Thursday, October 24, 2013

Life of Pi Imaginatorium

   I admit as I sat down to write this post, I thought I'd just list out the books I read and go. After all, it's nearly November. I'm very nearly through another month of wonderful adventures. But September's month begs me to pause ever so briefly and tell a tale or two of what I read. And what were those works I dove into, you may be asking yourself? Well, with the inspiration of Life of Pi, I decided to read two other books that explored human nature.
    The first was indeed Life of Pi and I did thoroughly enjoy it. Parts were a bit gruesome but the look at human nature, the spirit, and what we search for in life was very interesting. I may have cheated a bit and seen the movie before I read the book, but the way the story is woven with the animals and then explained at the end is quite brilliant. It's definitely worth a read. I found the way Pi navigated his world as a young boy very interesting as he did search out God through being Hindu, Muslim, and Christian. His faith was certainly tested by being in a lifeboat for so long with just himself and "a tiger".
     From there, passing through the library, My Spiritual Journey by the Dali Lama was sitting on the counter and I thought, why not? It looked at human nature and the spiritual disciplines the Dali Lama has given his life to. It was also a fairly interesting read, not knowing much about Buddhism. The most interesting thing to me was how he was chosen at such an early age to be the leader and what that meant for his childhood and how he was raised. It was also eye opening to hear about his political involvement and where he stood on many world issues as well.
      Lastly, The Fifth Mountain by one of my now favorite authors, Paolo Coehlo. This novel follows the prophet Elijah shortly after he has been exiled and Jezebel has ordered all the prophets of God to be killed. I appreciated how the book was written and that there were not too many liberties taken with the character of Elijah. My vision of him had always been as an old man but he was young when he was first called to be a prophet. It was also quite a good read and I do recommend it. I was a little bummed that he didn't take more time on the battle between Elijah and the prophets of Baal but other than that, it was worth it.
    Yes, a quick post but more to come when October finishes and that post is revealed with works of fiction!


Life of Pi- Yann Martel
My Spiritual Journey- Dali Lama
The Fifth Mountain- Paulo Coehlo