It feels like June has kinda passed me by somewhat. I couldn't really tell you if more of it has been sunny than not. I couldn't tell you what sense I have of what's been happening in the world. Work has been busy. And when I've had some space, I've been buried in books. One after another.
So, not a bad month then, really :). To be fair, there's also been other stuff, like a trip to Håøya, the biggest island in the Oslofjord. With some friends! That was a first in over a year, practically. And we've been walking around the neighbourhood every now and then, especially when the sun's been out :). Ooh! And how could one forget the awesome milkshakes!!
But in my head, it feels like it's all been about the books :D. So, The Path to Ascendancy first I suppose. By the end of Deadhouse Landing I was beginning to miss the light-heartedness of Dancer's Lament a bit, ironic maybe, given the respective names. By the end of Kellanved's Reach I felt the tone had morphed ever so gradually into more of the timbre of the other Malazan series.
Which is not a bad thing. I still enjoyed reading both books immensely! Discovering once again how some truths can bend depending on the point of view, and things are never quite what they seem :). I definitely respect not tying up all the loose ends a lot more nowadays...
Having finished with that series, I then figured it was best to get going with the book club book of the month, Kitchen Confidential. I'm not really sure what I was expecting. I'd voted for it as the one I didn't mind the least, which isn't the case every time, but feels like is an occurrence more often than not lately. (Not always to a bad end, of course. Not judging a book by its cover and all that.) I'd definitely heard of Anthony Bourdain, but unlike Paul Hollywood, Gordon Ramsey or Jamie Oliver, I don't think I've ever seen anything with Bourdain in it.
Feels like I've missed out in a way :). And in other ways I'm left feeling very relieved. It's that sort of a book. He definitely was a real character, and it totally comes through in the pages. It's a narrative style I found rather enjoyable for the most part. I suppose yes, the underbelly of restauranting is less pristine that one might like, but that's not that much of a surprise really, is it? Did remind me a little of working on ships... the shared lingo, the hyper macho behaviour (although I feel that dwindled a bit over the decade I worked in seismic), the apart from the world (aka weird) way of life in general that makes it hard to settle into the "normal".
Reading up on his life (and death) in the more than two decades since the book came out though, I felt a lot of the optimism drain out from the reading experience. Because at the end of the book, he'd made it! He'd gone through hell and come out the other end, more or less in one piece. But I guess that's the thing with real life. The story isn't really over till it's over. So yeah, interesting book, especially when read in the context of his life after.
Then I thought, well, I've got time, I've managed to get the club to accept Highfire for next month (it was my turn) which I've read more or less recently, so I can run wild some more, so to speak :D. And guess what I hadn't read in a while? A proper Gaiman novel. So I started with Neverwhere (well, I actually read How the Marquis Got His Coat Back first).
What an awesome, awesome story! It had been five years or so since my last read, so I'd conveniently forgotten a lot of the details but remembered the broad arcs and it was soooo much fun re-discovering the nuances of the world of London Below! I think I read Gaiman with a bit more awareness of the author's voice now.
Hmm. That was vague. Not actually sure if trying to explain what I mean will make things any better, but why not :). So, I feel like there have been times where I've read Gaiman, especially in the longer form, and been so completely and utterly immersed in the story and the world that I wasn't paying any attention to the author behind it all. But this time around, either because I'm more familiar with the stories, or because I've read more of his non-fiction (I feel like I'm repeating myself here, from some older blogpost), I had enough headspace to think, this guy wrote this. Some part of me wondering what he was thinking, feeling, seeing...
Anyhow, reading Neverwhere was just as awesome an experience as I ever remember it being in the past :). And for once at the end I wasn't left going, "Was that it?!" :)
PS. I keep forgetting that How the Marquis Got His Coat Back happens after most of Neverwhere, and so should be read after, not before. *sigh* Maybe I'll remember next time.
So what does one follow that up with then? But of course, American Gods! What else?! :D.
I'm probably about a third of the way through at this point, and the storm is definitely gathering some momentum. Having read the book twice in quick succession in 2012, this is actually the first time since! (In fact, I've had a paperback for the last three or four years I think, but hadn't picked it up.) I had definitely forgotten that this was a signed copy (!!!!!) so that was a great start! Since then, I've really been enjoying how much fun and quirky stuff there is hidden in between all the iron grey storm clouds and what not :).
I think I have, over the years, mainly remembered the more sombre and gut/heart-wrenching aspects of this story. But there is definitely so much more to it! Or maybe the level of serious stuff encountered through my Book of the Fallen journey means a lot of other stuff feels lighter in comparison? Who knows.
(As an aside though, I cannot help feeling as though my year reading Steven Erikson on trains to and from work was something of a watershed in my reading life. There seems to be a clear before and after. A bit like when I first read Gaiman, by which I mean stuff like Neverwhere and American Gods, and again when I read Sandman for the first time. And longer ago, Tolkien and Asimov. The world of words parts, to reveal something more, something altogether transcendent...)
I'm definitely looking forward to the rest, becoming reacquainted with the contours of this extraordinary tale. And then who knows, maybe read Stardust again. Or maybe something altogether different :).
(Another aside, reading Gaiman alone in long form is definitely different from reading Gaiman with Pratchett :). Very much so.)
So there we have it, the weeks have been passing. A steady progression of different plants flowering in turn, filling the world in a succession of different colours. And through it all I've been enjoying exploring other worlds. Maybe it'll be time soon to do some more physical exploring.
