Things I've Read, March 2016: Matters
Dear reader,
I've just managed to catch March by the tail, in bringing this to you. It was a long and somewhat forlorn summer, one in which I read, one in which I tried to gather myself. I've been thinking about how sometimes our context can hide truth from us: whether psychological, or familial, or cultural. If we become unable to escape from our context, we can not understand how we were trapped in the first place.
This of course, is why we read, and we read not just what is comfortable, but we read what we don't yet know we need to read. Sometimes you need to be buffeted by the waves of what you don't know in order to bring you into what you need to know.
Speaking of which, one of the greatest books I've ever read is The Game of Kings: the first book in the six-part Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett. To peer into the folds of the Dunnett fan-community is a wondrous thing because they are people devoted to a treasure—and what a treasure Dunnett, and this book is. The book is concreted in impeccable research of 16th Century Scotland, and devoted to the adventures of the fictional Francis Crawford of Lymond: a swordsman, a rogue, and a man of honour.
It's the best work of historical fiction I've ever read and works on too many levels to list: as a family drama, as a Robin Hood tale of (mis)adventure, as a history of the time, as a tale of suspense, as a book of peerless sentences. It's much better than we deserve. Once again, Kathleen is to blame for the recommendation.
I also read Out on the Wire by Jessica Abel, a non-fiction graphic novel about this golden age of podcasts that we're living in, how they're put together, and what we can learn from them about storytelling as a whole. I found it fascinating, and even if you don't listen to podcasts but are interested in story, I think it's worth a look, as is Jessica's post on "idea debt", and how we can be held back by our past emotional investment in ideas that haven't happened—a concept a lot of people have found fruitful.
I also read and loved the Newbery Honor-winning The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt, a YA novel about a high school boy, Holling Hoodhood, in the 60s, who gets stuck alone with his teacher for an hour every Wednesday. As a result, they start reading Shakespeare. Holling is a pitch-perfect protagonist, likeable and sweetly awkward, and I love the way that Schmidt weaves the Shakespearean elements into Holling's life without being heavy-handed. It's a great book, especially for teachers, or those that love them.
I am currently reading Dynamics of Spiritual Life by Richard Lovelace which is fascinating from a different direction: what can history tell us about the spiritual awakenings that are necessary for people to change? It's fascinating and shaping my heart, and I am happy for this to be the case.
If you like things that I like, you also should check out the crowdfunding campaign for Monsters: frequent co-conspirator Karen has written a very fun comics anthology for kids, and reading with kids. I recommend it highly.
Finally, a favour: I am currently on the lookout for more freelance or part-time writing or editing work, if you should know of anything, no matter how small, please let me know and I'll be in your debt.
As always, thank you for reading,
Guan