BW8: Storytellers

 

It's book week 8 in our 52 Books quest and this week is all about Storytellers and all those lovely books they have created for our pleasure: narratives, myths, memoirs, drama, poetry as well as the world of fiction. From the classics to the contemporary writers of today there is a wide variety to choose from.

Growing up, my brother was the one who told the most magnificent stories, whether he was retelling a Monty Python skit, relating an event that happened, or telling us about a book he’d read. We would hang on his words, groaning or laughing as he told a tale, astonished by the details, even if he’d only read or heard something once. I was never great at oral storytelling, maybe because it was difficult to get an word in edgewise with my large talkative family.  Today, the role has been taken over by my husband and son, both who have Eidetic memories,  remembering everything that’s ever happened in their lives. Which can be great, unless it’s something stupid you wish they’d forget. LOL!    I prefer writing, taking my time to remember, exploring thoughts and phrases, seeing the words on the page.

I finished the non fiction historical arctic exploration thriller Against the Ice by Ejnar Mikkelsen. grit and determination it took for the two men to battle against the elements through hunger and strife as they persevered in their quest to recover the notes of prior explorers is amazing. Not something I would have ever chosen to do. (Book 18)

Finished Vicki Myron’s memoir about Dewey: The Library Cat which is so much more than just about the cat, but the town of Spencer and the people who live there. (Book 19)

And The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks by new to me author, Shauna Robinson. Maggie has always been a non conformist, trying to find the fun in her jobs, planning special events and parties. She's between jobs again and offers to help her best friend who is about to have a baby by running her bookshop for her. Little does she know, the Bell River Literary Society has strict rules which means she has go underground and behind their backs to help the book store stay afloat. . She also enters into a budding romance with a guy who follows the rules, which makes it even more difficult. She enlists the aid of the local businesses and how they managed to keep it a secret so long is beyond me. (Book 20)

I’m currently in the midst of  James Rollin’s Fantasy novel The Cradle of Ice in which the characters have crash landed in a place where it’s virtually impossible to escape from. What will happen next?

Devon Monk’s book of 22 fantasy/sci fi short stories A Cup of Normal which are far from normal and very entertaining.

Haruki Murakami’s Novelist as a Vocation and the man seriously doesn’t think he is a good writer, but shares his stories, his process, and so much more.

Book Three: Clockwork Angels by Kevin Anderson and Neil Peart

 

"So young man, what do you lack?"  is the question that started Owen on his hero's quest.  Little did he know the Anarchist and the Watchmaker had both set their sites on him and would try to influence every decision he made from there on out. But little did they realize Owen had a mind of his own and dreams that would take him on a odyssey of exploration until he found his place. 

"What do I lack? What an annoying, ridiculous question! He bit back his answer, keeping the words to himself. He muttered in a low voice for his ears alone, since no one would understand anyway. “I lack freedom. All these people lack freedom. If a man has a perfect life but cannot make his own choices, then what good is that life?” Oh, they had their clothes and their comforts, their families, their pocketwatches and cheap gold, their smiles and their diamonds. But above all that, he would choose free will. They didn’t even know what it was."

Clockwork Angels is an intriguing steampunk story created by the collaboration between Kevin Anderson and Neil Peart. The story was influenced by the album and lyrics of the Rush's Clockwork Angels as well as Voltaire's Candide and other stories. 

"The Watchmaker and the Anarchist had demanded that he choose between them, but Owen Hardy from Barrel Arbor—a mere assistant manager of an apple orchard, who had traveled so much, endured so much, seen so much since his modest beginnings—chose not to decide. That was the choice he made. That was his free will."

Dusty, ebook, steampunk, 

Book Two: You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

You made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi is more than just a romance.  The story was recommended by Shana at SBTB.

There were so many layers to this story. It's about loss and grief, sexual attraction, choices, and love, sorrow and learning to live again. After the loss of her husband, Feyi is trying to figure out if she can ever love again. She plunges into the dating waters full steam ahead, trying to figure out who and what she wants. She's a woman exploring the sexual waters and falling in love with someone she didn't expect. The beginning of the story fooled me when it went full boil with a sexual escapade, but I gave it a chance. It simmered down and the more I learned more about Feyi, the deeper I became invested in her story. It was crude, it was raw. It was full of angst, full of sorrow. Full of choices, and full of love. 

“It was like a fork in the road has closed, shut off by an avalanche of grief, choked with rocks and a broken heart. It wasn't supposed to open, and honestly, it still hadn't, but somehow, an entirely new path had formed, green and creeping.”

The story sticks with you long after you finish it, making you think. One of the themes was about choice. The choice Alim makes, wants to make for himself, when in the past, all his choices were for his children. He's choosing himself this time. Which got me to thinking about some decisions we make aren't about the other person but about us. Food for thought.

“I feel like the world wanted to remind me that it loves me, and so it gave me him. It gave me a chance, that possibility he’s always talking about, and I seized it with both hands because I know, and Alim knows, how f'ing rare it is for that door to open, even by a crack, and what it’s like when it closes.”

I'm looking forward to reading more by this author. 

Contains LQBTQ supporting cast characters. and crude language.

 

Categories:  Different culture, romance, new to me author, 

Book One: After Dark by Haruki Murakami

 

After Dark by Haruki Murakami is an intriguing story that takes place in one night between the hours of midnight and dawn. 

First sentence: Eyes mark the shape of the city. 

All the staples of Murakami's stories are including: the cat, the crow, the cafe, the tea, the characters awake all night, existential conversations, characters running away, the unknown, the fear of discovery. The nameless narrator - the 'we' takes the reader on a journey, through the dark hours of the night, using a wide angled camera shot which narrows down to each character and their viewpoint. A diverse cast of good and bad. One night. Unresolved stories. Or are they? Conversations through the night, afraid to sleep while another sleeps and is taken through to mystical portal. How much is a dream? How much is real? 

"Nineteen-year-old Mari is waiting out the night in an anonymous Denny’s when she meets a young man who insists he knows her older sister, thus setting her on an odyssey through the sleeping city. In the space of a single night, the lives of a diverse cast of Tokyo residents—models, prostitutes, mobsters, and musicians—collide in a world suspended between fantasy and reality. Utterly enchanting and infused with surrealism, After Dark is a thrilling account of the magical hours separating midnight from dawn."

Near the end of the story I was contemplating - do any of the characters learning something, change, and grow? It's open ended, subtle. The story tickles your imagination and take you through the gamut of emotions.

Favorite author, bookish bookology, A to Z, Magical Realism