'Tower Lord' Book Two of 'Raven's Shadow' by Anthony Ryan

Blood Song satisfied me in every sense.

I follow good writers through their imaginary worlds gladly, if the individual books have beginning, middle and end.  Blood Song satisfied me in every sense.  The premise is a classical fantasy with magic and swords and mysterious prophesies but the telling is compelling and the characters have depth.  Moreover, the book made me smile as I closed it.  I was sated AND looking forward to the next book at the same time.  I wondered when it would come out. A quick search and lo and behold 'Tower Lord' would come out in two weeks.  So, of course, I bought it.

'Tower Lord' continues the adventures of Vaelin Al Sorna, a warrior by nature with unusual secrets and some of the usual secrets as well.  I love it when an author takes what fantasy readers, such as myself, read as obvious and then turn it completely around.  I'm a big fan, Anthony Ryan.  You have to be careful what you decide to give your muscly hero with a big sword and what you take away.  Vaelin Al Sorna is balanced and charismatic.  In 'Tower Lord' he has matured.  His companions, enemies and friends are equally believable and interesting.  If you have read fantasy then you know that there will be battles, treachery, unexpected friends and magic.  The writing itself is excellent, the story is tight and well thought out.

This is the kind of writing that Stephen King talks about.  For the reader the process of immersing in the story is effortless.  I'm sure I have made this argument before, but I will mention it again because I think it is worth mentioning to any would be writers.  There is an understanding when an author takes an established format and uses it in a story... for instance a vampire.  If the author decides that vampires can walk in daylight then the setting and circumstances of the book will help a reader suspend her disbelief.  A vampire that no longer depletes mortals of their life force would not be a vampire.  In one notorious case, the so called vampires were sparkly, like sprinkled Ken dolls... Well, you see what I mean.  Anthony Ryan, on the other hand, knows and loves his topic, and is a talented writer as well.

Sorry, I need to rant on for a bit...  I admit it, of late fantasy series (not Raven's Shadow) have been driving me crazy.  Somewhere half way through reading a fantasy, I realise that the book is not a book but a conglomeration of chapters.  There are those books that kill off almost anyone I get to know or so convolute the problems at hand that a lifetime of reading will not resolve the mess.  Some books do both.  All I keep wishing for is an editor with the guts to take scissors to the draft but these days editors and writers alike often only hear the sound of tills rather than sense.  I have nothing against a good series or trilogy, I love big, fat books but they must read like a book not a story made up on the spot by a dragon crazy eight year old at the dinner table.

@writer_anthony

Anthony Ryan 
ISBN: 9780356502441 

'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage' by Haruki Murakami translated by Philip Gabriel

New books by Haruki Murakami get me excited.

I look forward to them like Christmas.  I wait for months, curse the slow pace of the translators and wonder why they don't get on with it... Poor Philip Gabriel, I bet he doesn't deserve it.  To make up for all those bad, impatient vibes, I am utterly grateful to the talented translator when I finally get my hands on the book.  Without translators I would miss many sources of joy in my life, like Murakami's next book.

For those of you who have never read Murakami let me say that he is the master of what my teens call "random".  Many things happen to children and teens that in their world have no explanations and no resolutions.  From a comment uttered in the school hallway, to a song on the radio at just the correct moment for a cry, to a divorce.  My teens will label great and small as random...  As an adult I like to imagine that random does not happen to me.  I know why things happen, I know that I happen to others (I am a happening woman) and I often know the consequences...yeah right.  Murakami says yeah right too but with a lot more style.

Sometimes what I would describe as magic happens and suddenly the character is in an alternate world. Sometimes a character has an unexplained talent, like the ability to talk to cats (which in another format would qualify as a mutant but I am not going to get into my cross novel cross character fantasies).  And sometimes all your friends in the world abandon you without explanation at the same time, as is what happens to Tsukuru Tazaki.  Most of us have the fear of losing someone or something, even if it is only the fear of losing the cat.  So Tsukuru is left in a cloud of fear, despair, confusion and deep sadness.  He is certain that there must be something wrong with him.  My sympathy for Tsukuru is sincere, I wonder as much as he does what happened; I admire what he makes of his life and of his emotional life.  So the courage he shows to resolve his personal mystery and eventually to face so many uncertainties in his life like the uncertainty of love (one of the worst in my opinion) is exhilarating and absorbing.

In spite of being a big fan of fantasy and the convoluted solution to a complex problem, this time I am reminded of the fact that true courage is the courage to identify a problem and face it without magical swords.  I would rather face a dragon than face what Tsukuru faced when he identified his problem.  With a dragon, you are quite certain of your enemy.  In Tsukuru's case the enemy could very well be himself.

For those of you who read '1Q84' and are worried, this book has a different tone, pace and environment.  '1Q84' is challenging in its premise, characters and setting.  Tsukuru Tazaki is more a straight forward problem and a terrifying solution.  Read it  and let me know what you think.  My favourite is still 'Kafka on the Shore', but I think this one is number 2.


@harukimurakami_
Haruki Murakami  
ISBN: 9781846558337 

'London; The Concise Biography' by Peter Ackroyd

Peter Ackroyd's  'London' opens up whole new wonders for the historically curious.

I enjoyed Peter Ackroyd's biography of Thomas Moore, so I was quite willing to try out a biography of London.  I was only disappointed when I realised I had purchased the abridged 2012 version.  Nevertheless, I read on and enjoyed it immensely.  Ackroyd did not follow a chronological line in order to introduce me to London.  He divided the history into topics.  Some of the chapter titles include"London's Outcasts", "Voracious London", or "Women and Children" and "Victorian Megapolis".  If a specific topic interests me, I can easily find it.  And did I mention how well Peter Ackroyd writes?  He is a pleasure to read.

I have to admit that I read this book because I had been reading several books that take place in London.  Most of them are fiction and several of them are fantasy.  Furthermore, Beloved Proof Reader spends a lot of time in London so I have been lucky enough to visit quite often the past six years or so.  Little by little I have become acquainted with this amazing city.  I thought it was time to take the relationship to the next level.  In London I feel like I belong, even if it is only for a weekend.  In such a city I am no longer a foreigner.  Even locals are foreigners with strange accents if they wander out of their neighbourhoods.  There is something exciting about a city that is equal parts deep and mysterious, shallow and frivolous...  Moreover, I like the idea that I will never get to know such an immense, old city.  I like to explore and discover.

There are so many magical, mysterious things in London that I confuse the different stories I have read with historical facts... for a given value of fact... or history for that matter.  The sewers have been of special interest in the past year.  They were mentioned in several books.  It was an awkward delight to find out that these authors did not have to stretch their imaginations.  In several cases they were only stating the facts but with an artistic flair.  Then I read on the news that some poor men digging for a new train in London have found Black Death pits, where the numerous dead were quickly buried.  Death is discussed in depth and often in 'London'.  The city is but one large graveyard.  The gruesome testimony to progress, war, pestilence and poverty can be uncovered on a daily basis.

I somehow feel that Londoners are so accustomed to this history that if the dead truly rose from their numerous graves, most would complain about property and let prices rising even faster.  Certainly, Ackroyd gave me the impression that commerce has become the whole point of the crowded city.  British people, who pride themselves on common sense, would openly admit that there is very little point in such a city if not to make money.  Everyone wants to live in the country, after all, with lots of slobbering dogs and a place to put your wellies.

If you have never been to London, read this book.  If you have only lived in London, read this book.  You do not have to read it in one go.  Pick a topic and read about it.  It is comprehensive without being exhaustive.  Peter Ackroyd's  references open up whole new wonders for the historically curious.  I open this book at random on rainy afternoons and get lost looking for Gracechurch street.


Peter Ackroyd 
ISBN: 9780099570387 

'Enon' by Paul Harding

Paul Harding really is that good

Most good writers entertain me, sometimes they teach me and often they leave me eager for more.  Most bad writers leave me indifferent and at worst annoyed at the waste of my time.  Then there are great writers… You all have read a few of them.  The kinds of writers that make you want to write; the kind of writers that make you despair of writing because you will never be as good; the kind of writer whose turn of phrase lingers in your mind; the kind of writer whose characters have depth and subtlety and grace regardless of their age or status… That kind of writer is Paul Harding. I did not think he could write like that again.

I cried at the beginning.  I cried at the end.  I cried in between.  Sometimes I was sad, often I was grateful… Harding is that good.  The whole story is told from the point of one man, Charlie Crosby.  His triumphs but mostly his loss and failure are told in his beloved home town of Enon.  The reader gets to know some of the towns people and the history of the town.  I also got to know my own sense of judgement, tolerance and sympathy.   In taking Charlie's mask off to see him, I had to take mine off and see myself.  There are some hard lessons in this book if you are willing to look closely.  If you only wish to enjoy a beautiful story, beautifully told, then this is also a book for you.

I read 'Tinkers', his Pulitzer Prize winning book and thought I was in story telling heaven...  The elegant sort of heaven with beautiful libraries and gardens in which to read with just the right kind of tea and chocolate that matches the kind of book you wish to read that day. Ehem… Instead, he did it again.  'Enon' is a love story with a town and a child and life and choices and and and.  It is not a romance. There are no happy endings if what you mean by happy endings are everyone living whole, vindicated and happily ever after.  The best this book can offer is hope and a grown up sort of hope at that…exactly the sort of hope that dawn brings every day, no solutions only … opportunity, potential… for good or bad.  That 'Enon' happens to be a distant continuation of 'Tinkers' gives it added depth and poignance.  It is not necessary to read one before the other.  'Enon' is beautiful on its own.

Paul Harding 
ISBN: 9780434021727 

'World War Z' shortly followed by 'The Zombie Survival Guide' by Max Brooks

While reading, I assessed my home for defense as well as available weapons

One of the best parts of reading many a horror book is closing it and saying "This is not real".  It is often my favorite part of reading such books.  Stephen King excels in terrifying me paragraph to paragraph.  He suspends my disbelief with a deft touch and gives me stomach aches.  Having said that, a demon possessed car is not a plausible concern in my world.  So I can go to sleep, eventually, 99.99 % certain that my car will not be possessed in the morning.  The same goes for other kinds of stories that often involve monsters.  I thought zombies would be fun.

I wish I could say I had a good laugh while reading 'World War Z'.  I wish I could say I did not go out and buy it's companion book 'The Zombie Survival Guide' a week or two after completing it.  In fact, I wish I could say it did not linger.  Who wants to dream of zombies? like I did… two nights in a row.  'An Oral History of the Zombie War', as it is also titled, feels real.  The interviews, the individual survivors who are damaged or crazy or ashamed or relieved or all of the above were real.  Unfortunately, the political reactions to a zombie pandemic were real in the worst sense.  I am certain that in an alternate world the zombie apocalypse is real.  WWZ channels that history into fiction in our own dimension.

My nightmares were on a personal level.  A slow nameless terror in my garden (which I don't have in real life and now may never have thanks to this nightmare… easily defensible homes from now on) or running from zombies with my children down a tunnel... nightmare number two, made me realize how much I had internalized the stories.  On a conscious level, my favorite parts of the book were the political and cultural decisions that affected people on a personal level.  Max Brooks draws these connections with precision but is not heavy handed.  My imagination made everything clear.  In some cases, I wish my imagination had not made anything clear.

While reading, I assessed my home for defense as well as available weapons in different areas.  I felt reassured by my dog and cat or as I like to think of them, "warning system".  My life became for several days haunted by slow, moaning, merciless, soulless creatures who may or may not look like relatives…depending on the day dreams of the moment.  By the way, it helps to put faces of loved ones on the zombies of your mind so that you are prepared to defend yourself.  'The Zombie Survival Guide' helped me fine tune many of my ruminations.  I was disappointed to find that in these parts of Europe machetes are difficult to acquire.  I have used machetes in South America so I feel confident in wielding one.  I am not sure a hatchet would be as useful.

Go out and read these books… Contact me later so as to form survival committees in multiple continents… 'cause you never know.

Max Brooks 
ISBN: 9780804137881