A literary meme - Part 2

This follows on from the previous post.

6. One book that wracked you with sobs?

Miss Eagle doesn't think she was wracked with sobs when she read this book - and she can't remember the last time this happened - but the tears flowed. The book in question is Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer. What a beautiful book! How Miss Eagle would love to be able to write a book such as this. Miss Eagle is a great fan of Kingsolver. I only have three of her novels under my belt (the other's are the Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees) but Miss Eagle's project is to read all of them.

7. One book you wish had never been written

If anyone is writing another conspiracy theory/mystery thriller which includes gnosticism and the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, could you please desist. Put down that pen! Delete that stuff from your computer! The world does not need one more piece of this drivel!

Back in the 80s, Miss Eagle read Holy Blood, Holy Grail which talked about the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Interesting ideas but nothing to write home about. Then in the 1990s, Miss Eagle came across Foucauld's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. This tour de force by one of the world's great public intellectuals covers everything - every mysterious organisation ever thought about by a conspiracy theorist. A sort of history of everything laid out in 600 pages with a satirical edge. Coming from the intellect of Eco, it is sometimes difficult and is nothing if not comprehensive. After that, Miss Eagle decided, why would one waste time reading The Da Vinci Code.

8. One book you're currently reading

Miss Eagle is currently immersed in Karen Armstrong's latest, The Great Transformation: the world in the time of Buddha, Socrates, Confucius and Jeremiah. This is going to be another tour de force from a great public intellectual. And, while on the subject of public intellectuals, can we name Karen Armstrong - who describes herself as a freelance monotheist - the most intelligent woman in the universe? Now this topic takes a huge sweep through time and across cultures, regions, and religions. Miss Eagle will suspend judgment on whether this Axial Age concept is worthwhile or merely another bundling book of life, the universe, and everything. Miss Eagle got in early with her copy on backorder from Readings based on a review in The Age. You see, dear Reader, the eight century BCE holds a great fascination for your correspondent because of the eighth century prophets of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. This was a period of strong voices, often from simple backgrounds, speaking out on ethics, justice, and humanity's relationship with its Creator - and the consequences should we contravene these natural laws. So if this was the situation in the middle-east of that period, then Miss Eagle was eager to participate in Armstrong's exploration into this period in other spaces and places.

Miss Eagle thinks that the purpose in Armstrong's epic is to help us to understand one another better at the deepest levels of the human spirit - something she lives out in her own life. This understanding is something that humanity is in sore need of at this point in history. Let's take up the challenge and join her on the adventure into these little known realms.

9. One book you've been meaning to read.

Miss Eagle keeps a list of books she means to read in a Task on Microsoft Outlook. Now, this doesn't mean she gets to actually read these books but as interesting ones come to her attention listing them means they are not forgotten. One from this list is Traumascapes by Maria Tumarkin. Traumascapes is a book about place - places scarred by tragedy. Miss Eagle, dear Reader, is a great believer in the spirit of place and so the theme of this book is appealing. But let Miss Eagle tell you one story that almost certainly has not made it into this book. A friend of Miss Eagle's from her Mount Isa days is a keen historian. In her research, she visited Linda Downs. Linda Downs had been the site of a battle between Aboriginal people and police. Seven police died. The police then decided to take their revenge and killed ten Aborigines for every police killed. 70 people. My friend tells me that, in accord with Aboriginal spirituality which says the spirit of a dead person returns to a tree, there are 70 trees at this site. All are dead and the atmosphere is one of ethereal silence. A sacred place of great trauma, indeed.

10. Now tag five bloggers

Aah, who gets tagged now?

Suse at Pea Soup, Lazy Cow,

Pete over at Crooked Paws Retreat, Clarice at Storybook Woods,

and Barb at Woofnanny.