House Inside the Waves: Domesticity, Art and Surfing Life

Rating:
Summary: The surfing househusband returns to the sea!
Review: A beautifully woven piece of work that shares the trials and travails of parenthood, Taylor's return to surfing in the formidable yet inspiring waters of Byron Bay, and a reminder of how to love even the most minute aspects of life.

Beyond excellent, without a doubt. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Dip Your Toes into Richard Taylor's Vibrant Memory
Review: There is a lot to be said about putting oneself, 'out there'. Whether it be penning a tale spun from waves of tribulation or splashing a toe into the abyss of Richard Taylor's ocean of humourous, joyful memories, the eternal return of the 'good,' the timeless love for the human condition, or lives between the pages of this fast-paced read, HOUSE INSIDE THE WAVES: Domesticity, Art and the Surfing Life.

What particularly struck me about this personal travel narrative, were the people brought to life before my reading eyes. In part, I fell like I could drop into Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia, and walk up to one of the many 'friends' I have come to know and love through the author's eyes, and be welcomed right into another page of their lives. Not an easy task for strangers --here and there-- born into this present world of uncertainty. Pushing away the familiar, the drudgery of day-to-day existence, the storyline parted and pared away the frivolous layers of civilization, to arrive at a meeting place inside the human emotional waves which all of us, from time-to-time must try to fathom. The breath of the every day life as captured by the fascinating views about authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Hemingway, Kerouac and Henry Miller, various bric-a-brac surfing gear and the laughter of young children watching their fathers' compete in a lawn mower race, brought insight into my own life. Made me ponder on my own place. Even roped in some of my own loose ends, cords of creation I had forgotten.

When I finally closed the covers of HOUSE INSIDE THE WAVES, I realized that the massive Pacific Ocean, the caterwauling winds, the hand-carved Tiki's nurtured by the waters of time, are not just distant echoes from a faraway, imagined country and people. They are real. They breathe. They are a part of me. And, inside thse waves, human and liquid, I cannot help but feel called to catch a ride on the eternal Aboriginal boomerang. Land on the 'bottom of the world,' and dip my feet into Richard Taylor's live and vibrant memory.