Little, Big

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 29 May 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Lee	29 May 2002
Little, Big is a fantasy novel by John Crowley which is very popular. It won the World Fantasy Award. A Tarot deck is featured prominently in the plot, and is in fact a major character in the novel. The book has gone in and out of print regularly and infuriatingly since it was first published about 20 years ago. It's been out of print for several years now, but now it's back in print, and I really recommend it. I can honestly say that reading it has changed how I look at life. It's delightful, funny, sad, and totally engrossing, and a must for Tarot lovers. Click here to see Amazon's listing (this is an Aeclectic link). -- Lee

MeeWah	29 May 2002
Lee: Am taking your recommendation & looking for a copy. Do you know of any other books with Tarot as part of the storyline?

HudsonGray	29 May 2002
YES! Doris Egan just had her 3 novels come out as a trilogy in paperback for $7.99 this past month called The Complete Ivory (it has The Ivory Gate, Two Bit Heroes & Guild Edged Ivory). All three books are about a card reader--you get the most 'readings' in the second book, but she uses the cards in all three.

amyel	29 May 2002
Lee & Hudson, thanks! It is summer and I love nothing more after puttering around the garden then reading a good book on the deck, with a "gin avec tonique"! I'll have to pick these up & add them to my collection!

truthsayer	30 May 2002
i'm reading "little, big" right now and love it!!!! it's thick book-over 500 pages and the print is a little small. the writing style is quite good but different. there are so many plots, subplots and subtle plots that it keeps me thinking. it starts on the eve of a wedding and all those hopes and expectations of families joining. fairies are also an important part of the plot but to say much more would spoil the whole thing! just read it! you'll love it but it's not light reading. as i read i keep feeling like i'm reading a stephen king novel. there's a sense of bizarreness that occurs in everyday life of the characters that just sucked me in. another one i highly recommend is "the wishing garden" by christy yorke. what a warm wise funny wonderful book! it's about love, tarot, and making tough decisions that might break your heart but you have to do it. there's such psychological depth and insight into each character's personality and internal turmoils. its about a woman raising her rebellious teenage daughter as a single parent. in the day, she has a normal job in advertizing but at night she reads tarot. then she has a disturbing reading and soon after finds out that her father is dying. so she drops everything to be w/ him. that's when things start to get really interesting. i keep postponing finishing this one b/c i want to stay w/ the characters and wonder during my daily activities what's going to happen next. believe me, this is not an ordinary book so don't let my preliminary bias you. another one that i'm playing w/ is "the castle of crossed destinies" by calvino? i think. it reminds me of the canterbury tales except these ppl are trapped in a castle unable to speak. they can only communicate thru tarot cards. the deck used is the visconti. i traded for the visconti so i could follow the spreads for the stories in the book. it's interesting. while the writing style isn't as good as the other 3, i do think it's worth checking out. particularly if you enjoyed the canterbury tales. the last one i'm planning to read is called,"last call" by tim powers. it's another world fantasy award winner. major tom recommended it in another thread. i read one chapter to see if this is a book i would read. it seems to revolve around tarot and gambling in las vegas. in the first chapter, someone is murdered while doing a tarot reading... the complete ivory is about a young woman who is stranded on a planet called ivory. in the first chapter(that's all i read to get a feel for the story) she is introduced as a tarot reader who has had interesting adventures while trying to earn enough money to buy passage off the planet ivory. i think the pace will be fast.

HudsonGray	30 May 2002
I just located this tarot page where someone collected all sorts of authors/book titles that have tarot in them. They DO say that some aren't worth reading, but if you know the authors, you can probably figure out which are better to read than others. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2282/tarot/tarlit.htm Take a look & see if anything jumps off the page at you. Oh, and yes, the Ivory books are a fast read, lots of action & a NICE love story through all 3 books.

truthsayer	30 May 2002
ninalee braden did that list and i consider her a great expert on anyything tarot. i printed out her list a while back b/c it's so long it takes a while to get thru. she has an website called moonstruck that everyone should check out. http://www.geocities.com/~ninalee/ she also teaches an online tarot self-discovery class. i took it around a year ago but it proved too time consuming at the time. she lists exercises and some atricles she's written at the site. check it out!

Melvis	30 May 2002
What a wonderful link, Hudson Gray! Thanks for posting it! Being a bookworm who haunts the local used bookstores, this is a great list to print out and have with me! Happy reading, all! Peace, Melvis :TSTRE

purplelady	30 May 2002
Wow! That is some amazing list at "moonstruck"! Just a thought for anyone looking for out of print books (yes, they Do go in and out of print over the years). Try either ebay or amazon.com "marketplace" for new or used. I recently began reading a science fiction book from the library. But I don't have much reading time and had only just begun the book when I had to return it to the library. They had a newly published version at amazon for $15 (and That was 30% off) but then I noticed it for sale at amazon marketplace (and it was the older version, the one I really wanted anyhow) I bought it for $1.50 plus shipping , came to total $5.00 and it arrived in a week. I also learned the book has 2 sequels. The second one is rare and out of print. I found it at ebay, and bought it for $3.00 total and that Includes shipping! It arrived in about 10 days in perfect condition! They have loads of books at ebay that no one bids on (I know, try to win that tarot deck that everyone wants and you're out of luck!) But for out of print novels you may just be in luck!

Major Tom	31 May 2002
Quote: Originally posted by truthsayer i'm reading "little, big" right now and love it!!!! I think I've read Little, Big 3 times now. I love it too. Quote: Originally posted by truthsayer the last one i'm planning to read is called,"last call" by tim powers. it's another world fantasy award winner. i read one chapter to see if this is a book i would read. it seems to revolve around tarot and gambling in las vegas. Gambling in Las Vegas is the scene but I wouldn't say that is what the book revolves on. The story continues in Expiration Date and Earthquake Weather and revolves around the King of the American West - the servant of Dionysius. Lots of ghosts and spellwork! }) I'm going to have to check out some of these others on the list at Moonstruck - I always enjoy a good read. :D

The Little, Big thread was originally posted on 29 May 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.