I'm Back

Wow...I made it! What a trip that was. I heartily recommend a trip to South Africa, especially if you like game drives to see wild animals. What a great experience! I added a pic I took during one of the game drives. This little kitty looks so peaceful that you just wanted to go up to her and give her a hug :)

I did have some free time, even though I spent a lot of time absorbing the various aspects of the trip and talking with my co-adventurers. Quite a bit of airplane time (as well as airport time) allowed me to get through over 2500 pages of reading. I also got to sit next to a lady that owned a Kindle and ask questions about it. It looks good as long as the battery doesn't run out and I suppose if the story was all that matters to you, then an electronic reading device might be OK. But I also like the book itself and love looking at my library so I'll stick with the real books. It's great to browse your own shelves and see a binding on an old favorite and relive the memories.

I completely finished two books (including the 1400+ page one) and almost all of two more books. It's very unusual for me, during a trip like this, to start a book when I'm still working on another. But I knew the first one would be completed in the middle of the airplane ride and unless I carried two books in my carry-on luggage, I'd be out of reading material. So I chose to start the second book instead. Upon the trip's completion, I ended up with two books, mostly done.

I'll describe each book in a seperate blog entry over the next few days.

Out of Pocket

I'll be leaving on a three week tour of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Botswana. Check back here around 24-25 September as I'll start to blog about the books I read on the trip. I'm taking 4 of my fattest paperback books, including one that is over 1400 pages...hopefully I'll have enough to last the whole time. Wish me luck on the 18 hour flight tomorrow!

Once Upon a Winter's Night

This morning I completed Once Upon A Winter's Night by Dennis McKiernan. This was not the book that I had really planned to read next...here's how it happened. I normally leave my current book on the dresser and grab it on the way out to work every day. I had been reading Way of the Wolf and was really looking forward to being able to read more on it during my lunch break that day. But I get up rather early and since it was still dark in the bedroom when I left, I grabbed the wrong book, one that my wife had left out in order to take on a trip the following week. So lo and behold when I got to my lunch break and took out my book, there it was.

At first I was a bit taken aback because this was a fantasy book that looked like a "chick-lit" style fantasy. It would appeal to my wife and my daughter but it wasn't one that I would have rushed to pick off the shelf. But what was I to do? It was either plunge in or listen to talk radio all through lunch. I opted to give it a shot.

I liked it a lot during that first hour or so. I didn't want to go back to work (never do) but often I get sleepy at lunch time with my reading and that was not the case this time. I was enthralled. Nevertheless, I am a loyal reader so I completed Way of the Wolf before returning to this one. The book itself is a retelling of the classic Norse fairly tale, "East O' the Sun, West O' the Moon". Mr McKiernan greatly expands the original tale, turns it into a novel basically, and adds some more intrigue, mild sex, and adventure. Once I returned to reading the book I was happily engrossed in that world once more. It has all the classic fairly tale themes: princes, damsels, goblins, dwarves, curses, quests, and above all, true love conquering all obstacles. Reading the book gave me a good feeling inside, made me happy in fact. That sounds silly but it's true.

This is the first book I've read by Dennis McKiernan. My research turned up some interesting facts though. Apparently he had a full career with Bell Labs before he ever began writing fiction and only came to that after a bad accident that left him in a full body cast. Rather than go insane, he made up stories and actually wrote (dictated?) a sequel to Lord of the Rings (LOTR). He found a publisher and at their suggestion, rewrote the story so that it wouldn't be a Tolkien story at all. That became the "Iron Tower Trilogy" and McKiernan himself confesses it to be a LOTR ripoff. Unfortunately, discerning fantasy readers tend to write him off as a result, never giving him a second look. That seems to be the cardinal sin for fantasy authors...never write a story that is remotely similar to LOTR. Its too bad. I for one will be looking to read more of his work, especially the sequels to this one.

I followed that up with the first short story in Harlan Ellison's "Heart's Blood" section of The Essential Ellison. This section is partly biographical and the first entry is called "From Alabamy, With Hate." It is an essay more than a story and describes his one-day march to Montgomery during the race riots of the 1960's. He condemns the hatred and insane prejudice of the time in language that is absorbing to read. Looking back through the eyes of history his conclusions seem obvious to me but at the time it was written and published, I'm not so sure.

Next up: I'm not exactly sure. I will be selecting several books to take on a long three week trip.