Bibliography
Jul. 18th, 2014 08:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_lady_lily35 - The Ancient Curse - Valerio Manfredi - reviewed Elsewhere.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman
The latest Gaiman, which came out with considerable fanfare. It goes back into Stardust territory, which I actually rather like - I prefer the simple narrative voice and the uncomplicated plot line more than the tricksy clever stuff he tried in American Gods and The Anansi Boys. Fable, that's the word. This story is a man's sudden and unexpected recollection of an experience he had when he was seven, when the boundaries of the world became a lot more fluid and monsters crept in from the other side. The narrator's voice speaks as if he were seven, with the occasional observation from the 'adult' telling the story, but not one that challenges the child's perspective or the fantastical element. There's a strange sort of acceptance and comfort with the oddness in the speaker, a settling into the fantasy without struggling, that's very reminiscent of Stardust and the world across the wall.
It's also a story, of course, about families and how they work, and how parents get on with things, and about childhood's sense of the things that might or might not be there when you blink. I'm not saying it's the most amazing thing ever written, but it's a return to form and I enjoyed it.
Utopia - Thomas More
I've wanted to read this for a while, not least because of its status as one of the books one really should read about - well, things in general. It's quite beautifully put together, with the conceit of the Strange Traveller who has seen this commonwealth which runs itself so well, and then let's get out our imagination vibes and create a brilliant world. Of course, in doing so More implicates himself in all the sexist and classist assumptions you could possibly want (of course erring women are punished by their husbands, and virtuous women confess their sins to their husbands before church, and that's the most effective way of doing things!), but all the same, it's a world built on strangely communal principles. I'm also struck by how much Roman law found its way in there as a basis for various parts of the structure, mixed in with some Greek philosophy and a good dose of Christian ethics. It's a fantastic mix, and a surprisingly easy read given its ambition.
Druid's Sword - Sara Douglass
The last in the Troy Game quartet, and good heavens, it's a doozy. All the stuff I've been thinking about labyrinths and space and its implications and its importance of the plot suddenly got a hell of a lot heavier, which is awesome but also now leaves me in a slightly tricky position about what to do with it next. I'm holding on to it for the time being, but it may end up being a blog Elsewhere eventually.
This book is about Brutus-reborn's development as a character far more than it is about the other characters, who we saw develop in the previous book. This one also sees people who have been antagonistic come together to work for the same goal for the first time, and to do so successfully - the field of play has the goalposts moved again, and the antagonists are not who they seemed when we started out in the first book. I've really enjoyed reading this series, far more than I expected to, so I'll happily recommend them.
Beatrice and Virgil - Yann Martel
A very strange little book that tries to tell the story of the Holocaust through somebody trying to tell the story of the Holocaust and encountering a taxidermist doing just that through a play script involving talking animals. It is a bit weird and experimental and trying to be clever but also being desperately depressing (it is dealing with the Holocaust, after all). I'm not entirely sure I like it, but from what I can gather it seems to be the sort of thing that Yann Martel likes doing, so there we are.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman
The latest Gaiman, which came out with considerable fanfare. It goes back into Stardust territory, which I actually rather like - I prefer the simple narrative voice and the uncomplicated plot line more than the tricksy clever stuff he tried in American Gods and The Anansi Boys. Fable, that's the word. This story is a man's sudden and unexpected recollection of an experience he had when he was seven, when the boundaries of the world became a lot more fluid and monsters crept in from the other side. The narrator's voice speaks as if he were seven, with the occasional observation from the 'adult' telling the story, but not one that challenges the child's perspective or the fantastical element. There's a strange sort of acceptance and comfort with the oddness in the speaker, a settling into the fantasy without struggling, that's very reminiscent of Stardust and the world across the wall.
It's also a story, of course, about families and how they work, and how parents get on with things, and about childhood's sense of the things that might or might not be there when you blink. I'm not saying it's the most amazing thing ever written, but it's a return to form and I enjoyed it.
Utopia - Thomas More
I've wanted to read this for a while, not least because of its status as one of the books one really should read about - well, things in general. It's quite beautifully put together, with the conceit of the Strange Traveller who has seen this commonwealth which runs itself so well, and then let's get out our imagination vibes and create a brilliant world. Of course, in doing so More implicates himself in all the sexist and classist assumptions you could possibly want (of course erring women are punished by their husbands, and virtuous women confess their sins to their husbands before church, and that's the most effective way of doing things!), but all the same, it's a world built on strangely communal principles. I'm also struck by how much Roman law found its way in there as a basis for various parts of the structure, mixed in with some Greek philosophy and a good dose of Christian ethics. It's a fantastic mix, and a surprisingly easy read given its ambition.
Druid's Sword - Sara Douglass
The last in the Troy Game quartet, and good heavens, it's a doozy. All the stuff I've been thinking about labyrinths and space and its implications and its importance of the plot suddenly got a hell of a lot heavier, which is awesome but also now leaves me in a slightly tricky position about what to do with it next. I'm holding on to it for the time being, but it may end up being a blog Elsewhere eventually.
This book is about Brutus-reborn's development as a character far more than it is about the other characters, who we saw develop in the previous book. This one also sees people who have been antagonistic come together to work for the same goal for the first time, and to do so successfully - the field of play has the goalposts moved again, and the antagonists are not who they seemed when we started out in the first book. I've really enjoyed reading this series, far more than I expected to, so I'll happily recommend them.
Beatrice and Virgil - Yann Martel
A very strange little book that tries to tell the story of the Holocaust through somebody trying to tell the story of the Holocaust and encountering a taxidermist doing just that through a play script involving talking animals. It is a bit weird and experimental and trying to be clever but also being desperately depressing (it is dealing with the Holocaust, after all). I'm not entirely sure I like it, but from what I can gather it seems to be the sort of thing that Yann Martel likes doing, so there we are.
