books which you should read

"I know what you want. You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. You want a flat story. And immobile story. You want dry, yeastless factuality."

"Uhh..."

"You want a story without animals."

"Yes!"

"Without tigers or orang-utans."

"That's right."

"Without hyenas or zebras."

"Without them."

"Without meerkats or mongooses."

"We will plug our ears with our fingers!"

"So I'm right. You want a story without animals."

"We want a story without animals that will explain the sinking of the Tsimtsum."

"Give me a minute, please."

- The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (a story with some animals.)


So over my vacation I read Yann Martel's new book, Beatrice and Virgil, and it was really good but kind of hard to talk about. It's about a taxidermist, a writer, an unfinished play, a fictional donkey and howler monkey, and a bunch of dead animals, but of course there's more than that and really even giving away the real topic feels spoilery, so I'm going to talk about The Life of Pi instead.

The Life of Pi is about an Indian boy who becomes trapped on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean with a fully grown Bengal Tiger. Its also about a lot of other interesting things; religion, animals (and zoos), and life in general. And it is very good. And I find I kind of fail at describing this one as well, although I don't have to worry much about spoilers. Martel makes Pi an amazingly compelling character, though, and the things he has to say are in general both brilliant and fascination, and you should all go read it.

...I might actually have to re-read it now.


In other news, my rollerblades are missing the little screw thing that holds the axle on one of the wheels D: I'm gonna have to go around various sporty stores looking for a new one.