Kipling!!!

Happy 144th birthday to Rudyard Kipling!! Of course, not as many people "Kiple" as they did 100 years ago, and imperialism, white man's burden, etc. etc. But he did write some amazing things that are still well worth checking out! Kim is a great book that, as well as being beautifully written, can still give insight into today's situation in the Middle and Near East. As Kipling said, "When everyone is dead the Great Game is finished. Not before." Read it slowly, like the English Patient for the full effect.


Kipling also wrote some really great poetry, although much of it is now prettty dated. But I've always liked this from "M'andrew's Hymn" that Frank Lloyd Wright had carved above his studio in Oak Park:




"Ye've left a glimmer still to cheer the Man—the Artifex! That holds, in spite o’ knock and scale, o’ friction, waste and slip,
And by that light—now, mark my word — we'll build the Perfect Ship.”



Very inspiring!! Also check out "Mandalay Bay" and "If".




And of course The Jungle Book - must read!!!!