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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| I'm not actually reading THE POWER OF ONE right now but I posted it because it is my number one favorite novel in the whole wide world. It has everything except a girlfriend for the protagonist, which is such a relief! The movie version, they added a girlfriend, which really WRECKED the story. Ugh. If you've seen the movie and thought it was good, don't tell me because I'll only grunt in your face and tell you "no way!"
In THE POWER OF ONE, there's a recurring theme based on African mythology, the collective will of the People, which propels the protagonist through his life's journey.
The Tadpole Angel.
I love the songs of the Tadpole Angel... "see who comes toward us now? tell us, tell us... it is he who is called the tadpole angel... we salute him, we salute him" "...for is he not the lord of the dark and the light, the day and the night? onoshobishobi ingelosi!"
However, by no means is the Tadpole Angel mythos the only thing great about this story! If you've read it, you prolly know what I mean. 
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I also love how some books open sooo beautifully. Let's see if I can type (recite) from memory? Post in comments if correx are due, please.
SIDDHARTHA (Hermann Hesse, English translation from German)—In the shade of the house, in the sunshine on the riverbank by the boats, in the shade of the sallow wood and the fig tree, Siddhartha, the handsome Brahmin's son, grew up with his friend, Govinda.
LOLITA (Vladmir Nabakov)—Lolita. Light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta. The tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate, to tap at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was plain Lo in the morning, standing four feet ten with one sock on. She was Dolly at school, Lola in slacks, and Dolores on the dotted line, but in my arms, she was always Lolita.
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| Oh my... I haven't cried so much in a long time! The book I'm "reading" now, actually finished it Saturday night, and re-read it again, yesterday, jumping back and forth between different parts. Cried again upon rereading.
From now on I am going to avoid certain parts in the book when I know I need to maintain an air of presentability. Sigh.
Blissful anguish. Is there such a thing??
The book is basically about an artist, Clare Abshire, who has a lover/friend/husband, Henry DeTamble, who has chronic impairment. His genes enable/force him to travel through time.
The title and background premise is a bit misleading—this is not your standard tome of science fiction. Instead it's set in the present with a time window of 50 years in both directions, past and future. WITHOUT all that tedious jargon and far-fetched technology so common to cheap sci-fi. And the idea of a genetic condition causing time displacement is merely the background context against which the story is set. This book was published in 2003, I think, and was named one of the best books by PEOPLE magazine. Something like that. [We wouldn't have this story without the current scene in genetics, naturally].
The story of Clare and Henry is a heart-wrenching rollercoaster ride between their realities. Imagine yourself as a little kid and this person in your life keeps coming from the future to visit you. Or you might be sleeping with your lover in bed one night, and a younger version of your lover shows up also, and gets in bed with you as well?
Those are trite examples I just put forth. There were so many emotional tangles caused by age issues, chronology of events, and especially the nature of Henry's time travel [he cannot take anything beyond his physical body, so he keeps showing up naked in the realm of elsewhen, and has to resort to criminal activities to sustain himself while elsewhen].
I'm not going to delve deeply into reviewing this book because to say more would ruin a lot of surprises. Just pay attention and read it thoroughly, foreshadowing occurs a lot throughout the story. I was also fascinated by the ideas of free will and determinism, but that may not appeal so much to others, although it is one of the key concepts expounded upon by the characters.
My mom sent me the book. Bless her. We're both sci-fi fans by the way, but this book was such a surprise, because it didn't turn out to be a risky read (lots of crappy sci-fi out there) but one of the best romances I ever read! Now I'll be pulling a yenta fix on her, "nag, nag, nag, READ IT! nag, nag, nag..." :)
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As for good science fiction, some titles that come to mind are:
Dean Koontz—LIGHTNING (this is also a romance of sorts)
Robert A. Heinlein—TIME FOR THE STARS, CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY
Orson Scott Card—ENDER'S GAME, ENDER'S SHADOW, SHADOW OF THE HEGEMON, SHADOW PUPPETS
Ray Bradbury—THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES
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from COMMENTS:
Hey MisterPeeAre, my summer's been quiet for the most part :) Work and some play. Orange yellow feet from Sandy Point's clay-saturated sand.
I agree with you about Dan Brown's books being similar in plot among themselves, but still the action makes for a gripping read!
I think out of his four books, I actually was the most satisfied with the outcome of ANGELS AND DEMONS. It wrapped up nicely, whereas THE DA VINCI CODE's ending pissed me off. It was too abstract--I felt it could've been done better... (but still totally loved the entire story itself, all that rediscovering the goddess business appeals very much to me)
If you enjoy Dan Brown as an author, you would like Clive Cussler's books. Maybe you already are a Cussler fan.
Anybody else reading this and curious? Try Cussler's INCA GOLD or VALHALLA RISING or my favorite, TREASURE. ATLANTIS FOUND is also quite good!
WOOF!
p.s. haven't finished RUSSKA yet... It keeps getting backshelved :) | | |
| RUSSKA is alright--lovely descriptions of the Russian land, which I had never read about before. Also, good overall picture of cultural transformations due to invading societies and religious conversions. But the "storyline" itself is a bit too choppy, jumping several hundred years between chapters.
So far, I like the chapter with Yanka. There was something so human in the way she internalized and rationalized her incestuous relationship with her father, and how she dealt with it. Not like the horrible condemnation and deep shame our society instills in such victims.
Also wished to read more about Kiy and the marauding Scythians. In that chapter, I was so ready to see Kiy ride off with the Scythians to some great destiny--but no, the Alan returned Kiy to his mother. I guess it's the small acts of grace that really make the wheels of the world turn (the majority of us do not experience a "great destiny")
Rutherford's SARUM was much more easier to follow, not only because I'm comfortable with the history of the British Isles, but because the story of the five families and their generations were more closely narrated, with skipping over only a couple generations or so to the next historical period. Fascinating to imagine the rise and fall of family fortunes, sometimes through one's own undoing, or more often through external political machinations. Often both.
Anyway, I'm still gratified to be reading RUSSKA, because I have Ukranian, Romanian and Russian roots in my family forest--at least 4 generations ago, the Jewish tree in my family forest was uprooted and transplanted to America and Canada. Because of the pogroms. Sad stuff. Most of the men did not make it out of there. None of their children (my grandparents & great-grandparents) would talk about it, so today, my family doesnt know much.
Eventually, I'll finish RUSSKA, even if it's one of the rare novels I've picked up that doesn't glue itself to my nose.
(Novels-That-Glue-Themselves-to-My-Nose would include THE POWER OF ONE by Bryce Courtenay, MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden, THE BLUE CASTLE by L.M. Montgomery, and not to forget, the recent THE DA VINCI CODE by Dan Brown, plus many more!)
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| Ganesha's sitting on my desk with his head cocked, staring at me. A member of my personal pantheon, he brings fortune in business-related matters. Maybe he can help inspire my blog.
Heck, books do a better job :)
TIDBIT:: The name PERSEPHONE=slayer of pigs. In ancient times, women used to run farms themselves, keeping pigs for meat. Pigs are natural rooters, so they would dig up all the stones in a field and their feces would fertilize the land. Women were not so dependent on men for sustenance. You gotta wonder why two major religions stemming out of early civilizations prohibit pork—the best way to reduce women's livelihood to a dependency on men, so it seems. Sigh... and there's still more to the whole pigs/taboo scene....
I'm somewhat of an amateur astrologer, but moreover, I am a strong believer in the collective un/consciousness underlying all of existence. Joseph Campbell's Jungian explorations of mythology is what got me hooked in 1997, and here Valerie Vaughan takes us beyond the mindless drivel of cheap newspaper horoscopes into the world of the ancients.
Her studies (see above book link and below mention of ASTROMYTHOLOGY) examine how myths entwined with natural cycles to become dominant ways of thinking in culture. And one of the biggest and most mysterious spheres of natural cycles would be the night-time sky. So, there we have star lore in its best form, before the Scientific age began 300 years ago, causing astronomy to splinter off from its ancient origins in astrology.
Some of the most interesting studies focus on the time of Judea and the Messiah—but I have yet to find a conclusive text that works out the contradictions. Vaughan does attempt to examine what exactly the Star of Bethelem was, in her earlier book, ASTROMYTHOLOGY. Pretty cool.
Also, the stuff about Sirius being a red star is mysterious—stars can only progress from blue to red, and Sirius, only 8 light years away from here, is still blue. Astronomers cannot figure out why the ancients classified Sirius as a red star. Some connections: the dog days of August/Sirius's annual helical rising, "seeing red" as an indicator of anger/aggression during hot periods of the year.
Back to PERSEPHONE—another text that examines the gradual/sudden losses of feminine mysticsm and spirituality as an equal power in society would be Leonard Shlain's THE ALPHABET VERSUS THE GODDESS.
Supplemental reading list:
THE ALPHABET VERSUS THE GODDESS—Leonard Shlain
ASTROMYTHOLOGY—Valerie Vaughan
SEX IN HISTORY—Reay Tannahill
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