Haroun and the Sea of Stories
Salman Rushdie
Mom was right, this book is my kind of book. It reminds me of one of my favorite books of all time "The Phantom Tollbooth" in that it elevates the imagination to a new level and makes you think about reality in a new light.
The story deals with Haroun Khalifa and what happens when his father loses his Gift of Gab, his ability to tell stories. In truth there are two stories here - the story about Haroun and his family and the story about the sea of stories that parallels in many ways the situation with his family.
Similar to "The Phantom Tollbooth" that I mentioned earlier, this book takes real words and plays with them; it takes imaginative ideas that seem impossible to us and makes them real. In this way, it takes us away from the way we normally contemplate the words, the ideas, and the real situations that they represent. Where we land is, literally, out of this world.
All I can do for you is recommend that you (all of you) read this. The language is rich, the characters are compelling, and the ideas are fascinating. I leave you with some quotes from the book:
“He knew what he knew: that the real world was full of magic, so magical worlds could easily be real.”
“Believe in your own eyes and you'll get into a lot of trouble, hot water, a mess.”
“I always thought storytelling was like juggling [...] You keep a lot of different tales in the air, and juggle them up and down, and if you're good you don't drop any.”
“Nothing comes from nothing... ; no story comes from nowhere; new stories are born from old--it is the new combinations that make them new.”
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