Theban Trilogy - 50 Greatest Books

I cannot beleive I forgot about the 50 Greatest Books series. I havent posted about them for quite a while. This is bad. This is very bad. But I guess it's because I have gone back to school. I must try and remember to keep doing this series.

The Theban Trilogy By Sophocles
PETER STOTHARD
September 6, 2008

Almost 2,500 years ago, when there were few books to read and a fast-expanding population of the curious, an Athenian playwright dramatized three big questions in three great tragedies. Where do I come from? How do I prepare for my death? What should I obey?

Each play in Sophocles's Theban Trilogy, as we call it, was about the mythical family of Oedipus, rulers of Thebes in the dark times before the Trojan War. Their common theme was the violent birth of civilized values. This was not just entertainment for Athens' mass audience of citizen spectators. These works forced an aggressive engagement with what became great issues of all times, what it means for a man to understand himself, to have free will and at the same time to believe in the gods, to balance duties, to take responsibilities for past and future.

Oedipus the King, the most famous of the three, is the story of a man deliberately finding out who he is. To his own and others' horror, he is the killer of his father and the husband of his mother. He is the monarch honoured for curing the city's plague who discovers that he is its cause. He is the determined detective who finds that the criminal is himself.

In Oedipus at Colonus, the longest and least known, the king is outlawed, cursed and aged. He is preparing himself for death, for possible redemption, for something different from life or something the same. Antigone, the most popular of the plays today, takes up the narrative when Oedipus's sons are also dead, each killed by the other in civil war. Universal divine law demands burial for them both. Theban law offers respect for the defender of the city alone. Their surviving sister has to choose which law is right - and dies for her choice.

Sophocles did not himself intend these plays as a trilogy. Antigone was the first to be written, when Athens was at the height of its democratic power and pride, the years of restless skepticism, empire and the building of the Parthenon. Oedipus at Colonus was the last, composed 40 years later, when Athenian democracy was shamed and close to its end. Oedipus the King came between the two, timed when the Athenians at war knew directly the plagues of their own. The horrors of Thebes - Athens' authoritarian neighbour with its crude and brutal past - were like a primeval swamp into which Sophocles could dip for whatever need he saw.

Later producers, publishers and readers reordered the plays according to their place in the mythical history that they described. First comes King Oedipus in power and glory, before discovering his past and blinding himself. Second, Antigone leads him to a fragile security and serenity for death at Colonus, the place of Sophocles's own birth. Third, Antigone herself is walled up for death by starvation, punished by Thebes for obeying the gods, pardoned through force of argument, but not in time to save her.

That has been the most satisfying order. Like the history plays of Shakespeare, a chronological cycle imposed after their creation has enhanced their appeal for those who do not have Thebes as a neighbour and who have reading choices of which Sophocles could never have dreamed.

Oedipus the King was the central model for Freud, albeit denigrated by him as a dull tragedy of fate redeemed by his own sense of its universal particularities; there is no deeper exposition of the pain of self-examination. Antigone was the inspiration for Jean Anouilh in Nazi France; there is no plot more subtly resonant of the divided responsibilities of good men under bad government. Oedipus at Colonus may be the most due for revival, the eloquent play of the homeless in a land of plenty, the polluted in a land of high religion, the play in which a curse can finally become a blessing.

Individually, they have different powers today. Together, they form one of the milestones in the emerging of humanity, a lighthouse against the rocks, a permanent warning of places that are never far away.

Books to Movie Challenge 2008

This challenge started September 1st, (goes to November 30th) but I'm gonna do it anyway. I have not yet chosen my books, but I'll find something. Here are the rules.
2008 Books to Movie Challenge

List of Books made into movies

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street - Book Review

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street
by Helene Hanff
Avon Books 1973

This is the story of Helene Hanff's first trip to England in 1972 after the first book she wrote, 84 Charing Cross Road was published. She was invited to England by the English publisher (Andre Deutsch) to publicize the book. She spent 5 weeks in England, and this is the diary of her trip.



Helene's favourite part of London is Regent Park and Marylebone area. She also visited Oxford, Cambridge, Stratford on Avon, Windsor and Eton. During Helene's stay in London, she was interviewed by many reporters, newspapers, TV and radio stations.

This diary is written in just the same style as her letters in 84 Charing Cross Road.

This is Helene's version of a martini, and how to train a british bartender to make one. Now I dont drink alcohol so I have no idea what is in martini. This is what goes in Helene's martini. (page 78 - Avon edition 1973)

So at 10pm I am having a martini, more or less.
The first night I came in here and said to the young bartender, a martini please. He reached for a bottle of Martini and Rossi vermouth and poured a glassful of it before I could scream - WAIT A MINUTE.
Would you put the gin in first please. I said.
Oh he said. You want a gin martini.
He got the gin bottle and a shaker, and I said
Would you put some ice in the shaker. I like it cold.
Right-o he said, and put an ice cube in the shaker, poured a jigger of gin on it, added half a cup of vermouth, stirred once poured it out and handed it to me with a flourish. [...] Nobody could drink it.

The next time I came in, it was dinner time. Noone was there and the bartender and I got chummey. He said Wasn't I the writer and told me his name was Bob. I said, Did he mind if we used my recipe instead of his, and he said, Right-o, just tell him exactly what I want.

First I said can we start with 4 icecubes in the shaker. He thought I was crazy but he put 3 ice cubes into the shaker. (he ran out of ice).

He poured a jigger of gin into the shaker, and then I said,
OK Now pour another jigger of gin.
He looked at me in disbelief, shook his head and poured a second jigger of gin.
Okay, now one more, I said.
MORE GIN? he asked, and I said,
Yes and lower your voice.
He poured the third jigger still shaking his head.
He reached for the vermouth botle and I said, I'll pour that.
I added a few drops of vermouth, stirred vigourously, let him pour it out and said it was perfect.

I used a French cover, because I could not find any American covers online, and I do not like the English cover.

The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor - Book Review

The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor
by Sally Armstrong
Published Vintage 2008 (PB)
First Published 2007 (HC)
Charlotte Taylor Website

This is a novel based on the true story of Charlotte Howe Taylor and her life in New Brunswick. The author is one of the over 2000 descendents of Charlotte Taylor.


Charlotte Taylor was born in England in 1755 to an upper class family. Her father was General William Howe Taylor. One of the servants was a black man names Pad who was the family butler. At age 20 Charlotte fell in love with Pad and asked her father for permission to marry him. The General refused so Charlotte and Pad ran away. They took a ship to Jamaica. By the time they arrived there, Charlotte was pregnant and Pad was feverish. He died of yellow fever shortly after they arrived. Charlotte was able to get passage on a ship heading north to what is now New Brunswick (but was actually part of Nova Scotia at that time).

Charlotte's first daughter Elizabeth Willisams (NOT williams) was born in December 1775 in a Mi'kmaq camp in Baie de Chaleurs area - now Bathurst. Charlotte was being pressured to return to England because it was not good for an young widow to live in the wilds of North America on her own. Charlotte and Pad were never married, but she passed herself off as Pad's widow in order to survive.

Charlotte was a tough women, she fought for women to have equal rights - or as close to equal rights as the men would allow.

Charlotte was married and widowed three times and had a total of 10 children - 5 girls and 5 boys. Charlotte knew that the only way to stay safe was to purchase and own land. But she was denied the opportunity to own land by the various local town councils - all composed of men - and also the governors office in Fredericton.

Charlotte was told "It is one thing for the Widow to claim ownership of the land, but it is another thing to carry on as though she has the same rights as men"

She was also told that "...as a married women, you have no economic or legal power. Your husband is your representative and voice in public." (chapter 9)

Charlotte argues against this and is told flatly by the men that "Land belongs to men and proper women don't meddle in men's holdings."

This was the attitude in 1785. I am so glad I didnt live in those times. It would have made me mad....but then if it was the only thing I knew as I was growing up, I would not know any differently.

Anyway Charlotte first lives in Miramichi and then moves along the coast to Tabisintack in Northumberland country, in what is now New Brunswick. It was decreed a separate province apart from Nova Scotia in 1784.

Southern New Brunswick was full of English and Loyalists from America. Northern New Brunswick was mostly Acadian French. The Acadiens fled to the Baie des Chaleurs area after the British deported the Acadiens from Nova Scotia in 1755. The Mi'kmaq were scattered all over the region.

If you ever wanted to know what it was like to live in early Canada in the late 1700s. This is an excellent book to read. I finished it in one day. I could NOT put it down. My husbands family are of Acadian origin. They come from Gloucester county - Shippagan, Tracadie-Sheila and St Isidore. Gloucester county lies immediately north of Miramichi and Northumberland county.

I read this book for the second Canadian book challenge.

Before Dishonour - Book Review

Star Trek - Before Dishonor.
By Peter David
Pocket Books 2007

One of my favourite characters in the Star Trek world is Seven of Nine, the ex-Borg from the Voyager series. I love the way she is a non-nonsense person, shows no emotions and is extremely logical in her thinking, her actions and her speech.



This book is centred around Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Seven of Nine. And it takes place in the year 2380, some years after the Voyager destroyed the Borg transwarp conduits in the Delta Quadrant and cut 16 years off their homeward journey back to Federation space. Seven is now a civilian Professor at the Star Fleet Academy. She teaches the cadets about Borg technology, assimilation and how to avoid it. Her mentor on the trip home was Captain Kathryn Janeway.

Janeway is now an Admiral, and she intends to destroy the Borg once and for all. A few years earlier, the Enterprise (under Captian Picard) had destroyed a large Borg cube and left it for dead. Janeways intends to go back to the dead cube and study it further in the hope that the Federation can learn new techniques to defend itself from Borg attacks. Once on the cube, Janeway and her away team are assimilated. They return to the Einstein where they assimilate the entire crew. The new form of assimilation means that new Borg drones only have one attachment at the back if their heads. As long as they face a person speaking to them, noone can tell that they are no longer human.

When Janeway is assimilated, she screams and her psychic scream sends horror into Seven's sleeping brain and shocks her out of sleep. Seven would not normally agree with premonitions and instincts but this time she chooses to act on her hunch. She contacts Admiral Jellico and asks for permissin to travel to the borg cube and check to find out if Captain Janeway is ok. Jellicoe says no, but after Seven leaves, he puts a transmission through to the Einstein and asks if the crew are managing ok. He is assured that the crew are all fine. Janeway is still on the cube but she can be patched through. Jellicoe is reassured and terminates the call.

Seven in the meantime chooses to disobey orders and hires a small ship (called the Pride) to take her to sector 10 where the dead Borg Cube is located. Starfleet have vessels chasing Seven so the Pride is stopped and the captain talks his way out of the situation, by engaging a cloaking device he has installed in the ship.

They escape and head for sector 10. When the captain finds out that they headed to a old Borg cube, he balks and refuses to go any futher. So Seven asks him to take her to Vulcan. Captain Picard and the Enterprise are at Vulcan, honouring Ambassador Sarek.

When she arrives, Seven speaks to Picard and together the two of them decide to go and find the dead borg cube. However the crew of the Enterprise refuses to follow orders. Sarek's son, Ambassdor Spock is also on board the Enterprise. He mind melds with Seven and opens a flood gate. The Borg hear her voice and they immediately head for Earth to find Seven and Picard (who used to be the Borg Locutus).

Picard, Spock and Seven come up with a plan to use the old Planet killer that is now dormant on the Museum planet known as the Trophy world. Admiral Jellicoe through Starfleet Command sends word to Captian Picard that he must return to Earth immediately and help in the defence of Earth against the Borg.

Picard refuses, as do Worf, LaForge, Spock and Seven. The other bridge crew attempt to take over the ship, but Spock has programemd the computer to go to the Trophy World. The mutineers throw Picard and co into the brig. Several hours later when they cannot override Spock's lock on the computer, they take Picard out of the brig and beg him to remove the locks on the computer. Picard refuses.

When the Enterprise arrives at the trophy world - Seven, LaForge and Spock take a shuttle craft and go and visit the Planet killer. Their plan is to reactivate the planet killer so that it can destory the Borg cube. Seven is able to reactivate the plent killer and off they go to Earth to destroy the Borg.

You'll have to read the book to know if the Borg won the battle.

I loved this book. Picard finally has to deal with a mutiny from the junior bridge staff who do not follow him blindly, They prefer a captain who follows orders. Picard is just like Kirk and Janeway. Neither of them followed orders either.

More Pies - Munsch - Book Review

More Pies
By Robert Munsch
Illustrated by Michael Martchenko
Scholastic Books 2002


Samuel woke up hungry. For breakfast he ate one bowl of cereal and asked his mother for more. The second helping was another bowl of cereal, two milkshakes and a stack of pancakes. Samuel ate it all really fast.

Then Samuel said I am still hungry. Could I please have some more? His mother dished up a huge salad bowl of cereal, two milkshakes, three stacks of pancakes and a fried chicken. Samuel ate it all really fast.

Then Samuel said I am still really hungry. Could I please have seven fried chickens?
Seven fried chickens? yelled his mother. Enough is enough. Nothing more to eat until lunch. Go out and play.

So Samuel went outside and rolled around on the gress yelling that he was starving, staaaaarving, STAAAAAARVING.

His little brother told Samuel to go to the pie eating contest being held at the park, so off samuel went. At the park, he told the judges he wanted to enter the pie-eating contest. They laughed at him and said You're just a little kid, Go home.

The other three contestants (a lumberjack, a construction worker and a fireman - all big men) were waiting to start the pie-eating contest. They told the judges to let him enter. It won't hurt to let this little boy eat a pie. So Samuel was allowed to enter the contest.

The first round was one blueberry pie. The lumberjack turned purple and went under the table.

The second round consisted of two peach pies. The fireman turned green and went under the table.

The third round consisted of three cherry pies. The construction worker turned blue and went under the table.

Amazing said the judge. Samuel wins first prize. He wins the prize pie. Samuel took the large prize pie home.

When he walked into the kitchen, his mother said, Samuel I know you are hungry so I made you pies for lunch. Pies? said Samuel. He turned green and went under the table. So Samuels little brother ate all the pies instead.

Do you remember when....?

Now I dont usually post spam, but this one is personal. I was born in the 1960's and remember these days vividly. I get so angry at all the Political Correctness in todays society. It really bugs me that my son is not allowed to grow up like this.


CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1920's, 30's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks some of us took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a Ute [utility or pick up truck] on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Red Rooster.

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Fruit Tingles and some fire crackers to blow up frogs and lizards with.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and cubby houses and played in creek beds with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape or DVD movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms.......... WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents.

Only girls had pierced ears!

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross buns at Easter time.......no really!

We were given BB guns and sling shots for our 10th birthdays,

We drank milk laced with Strontium 90 from cows that had eaten grass covered in nuclear fallout from the atomic testing at Maralinga in 1956. [Australia]

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Mum didn't have to go to work to help Dad make ends meet!

Footy had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather straps and bully's always ruled the playground at school.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

Our parents got married before they had children and didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade'.....

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 70 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

I still remember borrowing my older sisters grown up bike when I was about 9 or 10, and riding it down the hill outside our home. My legs were not long enough to reach the pedals, and going down the hill I had no control at all. So at the bottom of the hill where the road turned the corner, I went straight ahead, the bike hit the curb and I flew over the fence. Fortunately it was a grassy field on the edge of town, so I wasnt hurt. But the bike was a write off. A very bent front wheel, the carrier on the back was damaged and I had to push this bike all the way back up the hill. I dont remember what happened after that.

One other thing. I was quite the loner when I was growing up and noone thought anything was odd about that. As long as I wasn't getting into trouble, I was a sweet little girl. Yes, I was socially awkward sometimes, but I sure did read a lot of books.