A Book Daisy-chain

While I was compiling my special edition for this novelette, I asked several friends and readers what they’d like to see as additional material. One of the suggestions was to discuss books and I really liked that idea. Pearl loves books. The whole narrative is about books. I like talking about books and sharing book recommendations with people. I can’t talk about the books and poems mentioned in ‘The Passage of Pearl’, largely because they don’t exist. (I will here go on formal record that I have no intention of ever writing ‘The Moon Bride’s B Minor’. I may, of course, change my mind, but I don’t think it’s particularly likely.)

So that leaves the question of how to go about it and… Why not make it a kind of daisy-chain, linking books up in specific ways? It could be fun. The list below consists of ten books that I’ve read and enjoyed. They all link up to the previous book in some way. It could be theme; it could be setting; it could be narrative voice… It could be anything. But I’ll be telling you how they link up and why I enjoyed reading them. Hopefully you’ll be able to find something fantastic that you might never have heard about this way!

First up: Mindtouch by M.C.A. Hogarth. If you’ve been following my blog for the past year or so, you’ll probably have noticed that I’m an unabashed Hogarth fan and spent much of 2013 catching up on her extensive backlog. (As of this writing, I’m still not there.) Mindtouch is a science fiction book, but it is set on a campus and it features predominantly non-human characters. I was sold the moment Hogarth used the words ‘asexual romance’, but when I read the book I fell hard for the setting and the characters both. They’re wonderful and some of the most engaging characters I’ve read.

Secondly is Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin. This also has a campus setting though, like ‘The Passage of Pearl’ and unlike Mindtouch, this one has a literary campus setting. Dean’s novel is a gorgeous retelling of Tam Lin and a fantastic description of university life. It is a little dated in terms of the technology used because it’s set in the 1970s and I’ve never attended an American college it felt instantly recognisable. Dean’s retelling is probably my favourite out of the ones I’ve read, too.

Then we’ve got Ellen Kushner’s Thomas the Rhymer. I should reread this eventually as I actually remember fairly little about the actual story of it. Mostly I remember loving the structure of it and the way Kushner used first person narration while keeping everyone’s voice distinct from one another. That’s hard to do dealing with different novels, never mind in the same one!

Speaking of fantastically realised first person, I need to add Chime by Franny Billingsley. Chime has some folkloric aspects as well, but the first person narration… Once you pick up on what Billingsley is doing (or has done), it is utterly amazing. Briony is also an amazing character. It’s not a pleasant book to read; Briony has been verbally abused for much of her life and she hates herself. Let me show you the first two lines: “I've confessed to everything and I'd like to be hanged. Now, if you please.” Chilling, but utterly gorgeous and yet filled with so much hope.

Fifth along is Becca Lusher’s Orion’s Kiss. Freyda, the protagonist, hates herself, though not quite as much as Briony. Like Briony’s story, though, one of the threads running through the story is finding worth in yourself. It’s very different (certainly a lot more positive), but the parallels remain. Orion’s Kiss is a near-future dystopian setting too, so it’s quite a dark YA piece with a heavy flavouring of fantasy. It’s an intriguing mix that Becca pulls off well.

Sarah Diemer’s Love Devours is a bit of a cheat, I admit, but she pulled the individual release of ‘The Forever Star’. It also mixes fantasy with science fiction and allows the stars (and a garden amongst them) to play a role. It’s a beautiful and haunting mixture of science fiction and fantasy. The other stories are all good too, but it’s ‘The Forever Star’ that stands out in my mind.

Beyond Binary is another collection, edited by Brit Mandelo. As it’s an anthology by multiple authors I have my favourites and least favourites, but the collection as a whole explores gender and sexuality in a variety of different ways. I was surprised to find that Nalo Hopkinson’s Fisherman, which is one of the most sexual stories in there, was one of the ones I enjoyed the most. The language is gorgeous and the story is a very powerful tale of the narrator’s first time.

Marcia Douglas’ Madam Fate has a similar example of language use. Madam Fate was the first book I’ve read that was written in Jamaican English. I highly recommend it. It wasn’t an easy read, both because the dialect of English was unfamiliar to me and because it’s magical realism. It’s a book best served by rereading it a few times to make sure all the subtle connections are made and the things you missed the first time are better understood. (It is also, sadly, out of print.)

Caitlín R. Kiernan’s Threshold is different in every way, but it too has a very unique voice to it. It’s dark fantasy or horror, depending on who you ask, and it’s anything but an easy read. The language is lyrical and sing-song, so it’s not for everyone and it means you’ll need a few rereads to really grasp everything that’s going on. But oh the end was so worth it, and I say this as someone who normally avoids horror books and dark fantasy as much as she possibly can.

Lastly, I’d like to mention A Story as Sharp as a Knife by Robert Bringhurst. This is a non-fiction book that mixes biography with linguistics, history and literary theories. The link between these two books is a bit tenuous, I know, but look at the wealth of linguistic data and the way it discusses Haida stories and storytelling. I loved getting to know more about the Haida language and the issues in translation as well as their history as a people. It’s one of the most gorgeous and most rewarding books I’ve read in some time. Plus, with its love of literature it ties back nicely to ‘The Passage of Pearl’, where we started off from.

And there you have ten books that all relate to one another in some way or another (at least to my mind). I hope you’ll find something worth checking out in there! I had a lot of fun writing these up and looking for some less than blatantly obvious connections. (I think I failed, but hey I got to revisit books I thoroughly enjoyed! I’m happy. May your next read be amazing!)