The lessons of a good book.

"The reason death sticks so closely to life isn't biological necessity - it's envy. Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can. But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud." - Yann Martel (Life of Pi)

Just finished reading this little gem. Now, clearly, this is not a photo I have taken (thank you Wikipedia!). Sorry for the lack of creativity, but this has been a busy week and as I am working in London tomorrow and have plans tomorrow night, I didn't really see any other way that this post would happen any time soon if I held myself up trying to take a decent picture of my own copy.

Anyway, what an amazing read it was! I could be wrong, but I seem to recall someone telling me (way back when this thing was first published) that this book took a little time to get into at first. Well that was not my experience at all. I was hooked from the very first page and remained completely immersed in the story until the very last. I found myself scrutinizing every tiny little detail - even marking excerpts with little scraps of paper like I used to do when I read books for my college courses - but completely of out of my own desire to retain and be able to return to certain parts of the story.

Now that I have finished the book, including the final twist (and OH! is there a twist), I struggle to understand what it all meant. I'm finding it difficult to summarise the book and categorise it neatly away into a corner of my mind. There is just so much to take in - from the intertwining of religions to the outrageously interesting explanations of zoos and animal behaviour - that I just don't know where to begin. If only I could still access my old English professors. Where are you when I need you??

One of my favorite parts of the book is this - where the main character, Piscine, who's father is a zoo keeper, discusses his confusion over Christianity :

"And what a story. The first thing that drew me in was disbelief. What? Humanity sins but it's God's Son who pays the price? I tried to imagine Father saying to me, 

'Piscine, a lion slipped into the llama pen today and killed two llamas. Yesterday another one killed a black buck. Last week two of them ate the camel. The week before it was painted storks and grey herons. And who's to say for sure who snacked on our golden agouti? The situation has become intolerable. Something must be done. I have decided that the only way the lions can atone for their sins is if I feed you to them'

'Yes, Father, that would be the right and logical thing to do. Give me a moment to wash up.'

'Hallelujah, my son.'

'Hallelujah, Father.'"

I'll let you examine this excerpt on your own, but if you haven't laughed even a little whilst imagining this conversation, well, perhaps you are missing out on the humor that is found in all parts of life.

If you haven't read this book, I would highly recommend that you pick up a copy at your local bookstore, library, etc. ASAP! It is absolutely worth your time, not to mention a joy to devour. Let's see if you can actually put it down.

If you have read it, I would be curious to hear what you have to say about the book. Did you like it or not? Have you been left with the same twisted brain that I have acquired in the last few days? Or perhaps you feel that you get it? If so, please give me all the answers.

On to my next book..... The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I think. I know, I know, I'm a little late to the party, but I'm doing my best to catch up and I refuse to watch any of the films (Swedish or otherwise) before I actually read the books. So it's time to get started.

Before you go, here's a little website link that I had the good fortune to learn about today:

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

It's a blog-type continuation of the book Awkward Family Photos, which was published a couple of years ago and is, exactly as the title suggests, a collection of the strangest and most uncomfortable family photos you will ever have the privilege to view. Many of which were clearly taken between the 1960s and the 1980s. Not sure what that says about those decades.... Here's one of my favorites from the book:

The website has literally just been brought to my attention so I can't wait to peruse it myself!


Love and a good book.