Virtually every culture, around the world and across time, has some kind of religious/mythological belief system. Where did we come from? How are we to live? Those basic questions gave rise to hundreds, even thousands, of myths to give the answers (see: the entire Masks of God series I spent months of my life reading). In an anthropological/psychological sense, God did not create man. Man created the gods. And in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, we didn’t just create them as concepts in the sky; they are […]
Is That All There Is?
My preferred genres to read tend to be contemporary and historical fiction…romance, especially paranormal romance, isn’t really up my alley at all (with the exception of the Twilight series). So I was surprised by how much I really enjoy reading Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mysteries series, but enjoy it I do. For those who watched the show (True Blood), Sookie Stackhouse in the books is a different (and much more compelling) character than she is on TV, so if you’re thinking you might not want […]
Not Too Subtle, Eh?
Once upon a time, many if not most people lived a predominantly agrarian lifestyle. You were born on a farm, you lived on a farm, you died on a farm, and while you were alive you ate the food you grew. Money for things you couldn’t grow came from selling the things that did. And then the Industrial Revolution happened, and cities boomed, and no matter how much presidential candidates like to say the opposite when they’re spending time in Iowa at the beginning of […]
A Glimpse Inside The Hermit Kingdom
Traveling internationally, even the small amount I’ve been able to do, is wonderful but alienating. The language is different (even when it’s the same), the food is different, the entire pattern of life is different. And that’s in first world, Western countries. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to go to North Korea. It must be like going to the moon. Suki Kim, author of Without You, There Is No Us, emigrated to the United States from South Korea with her parents […]
Perfect Summer Beach Read For Millennials
I remember making mixtapes. When you were a kid growing up when I was a kid, there were two ways to get songs onto your tape: a dual tape deck (covetable, and eventually something my family had, but not until later) or the good old radio. I don’t know how many nights I sat there in my bedroom, waiting for a song to come on so I could add it to my mix. Obviously this made for some haphazard tracklists because things were in the […]
Decent, But Ultimately Underwhelming
In The Guest Room, Richard Chapman is just trying to be a good best man when he agrees to host his little brother Phillip’s bachelor party at his home. He sends his wife and young daughter away for the weekend, expecting the usual kind of bachelor deal: drinking, carousing, maybe strippers. What he gets are two young Eastern European women in his living room that are clearly more than “just” strippers: they’re prostitutes. What he doesn’t realize until much later is that they aren’t “just” […]