Sophie's World
Jostein Gaarder
What a fantastic book!! Having been told to read it for years now, it finally appeared in my world at exactly the right time. I couldn't put it down.
Part Philosophy 101, Part time warp story line that doesn't make-sense when-you-tell-someone -- Total great book with too much information to grasp with only one read.
The story starts with Sophie Amundsen, a spunky 14-year-old, who receives an anonymous letter in her mailbox, posing these two questions: Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?". What ensues is an entorague of letters from a mysterious instructor amounting to a history lesson of the timeline of Philosophy. Letters give way to lectures, questions give way to quests and Sophie (and myself!) grows her mind by engaging with the lessons.
What else can I say? : I loved it and highly recommend it!
Three Dog NightPeter Goldsworthy
For those of you who follow my reviews, you know I don't naturally gravitate towards fiction reads. However, I absolutely loved this book! Maybe because I curently live and breath Aboriginal culture, or maybe just because it's a damn good story, I seriously ran home every day to read this book. I think I set a record for how fast I read 342 pages.
Martin Blackman, a respected psychiatrist, returns to Australia after living and working in London for 10 years. He brings home his new bride, also a physciatrist, whom he is blissfully in love with. They settle in Adelaide and reunite with some of Martin's old friends, one in particular -- his best friend, Felix. Felix, once a brilliant surgeon, has spent a large amount of time working as a physician in the Australian outback helping Aboriginal communities. The whole of him has drastically changed because of this.
This story focuses on a very tricky, morally ambiguous
ménage à trois that has drastic and long-lasting repercussions for all of the characters. Love, Sex, Death, Friendship -- it's got it all! It also has such perfect inferfacing with Aboriginal culture and language, as well as their beliefs and the land. Goldsworthy eloquently summed up so many culturally complex ideas that I could identify with.
The author also did a beautiful job painting the perfect Australian landscape that I identified with so well: for example, "a luminous morning saturated with sunlight and parrots". His prose was so crafted that I dog-eared most of the book!
I don't know that it would be easy to get outside of Australia, but I recommend this book for many reasons: culture lesson, as well as a confronting & unpredictable read! 5 stars.
"If love is an obsessive-compulsive disorder, then I have been illd for years. But never as sick with bliss, as diseased, as now." p.3
"I inhale again, immersing myself in the simple, vegetable pleasure of tobacco. Unhappiness comes from the human world, I have come to believe. The animal world. Happiness comes from the non-human -- the vegetable world, the mineral world. I am alone on the terrace, sole animal in an all-vegetable, all-mineral kingdom whose simple elements -- light, water, leaf -- have the power to gladden me directly, instinctively, entering unexamined through eye and ear. And lung. In, out, another cloud of smoke dissolves in the cold air.: p. 328
"There's a useful German word, Maskenfreiheit. The freedom we have when we wear masks. .... I'm interested in the masks we wear on the Net. In what those masks reveal to us when we don't have to look anyone directly in the eye. When we're hiding behind some chatline pesona...." p. 32
Am I being ridiculous to call Elizabeth a "guest blogger"?? Welcome her to the site and maybe she'll appear more often!
I have not felt this fantastic in a long time! Life in the Northern Territory has been a balance of mind, body, and soul for me. In medical school, my schedule has been weighted, and I have had a difficult time balancing mind with body and soul. Every day, I tell Stephanie Jane a simplicity of her reality that I appreciate. One morning, I counted the steps from our door to the threshold of the clinic, a total of 150 steps. As we undertake our commute, the ground comes alive. Hidden amongst the red dirt and sporadic tuffs of grass, grasshoppers prelude your arrival, scattering in disarray like popcorn in hot oil having no order to their chaotic retreat. Life is so vivid and raw here!
Most mornings begin with watching the sunrise over the horizon while we jog along red dirt paths. I love watching sunrises, or sunsets. The sun is a daily reminder to be true to oneself. The sun rises and sets without fail. Every morning the sun will rise in the east and every evening the sun will set in the west; it is a constant that we can rely on. We must be honest to ourselves about what makes us happy, what our goals are, and what we find important in life. There is one life to live, and when the sun sets on mine, I want to know that I lived it to the fullest. Medicine has a peculiar way of swallowing you whole and spitting you out well-educated, but incomplete, financially incompetent, and, for the first time, no directional advice. It is a continual struggle to maintain balance. Ti Tree has been a time of reflection for me, a time for me to revisit my motivations, my aspirations, and my goals. Ti Tree is the sunrise that I need before I enter the next era of my medical training.
Stephanie Jane has constantly challenged me to explore parts of myself that have lain dormant for the past several years. This ‘guest posting’ was, needless to say, her idea. I loathe the idea of writing because I feel I can never convey my thoughts appropriately. As I write, she is chiding me with a smile and ‘I told you so’s’ from across the room because I have spent an entire Saturday morning writing. I am so thankful that even though distance usually separates us, we maintain a closeness that only sisters can have. She knows how to encourage like a big sister and to let no answer be the best answer like a best friend. I have loved being part of her reality this past month! 
