Egyptian Legends and Stories by M. V. Seton-Williams
Good starting point for Egyptian legends. It doesn't go in to the connotation or implication of some of these legends. but if fills you in on the names and some of the stories for the gods. If you've read any other books on Egyptian Mythology, this
book will be a step backwards for you. If you're looking for a good starting spot, this book is accessible, short, and will give you the hand holds you need to start looking for something with a little more substance.
Two quick things that would make a good discussion - you notice it when you're reading the book, but the author never points them out, or discusses them.
1) There are a lot of parallels with Old Testament stories. It's entirely possible that when you dig deep enough you find that all these myths and legends are nearly the same at the bone. Maybe that's what draws me to mythology in the first place.
There are a few in here that bear discussion though. The one that sticks in my memory right now is the story of a baby prince who is saved by floating him down a river to hide him from his enemies. In this case, and the other parallels, the Egyptian stories are thousands of years older than the Old Testament stories.
2) The book goes through the legends in more or less a chronological order. It balances legends that take place first in the over all mythos, with legends that are just plain "old". Meaning the tablets or stones they were written in have been dated.
Near the end of the book the legends were more recent both in when they were written, and when the stories they told took place. And they took a decidedly christian turn. There is even one about the true resting place of Noah's ark at the Well of the Bats. I don't know what that means either, but you start with a system of gods and myths about as alien to christianity (judaism and muslim) as you can get, and you end with stories that could have been lost
Rainy Season by James P Blaylock
Short summary...
There's a guy named Phil who lives alone, his wife died suddenly. He takes pictures, and he has an old well in his backyard that people seem to "lurk" around frequently. Phil's sister dies, and leaves her daughter, Betsy, with him. There's an obsessed older neighbor lady that complicates that part of the story. Betsy moves in, creepy things happen around the well, and shady characters enter the story. The story centers aroudn the well, and the supernatural things that happen there. Children are
sacrificed, artifacts are found, and the real monsters in the story are other people - which seems to be a trait in Blayocks books.
There are some interesting plot twists, and it's a smart book that fits together nicely. But it isn't an exciting book. I know, that's immature of me... and maybe I still need pictures in my book... But even though the story rolled along, there just wasn't much... action. not that I need gunfights and car chases ever other page. But I do need something to make me eager to flip the page. And I need some sense of risk, or I have to at least feel something is at stake. And it's inferred that maybe the daughter is in danger as the story progresses, but not directly, and not in any imminent danger. A decent book with an interesting concept (I loved the idea of the well, and what it ended up being) but I can't recommend as a good read over all.
White Knight by Jim Butcher
I could probably write a lot more about this book, and maybe I will and post it separately, but it's not so much about the book itself as it is about the authors ability to sustain a long series. Some authors have managed to do it. Most haven't. Most put a dark spot on their beloved creation by trying to stretch it out too far. It becomes "a good series until the something-th book". They lose their passion for their characters
and their story in exchange for a 5 book deal, movie rights and shorter deadlines. They "crank 'em out" And worse, in my mind at least, they leave the readers that have been with them the longest feeling betrayed.
This is the 9th book in the Dresden files series. (The Sci-fi TV show of the same name is going to fail, if it hasn't already, because it's based upon Jim Butchers writing instead of actually being Jim Butchers writing). It's not the best book in the series, but it's still good. Very good. it doesn't take itself too seriously, doesn't try to be something it isn't. It's just a fun quick book.
Is it still jumping the shark when it's books instead of TV? If so, Jim Butcher has not, I repeat NOT jumped the shark. I've got thoughts on why, and what dangers loom ahead that would signal the collapse of the series. But i've rambled on enough all
ready. If you like wizards, detectives, (or detective-wizards) dark humor, mysteries, fun reads, a quick pace, and a mouthy hero, then go get the first book in the series - Storm Front
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
I read this book in one day.
I don't think it was intended to be read in one day.
And I'm not a fast reader.
I'm a decidedly slow reader.
I read it at Six Flags in Illinois. Which might seem like an odd thing, but in truth, it made an interesting parallel to the book
itself. I didn't want to go to Six Flags. I was under no illusions that I would enjoy Six Flags. I only wanted to survive. ...just like Pi. Mostly I moved from shady spot to shady spot within site of whatever ride my daughter and her friend were currently on. I read on the bus on the way back, and in the evening I finished the final chapters.
I was disappointed.
My wife told me to read the book.
A friend from work who generally steers me true, told me to read the book.
Other friends have told me to read the book.
Every critical review I came across told me to read the book.
By the end of the prologue I was told that "this is a story that will make you believe in God".
SO I think I may have set my expectations high.
As much publicity as the book got, I imagine everyone knows what the book is about. A little boy adrift on the ocean in a life boat with a tiger. And it's not a Disney tiger. It's a hungry, gotta eat or starve to death, tiger.
But what they didn't' tell you was that the first third of the book was about Pi (that's his nickname, and yes it's significant.
It's pronounced like 3.14159) and his life before he even got on the boat that you know is going to sink at some point. That's the part I wasn't expecting, and that I got a little impatient with.
I admittedly have a "get on the damn sinking boat and start working on the hungry tiger problem already" attitude. I'm not proud... and i'm trying to recover.
Anyway, I'm not going to drag this out. The further I get from the book, the more I like it. I didn't like it as a narrative story that I read while hot sweaty scantily clad people streamed by me and half my mind wondered where my daughter
was, and if she was safe. I would have liked it as a book about religion, and faith, and the malleable nature of reality, and if I'd read it over the span of about a month. In little chunks as easily digestible as the festering leg of a dead french sailor.
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