Summer Reading

Harry Potter
Harry Potter 7 is very good....I think the best of the series. It's tightly written (unlike 4-6), and deals with deeper themes than the earlier books. Rowling keeps deus ex machinae to a minimum this time, and even gives decent explanations for several events I had previously labeled as machinae. In addition, the book is replete with occasions in which plans and clues go wrong, plunging the characters into deeper confusion and trouble. (A helpful reality check and counterbalance to any potential d.e.m's).

I didn't think she'd be able to pull of a "quest" story. But creating a mention between Hallows and Horcruxes made the the characters' search far more complex, and I hardly even noticed there WAS a quest going on.

Finally: othrs may disagree with me on this, but I think Harry GREW UP in the second half of the book. I've found that this is a main difference between people who find chapters 35-37 powerful and moving, and those who see them as melodramatic whiny angsting.


Jonthan Strange and Mr. Norell
Better than Harry Potter. Rowling's writing style tends to be fairly banal; Clarke's sparkles and dances across the page.

I found a hardcover copy the book for $7.00. The prices at Barnes and Noble are usually atrocious...but their bargain table is amazing (assuming you can actually find a book you want).

It's a wonderfully delightful book, set during the Napoleaonic wars in an alternate universe where most things are parallel to our own. But in this world, magic existed in England during the middle ages and disappeared sometime before the Englightenment and scientific revolution. When it reappears in the 1700s, it's initially analyzed and treated like science by the man who revives it.

Susanna Clarke has a wry sense of humor, employs vivid language and descriptions, and creates utterly believable characters. (I usually dislike insane villains...but she's written one of the best antagonists I've seen).

Also refreshing is her determination to write her characters in line with the spirit and perspective of the Augustan era, rather than make some of them walking talking propagators of 21st century values. Her responses to her critics are often an exasperated, "I wanted to write a story about English identity and the return of magic, not about feminism and woman's suffrage! Yes, I rather wish there were more women in the book myself...but how I've written it reflects the era, where women had a less prominent public role."

I don't know what the book would be rated...probably PG-13 for graphic and eerie violence. Her faerieland is NOT a safe or pleasant place...it's unearthly, dangerous, eerie, unhuman, and reads like a horror story. There's also plenty of madness, darkness, ravens, and dismemberment throughout the book, especially toward the end. It WORKS, and very well..but this isn't a kiddie story.

On the other hand, she also shows that you don't have to write like GRR Martin to publish cutting-edge fantasy. In terms of sex, there's some discussion of various extramarital affairs, and an illegitimate child or two. In terms of language..."d--m" appears twice (maybe thrice), always written with those dashes.