4/7/2007

Reading The Story of Britain, by Rebecca Fraser. What he's learned so far--Henry the VIII was a lot worse than he thought he was. It wasn't just his wives he had beheaded, it was a whole lot of other people as well. He even turned on his friends.

Why he's reading it? He's Irish but he's always been interested in British History and this book takes you from 1066 to present day. Right now he's reading about Elizabeth I, 1558-1603 and he just finished reading about Mary--he showed me illustrations of her burning people at the stake. Grim!

His favorite books of all time:

1) Fire from Heaven, a bio of Alexander the Great, by Mary Renault. There is a quote in the book that goes something like this: "A friend is someone you tell everything to except for the past." He went on to explain that your past is between you and God and no one has a right to know it.

2) Last of the Wine, which is about Ancient Greece at the time of the Peloponnesian War, also by Mary Renault

3) The Mask of Apollo, also about Ancient Greece and by Mary Renault

4) The Crystal Cave, about King Arthur, by Mary Stewart

5) Hollow Hills, also about King Arthur, by Mary Stewart

He believes there have been three sons of God--Heracles, Alexander the Great, and Arthur Pendragon (King Arthur) and that all three prophesied they would return when called forth by God.

He was raised by fundamental Christians and, after being out of touch with them for over thirty years, still feels bitter about his upbringing and his family's hypocrisy--he told me stories about relatives who were arsonists and liars. We are judged by our own merit, he explained, not what church we belong to.

He published a story about Arthur Pendragon shortly before he was diagnosed with spinal meningitis, which left him crippled. The writing he did was on a word processor--he can remember working at a typewriter where it can take two to three minutes to correct an error, with all the carbon copies. Worse, he said, is writing by hand. He admitted to not being so familiar with computers, though--he got a bag at the goodwill the other day, found some floppy disks inside and, when he tried to pass them off on a friend was shocked to learn that they were already obsolete!