Bad Deaths
Blog Posted by kitt at 22:22 on 14 October 2015I was recently talking with a friend of mine, a quiet conversation, just the two of us. He was comfortable enough during our talking to tell me about his family, which I was surprised and delighted by, and then saddened. The saddened part was from his tales of the sudden death of his mother, the car crash death of his step-mother and the freakish accidental death of his father.
All of them were bad deaths: violent, sudden, and without acceptance.
My concept of a "bad death" comes from having read Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, by Caitlin Doughty a couple months ago. It's a death that surprises you. A good one is a death where you live your life with the acceptance that it will end, recognize it and prepare for it. The idea of a "bad death" has lingered with me since I read the book.
Listening to my friend, and hearing his regrets about not being in contact with his parents more, saddened me. I wanted to give him a big hug and comfort him, though I am unsure who needed more comforting at that moment, he or I.
The conversation was a good reminder of what is important, friendships, experiences, relationships, and what isn't important overall. I'm glad I connect with my parents daily, the rest of my family weekly.
I'm working on keeping in touch with friends better. We're not long for this world, I'm hoping to make my ride a happier one.
Little Drummer Girl
Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 09:11 on 14 October 2015, kitt created this:
Having read the Spy Who Came in From the Cold recently, I kinda knew what to expect from this book, also by LeCarre. It was going to be a spy book, full of twists and turns and, if it's good enough, an ending like No Way Out. Knowing kinda, sorta what to expect, I read this book anyway, another on the ever-shrinking stack of Mom-selected books.
Aaaaaaaaaaaand, despite having read the previous LeCarre book, I didn't really like this one. I'm not really a fan of spy books, I guess. Yeah, the technology can be interesting, but the deception, use and abuse of others, and the violence-done-to-others parts of the spy way of life just does not appeal to me. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age (no, I have always been anti-violence, anti-abuse, anti-use people), but this type of story just does not appeal to me. I'm rather glad this is the last of the unread LeCarre books in my stack.
This book's plot revolves around a series of murders of Jewish people, and the infiltration of an Israeli intelligence group into a Palestinian militia group. Not that you get that from the first 30% of the book. Instead, it's all about an abused actress who is AMAZING apparently in her skills, and human enough to be susceptible to a dashing man's charm. Shock.
Eh, I finished the book. The last 1/4 was interesting. The first 3/4 I had to trog through. If you like spy books, this one will probably be interesting. If you don't, eh, don't read.
Not blood
Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 16:56 on 12 October 2015Though, really, it took me a while to realize it was rust.
