What Am I Reading?

Besides my Women's Health, Runner's World, and GRE study book, I am reading a Very Good Book. It's a long book, but the pacing is so well done that I'm not at all sad that I'm only half way through with the story.

What does make me sad is that it's supposed to be the first in a trilogy, and the author is a little...um, particular about the book. The second in the series was supposed to be released in April 2009; however, he has yet to turn in a draft to the publisher, so...

With that warning out of the way for those who dislike waiting for the next book in a series, the book I am discussing is Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind.

Again, I'm only half-way through the book, so I'm unsure of how it ends, but so far I LOVE THIS BOOK. I WANT TO READ IT ALL THE TIME BUT CAN'T BECAUSE I...*ahem* I don't have time to plow through it in the manner to which I am accustomed, but I'm also content to savor it. It's a finely constructed novel, with layers and good storytelling. I'm obsessed with a good narrative, and I'm even more obsessed with framed narratives, which this is.

What is it about a framed narrative that I just can't put down? It's one reason I love The Arabian Nights' Entertainments and The Princess Bride (just to name a few off the top of my head). I think it's the intricate levels, the feeling of holding two (or more) stories in my hands. The frame gives the story some purpose or point toward which it moves, which means that I don't feel as lost if the threads don't make sense.

Anyway, I feel that I can recommend The Name of the Wind to any fantasy lover, or anyone who loves books that play with the idea of storytelling. Hopefully the rest of the series comes out within the next couple of years AND is as good as this one.

Return of the Favorites

Since I have significantly less reading to do during the summer, I like to read books I don't have the opportunity for during the academic year*. In rapid succession, I consumed The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and The Lady of the Snakes, not to mention reading all sorts of magazines and other publications. What can I say--I love to read!

Right now, however, I'm working my way through a permanent favorite: The Lord of the Rings. I came home one day to Lance watching the films, which reminded me that I hadn't read the books in a year or two. So I picked up The Fellowship of the Ring and was quickly reminded of how wonderful a storyteller Tolkien really is. I could go on and on about why I love these books (including having done research on them**--nothing like immersing yourself in a topic to solidify your feelings about it!), but I'll just list a few reasons:

• In his essay "On Fairy-Stories," Tolkien argues that the mark of a good story is its ability to pull you--and keep you--into a Secondary World. His own fiction does just that: while I'm reading The Lord of the Rings, I'm in Middle-earth, walking with the hobbits. Enchantment, pure and simple.
• Tolkien is painstaking with his attention to detail: dates, moon-phases, maps, geography, etc. It really enriches the story and makes it into something believable. Even his made up languages sound possible, not...well, made up. Most fantasy books fail in this regard because the names and vocabularies aren't rooted or consistent.
• The structure: but only because I wrote my thesis on the that, so I really pay attention to how the story is set up, and I marvel at how simple--and yet complex--it really is.
• Tolkien plays around a lot with different ways of being a hero. The hobbits don't look heroic, yet they are the ones who can best resist the temptations of the One Ring. Boromir looks every inch the hero, yet he is seduced by the promise of power. Aragorn is far more than he appears, as the story reveals. All that is gold does not glitter...
  

Anyway, if you haven't read them (I'm looking at you), you should. Especially since I know you already have the first book in hand...

*Yes, I know I should be doing thesis reading. But I've been working on it and talking to people! So ha!

**My Honors senior thesis. I really wish I had spent more time on it--which I may still.