in which I wrap up December...
I feel like I have written much about books in the past month, but HEY, let’s start off the vaguely on track with these monthly updates.
THINGS I HAVE READ
Paradise - Abdulrazak Gurnah. It turns out that this was, in fact, my kind of jam, and I’d like to thank the Nobel Prize committee for waking me up to Gurnah (yes, obvs we will talk forever about whether Ngugi will ever get the thing and he clearly deserves it but also I like it when prizes make me aware of new-to-me authors). I really enjoyed the way that this is, effectively, a coming of age story within a story about the dynamics of empire and trade in a broadly-unspecified eastern African location in roughly the early days of European colonial movement, and that a part of the coming of age is a growing awareness of these dynamics. And honestly, its been too long since I got to be in Eastern Africa, and his depiction of place is so evocative, and it was just a treat.
Empire of Gold - S.A Chakraborty. Delighted to report that this series ended really nicely, drawing in threads from previous books that had been raisin questions, then tying things up well, without being too neat and allowing for actual consequences.
Embassytown - China Mieville. I first read this coming up for ten years ago (see here and here) and had put it in a box marked, ‘Mieville novels whose ideas fascinate me but which don’t quite work as novels.’ But I’m taking a metaphysics paper this year, and every time the topic of language comes up in class (which is a lot) Embassytown has ended up on my mind, so I re-read it over Christmas, and wow, it turns out that I now think it’s legitimate a really good novel. The ideas are still really interesting, but things that had felt over-egged to me before faded to the background (the whole Scile storyline) and the drama of the change that the Ariekei undergo actually felt dramatic and tense, to the extent that I stayed up late late finishing it up. Yay for re-reading things and them turning out to be better than you remembered/expected
Sister of the Angels - Elizabeth Goudge. A Christmas treat. I used to read a good bit of Elizabeth Goudge as a kid, and The City of Bells, which is her Cathedral novel set in a fictional Wells was always a favourite (somehow Henrietta enchanted me even though she clearly wouldn’t have in real life). This is a Christmas novel set in the same world: a lovely little slip of a thing about faith in people and redemption and the power of art to convey the presence of God, with added snow. It will absolutely not be for everyone, but I had a bit of dust in my eye for a moment there.
Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula le Guin. Yes, I have finally begun on Earthsea, and what a delight! I kept wondering how it would have struck me as a child, because it didn’t feel too much like anything (perhaps the nearest would be Alan Garner, but it felt definitely less plot-ty than Brisingamen or Gomrath). I very much enjoyed the fact that Ged is, frankly, hard work to like, and that its quest always seems to be moving away from being a climax, and just the general atmosphere of the world (big fan of worlds with lots of sea). I’m looking into picking up the rest for treats over the year.
Transforming Fire - Mark Jordan. Apparently at the close of the year I read really interesting books about theological education that get me thinking (last year, After Whiteness… now this). It’s about some of the ways theological texts teach and what they can teach us about teaching, and I really liked the way it used juxtaposition and ideas about resistance to get you thinking, and the questions it set for exercises (which I’d really like to think about with people).
THINGS I HAVE WATCHED
Hawkeye - I was late getting started on this because, frankly, I did not enjoy what they did with Hawkeye in the MCU I’m looking at you, Joss Whedon, for giving him a family) after him being an early fave, and because I really really enjoyed Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye comic book series and this was clearly going to borrow from that but also not be it, because hey, MCU-Hawkeye can’t be sloppily living alone in Brooklyn with a Pizza-Dog and Tony Stark occasionally fixing his electronics. And yet - it turns out that this might be my favourite of the MCU’s Disney Plus era shows (Jessica Jones Season 1 is still the best overall, ayethangyew) because it didn’t try too hard to fit into the monstrous complexity of the Tie-In Universe. There was NO METAVERSE, OMG the joy and just kind of got on with being a misfit buddy show with bows and arrows. It’s not going to win prizes for being rich or deep or even gloriously witty, but it was fun and I enjoyed it.
The Cave - I would have liked to see this in the cinema, but a combination of omicron and release dates meant that nope. Anyway, it’s a documentary about the Thai cave rescue by the duo who made Free Solo (still the most heart-in-mouth documentary I’ve ever watched) - and it does such a good job of telling the various stories and outlining the dynamics and dangers without over-valorising or demonising anyone, and (crucially), completely ignoring all the Elon Musk garbage.
Nutcracker - I made it to the ballet one last time, and before omicron knocked out all the ballet companies over Christmas. I was so happy I could have cried (I maybe had a moment with the snow at the end of Act I, shush). I went to see Frankie Hayward as the Sugar Plum Fairy, and she and Alexander Campbell were delightful, and I just love the Grand Pas de Deux and Code a LOT you guys.
A RECOMMENDATION OF SOME KIND
It’s the New Year, and if you’ve not already got (and broken) a stash of resolutions, folks - diversify your fiction reading! It’s such a treat because there’s fabulous stuff out there, and it’s fun pushing beyond whatever your normal book diet is. There’s clearly not enough time in the world to read everything I want to, but I’ve really been enjoying prioritising things that stretch me because I’m not their intended audience or they’re telling stories of people and places I’m fairly unfamiliar with or an outsider to. They just help me feel a bit more in the world - which is good given that between the pandemic and my move to Cambridge for training my actual world has shrunk a lot.
IN THE PILE FOR JANUARY
There’s a bunch of stuff I didn’t see at the cinema (yet) that I might try and see if I feel omicron-secure, or if they end up streaming - notably West Side Story; the new Spiderman, the new Matrix… I’ll be watching Joel Coen’s new Tragedy of Macbeth just as soon as it’s on Apple TV, because I’m me and it’s by a Coen brother.
In the books pile I have Wanjiku Wa Ngugi’s Seasons in Hippoland and Mukoma Wa Ngugi’s Unbury Our Dead with Song, because I’m on a streak, clearly, and also Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow which was sold to me as ‘Jesuits in Space’, and Scholastique Mukasonga’s Our Lady of the Nile. At some point this year I do, actually, also want to get round to Wharton’s The Age of Innocence and Dickens’ Barnaby Rudge, both of which have been on the shelf for a. very. long. time.
A PHOTO FROM THE LAST MONTH
The Song of the Sea, the Zawn at Nanjizal Cove. Cornwall is the best you guys. I could have stared at that water for ever.