Finished reading: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson 📚

I’ve come to expect a pattern with Sanderson’s writing style. Generally, they start with a tease. Something to hook me in and wonder, “What was that all about?” Then it’s Exposition City, as I learn about the world, its history, its magic, the characters and their motivations. There is ample time provided to become comfortable in this new reality.

Then, somewhere around 60% through, something breaks.

Maybe it’s a character I thought I could trust showing their true allegiance, or a rule of the magic system being broken, or plans completely falling apart. Whatever it is, the world is now completely different. I wonder about it just as the characters do, searching for the actual truth. ¹

I think that’s what’s kept me interested in these books. I love going down Wikipedia rabbit trails, or wondering about something and then researching the heck out of it. So when an author offers the promise of hidden knowledge I have no choice but to continue. I felt this watching Lost, or more recently Severance.

Sanderson’s strength, though, is on delivering on his promise. Lost’s truth was underwhelming. Mistborn’s truth is transcendent. There were times when I audible gasped, or pumped my fist in the air. Either I had an inkling of what would come to pass and been confirmed, or I had been absolutely blindsided. In either case, it’s simply exhilarating.

I am going to take a break from the Cosmere series while I read some books either lent to me or that I purchased and feel obligated to read. But I’m looking forward to returning to this wider universe soon.

Finished reading: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Definitely ratchets up the intensity. Any siege story is going struggle to keep the pace, by definition. But I found that the overlapping storylines/perspectives kept the intrigue building until the climax. Looking forward to the next.

Finished reading: In the Great Green Room by Amy Gary 📚

Margaret Wise Brown packed a ton of impact into her tragically short lifetime. This book was a fascinating look into that life. The childhood rituals that provided inspiration for her best work, the romantic partners (male and female) that were her muses, and her struggle to break out of children’s books and into “serious” literature. Ironic, because the fact she wrote some of the most beloved kids’ literature of all time has ensured her reputation will endure. Few things are as sturdy against time as songs and stories told to and by children.

What strikes me about her work is that they aren’t often fantastical, even as they involve anthropomorphic characters. They are instead very rooted in poetry and the present. Goodnight, Moon is like a mindfulness practice for toddlers, and The Runaway Bunny’s themes show up even in modern work like Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. The stories are simple and universal, not concerned with high moral concepts, endowing even the simplest things in the world with love and wonder.

Some stray quotes:

“[Margaret] recently had an article published on how to select the proper book for a child. In it, she encouraged parents to find stories told in simple words about familiar things. The color of the sky, the feel of rain, even tables and telephones might be commonplace to parents, but to children, everything in the world is new and wildly exciting. She believed frightening fairy tales should be avoided for younger children who had yet to learn what is real and what is not. To them, a witch or goblin is as real as a horse or chicken. Older children, depending on their environment, understood the difference between fantasy and reality; they could enjoy those stories without harmful results. It was important for children to find the fun and adventure in folktales and legends since they were based in nature and were often a window into human nature. Word patterns, rhymes, and rhythms were also something she suggested parents look for in a book because they mimicked children’s playful language. Sudden changes and sharp contrasts in sound kept their attention, and it delighted them to hear a cat meow or a train go pocketa-pocketa-pocketa. Stories should be short—no more than ten or fifteen minutes unless the readers involved the children in the stories through questions, which gave them a chance to be part of the narratives, Margaret explained that the purpose of books for young children was not so much to educate them as to echo their laughter and sadness, to capture the reality of the world they loved. Children were sensitive to subtle overtones and rhythms and eager to hear them reflected in stories, songs, and poems. She believed that unless parents encouraged those senses, they became blunted by the age of five. Literature gave them back their own world and kept the keenness of their senses alive.”

“…a teacher was to be a facilitator instead of an instructor. They were to guide and encourage children as they learned. All children … were explorers on the greatest journey of their lives—that of childhood.”

“[Margaret and Michael Strange’s] bond was unrefined, Margaret thought. They got lost in each other. Separation from each other was no longer possible. Michael would take a part of Margaret with her, but part of her would live on in Margaret.”

[The book off with Margaret’s own writing, when she hoped to write a biography of her and Michael’s life together:] “That is the significance of this biography, one who has dared to be gloriously good and gloriously bad in one life. No Limbo for her. Rather let life itself grow living monuments out of trees and living words so that death can never take from our half-lives this radiant living that was lived among us.”

Finished reading: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Pretty much couldn’t put it down for the last 200 pages or so. Like all the best heist stories, it gets really good when everything goes really wrong. Anticipated some of the twists but was blindsided by others.

Finished reading: Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson 📚

I actually finished reading this a while ago. I liked it a lot. Enough to maybe continue on the Brandon Sanderson journey a bit. Some things are a bit dated - especially in the way he wrote his female lead characters. I found it hard to break into at first since it’s so heavy on exposition, but the twists partway through were genuinely surprising and renewed interest for me.

Finished reading: Stardust by Neil Gaiman 📚

A fun cat-and-mouse-and-bigger-cat adventure. It took me a little while to settle into the rhythm of it. Things just happen, supernatural stuff hidden in the prose, and you kind of think, “Did I just read that?” Just like Tristran (a name unpronounceable in my mind) might have thought, “Did I just see that?” But once you learn to roll with it and let it wash over you it’s wonderful. The ending is a bit anticlimactic, but I think that’s ok. It reads more like a legend than a blockbuster so that works in its favor, I think.

Finished reading The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo 📚

Fun, lightweight read - finished it in two sittings. A nice way to start my goal of reading a book each month. It was a bit difficult at times to wrap my head around the terminology, especially because the murders are intrinsically connected to traditional Edo-era building design. But the translation is explanatory in a way that feels fairly natural. I’m not entirely certain of the history of the book but it feels like it must have been a serial release because nearly every chapter ends on a cliffhanger. In any case, I’m looking forward to reading more like this!