Some Brief 2018 Reading Highlights
Weird year. I can't remember what I read. I feel like I read a lot of scholarly essays and reread a lot of things, but here's some sampling.
Stranger Bird by Joe Pitkin
This is a self-published, not quite YA fantasy novel by a colleague of mine. It's the coming-of-age story of a boy, Burdock, who must learn responsibility and self-sacrifice when he as he journeys from home to save his family. It's a quiet, reflective book, which is both a strength and weakness. I like its gentleness and willingness to take its time and work on worldbuilding, but it does sometimes lack the passion, anguish, etc. the circumstances seem to call for. All in all, I'm glad I read it.
The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer (reread)
I actually proposed a scholarly paper on this, so I read all three quite intensively. It's an immensely good series--so much better than the film adaptation of the first book, Annihilation. Good suspense and sci-fi horror, but in its bones, as VanderMeer himself has said, it's about facing the existential chasm of life in the Anthropocene, facing climate change, facing ecological transformation beyond our ability to conceptualize. And it does it so well.
Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler (reread)
I wrote on this book in my dissertation, but hadn't read it in 13-ish years. Thought I'd do a paper proposal for this, so I read it intensively too. It's better than I remembered. I always favored the first book in this dystopian series, Parable of the Sower. Talents earns its salt though. It's a very realistic portrayal of social breakdown and the beginnings of rebuilding. No punches pulled. Strong commentary on prejudice and power. Published in 1998 but sadly prophetic for our current times.
When True Night Falls by C. S. Friedman (reread)
This is book 2 of The Coldfire Trilogy, but it's that rare middle book that's my favorite, and the only one I reread. It scores for me on two counts. It's one of the truly great frenemy stories as Damien and Tarrant have to travel the land together supporting each other and being in nigh constant moral conflict as they try to save humanity. It also has excellent science-fantasy worldbuilding. Downsides: the prose is not very good, often obvious and redundant with little flare for individual characters' voices in dialogue. It also spends too much time, for my taste, on villains' and tertiary characters' POV for plot communication purposes. All in all, though, one of my favorite fantasy-esque novels.
The Epic of Sunjata (traditional story from Mali)
I just read this to prep for teaching it and, dang, it's good! It's an episodic story, mainly about the epic hero Sunjata rising to power as a great leader of the Mande people. It's sharp as anything. The characters are well delineated and individualized, with a wide array of powerful personalities and goals and essentially no simplistic villains - though one clear major antagonist. The tone, in places, reminds me of Gilgamesh, but unlike Gilgamesh, it's filled with humor and details of daily life. And I adore the consistent depth and humanity with which the many female characters are written. They have immense power and drive the story as much as the men. Reminds me of the Mahabharata in places too. Apparently this story was only written down and translated in the 1990s. So if you haven't had a chance to explore it, check it out. It is one of the truly great stories.
Oroonoko by Aphra Behn (reread)
What a truly odd book this short 17th-century novel is. Behn tells the purportedly "true" tragedy of an enslaves African prince, Oroonoko, she met in Surinam. It's one part high tragic romance, one part travelogue of the New World, one part commentary on race and different cultures and prejudices. It doesn't really stand up well by modern readability standards, but it is interesting--and gory.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes, vol. 2 by Yoshiki Tanaka
In the wake of the anime remake, I wanted to get a taste of this "Star Wars of Japan" and dove into vol. 2 to get a sense of the story in progress. I think somewhere I noted it's the most interesting boring story I've ever read. It's written like future history--like a biography in the style of those that interpolate the conversations and moods of the historical figures. Like a history textbook, it's kind of dull. Yet just when you're about to fall asleep, it grabs you. The core setup of super strategists Reinhardt and Yang tangling with each other in galactic warfare is genuinely unusual, in that they are the co-protagonists but have no real relationship with each other. Their lives are defined by each having to deal with the machinations of his own country. Reinhardt is a pretty good character--a well written version of the young, ambitious superstar. Yang is one of the most unusual characters I've ever read. He's understatedly fascinating: calm, abstracted, moral, humorous, laconic, awkward, unambitious, and brilliant. I don't know if I'll read more, but I'm glad I read some.
Stranger Bird by Joe Pitkin
This is a self-published, not quite YA fantasy novel by a colleague of mine. It's the coming-of-age story of a boy, Burdock, who must learn responsibility and self-sacrifice when he as he journeys from home to save his family. It's a quiet, reflective book, which is both a strength and weakness. I like its gentleness and willingness to take its time and work on worldbuilding, but it does sometimes lack the passion, anguish, etc. the circumstances seem to call for. All in all, I'm glad I read it.
The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer (reread)
I actually proposed a scholarly paper on this, so I read all three quite intensively. It's an immensely good series--so much better than the film adaptation of the first book, Annihilation. Good suspense and sci-fi horror, but in its bones, as VanderMeer himself has said, it's about facing the existential chasm of life in the Anthropocene, facing climate change, facing ecological transformation beyond our ability to conceptualize. And it does it so well.
Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler (reread)
I wrote on this book in my dissertation, but hadn't read it in 13-ish years. Thought I'd do a paper proposal for this, so I read it intensively too. It's better than I remembered. I always favored the first book in this dystopian series, Parable of the Sower. Talents earns its salt though. It's a very realistic portrayal of social breakdown and the beginnings of rebuilding. No punches pulled. Strong commentary on prejudice and power. Published in 1998 but sadly prophetic for our current times.
When True Night Falls by C. S. Friedman (reread)
This is book 2 of The Coldfire Trilogy, but it's that rare middle book that's my favorite, and the only one I reread. It scores for me on two counts. It's one of the truly great frenemy stories as Damien and Tarrant have to travel the land together supporting each other and being in nigh constant moral conflict as they try to save humanity. It also has excellent science-fantasy worldbuilding. Downsides: the prose is not very good, often obvious and redundant with little flare for individual characters' voices in dialogue. It also spends too much time, for my taste, on villains' and tertiary characters' POV for plot communication purposes. All in all, though, one of my favorite fantasy-esque novels.
The Epic of Sunjata (traditional story from Mali)
I just read this to prep for teaching it and, dang, it's good! It's an episodic story, mainly about the epic hero Sunjata rising to power as a great leader of the Mande people. It's sharp as anything. The characters are well delineated and individualized, with a wide array of powerful personalities and goals and essentially no simplistic villains - though one clear major antagonist. The tone, in places, reminds me of Gilgamesh, but unlike Gilgamesh, it's filled with humor and details of daily life. And I adore the consistent depth and humanity with which the many female characters are written. They have immense power and drive the story as much as the men. Reminds me of the Mahabharata in places too. Apparently this story was only written down and translated in the 1990s. So if you haven't had a chance to explore it, check it out. It is one of the truly great stories.
Oroonoko by Aphra Behn (reread)
What a truly odd book this short 17th-century novel is. Behn tells the purportedly "true" tragedy of an enslaves African prince, Oroonoko, she met in Surinam. It's one part high tragic romance, one part travelogue of the New World, one part commentary on race and different cultures and prejudices. It doesn't really stand up well by modern readability standards, but it is interesting--and gory.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes, vol. 2 by Yoshiki Tanaka
In the wake of the anime remake, I wanted to get a taste of this "Star Wars of Japan" and dove into vol. 2 to get a sense of the story in progress. I think somewhere I noted it's the most interesting boring story I've ever read. It's written like future history--like a biography in the style of those that interpolate the conversations and moods of the historical figures. Like a history textbook, it's kind of dull. Yet just when you're about to fall asleep, it grabs you. The core setup of super strategists Reinhardt and Yang tangling with each other in galactic warfare is genuinely unusual, in that they are the co-protagonists but have no real relationship with each other. Their lives are defined by each having to deal with the machinations of his own country. Reinhardt is a pretty good character--a well written version of the young, ambitious superstar. Yang is one of the most unusual characters I've ever read. He's understatedly fascinating: calm, abstracted, moral, humorous, laconic, awkward, unambitious, and brilliant. I don't know if I'll read more, but I'm glad I read some.