The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkein

In the Beginning was Eru, and he made the Valar, who in turn made Arda, the world. But Morgoth was prideful and began to destroy the others' work and make his own evil things. Feanor, dwelling in the Blessed Land, makes three jewels, called the Silmarillion, and Morgoth seizes his chance to begin a war that will last for two ages and more.

Very good. Possibly my favorite Tolkein. I do wish, though, that it were less...complicated. There are a lot of people in that book, and most of them have at least two names, and then all their names translated into Sindarin or Quenya- the elves' languages. Very complicated, awesome giants. So it was confusing. And there seemed to be a lot of people going mad and killing people needlessly. There was a lot of killing in general. Naturally, I was not overjoyed with this. The whole thing was rather Norse. But you should still definately read it. All the better because it's hard to find.

School started Thursday. A good first two days. I hope it keeps up.

West into the Night by Beryl Markham

An autobigraphy: Markham grew up on a farm and horse-training place in British East Africa. When she was fifteen her father had to sell their land and she moved north, and trained horses for races. After she had one a major race with the horse Wise Child, she met Tom Black, a pilot. He taught her how to fly.

Very good writing. Africa! I'll go there someday. Zimbabwe and Cairo and Kenya and Victoria Falls. I think I would like to fly someday, too. Markham writes so well, I was there. Saw the Atlantic underneath me and heard the motor die. Saw Buller and the boar. Read this book.

Anna's birthday is today. We're going to the OKC zoo.

Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel

Floating 20,000 feet above the rest of the world is the Hydrion, a ledgendary airship containing huge amounts of treasure. Lots of people are willing to kill to find it, but only one person in the world has its coordinates.

Good. Not as good as Airborn, I think. Not as interesting. Maybe too unbelievable. This probably sounds weird coming from someone who passionately defends King Arthur and dragons, but this book is sci-fi, and should have some...fact? I don't know what to call it.

Making zucchini bread today. This is the second round of making zucchini bread with a 16 inch vegetable. Never seen one so big.

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Matt Cruse is pretty happy with the life he has- a cabin boy on a nine hundred feet long, fourteen-story high luxury passenger ship, one that doesn't have to worry about gigantic freighters plowing the ocean. It sails eight hundred feet above them in the sky. Then one night he spies a hot air balloon whose pilot speaks of creatures totally real and utterly mysterious.

Very good. I really don't think of airships very often. I guess they were only around for about twenty years, and ended with the Hindenburg. But the author must have a really good imagination- cloud cats, airships, light as air! Especially recommended for pirates and sci-fi people.

"Lighter than air, that's our Mr. Cruse."

School starts tomorrow for Norman Public and Ou; Thursday for me! Ha! ha!

Spindle's End

Princess Briar-Rose has been spelled by the wicked fairy Pernicia so that on her twenty-first birthday she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel, and die. The princess is rescued by Katriona, a village fairy. She is brought up as Rosie, a village maiden, and defies the spell for twenty years by her sheer ordinariness- a horse-leech, unable to sing, dance, or work a spell, and something that is not normal: she talks to animals. But what everyone thinks and does not say is, How in the world is our princess going to do this?

Very good. I like that everything is magic, but they are still most definately human. Katriona is one of the best fairies in the Gig, but she is a chronic worrier. Rosie is a cursed princess, but she does not know this and loves the horses. The mark of a good writer. McKinley is one of my favorites. Check out The Blue Sword and The Outlaws of Sherwood too.

Veritas starts in 9 days?!

Weather Thoughts

Will we have eighties and seventies into November, to even things out? And then a really cold winter? Oklahoma's so weird. No one knows.

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

The curtain rises on the Paris Opera and the singer holds people spellbound with her voice. Two men lover her: one, the brother of a count, and the other, the mysterious Opera ghost who haunts the building. The opera managers do not believe in ghosts, and they are quickly plunged into misfortune, though they continue to ignore it. The singer, Christine, prefers to believe in her Angel of Music. The count's brother prefers to think of dueling the ghost. Things begin to spiral.
NOTE: The back of my copy says on the back that there is a tragic ending. This is not entirely accurate. It rather spoiled my reading- kept on waiting for everyone to die.

Very good. I wonder how the play/movies measure up. Erik was pitifully hideous, Raoul stupid, and Christine the right amount of crazy/good/concious-stricken. A good read.

I quoth, 'Shakespeare' and I unquoth

If you cannot understand my argument, and declare, 'It's Greek to me', you arre quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare,; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger, if your wish is father to the thought, if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept no one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (to your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days, or lived in a fool's paradise- why, be that as it may, the more fool you, fore it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luch would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you thing it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think i is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then- to give the devil his due- if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a door-nail, if you thing I ame an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then- by Jove! O Lord! tut, tut! for goodness' sake! what the dickens! but me no buts- it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.
-Bernard Levin, quoted in The Story of English

The Story of English by Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil, and William Cran

The not-too-dense book from roughly 400 AD to today. We follow the ever-changing ways of the world's top language across every continent -except of course Antartica- from the Anglo-Saxon invasion of England to the Norman conquest to American English, down to the Caribbean creole, across the Atlantic for African pidgin and Krio, then down to the Aussie Aboriginal English. We hear of Japlish, Franglais, and Singlish. Perhaps in another one hundred years the whole world will be English, or maybe it will be remembered as Latin- useful, but mostly dead.

Very interesting. Liked the bits about creole and the Celts and the Australians- I always like Celts, creole is neat to listen to, and the Aussies despise English spellings- but only most of the time. I regard it as amazing that about sixteen hundred years can be packed into one reasonably sized book.
Jessie/Tonks- numerous people have mentioned as I was reading this that you like this kind of thing. Let's talk.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

In 1792, Marguerite, the 'cleverest woman in Europe', is married to 'that demmed idiot' Sir Percy Blakeney. It is during the French Revolution, and everyone on both sides of the Channel is looking for the Scarlet Pimpernel, the daring man who rescues aristos right from under the nose of the people's guards. Marguerite is blackmailed into searching for him, and she finds it much worse than she could ever have imagined.

Now No. 21 of Favorite Books. It's great how we have the first superhero double-identity guy, but during the French Revolution and without superpowers. Baroness Orczy forfeits some of her glory, though, with describing the Pimpernel's disguise of a Jew with contempt.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger is No. 22. I suspect that there will really be no end to the list.

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

The lovely Jewess Rebecca and the Saxon lady Rowena are being held captive in a castle with their fathers. Due to his jester's wit, Rowena's father Cedric escapes and gets the help of the merry band of Robin Hood and Richard the Lionheart to help him.

Good. Concentration is necessary, though- don't attempt to read while watching TV. It was awful how Rebecca was condemned just for being a Jew, and Aethelstane's resuscitation just didn't make sense.

Resuscitation is a good word

Answering Comment:

S. Schupack: I'm not quite sure I don't like Wuthering Heights, but at the same time, I'm not sure I do. That doesn't make any sense. Sorry.

If anyone for some reason happens to call Dan Serven of Ozark, MO, owner of Haminha and Cedar Lane, wish him a happy late birthday. Note: not answering a comment.

A word for J.K. Rowling

In some ways, J.K. is like J.R.R. Tolkein. True, Tolkein would have despised her blending of magic and Muggles- he hated the Narnia books, which were published by his best friend- but they have their similarities. Tolkein wrote the first 'fantasy' book and introduced the world to elves, dragons, and goblins, which were reasonably familiar from fairy tales, but unthinkable for books. Now they are commonplace. He created the fantasy genre. He invented numerous languages, hobbits, orcs, and Nazgul. Rowling brought back some of the old ideas of magic- wands and spells. She invented everything from Gurdyroots to incantations to house elves. Imagine, in ten or twenty years, if you buy a new release, and there are dementors and Crumple-Horned Snorkacks in it. And you'll say, Yep, I know where this comes from. Rowling's a classic now, overpriced right alongside Dante and Lewis. I bought them the minute they came out. Yep. So, readers, although we disagree with some of Rowling's writing, maybe we should watch our mouthes, because perhaps the next generation of writers will keep it alive in their works.