What I'm into
This is turning out to be a pretty good holiday season; I don't feel as stressed as I always seem to. Maybe the meds are finally working.:-) In celebration of the Xmas portion of the holiday (we tend to pick up on the serious and/or mystical elements of Christianity and let them in, like watching JC Superstar at Easter) I was prompted by Neal Gaiman's "Neverwhere" to find the Lyke Wake Dirge ("Fire and fleet and candlelight/And Christ receive thy soul"). Isomeme (the Google-fu is strong with that one) found both a discussion and the song on Rhapsody (the article also links to Pentangle's version of the song). The lyrics aren't particularly stirring; it's essentially a song to remind the dead that if they weren't charitable, there's hell to pay. But sung, it's hypnotic, and besides, the thought of singing all night over a corpse ("lyke" means corpse, as in "lich") is nicely creepy.
Also old and great is Simon Armitage's new translation of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", just out. I've been meaning to read this tale for years; I had some memory in my feeble brain that it was reputed to be weird and/or meaningful. It is. Just the description of Gawain's shield device, a pentangle, and the five times five virtues it represents, is worth the price of admission, even if you're not interested in the Green Man imagery.
Also wonderful to read by the author of the great "Zombie Survival Guide" (Max Brooks) is "World War Z". He essentially takes George Romero's universe and pushes it to its logical conclusions. It's written as oral interviews with survivors of the zombie attack. The author can't write in different voices to save his life but he really has great ideas. I'd recommend it even if you don't like horror.
Happy almost Solstice everyone. Mwah.
Also old and great is Simon Armitage's new translation of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", just out. I've been meaning to read this tale for years; I had some memory in my feeble brain that it was reputed to be weird and/or meaningful. It is. Just the description of Gawain's shield device, a pentangle, and the five times five virtues it represents, is worth the price of admission, even if you're not interested in the Green Man imagery.
Also wonderful to read by the author of the great "Zombie Survival Guide" (Max Brooks) is "World War Z". He essentially takes George Romero's universe and pushes it to its logical conclusions. It's written as oral interviews with survivors of the zombie attack. The author can't write in different voices to save his life but he really has great ideas. I'd recommend it even if you don't like horror.
Happy almost Solstice everyone. Mwah.