It's the eve of February 1st and I've decided to start a few hours early on the next What Should Kester Read? selections. February's picks are brought to you by my co-worker and friend, Allan Traylor:
What Should Kester Read? selections
- Ex Machina, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan
- The Great Frustration by Seth Fried
- Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem
- More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
- Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of The Locust by Nathanael West
What else is Kester reading? selections
- The Daily Bible (NIV version)
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (re-reading)
- Pulphead by John Jeremiah Sullivan (re-reading)
What is Kester reading?
- The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
- The Daily Bible (NIV version)
- The Jewish Gospels by Daniel Boyarin
- The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight
- Satan Is Real by Charlie Louvin
What is Kester reading?
- The Daily Bible (NIV version)
- The Jewish Gospels by Daniel Boyarin
- The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight
- Niceville by Carsten Stroud
Full disclosure; I can very well see giving this book another chance sometime in the next couple of years and discovering that I enjoy it more than I did this go around. That seems likely, even. That said, this go around, I though it was...ok.
Possible reasons for this include the fact that Joe picked five fantasy novels for me to read (not a bad thing, but I might have just burnt out on fantasy by the end) or the fact that I read John Crowley's brilliant and beautiful Little, Big right before this one. I wanted something that good and this wasn't it. The fact is that I simply prefer other Arthur tales, whether they be the classic Le Morte d'Arthur or even Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court. This one seemed like a slower, less engaging take on both of those books. It had its moments, but not enough of them and with too many forgettable moments in between.
Like I said, I might just need to cleanse my palette and come back for another taste of this. Critics acknowledge it as a classic in its own right and Joe swears that it's great. It just never pulled me in. Maybe next time.
What Should Kester Read? selections
- The Once and Future King by T.H. White
What else is Kester reading? selections
- The Daily Bible (NIV version)
- The Jewish Gospels by Daniel Boyarin
- The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight
- Niceville by Carsten Stroud
What Should Kester Read? selections
- The Once and Future King by T.H. White
What else is Kester reading? selections
- The Daily Bible (NIV version)
- The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight
- Niceville by Carsten Stroud
- A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
In her review of John Crowley's Little, Big, Roz Kaveney writes, "In Crowley's novel, magic stands for what is done in the story but also for what the author is doing in the book. Magic is something that happens as you blink your eye or turn your back..."
Little, Big is the story of Smoky Barnable, an anonymous man who travels to a place called Edgewood (not found on any map) to marry Daily Alice Drinkwater. It is the history of a family and their relationship to the all but unseen faerie world surrounding them. It is the history of a country and spans over a century. It is about "...the reconciliation of faerie and humanity; of the passion, power, and wit of a world of sensuality, magic, and danger with the requirements of a kind and ordinary life." It is a Tale that story unfolds with deft precision and dense prose as Crowley works his magic. "Every detail of this complex narrative has its relevance to the whole; every detail is planned or rapidly improvised around by the folk of faerie, who whisk continually half-seen round the corners of the plot and whose intrigues turn out to be as complex, ambiguous, and intricate as those of the author."
Little, Big is one of the most perfect pieces of fantasy fiction that I have ever read. "Magical" seems a descriptive too often used to have any impact and yet "magical" is the word that keeps coming to mind. Ursula LeGuin warns that "Persons who enter this book are advised that they will leave it a different size than when they came in."
What Should Kester Read? selections
- Little, Big by John Crowley
- The Once and Future King by T.H. White
What else is Kester reading? selections
- The Daily Bible (NIV version)
- The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
- Niceville by Carsten Stroud
What Should Kester Read? selections
- Little, Big by John Crowley
- The Once and Future King by T.H. White
What else is Kester reading? selections
- The Daily Bible (NIV version)
- A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving
