I have added two destinations to my travel itinerary - armchair travel that is - for this long weekend.
I am visiting Dictionopolis, the Island of Conclusions (which can only be reached by jumping), and watching out for the demons who ramble about in the Mountains of Ignorance with Milo and Tock in The Phantom Tollbooth. This clever, clever book by Norton Juster was on my Summer Reading List and with summer just about over, I figured I had better hop to it.
Also, I am making a quite unexpected stop in The Afterlife with Sum by David Eagleman. A frequent commenter, Tullik, recommended this after reading my entry on Einstein's Dreams (here) by Alan Lightman. Instead of taking a look at thirty different conceptions of time, Eagleman, a neuroscientist, offers forty tales from the afterlives. It is quite witty and imaginative and unsettling at the same time.
Now there is the fun of armchair travel - one always has the appropriate outfit for any change in plans.
You know, I've never read The Phantom Tollbooth. I gave it to my grandnephews years ago, but maybe it's time for me to curl up with it in this end of summer heat and go off to those enticing places you mention!
ReplyDelete'The Phantom Tollbooth' is so delightful, Joan. I came to it as an adult so don't worry if you haven't read it yet. It is so full of puns and plays on words that it keeps me smiling at its cleverness. I predict you will love it!
DeleteThose are two pretty different-from-each-other books! I really enjoyed The Phantom Tollbooth when I read it to my son, so much that I kept his copy when he outgrew it.
ReplyDeleteThey are different, aren't they! I didn't come to THT until I was an adult and on reread it is even cleverer than I remembered. A great world to be in.
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