Book Christmas Advent Calendar Day 5: Suzanne Vega - Book Of Dreams

   

This is one of my favourite songs. Her voice is light and sweet, and in the lyrics, she describes some of what dreams are like - a mix of images and things taken from the day, to reveal hidden truths.

I also keep a dream journal, and have for many years.  Over the years I have found my own recurring symbols and themes, and then it's fun when they change or added to in my sleep by what happens in my waking life!  I'm fascinated by dreams and what they reveal, and by how they  contain the same themes the world over, and  yet are different for each and every person.

In a way, this video is also like how a book can only contain what is put into it, made up of various symbols that have meaning to the author, and the miracle is when someone else understands the book, too.  How difficult communication really is, and how marvelous when it is obtained.   Books are magic, and hold so much in them.  Anyway I love this song so I thought I would share it with you as my bookish theme for today's advent calendar!

Seraphina - a perfect fantasy

   Wow.  Seraphina by Rachel Hartman is one excellent fantasy.  Do you like dragons?  Heroines with a secret?  Music?  Visions, dangerous love, and adventure?  Then Seraphina is the book for you.

                                                   It's a new fantasy, a debut novel by Canadian Rachel Hartman, who lives in Vancouver.  It is one of my favourite books that I've read so far this year.  To say I devoured it today would almost be an understatement.  I inhaled it.  It was like breathing in good fantasy, imbibing a wonderfully imagined world, complete with its own history, some newly created words for that world (which flow in the writing and make perfect sense, always hard to do in a fantasy), and fascinating history between dragons and humans.  It had fun intrigue, and romance (yes, there is a heartbreaking romance or three in this book), and dances, and queens and princesses, and music.  Such music!  The way Hartman writes about music is how musicians and singers must feel when they are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing.  I have a friend who sings, and when I hear him sing, sometimes I get goosebumps because the energy that comes through him is so electric and beautiful that it is almost pure emotion. That is how Seraphina plays music.  It makes this a lovely fantasy about being true to yourself, and how Seraphina finds out how to be, is part of the delight of this book.  Simply, wonderful.

If you have a teenager looking for something new, this would be perfect.  If you are feeling jaded by all the pressure to buy the perfect gift and make Christmas be like on tv, in your house, then take a moment - take a day, and sit yourself down and treat yourself to this perfect fantasy.  Yes, it's almost perfect, an awesome debut. It will take you away to a wonderful world.   And suddenly magic is back - at least for me, I feel renewed again.  It's been a long time since a fantasy did that for me.  Really, a must read for fantasy lovers.  It's also young adult, so you might find it in that section of your bookstore.

  I still have a tiny lump in my voice from the sweet ending.  Just one teeny problem - there's another book at least to come, and I honestly can't wait for it. I really want to know what happens next in Seraphina's world.

5/5


It's that time of year again!  The Virtual Advent Tour started yesterday.  I'm on the list for this year, and am planning what I hope will be a fun post for you.  This is the 5th year of the Advent Tour, and we have gone all over the world through past years, thanks to Marg at Adventures of an Intrepid Reader and Kailana at The Written World, who have hosted it for every year.   It's not too late to sign up.  They have a list of who's appearing when, which is very handy as so many new bloggers have signed up this year.  Already we've seen a tree decorated, and had a Christmas puzzle to do (among other fun posts).  Tis the season, come and visit everyone through the month.

Do you live a creative life? thoughts, and a music meme,

Biblioaddict has a great post on a study done comparing the brains of people who read vs people who watch movies. She is also giving away David Sedaris' When You Are Engulfed by Flames, so if you want it, you have until midnight to let her know.

Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings has two fascinating posts that I am going to answer here, because I think they are really interesting and fun, and we'd both like to know what your answers are:

1)Creative Muse is a post
about creative living. He took it from Qugrainne at So Many Books, So Little Time, who got it from Becca for Write on Wednesdays, a writing group I apparently missed on. I love the writing theme for that Wednesay: How do you cultivate creativity in your life? Have you found the things that make you come alive? Are you doing them?
They each give their answers on their blogs, and here are mine:

How do I cultivate creativity in my life?
I write, poems, short stories and my fantasy novel, which I have finally done the first draft of.
I garden. I love flowers, and the seasons, and making food for butterflies and bees.
I have a personal altar in my home, that I decorate with things that move me, to remind me how beautiful and precious life is, and that it is NOW.
I play with my kids (not as much as I would like).
I cook. I love to create dishes, and I play with recipes, not to create something new, so much as to make it ours (ie I can't eat peppers, or eggplant, so sometimes I have to be creative to get the recipe to work).
I watch movies - they stimulate me with images, and sometimes ideas.
I go to museums. I love history!
I take walks and get to know the area I live in by walking in it year-round.
I use tarot cards.
I listen to music - not enough!!
I let myself make mistakes, and I keep trying.
I travel. I love to travel! and seeing new places always inspires me.
I quilt (and will again once it's safe to bring needles and pins out. right now the littlest one and pins? yikes.)
I take photographs.
I read, read, read, read!!

I hope I have found the things that make me come alive. I hate to think I am living a life without passion, because that to me is a wasted life. I want to care very much about what I do every day, and I want to make it have meaning for me. I was in a robbery 13 years ago, and came face to face with the robber who had his gun out. I thought I was going to die, and though I was luckily not shot, it's made me aware intensely and intimately that we are only here for a time. So I want to live enjoying everything I do, loving everything that I do. Otherwise, it's a waste of my time and energy. I'm not perfect at my life! and I still don't do enough of what I love, because I am learning how to let myself do more of what I love to do, and less of what I think I should do. I don't have patience for people who live without passion, which is part of what makes it so difficult to have my coworker who hates her personal life and that unhappiness spills over sometime at work (see yesterday's post). though, I try to use it as way to remind myself to not get like her! Part of the enjoyment I get from this blog is that I get to write about something I am intensely passionate about - my love of books, and reading. So yes, to the last answer - I am doing them.
Carl then asks the question at the end of his post: how do you satisfy the muse? Ah, and that is the problem - I don't. He says his muse is blind and carries a sword. I don't give mine enough time. As much as I want to live passionately, I don't give enough time to my craft of writing, and it's a struggle I've had most of my life. I haven't figured out the reason why I stopped writing as soon as my first draft was done this winter. I think I'm scared of success, because to be a published author has my dream since I first discovered books. So - am I living creatively? Yes, but not as much as I could be. What do I need to do? I need to write more. I need to be quiet, and let my muse in. My muse wants me to make her important, as important as anything else in my life.

2) Carl's second post is a meme about music, songs in your life right now, here. He got it from Dark Orpheus, and these are the rules:
The Rules:

* List seven songs you are into right now.
* No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring/summer.
* Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs.

Now, Carl has cool videos that he matched with his current songs, so please go visit and let him know. Me, I am happy to listen to music on my headphones (my husband is watching the Olympics behind me on the sofa so we can be in the same room together), so my answers will not be as cool as his answers!!

I am going to modify it slightly by adding one more: name the band or musical group you are currently into this summer. Because, I have one! Mine are The Dandy Warhols, who I discovered while watching Veronica Mars this past winter. They sing the theme song of the show, We Used to Be Friends, which I loved and my kids insist on dancing to! In fact the whole cd, Welcome to the Monkey House, has very danceable songs, so when we want some music on this is the current cd the kids ask for also. The music both relaxes and lifts me, even though many of the songs are not happy tunes, they are very it, songs for now,especially with a disaffected teenager roaming around the house. Which leads me to one of my 7 songs for this summer:

1. Heavenly, by the Dandy Warhols. I could float away on this song, and I can't keep still while I listen to it. I listen to this every time I put my music on, usually when I'm writing here or visiting other blogs late at night.

2. We used to Be Friends by the Dandy Warhols. I have lost some important friendships in the past few years, and this is the song I sing to them in my head when I hear it! I love this song, it is fabulous, gritty and in-your-face, just like Veronica Mars herself, who is one of my favourite tv heroines.

3. Momentary Thing - by Something Happens, on the Veronica Mars soundtrack, which I also went out and bought because so much of the music of the show I just loved. This is one of the best in a soundtrack full of energetic, moving, passionate songs. This song has a strong hypnotic beat and lyrics that haunt long after it's over. And of course, it is the music to the first kiss between Veronica and Logan that the first time I saw, my jaw fell open and it was about 5 minutes before I remembered to breathe again. (Yes, it was that good!!)

4. No Sleep Tonight - by the Faders, on the Veronica Mars Soundtrack. I love the fast drumbeat and energetic enthusiasm, totally capturing love, that first onrush of feelings - passion. Sometimes I still think I can be my teen self who hated going to bed before 1 a.m. This song makes me remember the freedom of being young.

The next are permanent summer songs - I particularly associate them with summer, and listen to them every summer (or it's not summer for me!)

5. Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve. This is a song I associate with soccer of all things, because it was the background music to the World Cup in 1998 Nike commercial. 1998 is when I discovered soccer, since it was the first time we covered the World Cup, and then right after had the first Premiership season coverage, ever. Somehow I found my way to Arsenal - I believe it was Emmanuel Petit on the France team, who played for Arsenal, and Dennis Bergkamp, who had the stunning volley that made me love the game - that led me to Arsenal. One of my husband's Chelsea friends asked me how I knew. I said, the first time I saw the game played at Highbury (the old stadium), even though it was on tv, I felt like I was at home. He liked that answer. Back to the song - The first time I heard the whole song on the radio, that same summer, I fell in love with it. Bitter and haunting, about the long road we all walk in our lives, and this incredible music lifts the song into a soulful ode to life.

6) The Lifting - by REM, Reveal Album - This was on their current release cd the summer Toby and I moved back to Canada, in 2001. I have all their music. I listened to this endlessly, because it was the only cd I had while we waited for our belongings to follow us, which took 2 months to arrive. It was a long hot summer here, and I started my new job at Passport Canada, and saw my son for the first time after 8 months. This song is about believing in the impossible, and ends with: "Once you had a dream of oceans and sunken cities and memories of things you have never known, you have never known." I love that line. Summer is the time for dreaming, and sometimes, the impossible becomes possible.

7)Extreme Ways - Moby - Oh, how I love this song! I first heard it at the end of the second Bourne Movie (The Bourne Supremacy?), and I made my son (who I saw the movie with) stay all the way through the end of the movie so that I could hear the lyrics. Then I went and bought the cd, and it became a song my whole family liked. It is passionate and full of angst about being hurt, and still, fighting back to feeling again, even though things fall apart. This is one of the songs I want played at my funeral.

I have winter songs I listen to, particularly U2 and Nick Drake, so it's interesting that in doing this meme, I have seen that I do associate and listen to certain songs/music at different times of the year.

What do you think is cool?

It must be nearing the end of the year, all these lists (memes) are coming out....Stephanie over at http://stephaniesbooks.blogspot.com/2007/11/stephen-king-is-cool.html Stephanie's books had a blog in mid-November that I missed, but just caught up on: Stephen King is cool. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20159025,00.html His Cool and the Gang article in EW inspired Stephanie to write about what she thought was cool, and so I am passing on the question to you, Dear Reader, as we dig out from our snowstorm (25 cm of snow!) of yesterday: what do you think is cool?
Well, for me, it's books. Reading is cool. Carrying a book and reading on the bus, waiting for the bus, at lunch, waiting in line, while eating.......I think a button should be made saying this: Reading is cool.
But, going to libraries is not. I love libraries, but it's not cool to be there, though it is cool to run into people and the love of your life there!
What else is cool? Neil Gaiman is cool. Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiassen, Janet Evanovich - yikes, those two guys fighting over her are so gorgeous! Even if she destroys a car in almost every book, she's so not cool that the books are cool! Thursday Next is cool. I agree with Stephen, Battlestar Galactica was cool.....still waiting for the new season to start for it. Pushing Daisies almost has it. And the new Dr Who, cool for sci-fiction..... and And I refuse to watch the Sopranos on principle since it glorified crime and killing as a way of life - not cool (I don't care if the gangster began to feel guilty! that's lame!) but the Godfather movies one and two are ALWAYS cool........Leonardo di Caprio is among the coolest of the younger actors. And Buffy the Vampire Slayer!! that was one show that had it, in spades.
I'm the first to admit I have never been a 'cool' person, so I won't bother with cool things I own...but I have to say I think Nick Drake (musician) is cool. So was REM in their heyday. Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson, for making cooking fresh, oh so good and sexy, are cool. Or rather, so hot they are cool!
In keeping with the season, I think white lights on trees outside are cool (for Christmas), and freshly-fallen snow is so beautiful it is cool, and the seasons changing is cool. And I think Stephen King is right, Obama has cool and Hillary Clinton does not. Saying "I love you" is cool, and so is "Merry Christmas"! - since we are not allowed to say Merry Christmas any more in case anyone gets offended here in Canada, I make a point of saying it because not saying it is so stupid and meaningless! Christmas is cool (despite the shopping frenzy), gathering and celebrating is food for the heart and soul, and is eternally 'cool'.
Happy being cool reading!!!