A Tale a Day: The Puppet Showman

 The Puppet Showman

 

This tale is about the good old advice "be careful what you wish for!" A puppet showman tells the story of how a polytechnic candidate helped him realize how miserable he would have been if his wish had come true, which made him appreciate just how much he loved his current life. 

At the theatre where he put on his puppet plays for kids, he meets a new member of the audience, there to give a lecture at that same theatre after his show. The polytechnic candidate, a man of science who seems to have dazzled the public with scientific experiments, made quite an impression on the puppeteer. He found his experiments to be almost "miraculous" and that he would have been worship as a God or mage (or burned as witch) had he been born in another century. Afterwards, backstage, they talk about each other's work, including the candidate's mysterious "miracles".

"'The whole world is a series of miracles", said the candidate; 'but we are so accustomed to them that we call them every-day matter.'"

It is during that conversation that the puppeteer reveals that he has a dream of becoming the director of a theatre: he wishes his puppets to come to life one day (that is, he wants actors) so he can direct "real" plays. That night he has a dream where he's directing real actors. We assume it's a dream, since he describes it as if it was the candidate who, like in one of his experiments, makes him and his box of puppets fall into a spiral and, when they come out, his puppets come to life, and he gets his wish. Only, it turns out that this dream quickly turns into a nightmare. 

"Out of bed I jumped, and into the box they had all to go (...) 'Now you'll just have to stay there,' said I, 'and I shall beware how I wish you flesh and blood again.'"

When he wakes up, he feels exhilarated. He realizes just how happy he actually is and how he doesn't want anything to change. If only we all had that kind of experience which makes us truly value what we already have, instead of pining for dreams which may not be realistic while neglecting what is in front of us. We should all have dreams, but not at the expense of enjoying the present.

I also really enjoy the quote "the whole world is a series of miracles, but we are so accustomed to them that we call them every-day matter." It is quite true. When you stop to think about the nature of reality, about the little things in your daily life, about the science behind it all, you can't help but to be filled with wonder. I mean, just the act of thinking. How is it that a bunch of neurons inside a box made of bone, flesh and blood are capable of thought and imagination? What sorcery is that? Or how is it that a cake is so much more than just the sum of its parts, like a magic ritual where ingredients come together in a specific way and suffer a metamorphosis until they are unrecognisable and taste like something else, hopefully delicious? How cool and mysterious is our world? How amazing is life?

What are some of the things in your daily life that make you feel a sense of wonder? What scientific explanations of common events have left you in awe?

A Tale a Day: Holger Danske

 Holger Danske

"Holger Danske" is not so much a tale per se but the exaltation of Danish history framed by a little story. We start by being introduced to Holger Danske, an old man with a very long beard, stuck in the cellar of Kronenburg castle, who dreams about what is going on up in the world above his head and will only come out when Denmark needs him.

 

"(...) and here it is that Holger Danske sits in the deep dark cellar, where nobody goes. (...) He sleeps and dreams, but in his dreams he sees everything that happens up here in Denmark. (...) but when once such a danger comes, then old Holger Danske will rouse himself, so that the table shall burst when he draws out his beard! Then he will come forth and strike, so that it shall be heard in all the countries in the world."

 

An old man is carving Holger Danske's image and telling his grandson about him. Then, as he admires the Danish coat of arms on his sculpture, we go on a journey through Denmark's history and greatest victories.

 

""That's the most beautiful coat of arms there is in the world!" said the old man. "The lions are strength, and the heart is gentleness and love!""

 

In the end, we circle back to Holger Danske and, while the grandson dreams about him, he is in turn dreaming about the grandson, down there in his deep dark cellar. 

"But the little lad in the bed saw plainly the old Kronenburg with the Oer Sound, the real Holger Danske, who sat deep below, with his beard grown through the marble table, dreaming of all that happens up here. Holger Danske also dreamed of the little humble room where the carver sat; he heard all that passed (...)"

 

It's a sweet way to write about your favourite characters and moments in the history of your country. Holger Danske is one of those saviours that most nations and cultures seem to have, who shall return only when they're needed (but never actually do). In Portugal, we have D. Sebastião, a child-king of the 16th century who disappeared during battle in the North of Africa and whose body was never found, and it is said that he'll return one day riding his white horse, in a foggy morning, to fight the evils that plague the country and restore Portugal to its former glory. I sure hope not, since much of that "glory" was the start of colonialism. Yikes!

I'm not a big fan of nationalism, but I do love history and its myths. While not really much of a tale, I did enjoy learning about the myth of Holger Danske, a man hibernating underground dreaming about our world. I feel for him. He must be having terrible nightmares by now.

Does your country or culture also have a Holger Danske? I would love to hear about it!

Upcoming Books: The River Knows My Name, by Mortada Gzar

Publishing Date: October 8th, 2024

 

ARC by Net Galley

 

Keywords: lots of possible triggers, r*pe, death, misoginy, violence, disability, lgbtq, family, translation, middle east, nudity, mutilation, swearing, complex, stories within stories, friendship, missing person, female characters.

 

 

*** Contains Spoilers ***

Supposedly a book of "coming of age", whatever that means, it's about a teenage girl who runs away only to find out her father is missing when she returns home. Set in Basra, Iraq, by the river One-Eyed Tigris, it tells the stories that move through the bubbling town while Charlotte looks for her father. 

It's difficult to have a simple opinion of a book that holds so many stories and different tones between it's covers. I'll start with what I didn't like. The violence and acts of aggression that were often dropped without warning, like a sudden ripple on the surface of a quiet pond. I understand that the matter-of-fact way these events were often described might represent a place where they are so normal that no one bats an eye, but often it felt that some (not all) where added just for shock value. There was also a great deal of genitals being shown or talked about. I wonder if some of the social "realism" is accurate or whether it was exaggerated for effect. There was a lot of violence against women and it was described as just another thing that happens, not really worthy of much emotion: even though the narrator was a woman herself, we are never lead to empathise with these women or made to feel for them. I get that maybe the society represented might not feel much for these women, but if we're seeing these acts from the point of view of a woman, who was a girl at the time, and a supposedly western girl too (though I didn't understand what her cultural background was exactly), then surely some sort of commentary wouldn't have been out of place. More emotion, depth and empathy was shown to the Overleaf Society and their love and devotion to calligraphy than to the fates of the brutalised women.

But this leads me to something else that bothered me about this book: it often only scratches the surface of the stories it tells before moving on to the next one. Much like the river it revolves around, it flows smoothly and continually between tales, without plunging into any depths about any of them. This often left me with more questions about what might perhaps be just cultural differences, than with a better understanding of the world of the story. Perhaps something was lost in translation? I don't know. I feel like I met a lot of people but got to know no one. Even the main characters. We learn that Charlotte is gay, but only in passing. We know that she yearns to escape, but what exactly? Her loving father? Nothing seems to be backed by some sort of more-in-depth context. One is left to guess from the morsels of information left here and there. Is that the goal? Perhaps. Nothing seems to be too defined either way. 

Now that's out of the way, I can move on to the things I liked. The writing is beautiful. The author is skilled at painting beautiful pictures with words. His prose, though not being employed as much as it could be in the description of emotional states, shines when employed in the description of events, actions, small details, anecdotes. The observations he makes are often original, interesting and amusing. There's a dry humour to his writing which is pleasant.

I know I complained about being given morsels of information that I had to use to help me see the full picture, like putting together a puzzle where the pieces where hidden in the middle of other puzzle pieces (and the box does not come with all the pieces). However, there is also a side to it that I enjoyed. You get to know certain characters as you would perhaps get to know a person: you arrive in the middle of their story, only know a few things about them (which might not make sense at first) and then gradually get to know them better, bit by bit. A lot of the story (or should I say, stories) is told like that and I found it interesting. If only the box came with all the pieces! Then I would have been content in making this journey morsel by morsel.

Overall it's an interesting book. I enjoy the way he conveys the dynamic interactions of the different realities in town. 

Some of my issues with this book might come from my own personal taste and a lack of understanding of the culture where the story unfolds. I would honestly have welcomed translation notes where appropriate.

Habitica Reading Challenges 2024

 If you're into games and building new habits, and building new habits by playing games, you might already be familiar with Habitica. In the style of a retro RPG, you'll be a pixelated adventurer going on quests and levelling up as you complete your tasks. There are also classes (warrior, mage, rogue and healer) and a million different ways to make the whole thing more interesting with challenges, different playstyles and much more. Once upon a time, there used to be guilds and a tavern, which was a very pleasant social element to the site, but these have recently been abolished (the fiends! *raises clenched fist menacingly*), so we've all escaped to Discord channels where some of the surving guilds still gather. In the Book Clubs of Habitica discord channel is where you'll find the bookwyrms and bookworms, me included. We do reading challenges together and talk books. That's pretty much all there is to it.

That's where I've joined a load of reading challenges. Some are monthly challenges, usually with a book being chosen each month in a certain theme, and other are yearly and never-ending challenges. I'll post about the monthly challenges next month. Right now I want to tell you about the yearly and never-ending challenges, which aren't necessarily just a Habitica thing and you're free to join:

 

6x6 Reading Challenge

This is a Habitica challenge ran by CathB that you can find HERE if you're a Habitician, but you can also play on your own. In the Challenge Page you'll read:

Summary

The goal of this challenge is to read a total of 36 (+12) books: a book from 6 different countries on each of the 6 continents. And 6 bonus books for 6 fictional worlds/countries. And 6 bonus books set at sea.
A neverending challenge, no winner.

Challenge Description

The goal of this challenge is to read a total of 36 (+12) books: a book from 6 different countries on each of the 6 continents + 6 bonus books for fictional worlds/countries + 6 books set at sea (seas/oceans). The books have to be set in the country OR written by an author from the country. A list of countries per continent is found here. You are free to choose the books and countries for this challenge, as long as you choose 6 countries from each of the 6 continents.

Some clarifications:

• You can't count the same country twice.
• You can't count one book for more than one country.
• England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland can't be counted separately for this challenge; they all belong to the United Kingdom.
• Russia and Turkey are partly located in Europe and partly in Asia. Choose the continent based on where in the country the book is set or where in the country the author is from.
• Antarctica is counted as a country for this challenge.

The 6 continents are:

• Africa
• Asia (included the Middle East)
• Europe
• Oceania (included Antartica)
• North America (included Central America and the Caribbean)
• South America
• Bonus: Fictional wolds/countries - Narnia, J.R.R. Tolkiens Middle Earth etc.
• Bonus: Oceans/Seas - The Pacific Ocean, The Atlantic Ocean, The Mediterranean Sea etc.

Inspiration for books to read can for instance be found in these threads at Bookcrossing.com (This is where I found inspiration for this challenge; thanks to the creator of those challenges!); 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012.

A never ending challenge. There WON'T be any winners of this challenge. If you prefer so, you can join the challenge, leave it again right away and choose the option "keep tasks". This way the tasks become non-challenge tasks you can edit and delete yourself. This can be convenient if you want to edit or delete the daily for instance.

I've made a table to keep track of my books. You're welcome to it:

	Africa	Asia (+Middle East)	Europe	Oceania (+Antarctica)	North America (+Central America & Caribbean)	South America	Fictional Worlds	Oceans and Seas
1
2
3
4
5
6

 

So far I have:

	Africa	Asia (+Middle East)	Europe	Oceania (+Antarctica)	North America (+Central America & Caribbean)	South America	Fictional Worlds	Oceans and Seas
1			France: Villette, Charlotte Bronte		Canadian Arctic: Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories		Fairy Land: Phantastes, George Macdonald
2			Italy: A room with a view, E.M. Forster				Fictional Planet: All Systems Red, Martha Wells
3
4
5
6

Ultimate Reading Challenge 2024

Faranae runs three reading challenges of different difficulty each year: a modest, a formidable and an ultimate challenge. They are a lot of fun! You can read all about it in this blog post. I have joined the Ultimate Reading Challenge this year which looks like this: 

 

So far I have read these:

(That's as good as I was able to make this table look, which I know, not very good, right? Sorry! But you can find all the printables and resources for these challenges HERE. I promise you they actually look good!)

And I have a few other books already lined up for next month. I will start sharing the reviews of each book then as well. Right now I have to catch up on my reading!

(I have also joined a Habitica 2024 Bingo Challenge ran by Kyra Shadow (check it out). If you're joining the Bingo challenge in Habitica and would like the discord channel invite let me know. Within the channel you'll also have access to a lot of other year and monthly challenges.)