February has been a busy month; we started doing taxes at the senior citizen building in Winchester on Mondays and Wednesday and because they are short handed in Tullahoma, I go there and help on Tuesday and Thursday; it is interesting and challenging work.
I finished Phillip Pullman's trilogy and found it to be a splendid work of fantasy, adventure and story telling. "The Golden Compass" sets the stage in a parallel world where we meet the young girl, Lyra, who plays the major role throughout the trilogy as as a kind of "chosen one" whose actions will determine the fate of her world and that of the many other parallel worlds. The theme is "anti religious". Scientists and scholars are in disagreement with the controlling religious factors and the clergy have formed secret societies that are conducting vile experiments. The origin of "original sin" seems to be a matter of considerable importance. The characters are certainly interesting; Every person has his or her personal "daemon" which takes the form of some kind of animal, the "daemon" that is attached in some way to the person. is a life long companion there are Witches, evil creatures, Angels, Giant bears who work metal and wear armour, tiny folk who ride giant dragonflies and town people of all kinds. Lyra is in danger most of the time and relies on her quick wit and friends she acquires on her journey. The second book "The Subtle Knife" introduces Will who finds his way into Lyra's world by accident and befriends her. As they journey together, he acquires the Subtle Knife which enables him to "cut" a doorway into other worlds. In this book, Lyra learns more about her "purpose" and her journey takes clear direction. In the third book, "The Amber Spyglass", old and new characters are further developed and a visit to the world of the dead is made; all the elements of "Dante" are in this voyage; the hooded boatman, the trip across the river, the different places of suffering and the disappointment of of those who were promised so much by their clergy and found only chaos and pain. Lyra and her friend "cut" a way out of "hell" for the poor souls where they could become one with the stars and the universe. Great effort and a great story.
Just finished a scary, fearsome and gruesome novel by Joe Hill; "Heart Shaped Box". A man buys a suit of clothes on the Internet that is supposed to be haunted. When it arrives, in a heart shaped box, he learns that it is, indeed, haunted by a very evil spirit in the form of an old man who was the father of a girl that the man mistreated many years ago. The moments of terror are many and continues through the story. I was worn out when I finished it in one reading. Joe Hill is one of Stephen King's sons writing under a pen name and he is making quite a name for himself in the "horror story" genre.
I am in the middle of Julie Kavanagh's "Nureyev". This is an amazing story; Rudnik, as they called him explored the heights and the depths of life and was so very creative and different and ahead of his time in the dance that he was both criticized and acclaimed.
Amazon had a good buy on a single volume that contained seven Jane Austen novels so I am, again, enthralled with her genius; I am rereading and enjoying the widow Dashwood and her family in "Sense and Sensibility"; what marvelous characters!
Douglas Preston's new one, "Blasphemy" is on my reading list. It looks very interesting; a new supercollider that will cause science and religion to be in conflict (again).
I finished Phillip Pullman's trilogy and found it to be a splendid work of fantasy, adventure and story telling. "The Golden Compass" sets the stage in a parallel world where we meet the young girl, Lyra, who plays the major role throughout the trilogy as as a kind of "chosen one" whose actions will determine the fate of her world and that of the many other parallel worlds. The theme is "anti religious". Scientists and scholars are in disagreement with the controlling religious factors and the clergy have formed secret societies that are conducting vile experiments. The origin of "original sin" seems to be a matter of considerable importance. The characters are certainly interesting; Every person has his or her personal "daemon" which takes the form of some kind of animal, the "daemon" that is attached in some way to the person. is a life long companion there are Witches, evil creatures, Angels, Giant bears who work metal and wear armour, tiny folk who ride giant dragonflies and town people of all kinds. Lyra is in danger most of the time and relies on her quick wit and friends she acquires on her journey. The second book "The Subtle Knife" introduces Will who finds his way into Lyra's world by accident and befriends her. As they journey together, he acquires the Subtle Knife which enables him to "cut" a doorway into other worlds. In this book, Lyra learns more about her "purpose" and her journey takes clear direction. In the third book, "The Amber Spyglass", old and new characters are further developed and a visit to the world of the dead is made; all the elements of "Dante" are in this voyage; the hooded boatman, the trip across the river, the different places of suffering and the disappointment of of those who were promised so much by their clergy and found only chaos and pain. Lyra and her friend "cut" a way out of "hell" for the poor souls where they could become one with the stars and the universe. Great effort and a great story.
Just finished a scary, fearsome and gruesome novel by Joe Hill; "Heart Shaped Box". A man buys a suit of clothes on the Internet that is supposed to be haunted. When it arrives, in a heart shaped box, he learns that it is, indeed, haunted by a very evil spirit in the form of an old man who was the father of a girl that the man mistreated many years ago. The moments of terror are many and continues through the story. I was worn out when I finished it in one reading. Joe Hill is one of Stephen King's sons writing under a pen name and he is making quite a name for himself in the "horror story" genre.
I am in the middle of Julie Kavanagh's "Nureyev". This is an amazing story; Rudnik, as they called him explored the heights and the depths of life and was so very creative and different and ahead of his time in the dance that he was both criticized and acclaimed.
Amazon had a good buy on a single volume that contained seven Jane Austen novels so I am, again, enthralled with her genius; I am rereading and enjoying the widow Dashwood and her family in "Sense and Sensibility"; what marvelous characters!
Douglas Preston's new one, "Blasphemy" is on my reading list. It looks very interesting; a new supercollider that will cause science and religion to be in conflict (again).
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