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Reading Wed- Thursday
Nov. 5th, 2015 02:27 pmWhat did you just finish?
Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin. In 1857 on the Mississippi River, Abner Marsh is a steamboat captain without a steamboat. He gets an offer from a wealthy stranger to provide the money to build the biggest, fastest, fanciest steamboat on the river – as long as Marsh asks no questions about the stranger. It's hard to describe the plot, because there are so many twists, time skips, and reversals that any halfway thorough summary would spoil 3/4ths of the book. And in a way, I don't think the plot is the most important part. Rather than being "about" what actually happens, the book is instead a tribute to a certain time and place – the steamboats of the mid-1800s - and a love of old-fashioned ghost stories. Here's a quote that I think really encapsulates what GRRM was going for:
Karl Framm pushed through the crowd, a brandy in his hand. “I know a story,” he said, sounding a little drunk. “’S true. There’s this steamboat named the Ozymandias, y’see...”
“Never heard of it,” somebody said.
Framm smiled thinly. “Y’better hope you never see it,” he said, “cause them what does is done for. She only runs by night, this boat. And she’s dark, all dark. Painted black as her stacks, every inch of her, except that inside she’s got a main cabin with a carpet the color of blood, and silver mirrors everywhere that don’t reflect nothing. Them mirrors is always empty, even though she’s got lots of folks aboard her, pale-looking folks in fine clothes. They smile a lot. Only they don’t show in the mirrors.”
Someone shivered. They had all gone silent. “Why not?” asked an engineer Marsh knew slightly.
“Cause they’re dead,” Framm said. “Ever’ damn one of ’em, dead. Only they won’t lie down. They’re sinners, and they got to ride that boat forever, that black boat with the red carpets and the empty mirrors, all up and down the river, never touching port, no sir.”
“Phantoms,” somebody said.
“Ha’nts,” added a woman, “like that Raccourci boat.”
“Hell no,” said Karl Framm. “You can pass right through a ha’nt, but not the Ozymandias. She’s real enough, and you’ll learn it quick and to your sorrow if you come on her at night. Them dead folks is hungry. They drink blood, y’know. Hot red blood. They hide in the dark and when they see the lights of another steamer, they set out after her, and if they catch’er they come swarming aboard, all those dead white faces, smiling, dressed so fine. And they sink the boat afterward, or burn her, and the next mornin’ there’s nothing to see but a couple stacks stickin’ up out of the river, or maybe a wrecked boat full of corpses. Except for the sinners. The sinners go aboard that Ozymandias, and ride on her forever.” He sipped his brandy and smiled. “So if you’re out on the river some night, and you see a shadow on the water behind you, look close. It might be a steamer, painted black all over, with a crew white as ha’nts. She don’t show no lights, that Ozymandias, so sometimes you can’t see her till she’s right behind you, her black wheels kicking up the water. If you see her, you better hope you got a lightnin’ pilot, and maybe some coal oil on board, or a little lard. Cause she’s big and she’s fast, and when she catches you by night you’re finished. Listen for her whistle. She only sounds her whistle when she knows she’s got you, so if you hear it, start countin’ up your sins.”
“What does the whistle sound like?”
“’Zactly like a man screaming,” said Karl Framm.
“What’s her name agin?” a young pilot asked.
“Ozymandias,” said Framm. He knew how to say it right.
“What does that mean?”
Abner Marsh stood up. “It’s from a poem,” he said. “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair.”
That, that sort of creepy old folktale, a story to tell around a campfire, is what Fevre Dream wants to be. It's also a bit of a love story between two straight men – Abner Marsh and Joshua York, the wealthy stranger – and though I didn't end up shipping it myself, you'd have plenty of opportunity to do so, what with all the comments on how much they trust one another, how deep their friendship is, and how important they are to one another.
There are vampires, who of course don't follow the standard rules of vampirism (why does every vampire story these days need to come up with its own new mythology?). For a while I thought GRRM was going to use the setting to comment on slavery – it's hella easier to get away with eating people when you can just buy them – but that never quite pans out. It might have worked better if a) there was more than one black character who actually got a name, or that character got to have his own plot or motivation (though to be fair, this is a book that's hugely focused on the two main characters; even the main antagonist only gets one or two notes of characterization), and b) there wasn't a timeskip over the Civil War with the vampires' lives appearing to proceed as normal after the end of slavery. So that was a missed opportunity.
I really liked this book. I haven't read anything of GRRM's outside of 'The Song of Ice and Fire' series, but this was wonderful. And a great choice for Halloween, which is why I read it now!
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett. A retelling of Macbeth (well, with a little Hamlet and Richard III thrown in, plus a smidge of King Lear) if the three witches were the main characters, Duncan had a surviving child, and Shakespeare were around to witness the events before writing his play.
This book is SO GOOD. SO GOOD. It's always been one of my absolutely favorite Discworld books, and I was shocked to realize how early it comes in the series. How can the first appearances of Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick already be this good? How can someone who so far has only been writing satires of the contemporary fantasy genre leap all the way up to Shakespeare and take him on? (And honestly, what Pratchett does with the "out damned spot" plot is both more logical – of course it should be Macbeth who obsesses over this, not Lady Macbeth! – and far, far more horrifying than Shakespeare's original.) How does Pratchett go from pure comedy to a book full of philosophy and humanism and analysis of the power of words and stories and quite dark undertones?
I don't know. But I love it. I happen to have read Macbeth* just last week, and so I caught a lot more references and quotes that I would have otherwise, which deepened by enjoyment. But even if you've never read a single Shakespeare, this is an excellent book: funny, full of complex characters, and with plenty of social commentary. And hint, hint – if you've never read Discworld before, this is a great book to start with.
What are you currently reading?
She Will Build Him a City by Raj Kamal Jha. A novel I got off of NetGalley.
*You know how in old books, people get together and read Shakespeare plays out loud? Not actually acting, but just passing a few hours having fun? Well, there's a tumblr, SocialShakespeare, that organizes such readings over Skype! I've always wanted to do this, but never had enough friends who were interested to organize a reading myself. So this tumblr has been one of my favorite discoveries of the last few months. Check it out! They're figuring out a schedule to read 'The Taming of the Shrew' right now, so it's a good time to sign up.
Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin. In 1857 on the Mississippi River, Abner Marsh is a steamboat captain without a steamboat. He gets an offer from a wealthy stranger to provide the money to build the biggest, fastest, fanciest steamboat on the river – as long as Marsh asks no questions about the stranger. It's hard to describe the plot, because there are so many twists, time skips, and reversals that any halfway thorough summary would spoil 3/4ths of the book. And in a way, I don't think the plot is the most important part. Rather than being "about" what actually happens, the book is instead a tribute to a certain time and place – the steamboats of the mid-1800s - and a love of old-fashioned ghost stories. Here's a quote that I think really encapsulates what GRRM was going for:
Karl Framm pushed through the crowd, a brandy in his hand. “I know a story,” he said, sounding a little drunk. “’S true. There’s this steamboat named the Ozymandias, y’see...”
“Never heard of it,” somebody said.
Framm smiled thinly. “Y’better hope you never see it,” he said, “cause them what does is done for. She only runs by night, this boat. And she’s dark, all dark. Painted black as her stacks, every inch of her, except that inside she’s got a main cabin with a carpet the color of blood, and silver mirrors everywhere that don’t reflect nothing. Them mirrors is always empty, even though she’s got lots of folks aboard her, pale-looking folks in fine clothes. They smile a lot. Only they don’t show in the mirrors.”
Someone shivered. They had all gone silent. “Why not?” asked an engineer Marsh knew slightly.
“Cause they’re dead,” Framm said. “Ever’ damn one of ’em, dead. Only they won’t lie down. They’re sinners, and they got to ride that boat forever, that black boat with the red carpets and the empty mirrors, all up and down the river, never touching port, no sir.”
“Phantoms,” somebody said.
“Ha’nts,” added a woman, “like that Raccourci boat.”
“Hell no,” said Karl Framm. “You can pass right through a ha’nt, but not the Ozymandias. She’s real enough, and you’ll learn it quick and to your sorrow if you come on her at night. Them dead folks is hungry. They drink blood, y’know. Hot red blood. They hide in the dark and when they see the lights of another steamer, they set out after her, and if they catch’er they come swarming aboard, all those dead white faces, smiling, dressed so fine. And they sink the boat afterward, or burn her, and the next mornin’ there’s nothing to see but a couple stacks stickin’ up out of the river, or maybe a wrecked boat full of corpses. Except for the sinners. The sinners go aboard that Ozymandias, and ride on her forever.” He sipped his brandy and smiled. “So if you’re out on the river some night, and you see a shadow on the water behind you, look close. It might be a steamer, painted black all over, with a crew white as ha’nts. She don’t show no lights, that Ozymandias, so sometimes you can’t see her till she’s right behind you, her black wheels kicking up the water. If you see her, you better hope you got a lightnin’ pilot, and maybe some coal oil on board, or a little lard. Cause she’s big and she’s fast, and when she catches you by night you’re finished. Listen for her whistle. She only sounds her whistle when she knows she’s got you, so if you hear it, start countin’ up your sins.”
“What does the whistle sound like?”
“’Zactly like a man screaming,” said Karl Framm.
“What’s her name agin?” a young pilot asked.
“Ozymandias,” said Framm. He knew how to say it right.
“What does that mean?”
Abner Marsh stood up. “It’s from a poem,” he said. “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair.”
That, that sort of creepy old folktale, a story to tell around a campfire, is what Fevre Dream wants to be. It's also a bit of a love story between two straight men – Abner Marsh and Joshua York, the wealthy stranger – and though I didn't end up shipping it myself, you'd have plenty of opportunity to do so, what with all the comments on how much they trust one another, how deep their friendship is, and how important they are to one another.
There are vampires, who of course don't follow the standard rules of vampirism (why does every vampire story these days need to come up with its own new mythology?). For a while I thought GRRM was going to use the setting to comment on slavery – it's hella easier to get away with eating people when you can just buy them – but that never quite pans out. It might have worked better if a) there was more than one black character who actually got a name, or that character got to have his own plot or motivation (though to be fair, this is a book that's hugely focused on the two main characters; even the main antagonist only gets one or two notes of characterization), and b) there wasn't a timeskip over the Civil War with the vampires' lives appearing to proceed as normal after the end of slavery. So that was a missed opportunity.
I really liked this book. I haven't read anything of GRRM's outside of 'The Song of Ice and Fire' series, but this was wonderful. And a great choice for Halloween, which is why I read it now!
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett. A retelling of Macbeth (well, with a little Hamlet and Richard III thrown in, plus a smidge of King Lear) if the three witches were the main characters, Duncan had a surviving child, and Shakespeare were around to witness the events before writing his play.
This book is SO GOOD. SO GOOD. It's always been one of my absolutely favorite Discworld books, and I was shocked to realize how early it comes in the series. How can the first appearances of Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick already be this good? How can someone who so far has only been writing satires of the contemporary fantasy genre leap all the way up to Shakespeare and take him on? (And honestly, what Pratchett does with the "out damned spot" plot is both more logical – of course it should be Macbeth who obsesses over this, not Lady Macbeth! – and far, far more horrifying than Shakespeare's original.) How does Pratchett go from pure comedy to a book full of philosophy and humanism and analysis of the power of words and stories and quite dark undertones?
I don't know. But I love it. I happen to have read Macbeth* just last week, and so I caught a lot more references and quotes that I would have otherwise, which deepened by enjoyment. But even if you've never read a single Shakespeare, this is an excellent book: funny, full of complex characters, and with plenty of social commentary. And hint, hint – if you've never read Discworld before, this is a great book to start with.
What are you currently reading?
She Will Build Him a City by Raj Kamal Jha. A novel I got off of NetGalley.
*You know how in old books, people get together and read Shakespeare plays out loud? Not actually acting, but just passing a few hours having fun? Well, there's a tumblr, SocialShakespeare, that organizes such readings over Skype! I've always wanted to do this, but never had enough friends who were interested to organize a reading myself. So this tumblr has been one of my favorite discoveries of the last few months. Check it out! They're figuring out a schedule to read 'The Taming of the Shrew' right now, so it's a good time to sign up.
