forward to starting book club with you again. We can't wait to hear all about your summer readings, your wishes for our book club this year, proposals for this year's readings... Keep your eyes open, we'll be posting info shortly about meeting days and times!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

IMPRESSIVE LIBRARIES - TOP 5 by Papel en blanco

I know we have talked about libraries in past posts, but this post by Sergio Parra actually includes a few I didn't have in my list of to-visit libraries (but I now do!), such as this one in Stuttgart, which looks like a Rubik cube on the outside and is very minimalist in the inside. Me likes it.

What about our library at the EOI? Are you a regular visitor? Actually ours in Ribeira is pretty nice. Apart from receiving an award, it is very user-friendly, it has lots of light, comfy sofas and a self-service library loan service. Also, ask any of the teachers or write us an e-mail/comment if you can't find what you're looking for.