I finally finished
American Gods today after a month of reading it. I don’t know why it took me so long, I breathed through the first 150 pages and then my pace slowed down. The book, as exploration of America, actually invoked the feeling of America – broad and steady. The book felt methodical, if that is the right word. I love the idea behind it; I’ve always loved myths and gods and old stories and fairytales and the premise is very appealing. The idea that gods roam the world and beliefs powers it is familiar and fascinating. The characters are also interesting and fleshed out. Yet, reading this book felt like a journey in itself, which I think is something Gaiman meant to do. (At least I hope so) So, overall, I’d give this book 4 out of 5, because I did like it, but I don’t love it yet. I’ll see how I feel with time; I’ll see how it will stay in my head. Now I can re-read “Monarch of the Glen” story in Gaiman’s
Fragile Things collection. I fell in love with this short-story collection last year after I borrowed it from the library and I just had to have my own copy. So I met Shadow, the protagonist of
American Gods , two years after
American Gods ends. Now I want to see if knowing more about him will make a difference.
Here are some thoughts on caves before I watch the next installment of Planet Earth that came in the mail today: “Caves.” I’ve been in two cave systems in my life:
Luray Caverns in Virginia in 2002 with Yeva and in
Howes Caverns in New York in 2007 with Bear and friends. Both were very different experiences. Luray caverns are more grandiose and beautiful with long passages and interesting stalactite and stalagmite arrangements and bright yellow colors. That was an amazing part of our Virginia trip. Howes Caverns are smaller but they do have a lake and well, there, we went on
an Adventure Tour , which is a private tour with lots of protective gear and crawling and a bit of spelunking and discovering what real actual darkness is. And very sticky mud that made us lose our special shoes at times. That was really fun and different kind of cave adventure. More hands on. But when I think of caves what comes to mind is the third book in six book series of Russian version of Wizard of Oz. (The first book is pretty much a translation of “Wizard of Oz” with some variations followed by really awesome five sequels that are more interesting than any other “Wizard of Oz” books). In the third book, Ella (Dorothy), and her cousin get lost in some caves after their path is blocked and by traveling the caves they find their way into the underground kingdom of Seven Kings that is located under Oz. (Just typing this makes me want to read these books now to see if they hold up to adult reading.) For some reason, caves just feel like such mysterious and scary places after reading this book.
Planet Earth “Caves.” Interesting things about the episodes and random thoughts: it was a bit jarring to see men throwing themselves into holes in the ground with barely-visible parachutes to be pulled later, BASE jumping, (which kind of reminded me of a “Farscape” episode where Chiana is in this teenage cult where they jump off a rock and scream and, hopefully, get caught by a sonic net – and this made me chuckle), glowworms that made it look like there are stars in the cave, three million bats in Borneo and a literal mountain of bat droppings covered with an enormous number of cockroaches (if a bat falls into it, cockroaches would eat the bat too) – the bats pretty much support the whole habitat by bringing food from outside since plants can’t grow in the dark, bird nest soup is made from saliva-built nests of birds who nest in caves and the nests are a high commodity – some things in this world are weird, flooded caves in Yucatan Peninsula that are the only source of fresh water there, Texas cave salamanders – really funny looking, sulphuric acid caves with life in it, crystal formations. There were a lot of disgusting images especially in Borneo caves where the crew spent a month filming. I don’t envy these cameramen with humid cave full of bats and cockroaches and a mountain of poo.
Why did Supreme Court decide that corporations can contribute whatever they want to political campaigns? They can now pay for any ads they want.
State of the Union address. The House Chamber looked very colorful with women in bright yellow, blue and red and men in bright stripe ties and the speech was at times less formal. Obama can speak effectively, that is his gift, and he used it today to lift spirits and made Republicans get up and clap for ideas they might not always like, like healthcare, because otherwise they would look like idiots. Overall, it was a good speech that outlined the basic plan for the year, especially the economy. My favorite parts were the idea of repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, since that is long overdue, the end to Iraq war in sight and rebuking both political parties for petty politics focused on election results. The President reminded Democrats that they still have the biggest majority in a long time and they should act like it and not be timid and he challenged Republicans not to say no all the time. The whole notion that 59 Democrats in the Senate is somehow not a majority and end of world has been really frustrating to me in the last week, and I’m glad he commented on it. Good speech that shine a bit of hope after the whole depressing atmosphere of this recession year. Like the President I how this year and this decade will be better than the last.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
