I’m moving!

My blog is moving across cyberspace and can now be found at arenaissancegirl.wordpress.com.

Why you may ask?  Well you’ll just have to go to my new blog and read why.  He he he…

Ice Land

Ice Land by Betsy Tobin was supposed to see me through the rest of my vacation, instead it only lasted a measly 48 hours, but I wasn’t disappointed by it.  Set in (big surprise!) Iceland around the year 1100, Ice Land is a very realistic fantasy.  I say realistic fantasy because while a number of characters belong to the Nordic pantheon of gods, they live in a very human way.  Freya, the goddess of love, is a key character and except for her ability to fly with a special cloak is pretty much human in every other way.  It was this humanity and normalcy given to the gods that I found very intriguing.

The story centers around two women and two romances.  Freya the goddess is on a quest for a necklace that she is convinced will help save the gods from impending doom.  She makes a bargin with four dwarves for the necklace, but nothing is a simple as it seems.  Obtaining the necklace is much more complicated than she first thought.

Fulla is the other main character.  She is a young girl who has the unhappy fortune of falling in love with a boy from a rival clan.  It’s a very Romeo and Juliet situation.  She also has to deal with her grandfather who insists on marrying her off to a worthy suitor, which just causes her misery.  At first the two stories of Freya and Fulla seem seperate but they join with a twist at the end, but I won’t spoil it for you.

Ice Land has peaked my interest in all things Viking (it’s always been there, since my grandfather hailed from Norway) and I’m hoping to include more of it in my reading soon.

Vacation Reads

I love vacations.  Beyond the usual fun and relaxation aspect, they allow me a wonderful opportunity to catch up on my reading.  I’m currently enjoying south-west Colorado and several books have been keeping me company.

First up, Read for Your Life by Pat Williams.  This one I started before vacation, but finished on the road trip out.  I got a lot of teasing for this one, because apparently you can’t read books about books.  But I love books about books.  They remind me why I love reading, and why it’s so important to read.  Read for Your Life did that for me, and thus I enjoyed it.  I really liked some of the practical pointers given, such as committing to read an hour a day for the rest of your life.  You may think that’s impossible with your busy schedule, but really how many hours a day do you find for TV viewing and surfing the web?  Could you just sacrifice one of those hours for the enriching mental workout of reading?  Also his quick “speed-reading” course was very nice.  I’ve had such a mixed relationship with speed reading.  I  would love to read faster, but I find those courses just distract me from the book itself and I end up completely missing the plot.  But Williams give just a few pointers, the most valuable I found was just to use your finger or a pen as a pointer as you read and not to regress needlessly.  Using that tip I’ve found my reading speed has probably doubled, but I’m still enjoying the book I’m reading as much as I did before.

Second, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.  I was surprisingly drawn into this story of a woman’s emotional recovery.  I was a little leery after all the mixed reviews on amazon, but I found it fascinating.  I really enjoyed watching Elizabeth go from a shattered person to a healthy happy human being by the end of her year’s travels.  Her writing style is entertaining and engaging, even when she muses on topics like what makes our relationships work or fail, and discovering our spirituality.  And who doesn’t love reading about Italy?

Third, A Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley.  Robin McKinley was one of my all time favorite authors growing up.  Although her books are classified as young adult, she doesn’t write for that group in particular.  Her retellings of fairy tales appeal to adults as well.  A Door in the Hedge is compilation of four short stories, which include the story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses and the Princess and the Frog.  As I was discussing the book with my husband (who also enjoys her work), I realized one of the reasons I love her work so much is that her characters are real.  They may be surrounded by fantastic happenings but they themselves are real people with real emotions and reactions.

The Ornament of the World

I’ve recently been drawn to and fascinated by medieval Arab culture and architecture.  From Morocco to Persia, from Constantinople to Egypt, I love it all.  I think one of the main reasons I find it so intriguing, is the role the various Islamic empires played in perserving the western cultural and scientific heritage and advancing it themselves.  It’s well know that while western Europe was languishing in its “dark ages” the Abbasid Caliphate was busy at work translating the western literary cannon from Greek to Arabic.  They were greedy for every sort of knowledge and stored it in vast libraries, which made the small ones in Europe laughable.

In “The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance” Maria Rosa Menocal details an important chapter of this history, that of the Ummayad caliphate of Al-Andalus, now modern day Spain.  In its heyday its capital, Cordoba was home to lavish palaces and libraries.  Partially, it is argued, due to this intrest in knowledge and other cultures, the rulers showed remarkable tolerance to “people of the book” as Jews and Christians were called.  The Jews especially prospered during this time, one of their leaders named Hasdai even became vizier to the caliph Abd al-Rahman III.

Of course all good things must come to an end, and the Ummayad caliphate crumbled and the resulting small kingdoms quarelled with each other and slowly disappered, being taken over one by one by the Christians to the north.  But even during this time, the culture and advancements of the Andalusians continued to have an impact on western Europe.  The Europeans were fascinated by their inventions like the astrolabe, their astronomical texts, and of course their collection on ancient greek texts.

So while no longer in existence, Al-Andalus still can be seen in the beautiful palaces of Spain and in its scientific legacy to us.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I thought I’d share a few books and items that while not new, I find myself going back to constantly and are really treasures to me. The first one being “The Well-Educated Mind”. This book is the reason I’m tackling Don Quixote for probably the fourth time. Designed for adults who want to take on the “Great Books” but have no idea to start, “The Well-Educated Mind” is inspiring and reassuring. Susan Wise Bauer shows how to begin your classical education step by step, teaching you the trivium of classical learning (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and arming you with lists of books divided into five handy catagories starting with the novel. This book is perfectly in sync with the spirit of autodidacticism, telling us that you don’t have to go to an university to enjoy and understand the classics.

Another favorite of mine is “The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life”. If ever you’re feeling uninspired or pessimistic about reading, this is your pick me up. It overflows with enthusiasm about reading that’s contagious. It also approaches practical topics such as reading groups, writing in your books, keeping track of your reading, keeping your to-be-read bookshelf full, and more. It was also the book that turned me on to listening to audiobooks. Until then I had never thought of audiobooks as real or legitimate forms of reading, but I changed my mind after reading the chapter on them in “The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life”.

The next item isn’t a book but a computer program. If you love languages then “101 Languages of the World” is perfect. Yes it’s an ancient program with an archaic interface, but the pure variety that it offers makes up for that. What other program lets you explore languages like Breton, Welsh, Basque, Belarussian and Canadian French? And I have to say that its vocabulary games and speech comparison features are still pretty good.

Finally a game. Yes I know, I know, computer games are the arch-nemisis of reading and using your mind blah blah blah, but sometimes there’s an exception to the rule and Crusader Kings is that exception. If you don’t believe me check out this article at neobyzantium.com a very serious history blog. Crusader Kings is a historically accurate simulation of the middle ages that allows you to be the leader of one of hundreds of kingdoms, duchies and counties in existence from 1066 to 1452. You are the head of your dynasty and are repsonsible for its continuation through strategic marriages, alliances and wars. I really love the sims-like aspect to the game. Your ruler has a personality that changes with time, he has friends and enemies, he (or she) gets married, has children that will inherit the throne, dodges assassination attempts and hopefully doesn’t succomb to schizophrenia or any of the other host of ailments that can suddenly strike your brilliant leader down. Oh and there are the crusades as well. Crusader Kings is quite old, but still has a very strong fan base online and there’s rumors of a Crusader Kings 2 coming out soon. I really hope so, because I love this game.