To Read, Perchance to Enjoy

It's a Saturday, which seems like a good time to share music or maybe... share some books I have enjoyed.  Now, before I go to far with this, I am not sharing a batch of books with you to try and impress anybody.  I am not selecting books that I think people will think better of me for reading either.

All I am doing here is sharing some books that I have enjoyed reading, for whatever reason.  It's not unlike a tower of blocks.  I stacked them up because I was actually enjoying myself - but I had no reason to try to tell you or anyone else that this tower of blocks was better than your tower of blocks.  All that matters is I had a little fun doing it - and if it inspires you to build your own tower of blocks, so be it!

One recent read I really enjoyed

I finished Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver and I have to confess that I started it a long while back and then stopped reading.  Part of the issue?  It was the dead of Winter on the farm and I didn't need to be reading about people dealing with the cold.  That, and I just didn't have the desire to read about people struggling - because there is certainly a strong component of that in most any book worth reading.  Instead, I had been opting to read less or re-read a book I already knew well.

I liked the fact that this book moves the narration between multiple characters, though I admit to have been initially annoyed when Novik added in new voices pretty late in the game.  But, it didn't take long for me to find I might like some of those voices just as much as the first few I was introduced to.  The story is a new telling based on some Eastern European fairy tales - most notably Rumpelstiltskin.  I was also interested to see a take on Baba Yaga's hut.

Most people have given favorable reviews of the book, including by Amal Al-Motar on NPR and James Nicoll.  On the other hand, Michael Weingrad was not terribly enamored with the unrealistic portrayal of Jews in what is supposedly a fictional, yet historically set, Eastern Europe/Poland.  Now, before you get the wrong impression, I don't typically read reviews before I select a book - I just figured some of you would appreciate a few opinions before you did.

As far as I am concerned, I very much enjoyed the book.  It gave me important things to think about.  It provided me with a story that was engaging and characters I appreciated.  It didn't let itself be too constrained by historical and cultural precision (which was part of Weingrad's issue with it), nor did it concern itself with adhering strictly to the original fairy tales.

One theme I took away from this story was the capacity of different people to be motivated to see beyond themselves and "do good" - for lack of a better way to say it.  In fact, I found it interesting that Novik seems to provide many of her characters with an "instinct" for what is right and what is not - even if their circumstances might imply that they would have a hard time acting on that instinct.

Frankly, I don't care whether the inherent goodness of these characters is realistic or not - just like I am willing to accept that the "other people" in the book seem to have trouble seeing beyond themselves.  I suspect, if  Novik decided to let each of these other people be the narrator for a while, that we would see reasons for hope with most of them too.

The author does show some struggle to make the decision to do what seems to be the right thing, even if it is not the easy thing.  And I tend to think we don't need all of our stories to be drowning in the realistic morass of struggle and failure.  Sometimes we need hope that people will see and strive for better. And sometimes, we don't need everything to be exactly replicated as it is in the real world.

And a re-read I also enjoyed

Tad Williams' The Dragonbone Chair is the first book in a fantasy trilogy.  From a structural standpoint, Williams follows what has become a typical three book, epic fantasy model where you start with an introduction to your main character in their younger days.  After you start to get comfortable with their personal struggles and doubts within the life they lead, a tragic event occurs that spins the main character and subset of other characters into a grand adventure.  Over the course of three books things typically get ever bleaker, with small glimmers of hope - usually in the form of the resilience of some of the main characters.  Then, we get to the big climax at the end where the survivors exit in the final chapters with hope for a better world.

I thought this review at Fazila Reads: Life of a Book Addict was well balanced and accurate.

Yes, the Dragonbone Chair and the rest of the trilogy is long.  Yes, the pacing of the book can feel slow.  And, yes, there are times when the situation seems so hopeless and so painful that you aren't sure you want to read on.  Once again - full disclosure - I have a difficult time reading Tad Williams' works without taking breaks in the middle of it, and I don't think I am alone in that.

That said, I have rarely found a writer where I enjoyed the beauty of the word selection than Williams.  And, there are times that the telling is so good at making you feel and see what is going on that you might decide to put it down or skip a section.  But, I find that I am even more willing to observe and enjoy these descriptions on a second reading because I don't have the added concern that I don't know how it is going to turn out.  

The big winner in these books is that I felt like I could really settle into getting to know the characters and their cultures.  I found that I could understand them and their motivations.  I could watch them grow, learn and change.  And, I really wanted them to make it through the difficulties they were facing - even if I knew some of them might not.

There were also two themes that stood out for me in this series.  First, the mythical story of a person or place rarely matches up with the actual story.  The main character discovers, over time, that the real story of a person revered by others was very different than the popular version.  And, that same character learns first hand how the mythical story builds and grows away from the actual story over time.

The second theme is one of perspectives.  The actions of one person, nation, or culture may seem inexplicable and even unforgivable from the outside.  But, when you have a chance to walk in their shoes there may be reasons for understanding, sympathy, and possibly, forgiveness.