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Ultimate Journey - Richard Bernstein
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
- Hits: 1607
In which a New York Times book reviewer retraces via automobile, train and planes the route taken by the 7th century Buddhist Monk Hsuan Tsang through China and India in his journey to achieve enlightenment. If that sound's ambiguous it was meant to be so, the retracing of the journey of the monk is meant to juxtapose the experiences of a traveller today with those of the monk some 1300 years ago. And the narrator generously (too generously) shares with us his own spiritual angst as that of a middle aged Jewish man who is unable to commit to wife or religion, the monks quest becoming, in a way, his own.
In theory this should have been a great travel book. I mean, shucks, "The New York Times Book Review" has a blurb on the cover that reads: "Wonderful...Deserves to become a classic in its own right" . Which, when you think about it, makes sense as Richard Bernstein works for "The New York Times Book Review". Reviewing books. Hopefully they didn't assign him this to read. Or, quite possibly, they did. Which would explain the review.
That said, it was OK, but with so many good and great books out there I wouldn't take the time out to read it. Somehow the narrator failed to engage me, the people, places, situations, were not my own. But it did inspire me to research some other travel authors who might interest me more....
Review: (In keeping with the Buddhist theme): "The sound of 1 hand clapping"
Will Ferguson - Hitching Rides With Buddha
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
- Hits: 1588
I didn't want to read this book. I picked it up thinking that my mother, who taught in Japan for several years, might enjoy it. But she'd read it and recommended it to me heartily.
Now I wasn't in any great rush to read it for a couple of other reasons. One of which was that I thought I had attended university with Will and that he was an asshole. Well, not necessarily an asshole, he was quite likeable in fact, it's just that he published before me and while it's probably drivel possibly it's not and that makes him an asshole.
So I did a bit of research and, lo and behold, I didn't go to university with Will Ferguson. A few "Will's", a few "Ferguson's", that was probably where I got confused. It doesn't lessen the fact that he's still an asshole.
I began the book, perfectly prepared to hate the guy and write it off. Looking, in fact, for any reason to dislike it. But, oddly enough, there weren't any. Or not too many. It's actually a perfect travel book. By perfect I mean he meets a variety of characters, there's some humour and poetry, he has some small adventures and fills us in with the history, geography and culture of the places he visits. And his assessments aren't far off of my own (if anything they're probably better, having done research and all). But I won't hold that against him.
It was a good book. Actually, it was a great book, but I wouldn't say that 'cause I hate the guy. I'd give it a full bento box, with extra salmon and octupus and several extra pieces of that delicious fried tofu.
Japan Cubed
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Dreams
- Hits: 1724
I've been sick, tired, blowing my nose every 20 minutes. Too sick and tired to work or clean, the day was spent reading Will Ferguson's "Hitching Rides with Buddha". Which partly explains the dreams.....
All night, a 10 hour sleep, mouth breathing. Sleeping on my left side, my right side, my back, waking up every hour when I felt the cold trickle of snot running down my face to go to the bathroom, wipe it off and blow my nose, then back to bed and sleep some more. And it's the same dream over and over, A giant cube of Japan. That's it. Japan cubed. I'm as baffled as you are. No variation, no recollection past the fact that this was the dream that I just had; it was the same dream all night, "resumed" after every wake up, fall asleep, the same thing over and over....
Garage Sale Finds - Week 6
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2148
It used to be the Calgary Herald, you'd go to the classifieds and plot out your garage sale map, they had the garage sales organized by date and quadrant of the city. But they've changed it, "reorganized" it so that date and area of the city are no longer organizable fields, address is optional, clicking on the "read more..." link in the hopes of finding an address leads to a "Page not found Error". It's been like this for the whole season, entirely not working.
Now the Calgary Herald classifieds are a paid service. You pay them, they advertise your sale, product or event. But this is ridiculous, you can find nothing and certainly nothing in order on their site. So I search around and find other sites - Kijiji, Craigslist, Calgaryarea.com, all sites where you can advertise your garage sale for free. And this, apparently, is where everyone else is advertising their garage sale as well. It's more work, they're organized by date and city only, you have to make your own map to the highlights, but at least the information is there.
This weekend is the first "Big" weekend of sales. By which I mean there are more sales than I can make it to, hope to make it to, in various neighborhoods. There's the Bethany Chapel sale, there's a neighborhood sale in Scarborough, there are others....
And so I make my map and head out on Saturday morning.....
A day full of treasures. Stack of CD's, new, perhaps 30 in the stack, $2.00. $10.00 for miscellaneous Pokemon cards for my daughter (a stack about 6 inches thick). Books - Penguin guide to Shakespeare, Monologues for young actors, Calvin & Hobbes, for the boy, an old rotary phone, bright red ("Mr. President....It's the Kremlin calling.....") as well as a loose red "reset"button...("The Missiles have been launched..."). A small Fireking green jadeite bowl with blue butter dish, a hallmarked solid silver candlestick. And the highlight, a 16 mm movie camera from the 50's with telephoto lense. I need a tripod.
All in all a good day.
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