Travellin' Penguin

….You can open again and again. ( Garrison Keillor)

Having fun this weekend . Yesterday was sunny and warm then the winds shifted over the southern ocean and the rain poured down today. Very windy too. It is spring and we turned our clocks ahead an hour today so the day feels short.

I read an interesting book this past week. It is not one I would have picked but read about it somewhere and I got it from the library.

It is The Big Tree by Brian Selznick. A quick read at 528 pages. You say, “Quick?!” Yes as most pages are large graphics, other pages are limited to a single paragraph or a single sentence. I read it in about 3 short sittings.

The blurb on the book states:

Hello, stars. I thought I heard you calling me.” A mysterious voice has been speaking to Louise in her dreams. She and her brother Merwin are Sycamore seeds, who hope to one day set down roots and become big trees. But when a fire forces them to leave their mama tree prematurely, they find themselves catapulted into the unknown, far from home. Alone and unprepared, they must use their wits and imagination to navigate a dangerous world―filled with dinosaurs, meteors, and volcanoes!―and the fear of never finding a safe place to grow up. As the mysterious voice gets louder, Louise comes to realise their mission in life may be much bigger than either of them ever could have imagined! Brimming with humour, wonder, mystery, and a profound sense of hope, Big Tree is a trailblazing adventure, illustrated with nearly 300-pages of breathtaking pictures. It is Selznick’s most imaginative and far-reaching work to date and a singular reading experience for the whole family!

It starts at the Cretaceous period and travels to current times. I loved the seeds, Merwin and Louise. The tension built as they travelled together through time and space.

I got really attached to them as their characters were so developed. I worried about them. They got trapped in a big footprint, eaten by a fish, became separated and that was only a few of their mishaps. They were looking for a place that had light, good soil and water so they could grow. They were helped along the way by other creatures.

It started originally when Steven Spielberg and Brian Selznick got together. They were going to make a film. Brian Selznick did the movie Hugo with Martin Scorsese. Then Covid hit and everything stopped so instead he made it into this big book.

It talks about the different categories of characters. I liked the Ambassadors who were the fungi that interconnected with all the trees in the forests. It is a very micro look at the interconnectedness of nature.

What else happened this week.

I spent all of last week really focusing on walks, health and getting my stamina back. I have been so breathless lately but all the exercise is getting rid of that. It has been my main priority; then at night I crash into a lounge chair and read, work on my journals, play a few mind games on the iPad and go to bed. It has been very pleasant.

I’ll share the books I found on my random walk. I finished the Edna O’Brien one I found two weeks ago. It began with a woman who has just been convicted of murdering her young lover, her son’s best friend after a love affair goes south. She is waiting to hear her penalty. It is then told in flashbacks from the beginning of the relationship to current time. It is a very tedious monologue. Lots of tangents I became bored with. I did not care for any of the characters. The story rambled and seemed all over the place. I know people love her writing but I dare say this was not one of her best.

I did another op shop walk and found these. I will decide which one to read but first need to get started on my book club reads for November. Remember the read for the Random Walk Books means the book must be preferably a classic or at least literary fiction.

Until next week….