2021, animals, books, Fantasy, Mysteries, Nature, Uncategorized

Light My Fire

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In searching for something on my laptop last week, I came across a list of books about dragons.  Looks like I made this list six or seven years ago (last time it was saved was six years back) and I’ve read a few of the books on the list since then.  I’d completely forgotten that I had this list.

Dragons, of course, are widely varied in literature.  My least favorite kind are the mindless, evil dragons (think Smaug in The Hobbit).  I prefer intelligent dragons who can communicate if they choose (like Ramoth in Dragonflight or Temeraire in the Novik series).  My current car is named after a dragonrider of Pern (Brekke – one of the rare dragonriders who can communicate with all dragons, not just their own). 

I also like dragons who adore treasure – not sure why, maybe because it’s such a longstanding bit of dragonlore that it feels right when it is included.  It’s interesting that the Greek dragons who were set to guarding treasure have morphed into beings who lust after gold, diamonds and jewels.  Of course I also read somewhere once that gold is a good conductor of magical energy and that dragons NEED it to exist. 

The biggest problem with this list is that I have already reached the limit of books that I can have on hold at the library – with probably be at least a week before that changes.  Hopefully in a week, I’ll remember I have this list of books I want to read! Maybe I’ll start yet another tab on my reading spreadsheet.

Tell me about a mythical animal that you think might improve our world if it existed!  Or just if you have a favorite mythical animal.

62 thoughts on “Light My Fire”

  1. So how do you feel about Christopher Paolini’s series? I should give those a re-listen (audiobook characters are my beloved co-workers these days), my current playlist has gone a bit serious on me.

    I feel like I really lucked out having a child who was becoming a reader at the same time as a boom in fantasy literature. One of my post-holiday projects is going to be (she says optimistically) going through s&h’s room with a view to turning it into a workspace. There are some really beautifully illustrated books in the “dragons” section.

    We may have to agree to disagree on the mindlessness of Smaug;)

    (and here is where Steve would be rolling his eyes at the LOTR- my memory is that he was not a fan of a lot of fantasy and sci fi, maybe because he was so good at telling “real” stories)

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      1. You are so kind. I used to have the Trail as part of my morning routine and I think I should try to get back into that habit.

        I dropped off largely because I felt like anything I posted was going to be either too grim or too ranty, but maybe I should see if checking in here would make things feel a little less grim and ranty 🙂

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    2. Honestly, I started Eragon many years ago and when it came out; so many people got killed off in the first 25 pages that I put it down and never went back. But I do still own a copy of it so maybe on your recommendation I should try it again and just start at page 25..

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        1. What can I say, it had a dragon on the cover. It didn’t seem right to dump it. In the cookbooks is kind of a separate issue because there’s just no place for them.

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  3. The dragon from Sleeping Beauty (1959) scared the heck outta me. The dragon from Enchanted (2007) gave me flashbacks. I like them, even though they’re evil.

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  4. The Voter Frog. Finding the elusive Voter Frog would improve US politics. Millions of them are said to have cast votes for a Democratic president in 2020 yet failed to do so for Democratic candidates in other races. Kiss the Voter Frog and all your political wishes are granted.

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    1. Now that is funny. “The Voter Frog.” I also am not a fan of sci-fi or most fantasy, although I loved Tolkien’s work. But political satire I enjoy, along with really good political cartoons. And Voter Frog, created by a president who weirdly resembles an orange frog in Depends, I find hilarious.

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      2. I was just thinking, the Latin name for the common toad is Bufo bufo. It’s oddly relevant with regard to an orange toad in Depends. Also, as far as I know, the brighter the color displayed by an amphibian or reptile signals a warning to others about its toxicity. Hmm… a toxic buffoon.

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    2. I just finished a book a couple of weeks ago called “Abominable Science” which is about crypto zoology (as in yetis and sasquatches) The longest chapter was about sea serpents.

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  7. A silver-scaled dragon with jaws flaming red
    sits at my elbow and toasts my bread.
    I hand it fat slices, and then, one by one,
    He hands them back when he sees they are done.

    THE TOASTER by William Jay Smith

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    1. Oh thank you for this. I have a vague memory of this but I don’t know where or when I would’ve read it originally.

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      1. I have posted it here before. Sandy fell Friday, her fault for refusing help and me for not pushing her to take it and then not catching her. Right in front of me she fell back into the shower. She has lots of brusies and has even more trouble moving. So I have been very distracted and need a little whimay right now. But in long term no damage. I have been almost living over there.
        More whimsy to come.

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        2. The full sad story. This morning she told me she wants to die; this is why:
          She has a very nervous colon, almost colitis, very like it, but not really. She has had this since she was 15, caused many medical people think from her sometimes terrible home to live in as a child. She survives on a Medtronic colon stimulator. On top of falling Friday she has had severe almost constatn diahrria since then. I discovered her stimulator keeps resetting itself to a low setting. She is ashamed to have the attendants help her. When I came this morning, well, I will not give you the details. She did not damage it in the fall, although she did fall on her back, where the controller and battery are. But she was already very sick when that happened. Medtronics has been very helpful. They have no record of it resetting itself. I have some things to try tomorrow and report to them. Her life is not fun. Then their are the memory and confusion issues.

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  8. I just reread The Griffin and the Minor Canon, a book I vaguely remembered from childhood. I remembered the illustrations, by Maurice Sendak, but not the story. Perhaps the Griffin could persuade the townspeople to get vaccinated if he were around today.

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  9. The dinosaurs are not all dead.
    I saw one raise its iron head.
    To watch me walking down the road
    Beyond our house today.
    Its jaws were dripping with a load
    Of earth and grass that it had cropped.
    It must have heard me where I stopped,
    Snorted white steam my way.
    And stretched its long neck out to see,
    And chewed and grinned quite amiably.

    STEAM SHOVEL by Charles Malam

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  10. I’ve been charmed by the idea of magical frogs since I was a little girl growing up on the shores of a southern Minnesota lake. I once collected 27 of them in a plastic box, added a little lake water, some stones and grass and put the lid on. When I got home that day, they had managed to push the lid off (whew!) and were hopping all over the house and my Mom was hopping mad at me! So yeah, I just love frogs. Never heard of voter frogs before… sounds like a wonderful idea!
    I also love elves and magical mystical trees. I might have been a Druid in a past life. I do enjoy hiking and walking in places where the trees are old and most humans are absent. That’s when I can feel their sentience and I know I’m not alone.

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  11. This blog sure is something. I never thought much about dragons before…
    I know the song ‘Pete’s Dragon’. And the old movie is much better than the new movie even if it does have Robert Redford.

    And, there is this from ‘Into The Woods’ with credit to Stephen Sondheim for the lyrics:

    WITCH
    A bear? Bears are sweet.
    Besides, you ever see a bear with forty-foot feet?

    BAKER’S WIFE
    Dragon?

    WITCH
    No scorch marks,
    Usually they’re linked

    BAKER
    Manticore?

    WITCH
    Imaginary

    BAKER & WIFE
    Griffin?

    WITCH
    Extinct

    BAKER
    Giant?

    WITCH
    Possible.
    Very, very, possible…

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  13. I like to think there are fairies, or devas, and maybe elvin folk of some kind.. I know a woman who says she has seen one at dusk, just out of the corner of her eye…

    And I really did enjoy reading Tolkein:
    Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
    Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
    Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
    One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
    In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
    One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
    One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
    In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

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  14. I am reminded here of Kingdoms of Elfin by Sylvia Townsend Warner. Warner is one of those writers not mentioned much anymore but well worth rediscovering.

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    1. Had to request it via MNLink, the only copy is reserved in the downtown stacks. While I love the CONCEPT of spending an afternoon in the downtown library ready, the REALITY is that it’s not going to happen!

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      1. It’s a travesty, if you ask me, that Kingdoms of Elfin should be considered so obscure by the Hennepin County librarians that they only have one copy. That’s one of the reasons I use the library infrequently. Many of the things I want to read aren’t available.

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  15. BBC has four series of shows a year, called Winter Watch, then so forth for all the seasons. Amazing nature watching and information. The last Winter Watch they did has a series on animals people do not love and why you should. Mice, jellyfish and others, but last slugs. When they describe the creatures, such as that slugs have thousands of teeth, they sound like monsters.

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