Magificence

This is a really fun book to read! It's about a lady who inherits a huge old house in Pasadena. I'll try not to spoil it for you. But the house is full of wonderful but ill kept treasures. Buried in the basement is literally the key to our human history. When you read about houses your are of course really reading about selves. This we know from Jung who says that if you dream of a house with a secret room it is really a additional part of yourself you need to explore. But it's just so luscious to get to see a character do this detail by detail. And to think the lady thought she might move to a condo on the beach!
Anyway what I love about this story is that the main character doesn't have to do anything to get this house. She just inherits it from an uncle she never knew. And no one can take it away from her. And when she starts paying attention to the treasures inside herself they come back to life to the extent that any old memories can. And as she digs deeper inside herself/house she comes to find the mythic beginnings of the human story. Things she never thought existed or had believed became extinct long ago.
I think the treasures in the house are her memories of her experiences in life. The stories she once knew about herself but then ignored as she became estranged from her inner life. And I think this book is saying that we all have inherited such a house. We all can imagine learning about ourselves as inheriting a grandly beautiful old neglected house. But we can fix it up! Our house/self can come back to life. That's why I'm sitting here trying to work on this blog and on my own Magnificence.