Things I've Read, April 2015: Things of Quiet Beauty
Dear reader,
This one is later than usual, and I apologise for that. Partly I've been reading less widely this month since I've started digging into the book I'm writing—partly I've found this one difficult to write. Whenever this happens, I keep hearing Helen Garner's voice from Feel of Steel: "One declarative sentence will do." Ignore the doubts. Turn up the music. Just keep going.
Hey! Let me tell you about some great books that I keep finding myself telling people about:
Have you read Eucalyptus by Murray Bail? Gosh, it's good. Just ... gosh. It's one of my favourite Australian books, along with Cloudstreet by Tim Winton, because it invokes a spirit of this country that has little to do with hokey patriotism and exclusivism, and everything to do with the mythic spaces between two people that can be closed by storytelling. The sentences are crafted like the inside of a watch, and if you don't like this, I'm not sure what to do with you.
Also, have you read Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein? It's a YA thriller a la The Hunger Games but better in just about every way. It has the Kathleen seal of recommendation that counts for just about everything, is impeccably researched, based on the real life accounts of badass young female pilots and their part in World War II. It's also about the beauty of friendship, and has some of the best flying sequences you'll ever ever read. Plus, if you get hooked, it has two sequels: Rose Under Fire, and Black Dove, White Raven, which has just been released, and I've just started reading.
I've also finished The Farthest Shore as I continue making my way through the Earthsea Cycle, which continues to be so good it makes me want to quit everything. Her thoughtfulness about the ethics of fantasy writing; her exquisite phrasing; the depth of balance in the characters. Mark my words, in about five years, when they're done with Game of Thrones, someone at HBO is going to remember these books and make a series about them and it's going to be big, so you should probably get on it now, if you want to stay ahead of the curve.
I've also started reading The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (whose earlier prize-winning Zoo City is a recent standout), The Wounded Healer by Henri Nouwen (after reading a single quote that thought my thoughts before me), Poetry Notebook by Clive James (which is a collection of columns about poetry, but I'll read basically anything he's written for the sheer delight of his writing), Chocolate and Cuckoo Clocks by Alan Coren (after he was namechecked in a Neil Gaiman interview, as a wonderful humourist of an earlier time), and Booklife by Jeff VanderMeer (about strategies towards a writing life—something I could well do with).
There are, I know, too many books. But that's me, as for you, what have you been reading?
Guan