What would you do if you kept dreaming about a woman urging you to board a bus made of rice paper? And then one day (in real life) she walked up to you in a museum and asked why you wouldn’t get on the bus?
Amaryllis Night and Day by Russell Hoban is a love story that takes place mostly in the subconscious. It’s the story of artist Peter and the mysterious Amaryllis, who finds him in a dream – and then teaches him how to “glim”, a kind of lucid dreaming that forms most of their courtship.
This is a playful and unusual story. It’s a short book, but it’s packed with insightful and funny metaphors. Disoriented after he begins having odd dreams, Peter is beset by “the feeling you get when you reach for something on the top shelf of a cupboard and everything falls on your head.” Before his life is enriched with Amaryllis, he sees empty buses and thinks them “Coachloads of emptiness (that) waited for their children to return”, foreshadowing his eventual dreamland coach adventures with his future love.
This whimsical book is a weird but charming love story, and I really liked how unserious it was – and at 176 pages it can easily be demolished in a weekend.
More Weekend Reads
Cherie Cooper
Cherie lives, works, and reads in beautiful Tasmania – the green island gem below Australia known for its gorgeous landscape and beautiful wildlife.
She holds multiple academic qualifications in English, journalism, and fine art theory, and has worked in writing, editing, and communications roles for more than a decade.
Most importantly, she has a deep love for books that began as soon as she learned how to read.
Old, new, any genre – for Cherie, reading is about as vital as breathing.
She is interested in sharing books that move, excite, and compel, so others can share the joy of a truly great read.
While she reads across most genres, her favourite is literary fiction. Particularly anything by Margaret Atwood, Ottessa Moshfegh, Kate Atkinson, Elizabeth Berg, Ann Patchett, and Anne Tyler.
Cherie frequents Tasmania’s beautiful boutique book shops as well as scouring secondhand shops for books to add to her extensive home library.
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