Thursday, December 29, 2011

1100 Books of Christmas, Book 101

(That's binary, of course)

It's the 5th Day of Christmas. It is Thomas Beckett's feast day - celebrating the day he was killed ("will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?") Both the Canterbury Tales and Murder in the Cathedral are (more or less directly) a result of Beckett's assassination.

Today's book:

James Houston - James Houston's Treasury of Inuit Legends


An interesting looking book. Houston began gathering Inuit tales in 1948, and illustrating them with hand drawn pictures of the Arctic. He lived for twelve years among the Inuit, travelling with them, eating their food, and generally acculturating into their way of life. According to the introduction (by Theodore Taylor), Houston is well regarded among the Inuit, which suggests that this is not a work of purely cultural appropriation, but rather something more akin to veneration by an adopted member of the culture. Anyway, it looks good.

Followers