Ikea and proverbs...

...two things the Swedes do well!

"Worry gives a small thing a big shadow."

Adventures in Reading: "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

If I could only pick one thing about this novel to talk about, it would be VOICE. This book has one of the most distinct and memorable voices that I've ever read. It is unique and genuine, and draws the reader into the story in a very special way. The main character, Pi Patel, tells his story in a way that makes him feel real, like the story is being told by an actual person. It feels like Pi's own beautiful story telling skills, not Martel's, are moving the story along. It's engaging and very well-done.

A quick summary of the story is this: Pi Patel, the son of a zookeeper in India, loves God in all his incarnations. He is a Hindu, a Catholic and a Muslim, because he sees all three as ways to learn how to love God. In his teens, Pi's family decides to move to Canada. They embark on a cargo ship with many of the animals from their zoo, though unfortunately, the ship sinks. Pi manages to get aboard a lifeboat, and the rest of the story is his tale of survival...survival on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific alongside a Bengal tiger.

I will admit, there were a couple of times in the middle of Pi's oceanic journey that I felt a bit...not bored, but anxious to get to the next thing. However, I think that only builds on the strength of the novel, because isn't that exactly how a person would feel who's been lost at sea?

The main strength of this novel comes from its storytelling, as I've already mentioned. The story is told from a very personal first person point of view, which draws the reader into Pi's mind as he struggles with not only survival, but his belief in a high power. His humanity fills up every page and causes the reader to really experience Pi's situation.

The end of the novel startled me. Now that I can look at the book as a whole, I see how the ending makes sense. I don't want to give too much about this story away in this review. Instead, I will quote a section from the end of the book that essentially summarizes the novel as a whole:

"So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can't prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with the animals or the story without animals?"

Martel is saying that, in Pi's case, religion acts as a metaphor to help him understand and make sense of human existence. In the above quote, Pi is asking whether life is better with or without some sort of religious explanation. While I personally believe that God is more than human invention, Martel has crafted a story that really gets to the heart of this idea, and why it is that people often seek something outside themselves: the tragedy of life must have an answer. There must be meaning. In the very least, this book will make you analyze what it means to be objectively truthful. Basically, "Life of Pi" is a perfect example of the way story can be used to convey ideas and make a reader think.

As with most books or movies that have an unexpected ending, this book may deserve a second reading at some point. I have other stories to begin right now, though, so it will have to wait for now.

**Side note: M. Night Shamalan was slated to make "Life of Pi" into a movie, but ended up bowing out because all of his movies have some sort of twist at the end, and he didn't want to diminish the ending of this book by putting his name on it (because people would assume there was a twist if he's making it, which sort of ruins the element of surprise). Mr. Shamalan, maybe this is a sign that you should branch out a little bit. Just saying.

Too much of a good thing?

I have found the fatal flaw in my library game: sometimes books become available before I'm finished with the ones I already have! I've just barely started "Life of Pi", and now I'm adding "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman to the top of my "to read" list, and pushing the new books I bought further down.

Now, I'm not complaining! It's nice to have so many books to read. But I don't want to feel like I have to rush through a book because I have to get to the next one, either. I hate the feeling of fewer and fewer pages between me and the end of a book I'm really enjoying. I guess I'll just have to console myself with the fact that I have several more endings to get to when I'm finished with this one!

Vocation

The next time someone asks me what I want to "do" with myself, I'm going to point them to this prayer. In the many years that I have kept this close to my heart, I have yet to come across anything that better describes who I want to be.

The Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born into Eternal Life.

Amen.

Feelin' good!

I just need to say, I am really loving my yoga class! I can feel that my body is getting stronger already, and I'm trying new things that I honestly wouldn't have even tried when I was at my most fit. For example, I did my first full inversion last night (body completely upside down, supported by head/arms). It was against the wall, but that's pretty standard until a person's been doing yoga for a while. I'm really proud of myself for even trying it, and it turned out to be easier than I expected, which I'm sure is because my upper back and arms are getting stronger. Anyway, I just wanted some record of how good I'm feeling, in case I ever need a reminder to keep going.

Meaningless?

"Hear the chimes. Did you know that the wind, when it blows, is older than Rome and our joy and our sorrow?" Conor Oberst

I've been thinking about the "point" of things lately. I realize that a pretty huge concept, and I wont' really attempt to get to the very, very bottom of it in one blog post. But it's something that's come up several times in my learning and reading and thinking lately, so I'll do what I can in a short space, I suppose.

So, back to "Wuthering Heights" we go...

This is how Bronte ends her story: "I lingered round (the graves), under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any could ever imagine unquiet slumber for the sleepers in that quiet earth."

If you've read "Wuthering Heights", you'll know that the lives of all the characters are near constantly filled with turmoil. But when Mr. Lockwood observes the graves of some of the most volatile characters, he can't imagine anything but peace. It's as if their lives, their real lives of suffering and cruelty, never existed. This is especially true when you consider that the final remaining members of both families have found happiness. All of Heathcliff's scheming and torture appears to have been for nothing when you see the happiness that Cathy and Hareton have found in each other.

And that's the truth of it: when we die, that's it. We may have some sort of earthly legacy left behind, but, in the case of most ordinary people, over time even that will fade. Good or bad, when we're done, we're done.

So what's the point in trying to accumulate as much stuff as we can while we're here? Why should I worry about money when I really am provided for? Having stuff is fine. But being unsatisfied with the stuff we do have is where the problems arise. If we looked at things from the perspective of knowing we can't take any of it with us when we die, I think it would change the way we think about what we really need. Having a boat is great, if you have the boat so you can enjoy what it gives you, not so that you can use it as a symbol of your achievement. Enjoying what this world has to offer is a part of learning about and enjoying God. He made the world and said it was good. It's our attitude that corrupts things.

I know there is a point to life. There is meaning, despite the fact that it doesn't last forever. God put me here for a purpose. He put me here to learn and do things that I could only learn and do in my own unique circumstance. They may not be eternally significant things in the eyes of the world, but they are significant in the greater scope of my eternal existence.

I want to read books so I can learn and challenge myself and simply enjoy a good story. I want to travel so I can see the diversity of this amazing world. I want to have relationships with people so I can fully experience this life I've been given. I want to cheer for football teams, cry when I'm hurting, be angry at injustice, laugh at inside jokes, and find comfort in a cup of chai. And I want to do it all with this perspective:

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." Peirre Teilhard de Chardin

So remember that human experience is fleeting. All things shall pass, and most will be little remembered. But also know that human experience is not insignificant, or God would not have designed things as they are.

365 days of reading

Nina Sankovitch has been reading one book every day since October 29, 2008. In just a few days, she will have completed her goal of reading one book per day for a whole year. She has also maintained a blog where she reviews every book she's read, and where you can find out all the other information about her project. She doesn't re-read anything, and only reads one book written by any particular author.

After first discovering this blog, I thought, "I wish I could do that!" The more I though about it, however, the less I thought that was true. Reading an entire book in one day doesn't leave much time for anything else. A person can't work and do this challenge at the same time, that's for sure. There would be little time to do anything but read. On some days, this would be my dream come true. On others, I'd probably rather be out doing other things.

But Nina has four kids, and I'm sure she's made adjustments so that they haven't felt neglected over the past year. I'm also assuming she hasn't completely exiled herself and lost touch with the rest of the world. So, the need to work aside, apparently this is possible without having to give up everything.

I'm thinking that maybe I would like to challenge myself to do something similar, but on a smaller scale. One book a week. One book every ten days. Something that would challenge me, but fit more realistically into my life. Let me finish the book I'm working on now, and then we'll see if I'm up for it.

Damn you, Borders

Last week I received a lovely 40% off coupon from Borders. Normally, these coupons show up when I'm broke (to be read: most of the month), but (un)fortunately I got paid not too long ago, so I took that little coupon into the store last night. With a little spending money in the bank, the temptation of that coupon was just too strong, and I drove straight from church to the bookstore. I wasn't really sure what I would buy, so I wandered around for a bit, which was a great way to end a busy weekend. I really love just being in bookstores/libraries. They make me feel so relaxed and comfortable. During my purusal, I remembered Donald Miller's new book, "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years", which I am now the proud owner of! We've had it here at the store, but it was a bit out of my price range as it's a hardcover, and I don't really care for those anyway. So I'd put off buying it, which was hard, because I really wanted it. With the coupon, however, I got it for just over eleven dollars, which I thought was pretty reasonable, and I suppose I'll just have to learn to suffer through the hardcover.

The subtitle ("What I learned while editing my life"), makes me really excited. That concept is so intriguing to me. Combine that with the fact that Miller is one of my favorite modern writers, and I'm already sure this book is going to go on my "recommended" list.

Since I now own this book, however, it's going to have to take a back seat to "Life of Pi" because that one's on loan from the library. After I finished "Wuthering Heights" I grabbed a Harry Potter book to hold me over until I found something else. I got pretty far into it, so I'd rather finish it than just put it back on the shelf. I'm hoping to finish that up quickly, though, cuz I've got literary work to do!

Genre

Our assignment from my writing class last week was to begin creating the story that will become our writing project for the term. It was a fairly basic assignment, but I was having a really hard time with it. I actually put it off for several days after my first attempt because I was feeling so frustrated with it. We were given the character's name and told that they were going to find a message of some kind at Heceta Head lighthouse. All I had to do was determine Jess's sex, age, basic physical features, reason for being at the lighthouse, and what the message was.

Ok...so Jess is a female...probably in her twenties...blond and pretty...lives at the lighthouse...finds an old message somewhere in the lighthouse...and the message says...

I hated where this was going.

So I started over. A lot of the details stayed the same, but Jess was now younger (about 10). And suddenly...

I'm writing a children's fantasy.

That's not really what I expected, and I can already see the challenges I've inherently put in front of myself, but it feels so much more natural than the dramatic adult story I was trying to do something with before.

Our assignment for next week is to work on our character. Characterization is something that I have a hard time with, but I'm ready for the challenge. My class is really supportive, and it's been fun to hear what other people have come up with using the same basic details. I love the imagination!

Ad astra

"non est ad astra mollis e terris via" -- there is no easy way from the earth to the stars (Seneca the Younger)

I have loved the Latin phrase ad astra (to the stars) since I first came across it. I found the above quote which features this phrase this morning, and I really like it. I think what I like most about it is the way an often times unpleasant reality is expressed through such a beautiful phrase.

The idea that good things take work isn't something most people in my generation are really too excited about. But the plain and simple truth is that we are lucky that things don't always come easily. If we could have whatever we wanted at the drop of a hat with no complications, we would never learn a sense of gratitude or apprecation. If relationships never took any effort, we would feel unsatisfied and get bored. If life were always easy, we would never have compassion or motivation to move forward.

From now on, when I want to get from the earth to the stars, I will remember that I can't yet fly, so I'd better get a ladder.

Surprise!

I went to the library over the weekend to find a new book, but everything I wanted was already checked out. I put three books on hold, and can honestly only remember one of them. This morning I got an email telling me that one of my books was available for pick-up, so my next reading adventure will be...*drum roll*...

Life of Pi by Yann Martel!

This book was required reading at Trinity in first year English, but since I transferred in my first year, I didn't have to take the class. Everyone I know who has read it really liked it though, so I've been meaning to get it myself...and now I have!

I think I'm going to put more books on hold at the library from now on. It's fun to have a book waiting for me that I didn't even remember looking at, and it will really cut down on my "what should I read next?" down time between books. Happy reading!

Writing 101

My writing class started last night, and, as I suspected, it was a hodgepodge of mostly older community members who are all "writers". I'm not trying to be condescending. I just mean that they all have different day jobs, but they're all working on novels or screenplays or what have you, and are using the class as a refresher course (like myself) or as a sounding board. And, as I also suspected, some of them are crazy! But they are all very nice, and it's a very encouraging group.

The class itself is exactly what I was hoping it would be! For our first class, we talked about what actually makes a story. We talked about what it takes to turn a scenario into a story, and practiced doing so both verbally and on paper. We also watched some clips from the movie "Benny and Joon" to help illustrate some of the concepts we talked about. At the end of class, our instructor gave us an assignment to work on for the week. We need to work out some of the details of the scenario we were given, and then construct the beginnings of the "inciting incident" that will begin our term-long assignment of writing a more developed story.

Here's what I (re)learned:

- A story has a beginning/middle/end

- A story has conflict

- A story has a main character that changes

- A story's main character must want something

- A story must have an antagonist

- Conflict must be introduced fairly early on

- The author must answer the question "why today?" Why did the story begin when it did? What was the inciting incident or the catalytic character? What is the tension/hook?

- The author must decide what genre the story is

I love that everything is so basic. It's so helpful to get down to the fundamentals because sometimes it's really the simplest things that get forgotten when thinking about the larger scope of a story. We also talked a bit about whether or not an author needs to have an outline for the entire story (with the end in mind) before they begin writing, or if the story can just unfold as one writes. I think a little of both is really the best, but I'm sure every author works differently.

Anyway, I really have no idea what I'm going to do with my assignment yet, but I plan to take some time tomorrow to work on it. I have homework!

Music as it should be

I could watch this performance every day for...ever...and never get over how amazing it is.

so come on...