Sounds of a City

As I read this, I wondered how this would physically feel if I experienced it too...stuck in a smothered and quiet place and then allowed to see and feel the liveliness of a city.

"As we rode onto the avenue, the sound of our horses' hooves was muddled with the other noises of the city. It was just before midday, and we were in the middle of the last surge of activity before people withdrew into their homes to wait out the afternoon heat. There were a few other horses on the road, and many more donkeys. People traveled on foot and in sedan chairs carried by servants. Merchants brought their goods up the avenue in carts and then led loaded donkeys down the narrow alleys to the back doors of the great houses, hoping to sell their vegetables to the cook, their linen to the housekeeper, or their wine to the steward. There was jostling and shouting and noise, and I relished it after the perpetual smothered quiet of the prison."

-The Thief, a book written by Megan Whalen Turner

This is a great book, by the way. Julie, my wife, read it for her young adult literature class and really wanted me to read it so I did. I’m enjoying it so far. There is a swear word that shows up a few times near the beginning so it’s not one I would own without marking that word out, but I love the story and characters so far

The book is about a young man who is a thief. He got caught by the king’s soldiers and had been in prison for many months when the king and his scholar takes the young man, Gen, out of prison in order to steal something for them. One thing I love about this book is how the author put Greece landscape into it in a way. There are olive trees all over

I hope y’all will enjoy it as much as I do.