Down the Rabbit Hole

Presidents and Love Stories

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DAY 762 April 8, 2016
What do you feel is the greatest love story in literature? How did the author hook you into the story?
If you aren't into love stories, pick your genre and answer.

It is a stretch for me to be particularly romantic so I've got very limited experience with great love stories in literature. I guess the classic Romeo and Juliette would be my top pick despite it's tragic end. I think there is something compelling about the young lovers finding each other in the midst of a feud between their families. There is something depressingly just about the loss each family faced due to their inability to acknowledge and accept the lovers. Shakespeare isn't an easy read, I wouldn't say it was a "hook" that got me into the story as it was required reading in high school. I'm pretty much a skeptic when it comes to that unquestioning, blindly devoted storybook love. I'm too jaded, it appears, to even think of another example of a great literary love story...unless Tarzan and Jane count?



"Blogging Circle of Friends "
DAY 1241 April 8, 2016
If you could pick any three writers from history to be President/ Leader of your country who would you pick? Why?

The presidential race has provided us with an appalling field of hopefuls so its easy to fantasize about who my top picks would be for the position.

First and foremost, hands down, James Lee Burke would be candidate numero uno. He's a world-class gentleman, a true grit cowboy. His characters are crafted to be men of value and substance, even with their flaws. They are heroes that respect women and have honor and live by a code of conduct rarely seen anymore. His female characters are strong and independent, warrior women who's fierceness and individuality is championed in his stories. I like his world, his words - they reveal him to be the real deal, someone who lead.

Mr. Burke is such an ideal choice for me, it puts my second and third choices at considerable distance. Virginia Woolf would make a great president, for women and for the masses at large. I think should would be able to relate across wide sections of the electorate. I think she would be a unifier with her quiet conviction and her passion.

Lastly, Suzanne Collins, author who penned the Hunger Games, would make my list. I think her work reveals her to have a healthy understanding of the dangers of human nature. She crafted an apocalyptic world so well that one could actually accept that it could one day happen. Her books are not just great stories but hold warnings about the trappings of success and excess in her depiction of President Snow and other Capital elite. We love to see the rebels rise up, their Mockingjay an example of how much love and devotion, loyalty and bravery can bring about light and change. In the end, she shows us a world that is broken and beaten, but allows it to show hope and a future free of the evils of the past.