Re: Do we have any travel agents here? - OT

Another that I read shortly after the Da Vinci Code and thoroughly enjoyed
(though it's very different) was The Fresco by Sheri S. Tepper .  It's a
hoot.

-- 
This is a post-only address.
Send replies to e_lewis AT bellsouth DOT net
(with the obvious corrections)
"Lee S. Billings" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] says...
>
> >All this down time lately has allowed me to actually read a book! I am SO
> >sorry that I'm finished with it, as it was an amazing read: The Da Vinci
> >Code. Oh, and I read a biography about Robert Mapplethorpe. Now I am out
of
> >fresh books once again. Poop.
>
> Let me recommend one I just finished, then: "The Years of Rice and Salt"
by Kin
> Stanley Robinson. This is sort of an alternate-history book, but a very
> ambitious one. The beginning premise is that instead of killing 30% of the
> European population as happened in our universe, the Black Death epidemic
took
> out something over 90% of Europe. This completely removes Christianity
from the
> board as a major player; China and the Islamic empire step in to fill the
gap
> early on, and later India and the New World native peoples are also
> influential. The whole thing is framed in a concept from Buddhist
philosophy:
> that groups of souls (called jatis) journey thru their repeated lives
together,
> finding each other and striving for enlightenment. The author makes it
easy to
> figure out who's who -- characters who are the same soul all have names
> starting with the same letter, which would of course not necessarily be
the
> case in real life. <g> The book as a whole covers about 500 years.
>
> The first part of the book is rather a slow read, but after about the
halfway
> point the pace picks up. Having read it, I now completely understand why
it was
> nominated for a Hugo this year. (It didn't win, though.) I also learned
quite a
> bit about various Eastern philosophies, which was interesting.
>
> Celine
>
> -- 
> Handmade jewelry at http://www.rubylane.com/shops/starcat
> "Only the powers of evil claim that doing good is boring."
> -- Diane Duane, _Nightfall at Algemron_
>