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Boria’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Boria’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Boria Sax’s Followers (76)
6,943 books
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218 friends
428 books
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484 friends
3,357 books
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127 friends
2,225 books
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129 friends
1,057 books
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379 friends
600 books
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36 friends
4,016 books
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313 friends
315 books
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69 friends
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Boria Sax
Goodreads Author
Born
in The United Kingdom
Website
Twitter
Genre
Member Since
March 2011
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Boria Sax
In the end, there is only one legitimate reason for writing - because one loves to.
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Crow
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published
2003
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20 editions
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City of Ravens: The Extraordinary History of London, its Tower and Its Famous Ravens
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published
2011
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11 editions
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The Mythical Zoo
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published
2001
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14 editions
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Imaginary Animals: The Monstrous, the Wondrous and the Human
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published
2013
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4 editions
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Dinomania: Why We Love, Fear and Are Utterly Enchanted by Dinosaurs
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Animals in the Third Reich
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published
2000
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9 editions
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Avian Illuminations: A Cultural History of Birds
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The Serpent and the Swan: The Animal Bride in Folklore and Literature
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published
1998
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2 editions
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The Sound and the Fury (MAXNotes Literature Guides)
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published
1996
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4 editions
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Lizard
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published
2017
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4 editions
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Interview in Forward Reviews
Enchanted Forests: The Poetic Construction of a World before Time
This is an interview with me from Forward Reviews. I am especially pleased that they have linked it with the mission of protecting nature.
It is a great blessing to be listened to, especially for somebody like me, who always had the feeling of not quite finding a place in the world.
https://mailchi.mp/forewordreviews/r4...
Enchanted Fo Read more of this blog post »
This is an interview with me from Forward Reviews. I am especially pleased that they have linked it with the mission of protecting nature.
It is a great blessing to be listened to, especially for somebody like me, who always had the feeling of not quite finding a place in the world.
https://mailchi.mp/forewordreviews/r4...
Enchanted Fo Read more of this blog post »
Boria’s Recent Updates
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Boria Sax
rated a book really liked it
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| Vergangenheitsbewältigung or “mastering the past” has been the major theme of post-World War II German literature in both East and West. It is a confessional mode of writing in which the protagonist acknowledges some participation in Nazism ̶ or, if ...more | |
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Boria Sax
rated a book liked it
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A memoir, not a history This book is more a memoir of the author’s life as an ornithologist than a history. It is informative and engagingly written, but, apart from the broad subject of ornithology, has no unifying theme. |
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Boria Sax
is currently reading
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Boria Sax
rated a book it was amazing
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Boria Sax
finished reading
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Boria Sax
is currently reading
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Boria Sax
rated a book really liked it
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| Vergangenheitsbewältigung or “mastering the past” has been the major theme of post-World War II German literature in both East and West. It is a confessional mode of writing in which the protagonist acknowledges some participation in Nazism ̶ or, if ...more | |
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Boria Sax
is currently reading
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Boria Sax
finished reading
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Boria Sax
rated a book really liked it
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| Vergangenheitsbewältigung or “mastering the past” has been the major theme of post-World War II German literature in both East and West. It is a confessional mode of writing in which the protagonist acknowledges some participation in Nazism ̶ or, if ...more | |
“We writers constantly try to build up our own confidence by getting published, making sales, winning prizes, joining cliques or proclaiming theories. The passion to write constantly strips this vanity aside and forces us to confront that loneliness and the uncertainty with which human beings, in the end, live and die.”
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“When an animal dies, another of the same species may cling to the body, eat the body, or look bored. Bees expel dead bodies from the hive or, if that is impossible, embalm them in honey. Elephants "say" a ritualistic good-bye, and touch their dead before slowly walking away. Corvids often accept the death of a companion without much fuss, but they at times have “funerals,” where scores of birds lament over the corpse of a deceased crow.
But it is a bit odd that people should investigate whether animals “comprehend death,” as if human beings understood what it means to die. Is death a prelude to reincarnation? A portal to Heaven or Hell? Complete extinction? Union with all life? Or something else? All of these views can at times be comforting, yet people usually fear death, quite regardless of what they claim to believe.
In the natural world, killing seems a casual affair. Human beings, of course, kill on a massive scale, but most of us can only kill, if at all, by softening the impact of the deed through rituals such as drink or prayer. The strike of a spider, a heron, or a cat is swift and, seemingly, without inhibition or remorse. They pounce with a confidence that could indicate ignorance, indifference, or else profound knowledge. Could this be, perhaps, because animals cannot conceive of killing, since they are not aware of death? Could it be because they understand death well, far better than do human beings?
If animals envision the world not in terms of abstract concepts but sensuous images, the soul might appear as a unique scent, a rhythmic motion, or a tone of voice. Death would be the absence of these, though without that absolute finality that we find so severe. Perhaps the heron that snaps a fish thinks his meal lives on, as he one day will, in the form of currents in the pond.”
― The Raven and the Sun: Poems and Stories
But it is a bit odd that people should investigate whether animals “comprehend death,” as if human beings understood what it means to die. Is death a prelude to reincarnation? A portal to Heaven or Hell? Complete extinction? Union with all life? Or something else? All of these views can at times be comforting, yet people usually fear death, quite regardless of what they claim to believe.
In the natural world, killing seems a casual affair. Human beings, of course, kill on a massive scale, but most of us can only kill, if at all, by softening the impact of the deed through rituals such as drink or prayer. The strike of a spider, a heron, or a cat is swift and, seemingly, without inhibition or remorse. They pounce with a confidence that could indicate ignorance, indifference, or else profound knowledge. Could this be, perhaps, because animals cannot conceive of killing, since they are not aware of death? Could it be because they understand death well, far better than do human beings?
If animals envision the world not in terms of abstract concepts but sensuous images, the soul might appear as a unique scent, a rhythmic motion, or a tone of voice. Death would be the absence of these, though without that absolute finality that we find so severe. Perhaps the heron that snaps a fish thinks his meal lives on, as he one day will, in the form of currents in the pond.”
― The Raven and the Sun: Poems and Stories
“It is possible that the city of London was initially named for ravens or a raven-deity. According to the Oxford Companion to the English Language, the designation comes from “Londinium,” a Romanized version of an earlier Celtic name. But the word closely resembles “Lugdunum,” the Roman name for both the city of Lyon in France and Leiden in the Netherlands. That Roman name, in turn, was derived from the Celtic “Lugdon,” which meant, literally, “hill, or town, of the god Lugh” or, alternatively, “…of ravens.” The site of Lyon was initially chosen for a town when a flock of ravens, avatars of the god, settled there. Whether or not “Lugdunum” was the origin of “London,” ravens were important for inhabitants of Britain for both practical and religious reasons.”
― City of Ravens: The Extraordinary History of London, its Tower and Its Famous Ravens
― City of Ravens: The Extraordinary History of London, its Tower and Its Famous Ravens
Topics Mentioning This Author
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The Seasonal Read...:
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2808 | 774 | May 31, 2013 09:02PM |
“Every animal is a tradition, and together they are a vast part of our heritage as human beings. No animal completely lacks humanity, yet no person is ever completely human. By ourselves, we people are simply balls of protoplasm. We merge with animals through magic, metaphor, or fantasy, growing their fangs and putting on their feathers. Then we become funny or tragic; we can be loved, hated, pitied, and admired. For us, animals are all the strange, beautiful, pitiable, and frightening things that they have ever been: gods, slaves, totems, sages, tricksters, devils, clowns, companions, lovers, and far more.”
― The Mythical Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Animals in World Myth, Legend, and Literature
― The Mythical Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Animals in World Myth, Legend, and Literature
“We writers constantly try to build up our own confidence by getting published, making sales, winning prizes, joining cliques or proclaiming theories. The passion to write constantly strips this vanity aside and forces us to confront that loneliness and the uncertainty with which human beings, in the end, live and die.”
―
―
“When an animal dies, another of the same species may cling to the body, eat the body, or look bored. Bees expel dead bodies from the hive or, if that is impossible, embalm them in honey. Elephants "say" a ritualistic good-bye, and touch their dead before slowly walking away. Corvids often accept the death of a companion without much fuss, but they at times have “funerals,” where scores of birds lament over the corpse of a deceased crow.
But it is a bit odd that people should investigate whether animals “comprehend death,” as if human beings understood what it means to die. Is death a prelude to reincarnation? A portal to Heaven or Hell? Complete extinction? Union with all life? Or something else? All of these views can at times be comforting, yet people usually fear death, quite regardless of what they claim to believe.
In the natural world, killing seems a casual affair. Human beings, of course, kill on a massive scale, but most of us can only kill, if at all, by softening the impact of the deed through rituals such as drink or prayer. The strike of a spider, a heron, or a cat is swift and, seemingly, without inhibition or remorse. They pounce with a confidence that could indicate ignorance, indifference, or else profound knowledge. Could this be, perhaps, because animals cannot conceive of killing, since they are not aware of death? Could it be because they understand death well, far better than do human beings?
If animals envision the world not in terms of abstract concepts but sensuous images, the soul might appear as a unique scent, a rhythmic motion, or a tone of voice. Death would be the absence of these, though without that absolute finality that we find so severe. Perhaps the heron that snaps a fish thinks his meal lives on, as he one day will, in the form of currents in the pond.”
― The Raven and the Sun: Poems and Stories
But it is a bit odd that people should investigate whether animals “comprehend death,” as if human beings understood what it means to die. Is death a prelude to reincarnation? A portal to Heaven or Hell? Complete extinction? Union with all life? Or something else? All of these views can at times be comforting, yet people usually fear death, quite regardless of what they claim to believe.
In the natural world, killing seems a casual affair. Human beings, of course, kill on a massive scale, but most of us can only kill, if at all, by softening the impact of the deed through rituals such as drink or prayer. The strike of a spider, a heron, or a cat is swift and, seemingly, without inhibition or remorse. They pounce with a confidence that could indicate ignorance, indifference, or else profound knowledge. Could this be, perhaps, because animals cannot conceive of killing, since they are not aware of death? Could it be because they understand death well, far better than do human beings?
If animals envision the world not in terms of abstract concepts but sensuous images, the soul might appear as a unique scent, a rhythmic motion, or a tone of voice. Death would be the absence of these, though without that absolute finality that we find so severe. Perhaps the heron that snaps a fish thinks his meal lives on, as he one day will, in the form of currents in the pond.”
― The Raven and the Sun: Poems and Stories
“That solar hue, that variegation of gleam and shade, made Don Fabrizio's heart ache as he stood black and stiff in a doorway: this eminently patrician room reminded him of country things; the chromatic scale was the same as that of the vast wheat fields around Donnafugata, rapt, begging pity from the tyrannous sun; in this room, too, as on his estates in mid-August, the harvest had been gathered long before, stacked elsewhere, leaving, as here, a sole reminder in the color of the stubble burned and useless now. The notes of the waltz in the warm air seemed to him but a stylization of the incessant winds harping their own sorrows on the parched surfaces, today, yesterday, tomorrow, forever and forever. The crowd of dancers, among whom he could count so many near to him in blood if not in heart, began to seem unreal, made up of that material from which are woven lapsed memories, more elusive even than the stuff of disturbing dreams.”
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“Tancredi and Angelica were passing in front of them at that moment, his gloved right hand on her waist, their outspread arms interlaced, their eyes gazing into each other's. The black of his tail coat, the pink of her dress, combining formed a kind of strange jewel. They were the most moving sight there, two young people in love dancing together, blind to each other's defects, deaf to the warnings of fate, deluding themselves that the whole course of their lives would be as smooth as the ballroom floor, unknowning actors made to play the parts of Juliet and Romeo by a director who had concealed the fact that tomb and poison were already in the script. Neither of them was good, each full of self-interest, swollen with secret aims; yet there was something sweet and touching about them both; those murky but ingenuous ambitions of theirs were obliterated by the words of jesting tenderness he was murmuring in her ear, by the scent of her hair, by the mutual clasp of those bodies of theirs destined to die. . .
For them death was purely an intellectual concept, a fact of knowledge as it were and no more, not an experience which pierced the marrow of their bones. Death, oh yes, it existed of course, but it was something that happened to others. The thought occurred to Don Fabrizio that it was ignorance of this supreme consolation that made the young feel sorrows much more sharply than the old; the latter are nearer the safety exit. ”
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For them death was purely an intellectual concept, a fact of knowledge as it were and no more, not an experience which pierced the marrow of their bones. Death, oh yes, it existed of course, but it was something that happened to others. The thought occurred to Don Fabrizio that it was ignorance of this supreme consolation that made the young feel sorrows much more sharply than the old; the latter are nearer the safety exit. ”
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