A Book That Challenged My Believes
I often want to write reviews of the books I read, but I never find the time to sit down and actually write anything. I read Life of Pi by Yann Patel almost two months ago and while I didn't really like the story nor the writing a whole lot, there was something about the book as a whole and especially the ending that got me thinking (and two months later I am still thinking). It managed to really challenge some of my basic beliefs about religion. Because of this I decided to take the time and write a review about the book.
The first part just contains general info and thoughts about the book. The second part, however, contains spoilers and my interpretation of the ending. This should only be read by people that have already read the book (or that have no plans of reading it). The section that contains spoilers is clearly marked as such.
If anyone has read Life of Pi, by all means let me know what you thought about the book and what your interpretations were in the comment section.
My review of Life of Pi by Yann Patel
Pi Day, revisited
Today is Pi day. To celebrate, I drew this:
By the way, I read on another blog about someone who dreamed she talked to a tiger. Maybe I should point her to this book?
Oh I forgot:-(
Oh no! I forgot about Pi day. To busy feeling sorry for myself because I have a cold.
Nice picture btw!
I tried reading this book a f
I tried reading this book a few years back. Couldn't get past the first two pages. :-P
-Ølle
Povel Ramel was wrong, do buy a Zebra!
Bah, if you're the kind of geek I would think you are, you should've waited with posting the review until next Tuesday, March 14th. Preferrably at 1:59 PM, if your work duties don't collide with updating your blog in the middle of the day of course.
Still don't get it? 3.14 1:59 .. the first few decimals of Pi! :-)
I haven't read the book and have no intention to neither, but I find it a bit amusing if a tiger has a more "real" name than a human. The first part of the story made me think of the movie Madagascar.
By the way, some store in the north of Sweden have begun to import exotic meat products from non-endangered animals: zebra, camel, some antelope I believe, rattle snake, crocodile and so on. The newspaper hired a local chef to make some dishes out of these products, and their conclusion was that the zebra meat was outstanding, prepared in the right way. Much better than any deer or moose, perhaps even horse.. or maybe donkey is the closest approximation. :-D
The writer thought it was a mystery how three million zebras still can graze the savannah. Of course it is not a desired scenario to hunt down African wildlife to export as expensive meat, but if they could be farmed for food, it may be more lucrative for the African farmer to raise exclusive zebra meat than raise common buffalo or whatever which are sold at dumped prices.
I once ordered kangeroo at a local restaurant, having heard it is almost cholesterol free and still not lucrative in Australia (some breeds are endangered, some are over crowded). It was one of the most expensive dishes - probably due to only Australia is allowed to export kangeroo meat IIRC. It was extremely tough, leathery and if it hadn't been for the lush marinade, probably a bit tasteless. A little like pork actually. A big disappointment, considering the price. I'm sure zebra had been much better, or maybe the chef at the restaurant was a jerk?
Who is the geek here;-)
LOL! Brilliant! This is where my geek limit lies and hence my name mediumgeek comes from. I would never have thought of that:-).
I have always wanted to try some exotic animals. Never really tried anything cool. Well to some national horse meat is quite exotic... I once saw a restaurant in Houston that sold turtle meat but my ex wasn't as adventurous as I was so it ended up being the regular burger for dinner.
Maybe I can set myself a goal. One new animal eaten per year?
Skippy, skippy, a mobile meal made for you...
The chef was a jerk. Kangaroo is nothing like pork unless you habitually overcook both. (My idea of overcooked roo is "warm all the way through" - and my idea of overcooked pork comes out somewhere near most people's idea of "probaly cooked enough that it is safe to serve").
It's great meat done very lightly. Alternatively, stew it thoroughly. (My best mate was a finn who used to make a reindeer stew from kangaroo - he said it came out almost exactly the same). It's tasty, and there are plenty of kangaroos (as you say, of some species). But they are not great animals to farm - it's not surprising aboriginal people remained hunter-gatherers, given their options.
I read the spoilers. I think I'll read the book. Mediumgeek, what did you think of "Love in the Time of Cholera"?
Animals to eat before I die.
Ok, i am putting kangaroo on my list of animals to eat before I die!
Love in the Time of Cholera was good. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is such a fantastic author. He manages to make a lush, colorful description out of every single detail. I do prefer One Hundred Years of solitude to this one but it was definately worth the read. The story isn't the strongest and shouldn't be read if you are expecting a romance novel. He slightly lacks depth when describing women but he makes it up by his descriptions of people's weirdness. I honestly think he could write a long piece about somebody folding their laundry, and make it sound as an extremely interesting thing.
I usually end up skimming at least a little bit when reading books but he managed to keep my attention on every single page. Each of his sentences is like a colorful butterfly flying infront of you. I have a feeling I will be reading more of Marquez:-).