Islands of Thought

I had a hard time figuring out how to categorize For the Time Being by Annie Dillard while I was reading it. I eventually settled on "philosophy". It was an interesting format: each chapter flowed through the same set of topics (birth defects, sand, clouds, ancient China, Jewish theology come to mind) but spent more time on one and less on another and came at each from a different angle than before. I think ultimately I enjoyed the book but it’s not something I would recommend to just any reader. It’s really well suited to someone who is a Searcher. I would have eaten it up while in college when I was actively pursuing knowledge of other religions and belief systems. I’ve since moved away from that mental stance but it still gave me much pause for thought. I liked how she used so many differing methods, from the temporality of clouds to the eternity of sand, to illustrate the infinite and just how minute we really are.

Sand was an important part of Island of the Sequined Love Nun as well but really only because it was set on a small island in the South Pacific. Like the only other Christopher Moore book I’ve read, Fluke, it’s tough to describe. I could say it’s about a fucked up pilot who ends up making good. But that’s like saying Fluke is merely about some whale researchers. Yet if I go beyond either of those summaries, hooboy, spoilers abound. And I wouldn’t want to ruin the zany fun. This guy has a wicked sense of humor and injects fantasy elements in such a way that they are not only completely believable but logical as well. Mr. b’s already read another of his books and I fully intend to as well. I predict we’ll both catch up with his entire oeuvre by year end.

I read Jane Eyre about a year ago at the behest of my aunt. I never did get around to reading The Eyre Affair, but it’s a good thing I did read the original. Book club’s February book is Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. It was really intense. Obviously I knew it wouldn’t end well since it’s the story of the mad woman inhabiting Mr. Rochester’s attic. But it was so evocative and lush. I think I was supposed to end up hating Mr. Rochester but I couldn’t. Antoinette was doomed to be a complete nutter by genetics, circumstance, upbringing, location, everything. Nature plus nuture. It was a good read but I don’t know that I need to see the movie.

My aunt is also determined to get me hooked on Terry Pratchett. She picked out Monstrous Regiment for me at the end of book club last month. I loved it. Totally unlike anything I’ve ever read. Polly cuts off her hair, dresses as a man, and "Oliver" enlists in the last batch of new recruits for a backwards country fighting a pointless and futile war. Hilarity, hijinks, wackiness, and shocking revelations ensue. It was fantastic! I always enjoy stories where having vampires and ogres around is no big deal, they’re just other citizens in that world. And by the end of this book I wanted more. I simply loved the journey, both literal and personal, that Polly went on and I wanted more. I wanted to see what she does next. I’ve been told that it doesn’t matter what order you read his Discworld books in because it’s the rare series that barely links up. That both saddens me that I won’t get a Polly sequel and also excites me that there are so many other books set in that same world. It’s a shame that he won’t be able to write many more.