Here are the books I managed to read in the month of March:
The Life of Moses, Gregory of Nyssa: The classic narrative and interpretation of Moses’ life, taught by the Nyssan for the development of virtue. Gregory relates Moses’ history in the first part, and in the second devotes his considerable learning and intuition to explaining, through analogy, how the events of Moses’ life speak to us today. In particular he describes how the various symbols and actions are forms that point to Christ, and to the way we are to walk with Christ.
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman: The Graveyard Book might actually be my favourite Gaiman story, and that is really saying something. I read it first as a graphic novel, and have read it a number of times now as the full novel, and each time I am transported into a dark but loving world on the boundaries of life and death. Gaiman has a way of subverting expectation, of taking the ones we perceive as monsters (and who ARE monsters) and revealing them to be capable of great kindness and good, while also showing the evil that can lurk in the recesses of the human heart. Gaiman does not shy away from this human darkness, be it the organised, millenia-long evil of the Jacks of all Trades (a delicious and absurd invention), or the very real evil of school bullies (reminiscent of Stephen King's IT), or the pettiness of graveyard ghosts who still want to be proved right and important. Bod Owens is a wonderful character, the straight man to the ghosts, ghouls, and guardians at play around him. Miss Lupescu, and even more, Silas, are the real standouts here, though, as part of the Honour Guard (a Vampire and a Hound of Heaven). I'm not sure I have ever read another work in which the potential nobility of these characters has been so beautifully depicted.
Binti, Nnedi Okorafor: The story of a young Himba girl, from Earth, who is the first of her people to be admitted to Oomza Uni, an off-planet, multi-race university. She is a genius in maths, currents and harmonizing, but her people do not like outsiders and do not leave the planet, so her journey is a risk. On her way to the university her ship is attacked by the Meduse, a gaseous, jelly-fish-like species that hates humans. There has been a truce between the races, but someone at Oomza Uni took their chief’s stinger and put it in their museum. Binti is the only survivor of the attack, because of her strange edan (and unknown piece of seemingly dead tech) and her otjize, the clay and oil from her land with which she covers her skin and hair. These two things protect her and enable her to communicate with the Meduse, and hopefully to resolve the tense situation once they arrive at the University. I really like Okorafor’s work, and I know there are more in this series which I will read. My only issue is that the murders of all of Binti’s fellow student passengers seems to go unremarked and unresolved in the final analysis, which seems an oversight.
The Vorrh, Brian Catling: The Vorrh is the ancient forest - essentially Eden - that inhabits the heart of Africa in this magical realistic fantasy novel. This book is very, very strange, wonderfully written, with a vast host of characters engaged in seemingly disparate adventures, but all of which relate in some way or another to the Vorrh. The forest cannot be accessed for too long or it takes one’s memory, as the price of entry. There are other strange attributes of the forest, including the Erstwhile: angels tasked with defending the forest, but who have largely forgotten their purpose. This book is also populated by cyclopses, magicians, healers, hunters, a zombie workforce, the Orm, and the French. The first in a trilogy.
The World We Make, N.K. Jemisin: Sermons, be they political, economic, social or religious, rarely make for great novels. There are a few notable exceptions; this book is not one of them. It’s still good, and I love the idea of the Duology (paired with The City We Became, and also one of the short stories from How Long Until Black Future Month?). New York City comes to life, with a primary avatar and other secondary avatars representing the various boroughs. The one hold out, and then traitor, is Staten Island, who teams up with R'lyeh, an interdimensional being working for the Ur, whose job it is to destroy human cities because they create new multidimensional realities that cause the Ur serious problems. That groundwork was laid in the first book, and this book carries the narrative forward through an NYC mayoral race, a huge City Summit of awakened cities, and some mathematical discussion of the multiversal tree of existence which NYC is about to slide off. As in the first book, while R’lyeh - the Woman in White - is the primary villain who has taken over Staten Island, the other villains are, essentially, Republicans. The sermon of this book could be titled: “Why New York is Better Than You - But Only Cool, Progressive New York.” Even where I agree with the issues Jemisin is raising, and I often do, I guess I am tired of the world’s current state of self-righteous posturing and polarising. And there seems to be an awful lot of it in this book. The book is also very rushed - the series was meant to be a trilogy, but Jemisin explains in the postscript that real world events derailed that plan. She seems to have taken a lot of current socio-political issues and worked them into the narrative, but sacrificed in-depth characterisation to do so. Some of the boroughs/avatars are barely mentioned in this book, contributing to the real flattening of the New York character (though State Island does get at least a little redemption at the end). So this is not, obviously, my favourite N.K. Jemisin novel, (and I have really loved her other work.)
The Furthest Station, Ben Aaronovitch: I had read this one before - it was actually the first in the Rivers of London series I read - but wanted to revisit it after reading the rest of the series. It is about a series of ghostly apparitions appearing on the London Underground, all seemingly trying to get a message across to weary commuters. Peter, Nightingale, Abigail and Jaget work tirelessly to discern the message and rescue the real life victim involved. Really fun and engaging writing and ideas by Aaronovitch, as is true of the entire series.
In the Shelter, Finding a Home in the World, Padraig O Tuama: A gently wild, wide-ranging and poetic account of a life seeking story and shelter and hope and welcome. O Tuama tells of his childhood, his fears, his realization that he is gay and how that will affect his engagement with his religion, his work in reconciliation, and much more. But it is not a biography or any kind of straightforward account of a life. It is far more interested in saying “hello” to the tensions of our existence, which contain both peril and possibility. This is a beautifully offered book, and it has much to teach about prayer, faith, life and love.
Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land, Mignola, Sniegoski, Rousseau: A story of Hellboy’s youth, when he, his adoptive father, and a female pilot who can turn herself into a giant ape have to deal with an ancient undead queen in a hidden jungle. Rollicking good fun, reminiscent of 1940’s detective serials, and that’s on purpose.
Give It Up! And Other Short Stories, Franz Kafka and Peter Kuper: An illustrated compendium of some of Kafka’s absurd, darkly humorous short stories, most of which have to do with the frustrating futility of modern life and impossible interactions with bureaucratic authority. The illustrations are excellent, and I remember the short story of The Hunger Artist from my Grade 12 year.
Proverbs, Robert Alter translation and notes: I have read Proverbs a number of times, but this was the first time I read it directly after engaging with the provocative poetry of Job (and just before the also provocative poetry of Ecclesiastes). The dictums in Proverbs therefore seemed, well, more idealistic, less philosophical, less nuanced. Wisdom is still viewed in its practical lens, but many of the sayings take the form of aspirational truths, rather than descriptions of reality. Chapter 30 brings things more into line with God as the author and only true holder of wisdom, but the rest of the book feels more folksy, more proverbial, to make an obvious point.
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