talkmagic.co.uk

LMAO

I find it necessary to ask "Why do you have that book?!" lol

um...

I really have no idea.

There also seems to be one of those "Life from Life" books that they hand out on street corners, and a selected anthology on Yeats. Shrug.

Yeats is cool though.
Good poetry.
Although I'm guessing poetry isn't your thing.

It sounds like between us we could sort out our books, have a garage sale and retire on the raised funds...

Given that the Yeats book was underneath Rosemary Conley, I'd say you're right. Poetry has never really been my thing. Other than a bit of Coleridge, and Lewis Carol.

Dear oh dear...

I'm guessing this would also mean you're not a Shakespeare fan?

I like some of his stuff, but none of that sonnet rubbish . The style of language is interesting though. Getting back on topic, Prospero does a good bit of magic in The Tempest, and there's always MacBeth's witches. They seem to both be cast in a fairly malevolent light though.

When shall we three meet again?
-- Well I can make next Tuesday

Damn, Pratchett gets everywhere

Well perhaps more dark and brooding than malevolent

Steverino wrote:When shall we three meet again?
-- Well I can make next Tuesday

Damn, Pratchett gets everywhere

LMAO

Who burns the toast?
Argh! Back on track!

Yes the magic mentioned in Shakespeare tends to be the dark mystic type, written in a very "Well he should have steered clear of magic..." way. Interesting to find that pretty much every author who writes about magic casts it in a different light

I just finished Neil gaimens Anansi boys. a bit about Gods and a small amount of Magic. The magic that is in the book is good. one of the main charactors makes a spider out of mud. There is also a bit about a lime.
"Are you the man with the lime?"

Interesting. I seem to recall that Anansi is a spider figure in african stories/mythology - presumably that's where the spider from mud idea comes from?

I don't think I'm the man with the lime, although I'm fond of Caipirinhas if that counts.

I am impressed. Anansi is the spider God. the bit about the lime would only make sense if you have read the book. Very funny.
Anywho, this probably wont make sense until you read the book but here goes. Half of what is for the most part the main charactor gets himself in a bind. He needs help so he makes a spider out of Mud and brings it to life, then sends it to get help. Then the other part of who is for the most part the other main charactor well, he has the lime.

Anansi Boys is the follow up (of sorts) to American Gods.

Apparently Anansi Boys is also fantastic as a book on its own, but is better if you've read American Gods, or if you read American Gods afterwards.

Either way, American Gods is great, and is the rreason I'm on TalkMagic!
And I'm hoping to pick up a copy of Anansi Boys next week
Magicmandy has mentioned it has some good magic bits in there... so I'll look forward to that too

Sweet! let me know how you like or dislike it.
there is also murder, Ghoasts, funerals. a tiger, flamingos, Magic circles, a few witches. the God and his family, the lime of course. and fat charlie.

Well I'm interested in storytelling, so i must have read or heard about it at some stage. I've often thought that there should be a good way of mixing storytelling with magic, although most storytellers I've spoken to say that it would distract too much from the story.

Their point is certainly valid - I've seen some storytelling that has been badly affected by mixing with acting sections, but I'm sure if it were sensitively done, these could be combined.

There's always The Wizard of Oz, of course. Slightly off topic - a sort of ricochet, really - Derren Brown has a book for the general public (as opposed to his 'for magicians' ones) coming out in October.

Though, I've just realised that I simply assumed it'd be a novel, and never even thought to ask whether it actually was. Perhaps it's a Blaine-style thing: part auto-biog, part reflections on magic. Or, um... somthing else. A diet, say. Or a pop-up book of famous kidnappings.