Author Archives: Delia

I consider reading to be one of the greatest pleasures in life,  so accessible and so utterly rewarding it never fails to delight and amaze me. I have been known to read in buses – either seated or standing up, one hand holding on to dear life while with the other trying to keep the book as steady as possible, at the bus stops – raising my head every few words to make sure my bus doesn’t just speed by (in Thailand you have to signal for the bus to stop, otherwise, if nobody wants to get off, the bus goes on its merry way) in short breaks at work, in the city while waiting for friends, not to mention the songteaw which is the most challenging of all vehicles to read in because of the constant jolts and breaks which make my eyes jump from the page. If I could read on the back of a motorcycle-taxi (I have to take one daily on my commute home) I would, but as much as I love reading I love my own safety even more so I decided to pass on that particular experience.

One of my favorite places to read (if not the favorite place – I haven’t decided yet) is on the spacious balcony of my house where I keep an old beach chair whose color was once a striking red but has now faded due to the many rains that have repeatedly drenched it. When the rain starts I always tell myself I should go and rescue the chair from the downpour and I always forget – and if I don’t do it at that precise moment then I might as well not do it at all, because within minutes the chair is soaked anyway.

This afternoon I spent a few hours in that sun-bleached and water washed chair, reading Drood by Dan Simmons, a book recommended to me by a friend whose reading tastes are so similar to mine that it is almost sure my feelings about this book will only echo his. I am up to page 270 out of a 958 pages’ book and thought it a good number to stop at and write a few words about the story within. With some books it’s a challenge to pin down a few words in a short review but with others the words spill forward when I’m not even halfway through.

Drood is a mysterious character in the novel that bears his name – a tall, disfigured, solitary man with secrets to hide and with none other than the famous Charles Dickens on his trail trying to discover them. The story is told from the perspective of Dickens’ friend Wilkie Collins, another famous author, best known for writing The Woman in White.

The events take place in the mid 1850’s London and the author does a very believable job of describing the life within that city – I could imagine myself right there at the heart of the action. Wilkie’s account of his relationship with Dickens, the Inimitable, and particularly of their quest in finding the mysterious character Drood, is a journey I found myself drawn into with very little effort on my part. Dan Simmons mixes fiction with real facts and real people and this makes the story even more believable and intriguing and that is one of the first things I look for in a book: to make me believe. No matter how farfetched, strange and twisted and maybe even gross the story is, if I can believe, then I am almost sure I will enjoy the book. My only regret is that of not having read more of Charles Dickens’ work to fully appreciate the references in the novel, before embarking on this reading experience, nor have I had the pleasure of enjoying Collins’ the Woman in White, but that is something to be remedied in the future.

With some books there’s love at first word, but with others it’s more like a friendship. That was the case with Nation. I grew to like it and as the story unfolded page by page I found myself looking forward to finding out more about Mau’s trials and adventures.

The story revolves around him, a boy who is about to become a man, but as he follows his people’s ritual of going to the Boys’ Island (where his abilities will be put to the test) and coming back, anticipating the great celebration that will surely await him on his return, something terrible happens: his world as he knows it, is no more. This puts Mau in a new situation, one that he is trying to make the best of, with the help of a “trouserman girl” and a handful of survivors who have their own roles to play in the narrative.

I was captivated by Mau’s determination to build a new life, by his need to question things in order to understand, by his open mindedness and caring attitude. The “trouserman girl”, Daphne, as she liked to call herself, was just too perfect to make me believe – too strong and determined and she seemed to do just the right things at the right times. The occasional humour and the misunderstandings that ensued from their strange circumstances brought a lighter note to the story. I particularly enjoyed the “beer-making” ritual and also the fact that the author took the time to explain the apparent “magic” involved in the process. Also, the stories of the gods Imo and Locaha completed the image of this fantasy tale and I liked them better than the voices of the “grandfathers” and “grandmothers”.

Even though I read this book before Phantastes, the words have been slow in coming together for the review. Maybe it was because of a feeling of disconnectedness from the story, of being somehow not as involved as I would have liked. Oddly enough, I found both books dealt with the same main idea, that of a boy coming of age through some sort of “test”, even though Mau is a lot younger than Anodos and their worlds are quite different. This goes to show that sometimes we are meant to read certain books in a certain order.

Overall it was an interesting book and I look forward to reading more of Terry Pratchett’s novels. Maybe this is just the beginning of a friendship…who knows…

*Read in April-May 2011

“But Love is such a Mystery

I cannot find it out:

For when I think I’m best resolv’d,

I then am in most doubt.”

(Sir John Suckling)

I have just finished Phantastes and was immediately compelled to put my thoughts to paper. What attracted me to the book was, beside the title, the blurb at the back which said the story is a “fairy tale for adults” and I needed no more persuasion.

The book relates the story of Anodos, a young wealthy man who, on his 21^st birthday receives the keys to a mysterious secretary which belonged to his father. He opens it and so begins his journey into adulthood. It is really the story of his coming of age through challenges he has to overcome, of joy and love and sadness and despair, for he must go through all of that. His journey takes him to a fantastic land – he meets a birch-tree that is not really a tree, statues that are not really statues, giants and knights and kind old ladies. He is imprisoned but escapes, he fights for a noble cause and wins, he meets all sorts of creatures, good and evil, all meant to make him understand and learn life’s lessons. Learn that sometimes we do harm and are forgiven by those whom we have hurt, that love can be of many ways, that beauty does not equal purity of soul, and friendship has wonderful rewards. Each adventure is meant to teach him something and he comes out of this experience an adult.

Although the language was not very easy to read (the book was, after all, published in the mid 1850’s) and I found myself going back to re-read certain passages, the story had a melody which made me want to keep going. Imbued with wonderful bits of poetry and very vividly described scenes, it took me to another world where everything was possible and nothing was left to chance, to a land where beauty goes hand in hand with ugliness and where weeping is the companion of laughter. In other words, life.

“Fight on, my men, Sir Andrew sayes,

A little Ime hurt, but yett not slaine;

Yle but lye downe and bleede awhile,

And then Ile rise and fight againe.”

(Ballad of Sir Andrew Barton)