Talk Back

[Super Milk Chan]

So, I spent almost two months in Calgary with my cute (then barely and finally) 2 year old niece. On the plane flight I read Puddinghead Wilson, and I’d also taken the “Myths of the Hindus and Buddists” with me, but I couldn’t quite get into that book. After all, who (aside from Eisworth), really wants to read a textbook for pleasure?


21. Puddinghead Wilson by Mark Twain

The story of a white black boy born of a mother who looked white, but was “black”. He was swapped with the son of her master, shortly after birth, (because both children looked the same) who grows up to be cruel. Wilson is a lawyer who lives next to them. He’s called Puddinghead because he has crazy ideas. However he manages to right things at the end. It deals with a few issues of slavery, I guess. Hmmm… again… I feel I’m being rather blithe about a book that needs a “deeper” review.

(Ok, I read it very long ago, and can't remember exactly what I thought)

Here are the others I read… They were from my brother in law’s stash:

22,23.Jupiter Project, Great Sky River by Gregory Benford

It was surreal. Todd and I were miles apart and our reaction to the author was the same. We both read two of his books, thought he was really good, and then read a third book of his (I can’t remember which one … Todd claims it’s Tides of Light … if so, I haven’t read Tides of Light, but another book…. I will update this later, when I go to Calgary), and in that third book, we both couldn’t get past the scene with the threesome. At least that scene did it for me. I didn’t want to read the rest of the book, and I doubt I’ll want to read another book of his.

Anyway… I loved Jupiter Project. It was another of what I call “slice of life” type of books, where nothing really happens (as far as I’m concerned – lots of people may disagree with me… anyway… ) but you just get to experience the daily trials of life of a kid living in a space station orbiting Jupiter (I think… again, I had to ask for the titles of the book over the phone… I couldn’t remember them). I thought it was perfect. The kid is a geek and they’re all sex deprived, but he does get some in the end, but that’s not what the book is about. Anyway, something about it seemed “real” to me. It seemed like the kind of environment that could be possible with a bunch of nerds holed up together.


Great Sky River. Again, I loved this book. It made me feel like I was reading “real Sci-fi”
instead of Sci-Fi with a mix of fantasy. He tried to give pseudo-scientific reasoning behind all the creations. Of course I realize that there is no original story and that sci-fi is really just fantasy, but with God or demons or faries, replaced by science…(Just try listening to lectures on “the history of Science Fiction” by the Learning Company. Talk about ruining a good read…), but I enjoyed his “scientific” idea of the mind you encounter at the end of the book. (Read it yourself. I’m trying not to spoil it).

24. Wizard of Zao by Lin Carter (I don't remember the author... I looked it up online)

I can’t remember exactly what happened in this book. Just the beginning. Every guy’s fantasy. Fat green wizard gets with young nubile chick and they have hot sex, because he’s that good. Some stuff happens. He has a lizard he travels around on. I think there might have been some funny scenes. Typical fantasy. Nothing memorable.



25. Wizard in the tree by Alexander Lloyd.

Nice young adult story about the last wizard left on earth and a young girl’s quest to help him get to where all the other wizards have gone. Standard fare, but enjoyable.


26. Seasons of splendour: tales, myths & legends of India by Madhur Jaffery (illustrated by Michael Foreman)

It’s nicely illustrated and is a good introduction to the myths of hindus in India. Of course you get very very short versions of great epics or stories in it, but like I said, it’s and intro (So forget about long drawn out reasoning/battles. You’ll just get… “so and so is a bad guy. This good guy (normally an avatar of a god) killed him.”



27. Debbie Brown's enchanted cakes for children : [a step-by-step guide to creating magical cakes]

28. Lovable Character Cakes by Debbie Brown

Well, they essentially give you a recipe or two for cakes, how to make royal icing and buttercream icing and fondant. But the majority of the books are taken up with how to shape figures. I tried the fondant recipe. It worked well enough. But the directions for making Elmo sucked. Then again, I didn’t really follow directions. I can never really follow directions. Also, I lacked lots of tools. So in the end, what I really got out of these books was a fondant recipe. (The first Elmo I made, trying to follow her directions ended up looking scary. So then I just went with my instincts and made a really gorgeous one But, the books are good for people who are not good with clay, or who are afraid of trying to sculpt things. You can certainly get good results. For example Wallace and Grommit. If you are one of those people who have to follow recipes and cannot work without instruction, you probably will get fabulous results. (Btw, I’m not criticizing you. I’m pointing out a real flaw in my personality).

[shaw]

[Super Milk Chan]

Ok, I think I am going to read the book now. I think I was stuck in the first few pages. Perhaps if I had skimmed I'd have been more into it. I found your reference to Khumbakarna. It wasn't really just one sentence. Anyway, you'd like the version of the Ramayana that I read. It goes into great detail about lots of stuff (Of course, it's all in Ramesh Menon's imagination --- I mean the heavenly chariot or whatever that Rama travels in at the end, is made into a spaceship!)

But, I know what you mean about the disappointment when Rama slays him. There were many pages in the Ramayana devoted to waking him up and maybe at most a page to Rama slaying him.

Anyway, I really dislike Rama.

[shaw]