Quote of the Day

"Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?" /Henry Ward Beecher/

Fatu-Hiva: Back to Nature - Thor Heyerdahl

Finished reading my 2nd TBR book already last week and managed to read one additional book in the same evening "Comfort of Strangers" by Ian Mcewan, but about that in next post.

Fatu-Hiva: Back to Nature is great Norwegian traveler and scientist`s Thor Heyerdahl first book. After the wedding, he and his wife Liva travel to Fatu-Hiva, small island from Madagascara island group in Oceania. They hope to find the paradise here. Theoretically it`s possible: almost no civilization, only local indians, lots of fruits, fish and meat, warm climate. In reality paradise is spoiled by people themselves. Europeans have brought ilnesses and vision about consumption. Local people just want to exploit Thor and his wife in terms of money and presents.

From talks with other Europeans in Tahiti and life on Fatu-Hiva there is one conclusion - paradise is where you aren`t :).

Quite short, nice written novel, also not as professional as Ra and other books. Got the feelling like I was travelling with Thor and Liva.

Bookstore - paradise or hell?

I went into a bookstore yesterday in search for a present. I love and hate bookstores at the same time. Love because of books. Hate because there are so many new books I want to read, but I can`t afford to by them all... So - paradise or hell?

Into my 2nd TBR book

After some days off and some days reading magazines I have begun reading my 2nd TBR book - Fatu-Hiva: back to Nature. It is entertaining and educating book at the same time. I enjoy it very much, too bad that I don`t have much time in the evenings, so it goes only 20-30 pages per evening.

Das Glasperlenspiel - Hermann Hesse (Updated)

Just finished this book :) Review will follow tomorrow hopefully.

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Ok, here comes my review.

I read this book for quite a long time and with pleasure, but still got a feeling of not understanding it completely. So I made a little research about the author and his novel The Glass Bead Game (Das Glasperlenspiel).

Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962) is German poet, writter and painter. He got Nobel prize in Literature in 1946. The Glass Bead Game is on of his most well known writtings. H. Hesse was interested in theological writtings, Greek mythology, got inspired by Shopenhauer and budhism. He was stronply against nazis and war.

He started The Glass Bead Game already in 1931, first published in 1943, Swiss. When nazis banned his writtings, this novel served as spiritual haven from political conflicts and war. It is his last novel as well.

The Glass Bead Game tells about intelectuals living in fictional province in 23rd Century called Castalia. Do mind, that novel isn`t science fiction! Intelectuals live in monastic order, mainly care only about different arts - music, philosophy, mathematics etc. Glass bead game - the greatest art of them all - is about connection different usually not connected disciplines in reality, for example music with arhitecture. The best of Game players becomes Magister Ludi. Main character Joseph Knecht is very talanted student and Castalia`s citizen. He becomes Magister Ludi and is brilliant at his work, but with time he understands, that he needs to do more, do something else to help the real world understand and love Castalia (if real world will lost it`s need in those spiritual workers, it wil be end of Castalia. So he resignes from his position and leaves Castalia to teach his friend Designori son. Tragedy lies in the obstacle that Castalia has made him unsuitable for his longed real life...

To what conclusion I came? The Game symbolize the ways how humans construct realities; to understand the reality one needs to understand many things, questings, sciences etc. and has to be able to connect cause with results. Besides, this book is much about following one`s destiny and fulfilling it.

As I said previously, this book is like real chokolate. To really get the taste, one needs to read slowly. H. Hesse uses long sentences, references to other musical works and writtings as well as rich language. I read this book in my native language (so I`m not able to write down some quotations, sorry for that) and I shall say that I didn`t know many words :D

Not everyone will like this book. Some will put it back in shelf not getting through first fifty pages about what is Castalia and glass bead game (these ones were boring for me....).

TBR Challenge

Joined this challenge a minute ago. Hope to stick to the reading list 2007 (on the left) and read one book per month. It would be great to read more, but I doubt it, `cause there`s only 24 hours per day :) I used to be real book worm once, but high school and job made their corrections....

Right now I`m approximately in the middle of "Das Glasperlenspiel". This book is like good music or chokolate cake - I can`t eat much of it in one time.

Took a quiz - Career Inventory Test

Results:
You are a Planner, possible professions include - management consultant, economist, scientist, computer programmer, environmental planner, new business developer, curriculum designer, administrator, mathematician, psychologist, neurologist, biomedical researcher, strategic planner, civil engineer, intellectual properties attorney, designer, editor/art director, inventor, informational-graphics designer, financial planner, judge.

Have to think about it....