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Happy places.
We all have our happy places, you know where you go to just because they make you happy in some inexplicable way. In our case these places usually have a lot of books. Its not that we are obsessive when it comes to books, ok we are uber obsessive. Its not that they have to be there so we can grab them and start masticating immediately. Its just that they are there, reassuringly they are there.
A couple of days ago I was at the Humming tree, I went for a piss and a familiar face walked into the loo took the urinal next to me and said “this is my happy place”.
Embassytown by China Mieville
Science fiction can stretch the understanding of ideas which one might never otherwise consider. In Embassytown China Mieville provides a stimulating, entertaining story of the importance of language (eat this Pinker!).
We are introduced to an alien culture which is out of sync with the way in which we humans communicate even though the common denominator for species communication is through sound. Our protagonist, Avice, was brought up in the one human town “Embassytown”-an outpost of a human-dominated world “Ariekei” which is not a very amenable place to live in.
Avice brings to light the culture of the synergy between humans and aliens by narrating certain parts of her childhood at Embassytown. Only human genetically engineered linguists (Ambassadors) can communicate with the “Extos”-aliens. Extos on the planet are screened, with an important exception, extos can only settle on Ariekei if their sociologic and genetic makeup (to communicate, to move comfortably in a human-run world & thought processes are similar enough to allow integration with humans.)
The human and exto population of Ariekei long struck a balance. They are always problems, but Embassytown is an almost disturbingly cordial society. The Hosts do their best for Ariekei, and the Ambassadors keep the peace and essentially run the society.
But when a new Ambassador arrives, the delicate balance is lost.
As with all excellent science fiction stories one might have to have two readings to be fully appreciated, first for orientation to the new world and to understand the plot, the second for the sheer delight of finding all the subtleties the author includes in the book.
If you enjoyed King Rat and Perdido Street Station you might enjoy Meivelle’s quantum leap to science fiction.
Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction,Embassytown by China Mieville , China Meivelle, Goobes Book Republic, Great Science fiction books in Bangalore, Great Science fiction books in Bangalore ,
A bit Lost by Chris Haughton
An awesomely charming and beautifully illustrated picture book charting the journey of a little owl who is ‘a bit lost’. Oops the little critter falls asleep followed by a hard landing on the ground(thump)! He has lost his mommy! All is not lost, his new friend squirrel accompanies him on his quest of for his mummy which leads him through a bunch of look-alike mummies. This brilliant book covers a basic trauma which mothers and children face while separated, followed by a blessed reunion. May you drop like a stone if you do not shed a tear with the beautiful reunion of mother and little tyke!
Only at Goobes!
The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey
The concept behind “The Gashlycrumb Tinies or, After the Outing,” by Edward Gorey, is brilliant in its simplicity. It consists of a series of rhymes about small children who suffer various macabre deaths. All the children have name beginning with a different letter of the alphabet, and their grim fates are arranged alphabetically by name. Each fate is also accompanied by one of Gorey’s awesome ink drawings. Sample lines: “E is for Ernest who choked on a peach. F is for Fanny sucked dry by a leech. G is for George smothered under a rug. H is for Hector done in by a thug.”
This book hilarious. Gorey’s children have a proper Victorian look to them which makes their scenarios that much more bizarre. Most of the drawings show the unfortunate children just before their deaths only a few of the pictures actually show explicit death or violence, parental guidance not required.
One could read “Gashlycrumb Tinies” as an outrageous parody of children’s books, it’s a wicked delight.
Gorey is typically described as an illustrator. The Object Lesson have earned serious critical respect as works of surrealist art. His experimentations — creating books that were wordless, books that were literally matchbox-sized, pop-up books, books entirely populated by inanimate objects — complicates matters still further. As Gorey told Richard Dyer of The Boston Globe, “Ideally, if anything [was] any good, it would be indescribable.” Gorey classified his own work as literary nonsense, the genre made most famous by Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear.
In response to being called gothic, he stated, “If you’re doing nonsense it has to be rather awful, because there’d be no point. I’m trying to think if there’s sunny nonsense. Sunny, funny nonsense for children — oh, how boring, boring, boring. As Schubert said, there is no happy music. And that’s true, there really isn’t. And there’s probably no happy nonsense, either.”
Hrn…
Goobes 