Reading Wednesday

[sabotabby]

Just finished: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern.

Okay, so. I am an unabashed fan of The Chronicles of Narnia despite its problematic, well, everything. Fight me. Anyway the best book in the series is Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the best part in that is the bit where Lucy finds the magician's spell book and fucks up big time by magically spying on her best friend. At which point Aslan gives an Important Moral Lesson and then gives her "a spell to refresh the spirit," which consists of a beautiful story involving a cup, a sword, and a green hill. She can't remember anything about it after it ends beyond how it made me feel, but Aslan promises to tell it to her over and over again in years to come.

This novel reminds me of that. As did The Night Circus in many ways, but this one more so, because if you gave me a choice, escaping into a magical circus is not quite as awesome as escaping into a magical library that's full of cats and where a dumbwaiter keeps bringing you coffee and cupcakes. That's pretty much my ideal. There's all the symbolism and very minimal plot; the magic obeys the logic of fairy tales, and everything about this book is lush and dreamlike and gorgeous. It's composed of the framing story (boy finds a magical door, boy convinces himself that the magical door can't be real, the Call To Adventure eventually drags him into the magical library anyway, but far later than planned) and the stories that are in the various mysterious books, all of which eventually come together. I found the characters a bit more intriguing, and definitely more diverse, than in The Night Circus, even if the story was less structured and more sprawling.

Also, it contains massive shoutouts to The Magicians (books, not show). It had me at the bees.

It's not a perfect novel by any means. For one thing, I would have preferred more Kat; she's in the beginning and at the end but disappears for about 300 pages, which is a shame because she's one of the more interesting characters, and I would read an entire book about her. But it's tonally perfect, if that makes sense. I wanted to inhabit the world in a way that doesn't usually happen when I read portal fantasy as an adult. And in terms of pandemic reading, it is the perfect story to lose yourself inside.

Currently reading: A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster by Rebecca Solnit. This is another perfect pandemic read, although obviously a lot more topical. It's about how our impression of civilian behaviour after a catastrophe—honed by the media and pop culture—is almost always wrong, and people's impulse in disaster tends to be one of solidarity and altruism rather than selfishness and violence. At least until the authorities dive in and screw everything up for everyone. Solnit, who as I'm sure you all know is a fantastic writer and researcher, does a deep dive into case studies from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to Hurricane Katrina, with an emphasis on the experiences of ordinary people. I thought I knew a fair bit about the San Francisco earthquake—at least, I knew about the mutual aid stuff—but I had no idea that, for example, the chief firefighter died in the quake and the army came in and started making the fires worse because they had no coordination and didn't know how to fight fires. And also just shot people in the streets. Anyway, it's impeccably detailed and researched and very relevant to all of our interests right now.

Comments

[kore]

escaping into a magical circus is not quite as awesome as escaping into a magical library that's full of cats and where a dumbwaiter keeps bringing you coffee and cupcakes

OMG YES. Also Magicians shoutouts? Even better.

I really love that Solnit book. I reread that and Hope in the Dark a whole lot in the past five years. She's an amazing writer and thinker.

[sabotabby]

OMG YES. Also Magicians shoutouts? Even better.

Lemon poppyseed gluten-free cupcakes (that taste good for some reason), no less. Also "all the dumplings," interpreted very literally.

Lots of the imagery is basically Magicians fanservice and I am here for it.

Solnit is brilliant and I love her. This one somehow missed my radar until recently, though I think I've read excerpts from it.

[kore]

LOL, even the cover, the golden keys!

Solnit's Hope was the book that got a lot of attention more recently, I think. Also people tend not to want to hear that in a major disaster, you're way more at risk from bureaucrats and crazy people with guns than from the black people who live down the street (who are way way more at risk than anyone else). I remember everyone marveling at that giant hospital ship parked off the Panama dock that had no patients. Years later, oh whoops, that's NYC and LA too.

*

[minoanmiss]

*takes notes* I love your book reviews.

Re: *

[sabotabby]

Thanks. Sometimes they're a bit rushed because Wednesdays are busy for me, but this one was worth waking up early and writing.

[broken_record]

They just shot people in the streets? Holy shit...

[sabotabby]

Yeah. It was unreal. They were ordered to stop looting at all costs, and this included situations where, say, a grocery store owner had told people, "my produce is all going to rot; take it from the store that's about to burn down and distribute it in the park." In other cases they shot up bars rather than let people take alcohol, which...is not a great situation where you have fires happening, to say the least.

[broken_record]

WTF. Police have always responded so psychotically to large groups going through crisis or posing a "threat" and even not posing a threat. 😱

[whatarewordsfor]

I grew up with the Chronicles of Narnia. The problematic stuff went right over my head back then. I don’t think I’m ready for topical books on human behavior just yet. Besides, they found a body in the Apple barn and now Granny is a suspect.

[sabotabby]

I grew up with the Chronicles of Narnia. The problematic stuff went right over my head back then.

I was pretty young when I read it but for some reason I knew it was problematic then. I don't know, maybe my mum explained it to me? But I got by Dawn Treader at the very latest that this was a book about Jesus. despite not being Christian myself.

I don’t think I’m ready for topical books on human behavior just yet.

Fair! I'm finding it a disturbing read in terms of it obviously being about horrible events, but comforting in the sense of what it says about human behaviour.

Besides, they found a body in the Apple barn and now Granny is a suspect.

Oooh, whatcha reading?

[whatarewordsfor]

Apple Cider Slaying by Julie Anne Lindsey. It’s very cozy. Apple cider, rescue kittens, grumpy sherif, murder.

[sabotabby]

That sounds like a delight!

[50ftqueenie]

Same here. I actually don't know what people find problematic about it now and TBH, I really don't care. I'm coming to realize that there's not a single thing in this world that someone will not find fault with, so no matter what I do, someone is going to seem it problematic. I just don't care anymore.

[whatarewordsfor]

That... is pretty much true. Especially since the internet became one giant flame war.

[50ftqueenie]

Yes, well said. One giant flame war is exactly what so much online discourse has turned into, and I'm so over it.

[pofflewomp]

I've just read the whole Narnia series aloud at bedtime, after not having read it since I was 7 and didn't know Christianity was a thing. It's wonderful.

[sabotabby]

It contains some Deeply Problematic Shit but I love it anyway. For all of its flaws; in some ways, because it's so flawed.

[pofflewomp]

Ah yes - I mean I didn't know it was about Christianity when I was little. This time round I've been aware of deeply problematuc shit, though actually I loved the writing and stories so much I barely registered them. I tried explaining Aslan is a Jesus metaphor to my child and he kept insisting that he can't be both Jesus and God because they're separate people, which is a fair point as a 7 year old can't be expected to get tripartite deities yet... I explained to him that C.S.Lewis, like Milton, is cool in that he can't help believing in ancient Greek and Roman gods at the same time as Christian lion gods and that this is cool because all gods can coexist in loveliness...and that it was wrong not to let girls fight more (he said a) the girls have bows and arrows and b) no one should fight, boys or girls).

I think the rest of the deeply problematic shit went over my head (though I remember lots from Lewis' science fiction) as I was enjoying it so much. The language is so beautiful, it's the most fun I've had reading aloud.

[sabotabby]

That's pretty adorable. At 40 I don't understand tripartite deities either.

I think for me it's the sheer joy Lewis takes from his faith. He sees beauty in it, and it bleeds through into the writing. Even though I ultimately disagree he's so clearly driven by his argument that it becomes worth engaging.

[pofflewomp]

That's really inspired me to reread it really soon! I hadn't looked at it that way but of course you're right - it just suffuses the books. And I'd forgotten the humour in the books too is beautiful and unexpected.
I've been grumpy about C.S.Lewis because his book on why he converted from atheism left me incomprehending, but yes - his joy in it is what makes it so wonderful to read and so alive.
I must find more of the film versions now. We've watched 3.

[sabotabby]

The film versions are not very good (like I actually prefer the cheesy BBC ones to the Disney ones, which, weirdly, are not Christian enough in a way that ends up subverting the whole point of the stories). But the Regina Spektor song at the end of Prince Caspian kills me every time.