100 Books, #41: Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary

Jan 07, 2015 23:20

In lieu of the Wednesday reading meme (because I accomplished basically no reading this past week, except a reread of Pamela Dean's Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary), I'm going to answer lycoris's December meme question: Tell me about your favourite book that you think I might not have heard of ( Read more... )

books, 100 books

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Comments 8

asakiyume January 8 2015, 15:19:51 UTC
That's a really interesting question, re: books that have friendship as their driving force. It reminds me of a thing that went round the Internet some time back about conflict-less stories, how we're told that stories need conflicts, but in Japan (that was the example given), this isn't necessarily seen as so. The examples were taken from Japanese four-panel comics.

The book I'm reading now, Tinkers has very little plot, and yet I find it hugely compelling. It's the way the characters look at the world, and where they turn their eyes that makes it so.

Yeah, it would be really interesting to think about what makes The Changeling so compelling--because it is.

I'm thinking rachelmanija's category of secret-garden books plays into this too--not that The Changeling or Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary is that kind of a book, but that that category of book also doesn't have the much-touted intro-rising action-climax-denoument structure.

I really loved this, as a concept: I would have loved having it as part of the leafmold of my mind when I was a ( ... )

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osprey_archer January 10 2015, 00:47:29 UTC
I think there is an element of the secret garden to The Changeling - with Bent Oaks Grove, and the imaginary worlds that they build there. And perhaps also the stables? They make a lot of secret worlds in a wider world that is not very hospitable to them.

It's interesting to think about The Changeling in this context, because I think the least compelling part of the book is the attempt to give in a proper climax: the part where Ivy and Martha get accused of breaking into the school. Obviously it didn't ruin the book for me (and the ending is completely perfect, IMO), but it does bobble a bit there, probably because she's trying to push the story into the "proper" story shape and it doesn't quite fit.

The "leafmold of my mind" bit is a quote from somewhere. I wish I could remember where, because I think it would be something you might like (that's why it took me so long to answer this comment, I've been trying to remember where I read it) 0 but it's flittered out of my mind.

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asakiyume January 12 2015, 12:25:42 UTC
I agree with you about Bent Oaks Grove ( ... )

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osprey_archer January 13 2015, 18:47:54 UTC
I think the break-in accusations are necessary, and they certainly add an extra poignancy to the framing story. Martha hasn't seen or heard for Ivy for two years, and the last time they did see each other it ended sadly, and yet when she hears the Carsons are in town she still runs to Bent Oaks Grove at the first opportunity.

But I feel like the execution leaves something to be desired somehow - the neatness of the fact that it was actually Tom who broke in, or something like that. Although I realize that without Tom's confession, the question of guilt would never get resolved - not that the readers would suspect Ivy, but everyone around Martha would, and that would be thoroughly unpleasant.

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evelyn_b January 8 2015, 18:18:14 UTC
This sounds like a book I should read.

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osprey_archer January 8 2015, 19:48:41 UTC
YES.

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