I’ve been doing a fair bit of reading during the past couple weeks, indulging my bookworm tendencies more than I have in a long while. I want to give mention to a few of the books I believe are worthy of sharing.
Yane Yolen’s Briar Rose is an expert reinvention of the traditional fairytale as a mystery laced with a love story centered on the holocaust. Yolen is best known for her fantasy works, but this novel stays in the realm of mainstream, realistic fiction and the story benefits from this. This work also shows Yolen’s skill at adapting traditional stories to modern times. Briar Rose is a fine exploration of storytelling, family dynamics and a piece of history that can be too disturbing for many outside the softening of fiction. It’s slight fantasy that gives life to the broader genre with its deft and accessable dealings with a number of seldom matched themes.
I’ve enjoyed reading the books of Haruki Murakami for some time now, first Norwegian Wood and most recently Dance, Dance, Dance. Dance, Dance, Dance is a mystery novel set within a supernatural-meets-reality world (Tokyo and Hawaii are the real world locales) the nameless protagonist explores in a very human way. The very recognizable and fragile nature of the characters is Murakami’s strength, creating a great deal of sympathy and interest in their stories and contrasting the strange situations portrayed throughout the narrative. Combining appropriate elements of fantasy, noir and mystery, – as well as critique of “advanced capitalism” – the novel surprises, moves and engrosses at every turn. It’s one of the finest works of fiction I’ve read all year.
It’s another languid night here at the the hotel. Earlier in the evening I spent some time at my friends Nathan and Rob’s place, hanging with Enfielders and friends. Andrew and Allison had just arrived back from Texas, where they had been living for some time, this week, and there was a bit of a celebration for that. I had to work, but I had a nice time hanging out with that crew before coming here.