Greetings to the community, and a request

[nj-librarian.livejournal.com]

Looks like you have a lot of interesting discussions going on here! I especially appreciate the close analysis of the books -- you sure have a lot of insight!

I discovered The Books less than a month ago, thanks to a very favorable review article by Orson Scott Card. I am now thoroughly addicted and will buy a copy of anything Megan Whalen Turner ever writes in the future. (And will make whatever library I work at buy at least one, too.) These are some of the best books I have ever read, period. As soon as I finished, I went back through and reread in order to catch all the subtleties that I missed the first time. The writing is simply unbelievable. These people are not real, but they should be.

About myself, just in case anyone is interested: 34 years old, youth services librarian, married, have a child aged -.111, plus some dogs. Obsessions include quality children's literature esp. fantasy, the new Battlestar Galactica series, Jeopardy!, Russian history, and hedgehogs.

Now, could I ask a favor of you? Could you tell me how I can get a copy of the MWT short story about Gen that was published in Disney magazine? Some of the threads here had a link to it, but it's not there any more. If somebody could help me get hold of a copy, that person would have my gratitude.

Thanks and best wishes,
nj_librarian

Comments

Disney Story

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

Welcome! Kid's Lit Librarians Rock (as does MWT)!

I can e-mail it to you. My e-mail address is listed in my profile - send me a note, and I'll send the story to you.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Welcome! Can you link us to the Orson Scott Card review? I think I've seen it, but I'm not sure.

Favorite of the books? Favorite lines?

-.111??

[(Anonymous)]

Welcome to our crazy little circus! MWT ROCKS! The Disney Magazine story - I politely bugged Rowana for it so you could ask her...We need titles for all the new people! Even Jade hasn't got a title yet! Hmmm...must think.

emerald ;)

[jyms.livejournal.com]

welcome =) i like russian history too but i've only read one book on it-something on 1812, but i guess it doesn't really count cause it talks about the french as well? does war and peace(rox!) count? even though it's fiction it is HISTORICAL fiction...reiteration-welcome!

review of Attolia by Orson Scott Card, part 1

[nj-librarian.livejournal.com]

Got this review in e-mail, and for reasons I am not at liberty to divulge it is prob. OK for me to post it:
________________________
It's a really bad idea to start a trilogy with the second volume. But I was traveling and desperate for something good to read. The bookstore didn't have the first volume; the third volume was only out in hardcover, and why spring for that when you don't even know if you like the series yet? So I bought volume two.
The author is Megan Whalen Turner. The first volume is The Thief. The third volume is The King of Attolia. And the book I read is The Queen of Attolia. The titles notwithstanding, all three books are mainly about the thief, though he's no ordinary cutpurse or burglar. This young adult fantasy is set in an ancient Greek land where one of the kingdoms has a semi-hereditary office called "the Queen's (or King's) Thief." He's a one-man intelligence service, creeping into other kings' palaces and eavesdropping, stealing documents, or (occasionally) conducting "diplomacy with prejudice" -- i.e., assassination.
This is a world with little magic, and what there is comes from the workings of the gods. They are not the familiar gods of Greek mythology, just as none of these little kingdoms corresponds with any real city-state of ancient Greece. The Thief is named Eugenides, which is the same name as the god of thieves whom he serves. He is downright pious about it -- but in the process of the story he begins to have good reasons that the very gods he serves have come to hate him. He is caught by an enemy and, in the traditional (but rarely used) punishment for thieves, his right hand is cut off. And that's only the beginning of his troubles. By the end of the fascinating, compelling story, he has a very long list of complaints against the gods.
In fact, because I read this just before rereading C.S. Lewis's finest novel, Till We Have Faces, it seemed obvious to me that Turner has to be familiar with Lewis's work, which is also set in an imaginary kingdom in the vicinity of ancient Greece, with imaginary gods, and with a main character who has a long list of complaints against the gods who have, she believes, used her ill.
It might be coincidence. It doesn't really matter. What does matter is that Turner's novel is, for me at least, even more emotionally effective than Lewis's, if only because the writing is less distant and we rather like the main character better.
Turner's handling of personal politics and diplomacy in an era when kingdoms were very small is as accurate as I think a modern writer can achieve. More to the point, she creates intriguing characters who grow more important to us as they become more complex. Sometimes she seems to cheat a little, withholding from us information that is perfectly well known to the main characters. But in fact she's quite careful not to use the viewpoint of the character who knows the secret during the time she's keeping the secret from us. It's a deft juggling act, but she pulls it off with flair.
Needless to say, I'll be reading The Thief and The King of Attolia as soon as I can lay hands on copies of them. Still, I'm happy to report that you don't have to have read the first book to understand -- and enjoy -- the second. For me, Turner joins the very small pantheon of strong, realistic fantasy writers who are making of this genre something very fine indeed.
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Russian history

[nj-librarian.livejournal.com]

And yes, jmys, War and Peace certainly counts. Only half the book is a novel -- the other half is a history book. :-) Have you read any more Tolstoy? He's my favorite Russian writer. If I had stayed in grad school, I would have wanted to do my dissertation on him.

willow_41z, you got it. :-)

And I have too many favorite scenes to list.

[avian-xj.livejournal.com]

Welcome!

[rowana.livejournal.com]

Welcome, officially! (If rather belatedly) :)

[adjrun.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm always a little sad when people don't read The Thief first. Because one of the best things about the novel is how well Eugenides, as a first person narrator, fools the reader as well as his fellow travellers. If you already know who he is, you don't get that fantastic, "OH! I've been PLAYED!!!" moment at the climax of the novel.

It's still fantastic, mind you.