Hi.
It's me...
We're not on hiatus here at WiHW; I'm just snowed under with work...though officially on "vacation." And I have to admit that working whilst in pajamas and in a La-Z-Boy and blastin' tha toonz is a far, far better thing than schlepping into my office and scrunching up in the wheel'd chair and getting interrupted every five seconds by some clueless life form--
But no damn time for blogging. And I've got news--oh, yes: news (& photos) of a weird thing that happened in Cali, news of the wondrous books I just--this evening--finished reading--yet more reason not to blog...His Dark Materials, which has become my favorite fantasy-genre thang next to The Wizard of Oz.
And some of you know that, for me, that's saying A LOT.
I've been planning a post about suggestive and instructive works relating to the Holy Guardian Angel, and HDM will be one of them.
One of the things I loved about HDM was that the series featured a character so detestable, so vile, so vicious, and so loathsome that I wished to see her destroyed in some brilliantly agonizing fashion. But--the author confouded my wishes, and in doing so he confronted my desire for revenge--a desire that arises from the very system of "morality" the novels unravel and dis-Spell.
By the way, Salman Rushdie, a writer I've never particularly liked, wrote the absolute best book about The Wizard of Oz. So check that out, and read His Dark Materials, and maybe by then I will have written something. :)
Friday, January 6, 2006
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I've read 3 works by Rushdie and enjoyed them all. As soon as the hooplah about The Satanic Verses came out I rushed to the bookstore and bought the hardcopy as a show of support. Took a bit for me to get into it, but then I was fine with the rest.
ReplyDeleteHaroun and the Sea of Stories is a great children's book. And I thought Midnight's Children was excellent.
Working at home definitely beats Grand Central Station....
I read Midnight's Children long ago, then Shame and his travelogue on Nicaragua, the title of which I cannot recall. I was absolutely captivated by his technical wizardry and word-play in Midnight's Children but had a vague sense that something was missing. Around the same time I was reading Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow and found myself admiring not just his style (quiet, understated humour) but his deep content. And then it came to me that what Salman lacked and Saul packed was a SOUL.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, subsequently I lost interest in Rushdie and entire genres including fiction and light reading, as my reading was severely hemmed in by work and my focus narrowed down to spirituality.
humble worm, I love the way you put that! (lacked and packed)...you've explained to me why I always felt put off by Rushdie. I, too, love Bellow. he hits all the notes on the piano.
ReplyDeleteBut, pace e_journeys, I have several very smart friends who think highly of Rushdie (one who says that Bellow "always gets it wrong"). it's odd that, being a realistic yet magical person, I have never much liked magic realism!