The Mermaid Chair, by Sue Monk Kidd
I almost didn't read this book. Within the first few pages I discovered it seemed to be a romance novel about an affair, and that's not really my type of book. However, within the first few pages, the main character's mother deliberately cuts her finger off for no apparent reason other than being crazy, and that was intriguing enough to make me continue reading.
As it turns out, the book is about parental love, a small island community where a person can get back in touch with nature and their roots, solving a mystery, questioning religion, and finding out where you belong.
While the story was good, what really attracted me to the book was the author's descriptive writing style. I had recently read a commentary about elements that make up a good fiction novel, and one of the elements mentioned was unexpected descriptions. Here is an example: "The water was inking into purple." The author could have said the water color was changing to purple but that would be expected. The story becomes more vivid when you use an unexpected verb like "ink." Is "ink" even a verb? I don't know. The book was filled with descriptions like that and so, I felt more involved in the story than many other books I've read.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes colorful descriptions, anyone who grew up on a barrier island, and to most women. If this book were a movie it would be a chick-flick. But it would be a very good chick-flick.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Arena
Arena, by Karen Hancock
This book was included in my amazon order for an extra 99 cents. It was probably better than the other books in the order, combined.
Imagine Pilgrim's Progress meets a John Wayne-Matrix fusion meets the movie Labyrinth, yes, the David Bowie Labyrinth. It was Pilgrim's Progress in the sense that the characters were on an allegorical journey resembling the walk of life and passage to Heaven. It was the Matrix in the sense that the characters were pulled from their own world into this journey world with high-tech equipment and fancy weapons that despite it all, are still handguns and rifles being used by unsophisticated outback-cowboy-type people. And it was Labyrinth because, well, the characters were supposed be intelligent enough and follow clues to find their way out of the Arena. (The book had nothing to do with David Bowie's hair.)
In addition to all that there's a romance story arc to appeal to the sappy romantics who didn't realize the book was not their genre. It also reminded me of the TV show Firefly in the sense that the characters encounter unearthly creatures, the dust and grime and unlawfulness of the wild West, the sophistication of space travel, and the hustle and bustle of modern city life, all within the same plotline.
I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. There's something in it for everyone and I think that it is one of the best books I have read. It nearly made me give up on my own writings, because I felt that there was nothing I could possibly come up with that would be more imaginative than Arena. (Don't worry, immediately after that I felt the urge to stimulate my own imagination more and to write again.) Everyone should read this book!
This book was included in my amazon order for an extra 99 cents. It was probably better than the other books in the order, combined.
Imagine Pilgrim's Progress meets a John Wayne-Matrix fusion meets the movie Labyrinth, yes, the David Bowie Labyrinth. It was Pilgrim's Progress in the sense that the characters were on an allegorical journey resembling the walk of life and passage to Heaven. It was the Matrix in the sense that the characters were pulled from their own world into this journey world with high-tech equipment and fancy weapons that despite it all, are still handguns and rifles being used by unsophisticated outback-cowboy-type people. And it was Labyrinth because, well, the characters were supposed be intelligent enough and follow clues to find their way out of the Arena. (The book had nothing to do with David Bowie's hair.)
In addition to all that there's a romance story arc to appeal to the sappy romantics who didn't realize the book was not their genre. It also reminded me of the TV show Firefly in the sense that the characters encounter unearthly creatures, the dust and grime and unlawfulness of the wild West, the sophistication of space travel, and the hustle and bustle of modern city life, all within the same plotline.
I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. There's something in it for everyone and I think that it is one of the best books I have read. It nearly made me give up on my own writings, because I felt that there was nothing I could possibly come up with that would be more imaginative than Arena. (Don't worry, immediately after that I felt the urge to stimulate my own imagination more and to write again.) Everyone should read this book!
Flesh and Spirit
Flesh and Spirit, by Carol Berg
This book was given to me in the form of an uncorrected proof by an editor who did not have time to read all the stuff his publishers were sending to him. It then sat on my shelf until long after the book's sequel had been published, because I also do not have the time to read all the books I own. I finally guilted myself into reading it, and found a treasure.
In general, I tend to avoid books that talk about casting spells and using magic, simply because I feel I can't relate to the character when they use magic, because I don't know what its like. However, the main character, Valen, had forsaken his "magical" heritage and tried to live as an ordinary man, with the exception of a few spells now and then to make his life easier. After a near-death experience, he finds himself living in hiding as a monk, and uncovering secrets about the end of the world. I am all about characters being undercover, and being undercover in a medieval magic novel is even better.
The book ends without resolving the major problem (impending disaster and the end of the world) but that is to be expected since it is, after all, a series and not a stand-alone book. As far as medieval fantasy novels go, this one is pretty good and I would recommend it to anyone who likes that genre.
This book was given to me in the form of an uncorrected proof by an editor who did not have time to read all the stuff his publishers were sending to him. It then sat on my shelf until long after the book's sequel had been published, because I also do not have the time to read all the books I own. I finally guilted myself into reading it, and found a treasure.
In general, I tend to avoid books that talk about casting spells and using magic, simply because I feel I can't relate to the character when they use magic, because I don't know what its like. However, the main character, Valen, had forsaken his "magical" heritage and tried to live as an ordinary man, with the exception of a few spells now and then to make his life easier. After a near-death experience, he finds himself living in hiding as a monk, and uncovering secrets about the end of the world. I am all about characters being undercover, and being undercover in a medieval magic novel is even better.
The book ends without resolving the major problem (impending disaster and the end of the world) but that is to be expected since it is, after all, a series and not a stand-alone book. As far as medieval fantasy novels go, this one is pretty good and I would recommend it to anyone who likes that genre.
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