A Lover of Life

14 Dec 2004
Like This - Rumi, tr. Coleman Barks - Maypop 1990
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(This was written over a year ago, but I have delayed its publication because it includes a poem about death. I think that enough time has passed now, but if anyone is upset by it, then I apologise.)

Those who know me will be rather surprised to see a book of poetry on my reading list, just as they would by the rather twee picture of three whirling dervishes that I have facing me as I type this. They are a result of a holiday in Turkey where I visited Rumi's tomb in the Mevlana Tikkesi in Konya. Rumi was the founder of the Mevlevi order of Sufism, a mystical version of Islam notable for its openness and tolerance and which uniquely features song and dance in its rituals. I was interested to find out more about it and its founder.
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Metaphors

25 Feb 2005
Passage - Connie Willis - Voyager 2002
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(Another review postponed from last year. Again, apologies if anyone finds it upsetting.)

This was the final book I read in 2004, and if I were to nominate my book of the year, this would probably be it. This extraordinary novel is funny, moving, troubling, profound and highly original both in its construction and in the effects it sets out to achieve, and I won't forget it in a hurry.

It is set in a hospital and its ostensible subject is Near Death Experiences (NDEs), the hallucinatory state reported by some people who recover from coding (cardiac arrest). Actually, it's about far more than that - it's about what people experience as they approach death (a question which haunts anyone who has had to make decisions about a dying friend or relative). Its about science and how science is done. And it's about human foolishness - how we are not in control, how we confabulate and jump to irrational conclusions, and yet can discover truths and communicate them with each other.
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