Canongate Myths

All the Myths

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From the site:
"A bold re-telling of legendary tales — The Myths series gathers the world's finest contemporary writers for a modern look at our most enduring myths."

"Myths are universal and timeless stories that reflect and shape our lives — they explore our desires, our fears, our longings, and provide narratives that remind us what it means to be human.The Myths series brings together some of the world's finest writers, each of whom has retold a myth in a contemporary and memorable way. Authors in the series include: Margaret Atwood, Karen Armstrong, AS Byatt, David Grossman, Milton Hatoum, Natsuo Kirino, Alexander McCall Smith, Tomás Eloy Martínez, Victor Pelevin, Ali Smith, Su Tong, Dubravka Ugresic, Salley Vickers and Jeanette Winterson.
The series launched on 21st October 2005 and is the most ambitious simultaneous worldwide publication ever undertaken."

According to wikipedia, Jamie Byng, owner of the independent foundation Scottish publishing firm Canongate Books, hopes to eventually publish 100 titles in the series. The first title in the series, Karen Armstrong's A Short History of Myth, was published the same day in 33 countries and 28 languages, in what the Washington Post called "the biggest simultaneous publication ever."

Here is the current list of all available titles in the series:

1. A Short History of Myth (Myths, The) by Karen Armstrong
2. The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus (Myths, The) by Margaret Atwood - about Penelope and Odysseus
3. Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles (Myths, The) by Jeanette Winterson - about Atlas and Hercules
4. The Helmet of Horror: The Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur (Myths, The) by Victor Pelevin, translated by Andrew Bromfield - about Theseus and the Minotaur
5. Lion's Honey: The Myth of Samson (Myths, The) by David Grossman - about Samson
6. Dream Angus: The Celtic God of Dreams by Alexander McCall Smith - about Aengus
7. Anna In w grobowcach świata (Anna In and the Tombs of the World) by Olga Tokarczuk (not translated) - about Inanna
8. Girl Meets Boy: The Myth of Iphis (Myths, The) by Ali Smith - about Iphis
9. Binu and the Great Wall (Myths) by Su Tong, translated by Howard Goldblatt - about Meng Jiang
10. Where Three Roads Meet: The Myth of Oedipus (Myths, The) by Sally Vickers - about Oedipus and Tiresias
11. Baba Yaga Laid an Egg (Myths) by Dubravka Ugrešić, translated by Ellen Elias-Bursac - about Baba Yaga
12. The Fire Gospel by Michel Faber - about Prometheus
13. The Myth of Izanagi and Izanami by Natsuo Kirino - about Izanagi and Izanami
14. Orphans of Eldorado (Myths) by Milton Hatoum - about the mythology of Amazonia
15. The Hurricane Party (Myths) by Klas Ostergren - about Norse mythology
16. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Phillip Pullman - about Christianity

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

"I have a story that will make you believe in God." - Pi Patel

"I know what you want. You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. You want a flat story. An immobile story. You want dry, yeastless factuality." - Pi Patel

This novel was easily one of the most unique books I have ever read and far from "dry, yeastless factuality". While reading it, I often wondered if it was not based off of a true story in some way simply because the story seemed too unbelievable to NOT be true! This book would appeal to a variety of literature-minded tastes as it covers topics that range from philosophy, religion, travel, and biology to suspense, horror, and even comedy.

On the surface, the story is about an Indian boy that survives on a lifeboat with a lone Bengal tiger after his ship sinks, taking the remains of a zoo and his entire family with it. Woven into the plot are threads of Pi Patel's passion for religion as a whole. He seeks to survive - both mind and body - 227 days at sea, using both the knowledge of three world religions and the experience of growing up in a zoo.

What makes this book rise above the general expectations of the fiction genre is that the main character's frequent monologues on his present circumstances inadvertedly cause the reader to evaluate his or her own life in light of Pi's words. Take for instance Pi's explanation of the battle between good and evil:

"These people fail to realize that it is on the inside that God must be defended, not on the outside. They should direct their anger at themselves. For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart." (Ch. 25)

Page after page, chapter after chapter, Pi's personal philosophy is laid out as his life hangs in the balance. At one of his lowest points he discusses the power of fear:

"I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. ... The matter is difficult to put into words. For fear, real fear, such as shakes you to your foundation, such as you feel when you are brought face to face with your mortal end, nestles in your memory like a gangrene: it seeks to rot everything, even the words with which to speak of it." (Ch. 56)

In the midst of reading this highly imaginative text, I realized that the musings of this castaway were reflections of what any person standing on dry land could be feeling at any given moment:

"When you look up, you sometimes wonder if at the centre of the solar system, if in the middle of the Sea of Tranquillity, there isn't another one like you also looking up, also trapped by geometry, also struggling with fear, rage, madness, hopelessness, apathy." (Ch. 78)

My favorite part of the book was when in the midst of a storm, Pi was nearly struck by lightning. The description of this encounter in chapter 85 put me in nearly as much awe as it did Pi Patel and reminded me of how the Holy Bible often described the voice of God as the voice of a great thunder, which completely fit in with the overarching theme of religion as a framework for life.

When at the end of the book, Pi Patel offers an alternate, more-believable version of his survival at sea, I realized that this novel could be read as an allegory to symbolize life and its survival. This is what truly allows The Life of Pi to make the leap from contemporary fiction to enduring classic.



*On a side note, if you would like further detail into how Yann Martel wrote this engrossing novel, here is a link to an essay on the subject:
How I Wrote Life of Pi by Yann Martel .


Read for: 101 Fantasy Reading Challenge

Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Gumbo

I made another cajun favorite of mine today - Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Gumbo. I've watched my dad make it so many times I don't bother with a recipe card, I just go with my instincts. I haven't been able to perfect it yet, but today's meal was pretty close. I find it turns out better when I make a large quantity of it. I need to get my dad to ship up some File (pronounced fee-lay), which is simply ground sassafras leaves. Most recipes I find online include okra in the ingredients list, but I find okra slimy and disgusting. My sister compromises by cooking the okra down until all you see are the seeds, but if you are going to do that, then why even bother? So here is my work-in-progress recipe for Gumbo.

Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Gumbo

(Made in a 14-L stock pot)

6 stalks celery, chopped

1 whole onion, chopped

1 whole green bell pepper, chopped

several cloves garlic, chopped

3 lbs. chicken

1 whole smoked sausage link, sliced

1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined

poultry seasoning

poultry spice

dill weed

salt

red pepper / Cajun seasoning

black pepper

parsley

1 C oil

flour

1. Fill large stock pot with water and set over high heat to boil. Add bone-in chicken pieces to cook. Should cook 30 minutes to an hour before removing skin and bones. Pot should always be at least 2/3 full with water or broth, so add as needed.
2. Chop vegetables and add to cast iron frying pan with oil to cook down at low heat until vegetables are clear. Should take 30-45 minutes. Add to stock pot.
3. Pour cup of oil into hot skillet and mix in flour a little at a time until all the oil is absorbed. This is called the roux (pronounced roo) and can burn very easily, so be sure to stir it constantly or it will burn and you will have to throw it out and start over. Some people prefer melted butter to oil - I can't taste the difference. Stir until the mixture browns to a dark brown color. When you feel like your arm is going to fall off is a good measure that the roux is dark enough.
4. Next you need to combine the roux with the boiling broth mixture - how you do that is up to you as the roux can burn you very easily. Adding the roux to the stock pot can produce large, very hot splashes, so some recipes will suggest adding some broth to the roux first to cool it down a little. If your skillet is not large enough though, this won't work without risking burning the roux and/or producing a very unappealing sludge. I've tried both methods and can't decide which works better for me. Do what works best for you and your kitchen.
5. Add chopped sausage and seasonings to taste. Add shrimp about 15 minutes before serving to prevent toughness.
6. Serve over a bed of rice in a bowl to resemble soup.