The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass by author Philip Pullman is the first tale in what is called His Dark Materials trilogy. I had heard a bit of buzz about this series and it got on my radar, and when I happened to see the books in my local library, I decided to dive in. The story takes place in a world similar to our own but with some interesting differences, including an intelligent race of warrior bears, witches, ghosts, and personal benevolent creatures called daemons which are intimately linked to each human. The main protagonist in the story is a 12 year old girl named Lyra Belacqua. She is believed to be an orphan of noble birth who has been left in the care of the master and scholars of Jordan College in England. Her larger-than-life uncle, Lord Asriel, arrives to address the college elders and Lyra sneaks into the meeting. There she learns of a secret and mysterious struggle that is taking place in the frozen lands of the north that somehow is expected to have an impact on the very fabric of humanity. When Lord Asriel leaves with plans to go to the north, Lyra is captivated by a longing sense of adventure and exploration and she yearns to attend her uncle. However, he will have no part of it and heads out on his way.

After Lord Asriel leaves, Lyra is smitten with a visitor to Jordan college, a young woman of style, of substance, and of adventure named Marisa Coulter. Mrs. Coulter invites Lyra to be her assistant and takes her back to London. During Lyra's stay in London, she comes to sense that Mrs. Coulter is not who she claims to be. There is something dark, something hidden in her aspect that continues to bubble to the surface. At the same time, we find that children are disappearing all across England, kidnappings attributed to a group called the "Gobblers". Soon Lyra gets wind that Mrs. Coulture is associated with the Gobblers and she sneaks away and meets up with a group of gypsies who know who she is and who her parents really are. They also tell Lyra that she has been destined for bigger things than roaming the halls of Jordan College, that she is fated for something of a much bigger design.

Ultimately, Lyra follows her heart when she begins a trek north with the gypsies to search for the lost children, to rescue Lord Asriel who has been imprisoned, and to understand what is so special about the north and the talk of some magical dust and alternate worlds in which humanity's destiny seems ensconsed. A fun tale with an inspiring and spunky hero. Now, onto the second story in the trilogy, The Subtle Knife.

Observations 44

My occasional blog series "Observations" was created to be an outlet to share a variety of topics that pop into my field of view as a result of a condition that many bloggers are afflicted with known as "blogger's eyes". In this state we view the world on the constant look-out for topics on which to write about. Today's blog came about from random odds 'n ends of things that I have noticed over the past few weeks.

• I was trying to dish a bowl of ice cream for my daughter the other day. As the ice cream was hard, I got down close to the carton and really put some pressure on the scoop. The metal handle broke suddenly and I then proceeded to do a face plant into the ice cream. I quickly disposed of the tell-tale evidence on my cheek.
  
• There is a car dealer who is advertising locally and making a big deal that their used car warranties are the best in the business. Two years, 200,000 miles (whichever comes first). Who could drive this far in two years?
  
• I recently got an unsolicited email from a dating site inviting me to Telluride Gay Ski Week. Shortly thereafter I got a second email apologizing for the invitation as being sent by mistake. How do they know that I don't like moguling in the nude?
  
• I went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned recently. As the hygienist was putting the suction hose and other unnecessary paraphernalia into my mouth, she told me, "Raise your hand if you want me to stop. However, I may ignore you and just keep going."
  
• There was a scene in the old Mary Tyler Moore show where Mr. Grant says that one of the reasons that he hired Mary is that she apologized to a piece of furniture when she bumped into it by accident. I do the same thing.
  

Bethesda

Jesus was approaching the walled-city of Jerusalem from the northeast. On his approach to the entrance known as Herod's Gate, He walked past a pool or bath known as Bethesda. This pool was believed by the locals to have healing powers. In and around its porticos, many of the city's forgotten citizens afflicted with blindness, lameness, and other various maladies would linger, especially during special feast times hoping for a miracle of healing. It was believed that at such times the waters would be stirred, attributed to various Greek or Roman gods or even an angel of mercy, and that the first person to enter the water after this stirring, would be healed of their affliction. As Jesus approached, he came up to a man who had been visiting Bethesda regularly for nearly 40 years, hoping for his opportunity to enter the healing waters. Jesus asked the man, "Do you want to get well?" (John 5:6).

This seems like an inane question for Jesus to ask. This man has been an invalid likely for his whole life. A burden on his family and on society. He has sought healing for so long and come away empty each time, he has given up hoping for a cure. The man laments to Jesus in his response, "Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." Yet we know that Jesus does not ask foolish questions. I think that in our own personal states of affliction, too often we do not want to be healed. Our suffering and helplessness sometimes give us the attention of others, and sometimes they just become our identity or security in that we know what to expect. Sometimes we even feel that we deserve what we have gotten ourselves into and our condition is fit punishment.

Do we want to get well? What seems like an insulting or stupid question, in some cases gets a firm "no" for an answer because we become so entwined with our suffering. A single man that I know has struggled for years with loneliness. I have heard him time and again lament the hole in his life due to the lack of any close relationships. Recently he was asked out by a very nice lady, but was strongly considering turning her down because he had planned to spend some time finishing up a book that he was in the middle of reading. So, do you want to get well?

The Life of Pi

In 2012 the movie The Life of Pi was a major international release and won several Academy Awards. I never saw the movie, but the commericials piqued my interest. However, my interest was not so much based on any understanding of what the movie was about, but from the crisp images and the vivid colors. After some time passed, all I remembered was a story that involved a boy and a huge tiger. I made a note that I would add the original book, The Life of Pi, to my reading list.

The story involves a young teenage boy named Piscine "Pi" Molitor Patel, an Indian boy living with his family in SE India in the town of Pondicherry. Pi's family owns a local zoo and Pi is fascinated with the different animals, their behaviors, their interactions, and how they assume their roles in the heirarchy of their habitats. Pi is a thoughtful and impressionable boy. Ultimately in his quest to just know God, he associates himself as a Christian, a Hindu, and a Muslim. After a time, Pi's father decides that the shifting political and economic landscape of India will not allow his family to rise to a higher level, so he decides to sell the zoo and move to Canada. He books passage for his brood on a freighter crossing the Pacific. A few days out of the Phillipines, something goes terribly wrong and the ship sinks quickly. Pi finds himself in a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, and an zebra that were being distributed from his family's zoo to various zoos in Canada. An uneasy equilibrium exists for a few days before the notably nervous hyena attacks and kills the zebra and the orangutan. Shortly thereafter we find the source of the hyena's distress, another passenger on the liferaft who had been hidden from view beneath the shelter of a tarpaulin, was a 450 lb Bengal tiger. In time the tiger kills the hyena and Pi figures that his time is marked.

As the days turn into weeks, we see Pi working to put his knowledge of animal psychology toward establishing himself as the alpha leader of the lifeboat. This molding of behavior is not something that happens quickly, but one small step at a time. Encounter by encounter. Interaction by interaction. Pi is not only clever and resourceful, but also spirited and respectful. Ultimately he is adrift in the lifeboat for 227 days before he washes up on the shores of Mexico. As he tells his tale, nobody believes a word of it. His story is so bizarre, the colorful imagination of a mind addled by exposure and grief. Yet even through his lowest lows, Pi never loses his faith and his loving spirit. He bends but never breaks. This was a fantastic read with an original premise. I very much enjoyed this one. It was an uplifting example of the beauty possible in the human spirit.

The Less Than White Board

One of the things that I like to include on my blog are reviews of the books that I read. Over the years I have gotten suggestions for books from several of my online friends that have taken me on some absolutely wonderful and memorable adventures. It always seems that these suggestions come along just when I have run out of ideas of which way to turn. As a result of this, I decided that giving feedback on the books that I stumble across might give some suggestions to other folks who might be searching for what to read next. If I can provide some help every now and then, then I consider this all worthwhile.

Sometimes, however, I get several suggestions at once that lead to a veritable fountain of books that bubble up and catch my attention. As I noted in a blog post from a couple of years ago (Book List), I keep a running tally of my current and planned reading on my white board at work. I list the title, the number of pages in the book, and the number of pages that I have read. I also tally up the total number of pages that are in my list of "active" books and how many pages are remaining to be read. I don't know why I keep track like this, perhaps it makes a bit of a game out of this. Just the other day I had only two books listed, and today I find myself overwhelmed with a host of new books that fills up one whole side of my white board with ink. Those who gave me all of these great suggestions are clearly to blame, and you know who you are.

The Widows of Eastwick

The Widows of Eastwick is the sequel to John Updike's The Witches of Eastwick. This book was written in 2008, some 24 years after the first book. Per Updike's usual M.O. when he writes a sequel, the characters all age accordingly. As such we meet up with the three witches all in their mid-to-late 60s. Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie have gone their separate ways and lived their separate lives. However, just before their parted, they used their witchcraft to fashion new mates. Yet now each has taken on the new label of widow.

The husbands whom the three Godforsaken women had by their dark arts concocted for themselves did not prove durable. Wicked methods make weak products.

As if somehow sensing the pain and loneliness of the others, the three witches begin to travel together and to reconnect. Eventually they make the decision to spent the summer back in Eastwick. They each want to see what has become of their old town, left so long ago. However, even beyond this curiosity, they dream to return to where they were at the height of their powers, both as witches and as women. In Eastwick they find that some things have changed and some things never do. The coven comes face to face with many of the troubles that they created in the past and now they are on the receiving end of some else's dark powers. Yet those that return to whence they came carry with them improved perspective and a new spirit for living.

I read an interview that Updike gave many years ago when he talked about why he liked to write sequels. He stated that he loved the challenge of testing his own cleverness. Could he create a compelling narrative that stayed true to the characters that he had brought to life? Could he successfully develop a way to connect the past to the present and to evolve lives through the years? This sequel was quite interesting and pleased me with the redemptive aspects of the story.

Philistines

I have heard it said time and again that people absolutely hate being around others who are constantly thinking negative thoughts and giving off negative vibes. Negative people so quickly sap your strength and joy, they destroy your positive mood with their pessimism, anxiety, and judgmental attitude. In short, negative people are killjoys. While I hate to admit it, the fact is that far too often the dark cloud that floats above my head labels me as one of the killjoys. I think the reason for this is that I don't believe the truths that I experience first hand. I have become a modern-day Philistine.

In the Old Testament of the Bible the tribes of the Israelites were associated with the "believers" and the people known as the Philistines (or uncircumsized) were associated with the "non-believers". Over many years the Israelites and the Philistines clashed through skirmishes, battles, and wars. The Philistines stood as witnesses to the powerful hand of God but never turned from their worship of the idols of Baal, Astarte, and Dagon. Their hearts had become hardened against the truths that they encountered every day. I have come to behave in the same way.

• An acquaintance tells me that he likes spending time with me.
  
• A person tells me that I have a lot to offer.
  
• I read that I am a child of the most high God.
  
• The Bible clearly states that Jesus knows me and loves me without question.
  

I experience truths such as these every day, but I purposefully dismiss them because I have let myself believe that I do not deserve love and friendship because I have messed up and fallen short so many times that I am worthless. Just like the Philistines who did not see the truth even when it was laid out in all its splendor right before their eyes, I too find a way to overlook or recast the truth through my own twisted and myopic lens of brokenness, hurt, pride, and self-doubt.