![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
primroseburrowsYesterday I finished reading Ursula Le Guin's 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness. I thought I'd read it as a teenager, but apparently I'd just skimmed it because I remembered almost nothing of the story. To say I was blown away is an understatement.
So, I'm wondering: Are there any of you who have read it? There's lots of stuff on the web--essays, study guides (yes, it's on the level of The Catcher in the Rye of being Required School Reading, which tells you how respected it is), but I'd love to actually talk to people about it. Great, great book. Jungian, Taoist-y, it's a love story without sex (although it would have SO worked with sex. :)). If you haven't read it, do it. If for no other reason but to give poor little me someone to gush with.
*ahem*
Anyway, I'd been planning on downloading a copy (through COMPLETELY LEGAL CHANNELS, MR. FBI GUY) this Grateful Dead song ever since Al Franken mentioned it on his show (he had the writer as a guest), and probably because I'd just, just finished TLHoD, the two resonated. The lyrics (and the tune, of course, they DO go hand in hand) resonated with the story for me. Read the book and listen for yourself. Or just listen, because it's a wonderful song.
The Grateful Dead - Box of Rain
Look out of any window, any morning, any evening, any day.
Maybe the sun is shining, birds are winging,
No rain is falling from a heavy sky.
What do you want me to do, to do for you to see you through?
For this is all a dream we dreamed one afternoon, long ago.
Walk out of any doorway, feel your way, feel your way like the day before.
Maybe you’ll find direction,
Around some corner where it’s been waiting to meet you.
What do you want me to do, to watch for you while you are sleeping?
Then please don’t be surprised when you find me dreaming too.
Look into any eyes you find by you, you can see clear to another day,
Maybe been seen before, through other eyes on other days while going home.
What do you want me to do, to do for you to see you through?
It’s all a dream we dreamed one afternoon, long ago.
Walk into splintered sunlight,
Inch your way through dead dreams to another land.
Maybe you’re tired and broken,
Your tongue is twisted with words half-spoken and thoughts unclear
What do you want me to do, to do for you to see you through?
A box of rain will ease the pain, and love will see you through.
Just a box of rain, wind and water,
Sun and shower, wind and rain,
In and out the window like a moth before a flame.
And it’s just a box of rain, I don’t know who put it there,
Believe it if you need it, or leave it if you dare.
And it’s just a box of rain, or a ribbon for your hair;
Such a long long time to be gone, and a short time to be there.
There are even Annotated Lyrics!
In other news, I'm finally seeing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tonight. I'm a little apathetic, mostly because I don't like Roald Dahl's books much, and even the stills from the original film give me the creeps.
So, I'm wondering: Are there any of you who have read it? There's lots of stuff on the web--essays, study guides (yes, it's on the level of The Catcher in the Rye of being Required School Reading, which tells you how respected it is), but I'd love to actually talk to people about it. Great, great book. Jungian, Taoist-y, it's a love story without sex (although it would have SO worked with sex. :)). If you haven't read it, do it. If for no other reason but to give poor little me someone to gush with.
*ahem*
Anyway, I'd been planning on downloading a copy (through COMPLETELY LEGAL CHANNELS, MR. FBI GUY) this Grateful Dead song ever since Al Franken mentioned it on his show (he had the writer as a guest), and probably because I'd just, just finished TLHoD, the two resonated. The lyrics (and the tune, of course, they DO go hand in hand) resonated with the story for me. Read the book and listen for yourself. Or just listen, because it's a wonderful song.
The Grateful Dead - Box of Rain
Look out of any window, any morning, any evening, any day.
Maybe the sun is shining, birds are winging,
No rain is falling from a heavy sky.
What do you want me to do, to do for you to see you through?
For this is all a dream we dreamed one afternoon, long ago.
Walk out of any doorway, feel your way, feel your way like the day before.
Maybe you’ll find direction,
Around some corner where it’s been waiting to meet you.
What do you want me to do, to watch for you while you are sleeping?
Then please don’t be surprised when you find me dreaming too.
Look into any eyes you find by you, you can see clear to another day,
Maybe been seen before, through other eyes on other days while going home.
What do you want me to do, to do for you to see you through?
It’s all a dream we dreamed one afternoon, long ago.
Walk into splintered sunlight,
Inch your way through dead dreams to another land.
Maybe you’re tired and broken,
Your tongue is twisted with words half-spoken and thoughts unclear
What do you want me to do, to do for you to see you through?
A box of rain will ease the pain, and love will see you through.
Just a box of rain, wind and water,
Sun and shower, wind and rain,
In and out the window like a moth before a flame.
And it’s just a box of rain, I don’t know who put it there,
Believe it if you need it, or leave it if you dare.
And it’s just a box of rain, or a ribbon for your hair;
Such a long long time to be gone, and a short time to be there.
There are even Annotated Lyrics!
In other news, I'm finally seeing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tonight. I'm a little apathetic, mostly because I don't like Roald Dahl's books much, and even the stills from the original film give me the creeps.
