Books That Awaken the Five Senses

by Martha Engber

Author of A Natural History of the Senses

In A Natural History of the Senses, author Diane Ackerman talks in a most beautiful, literary way, about the sensitivity of whale songs, macabre meals, the taboos of touch and a myriad of other specificities that make a reader come awake to the five senses as never before.

But of all her interweaving of the personal and the science — the connection between what she experiences when walking down her garden path and the kindred makeup of humans and stars — the most memorable is her description of real vanilla, as from a vanilla bean, not only of the scent, but the taste. The flavoring is derived from the vanilla orchid, a plant as beautifully exotic as the desserts of which vanilla is a superstar. Cherry clafouti. Portuguese custard tarts. Homemade vanilla ice cream.

While  my ode to this passage seems based within the realm of taste, the reason I remember the segment is the sensuality her description enlivened.

We often think of sensuality as being only sexual, but the definition is not so limited, but rather encompasses the gratification of, or desire for, sensual pleasures, or those related to all physical reactions caused by what our brains take in via the five senses.

When writing THE WIND THIEF, that sensuality had to be the third character in a largely two-character story. The feel of wind, the grit of sand, the heat of a burning Acacia in a wadi, or dry riverbed. I’ll be talking about such sensuous details at 4 p.m. Sat., May 29, during An Evening in the Sahara Desert: Food, Photos, Facts.

Besides researching the sensual minutia that feeds readers’ imaginations, I also turned to a number of books, movies and music for inspiration, and in specific. In specific, I looked to sources that beheld sensuality as a means of connection between isolated individuals.

Here are a few such sources. I hope you enjoy the offering:

Books

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

Babbette’s Feast by Isak Dinesen

Spring Essence: The Poetry of Ho Xuan Hurong, translated by John Balaban

The History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman



Movies

The Scent of Green Papaya (1994)

Babbette’s Feast (1987)

Music

Thimar, with Anouar Brahem, John Surman, Dave Holland

Appalachia Waltz, with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Mark O’Connor

Eat Your Way Through Literature

by Martha Engber

(Makroud el Louse)

The joy — and challenge — of writing THE WIND THIEF was the research involved. I had to quantify this aspect of the book for a press release, and here’s the result:

Number of research resources: 97

Type of research:

Tabla lessons

Maps

Nonfiction books

Articles

Personal interviews

Museum exhibits

Websites

Music



Subjects

Places: Africa, India, Brazil, Argentina, Jamaica

Languages: Arabic, Berber, Hindi, French, Portuguese, Greek

Religions: Islam, archaic northern African

Weather: wind, wind folklore, air temperature/pressure/currents, global warming, acid rain, seasons, natural disasters

Ocean: currents, weather, shipping

Activities: wind surfing, rock climbing

Cuisine: Algerian, Moroccan, Argentinean

Music: tabla, Moroccan instruments, Algerian flute, terms

Crime: petty crime, con games, biological warfare

Though all the research was engrossing, the most tasty was that involving food: naan, tagines, Moroccan pastillas, Argentinean mate.

For my An Evening in the Sahara Desert: Food, Photos and Reading from THE WIND THIEF, at 4 p.m. Sat., May 29, I’ll be bringing Makroud el Louse. The Algerian almond cookies, featured in above photo, that reflect the French influence of that country. I made them yesterday and the hint of orange flower water is outrageous.

For book clubs members — or any reader/foodie/Julia Child wannabe — who would like to conclude reading THE WIND THIEF with a dinner/discussion featuring food from where the story takes place, I’ll be bringing a list of recipes for your enjoyment.

Food is always an integral part of my research, because eating awakens every sense, and in turn awakens sensuality, the basis for passion involving place, people and circumstance. Sensuality, and specifically the sensual books that have influenced my writing, will be the topic of my next post on May 23.

Until then, happy eating and reading.

(If you're a writer, feel free to visit my Q & A site for writers.)

Wanderlust: Books That Drift Our Hearts Away

by Martha Engber

When contemplating the nature of my upcoming presentation, An Evening in the Sahara Desert: Food, Photos and Reading from THE WIND THIEF, at 4 p.m. Sat., May 29, I realized what I most want to share with those who attend: the sense of wanderlust that causes us to read books about elsewhere.

I’ve been alternately plagued and saved by literary wanderlust since my youth. I grew up in an old Chicago suburb and on summer days would spread a blanket beneath a maple tree and read: Nancy Drew mysteries, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Bless the Beasts and the Children.

Though by adolescence, my favorite books were those that took me far away, which, by virtue of the books that captured by imagination, meant England: Rebecca, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, My Cousin Rachel, The Secret Garden.

My passion for distant/remote/dreamy places has only increased, fed by the expansion of a global reading world where we’re now routinely treated to books that take us far, far from our daily lives. So that even if I can’t go to those places physically, I’m transported there in spirit.

And what’s the next best thing to reading about those places? Tasting the food from those regions. Tune in next Sun., May 16, when I’ll tell you what Northern African treat I’ll bring May 29 along with a list of recipes I recommend books clubs — or any readers — make and taste after reading THE WIND THIEF.

Until then, enjoy a few of the selections from my list of books about elsewhere:

Beyond America:

Contemporary Books About Elsewhere



(I’ll bring handouts of the full list on May 29)



Fiction

Emily and Me by Kathryn White (South Africa)

The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini (Zimbabwe)

On Air by Maniza Nazvi (Pakistan)

Tide Running by Oonya Kempadoo (Guyana)

Nonfiction

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad (Afghanistan)

White Mughals by William Dalrymple (India)

The Middle Passage, V. S. Naipaul (Trinidad)

Island Journeys, Patti Marxsen (French colonial islands)