MacLennan, Le Guin, Davies, Gilgamesh, Book of the Dead

Since my last post,I've read a biography of Hugh McLennan, an issue of OK magazine and an issue of Eclectic Reading.

I've started mixing in the greatest book list by Harold Bloom with my complete works, so right now I read Ursula Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness, which was wonderfully written and imagined -- I really liked the unisex species' dialogue: "You are female? Permanently?". I also read the epic Gilgamesh, which I enjoyed since this is such a rare book, 1500 years or so before Homer wrote. Finally, I also read the Egyptian Book of the Dead, full of incantations to various deities. I also enjoyed this last book, because I had such a strong feeling of reading something completely foreign to me and to my form of spirituality.

I am now reading the complete stories of Lydia Davies, which have some successfully and interesting experimentation with form. I find she is a talented writer, but I wonder about the soul of her writing. Perhaps the form, short stories, does not communicate soul or themes well. Perhaps it's just too soon to tell.