Endicott Mythic Fiction discussion

People of the Sea by David Thomson is the December 2012 book - who's reading?

I will if the copy I ordered ever gets here...

I've got a copy and moved it to the top.

As it turns out, I was already reading this one! It's a series of vignettes from a journey taken by an Englishman who had been raised on the coast of Scotland, where he heard tales about seals. He went back as an adult and interviewed people living on these remote northern islands and coasts who made their living from the sea. A very hard life, and these are poignant stories of the complex relationship between sea-faring peoples and the seals. I'm really enjoying it.

My library does not have it :( I should have checked that before.

I am. The copy I've got is a slightly older one, and I'm tinkering with adding it to the Good Reads catalogue as I type.

I just ordered a copy yesterday

It sounds interesting. My library has a copy. It was checked out a couple of weeks ago, but it looks like they've returned it now, so I'm going to try to go by and pick it up soon.

I'm reading it now -- both the prose style and matter are really interesting, if a bit dark.

This has been sitting on my table for the last couple of weeks and I've read a whole two paragraphs. Hopefully, I'll have some time this weekend to read it.

Many of the books on our Endicott fantasy list are drawn from an ancient relationship between humans and animals. "People of the Sea" is a rare gathering of real-life experiences of North Sea people who had a multigenerational relationship with seals that slips back and forth between the manifest world and the unseen world. It's more bittersweet than sweet, and the realism may be more than many fantasy readers want. But this was how our ancestors experienced life with other creatures. Thomson had heard bits of seal lore since childhood and went back to the North Sea lands as an adult to pick up some of these threads. He did an admirable job. I found his accounts highly readable and tantalizing. He even includes musical scores for a few seal songs! I tried them on my harp--haunting! I think one can approach this lore more fully by hearing the songs, even just picked out on a harp or piano.

"People of the Sea" is a rare gathering of real-life experiences of North Sea people who had a multigenerational relationship with seals that slips back and forth between the manifest world and the unseen world... this was how our ancestors experienced life with other creatures.

Ramona, that's fascinating.
I wish we could hear you playing some of his pieces.