A fresh start

Since starting a travel blog for my American trip, I've wanted to create a new website which covers a wider range of my interests; you can now read about books, travel, food and cooking, writing, and more at kookooburra.co.uk

If you've enjoyed my thoughts about reading and writing, please check it out and let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Kate

The Dark Tower review

It's over. Seven books, two countries and just under four months later, I've finished Stephen King's epic fantasy series - the one he sees as the axis on which all his other writing spins.

It was excellent.

NB: I'm going to try and write this without spoilers

After a rather disappointing sixth installment, the final book brought back a sense of adventure, cut down on obscure hard sci-fi-esque lexicon, and wrapped up one almighty quest.

I enjoyed the second half of the seventh book more and more. Although King sometimes seems to shy away from a genre outside of horror, (and the desire to 'earth' this story in reality is clear throughout the series) his fantasy writing is wonderful. Those final chapters demonstrate most clearly that the Dark Tower series is a fairytale at heart, albeit an extraordinarily long and complex one.

There are elements of the books I did not like. King's meta-writing does become tedious, and doesn't seem as necessary as he thinks it is. However, it does show just how much the Dark Tower has meant to him.

And disgust took over any interest or fear I had for much of book six.

There are, probably, too many characters. But the main ka-tet are so detailed that it feels like you know them; Susannah in particular is one of the best drawn and most interesting characters I've read in a while. And Roland, of course, is pretty unique as heroes go.

One of the best parts of the Dark Tower is the different societies and communities we come across. King does this in plenty of his other books too - he has a knack for local dialect and customs that ring with truth. While the number of words which require translation does grow over-large, there are some which sit nicely within the story, and serve to strengthen it.

This love affair with language runs through the repeated use of riddles, made-up brand names, songs and jingles. Playing with words this way certainly appeals to me. It makes you think harder, about meaning, and what it says about the people who use it in their speech.

And the ending made me immediately think about reading them all over again; a neat trick.

Long days and pleasant nights.

Mitchell and metalepsis

I just read a wonderful interview in New York Magazine (which you can read here) about David Mitchell's new book, The Bone Clocks.

Aside from sounding like a very good book in its own right, The Bone Clocks purportedly brings several characters from his previous books into the story.

This is known as metalepsis (a delicious word) and something I am a huge fan of.

I like connected stories. Remembering old characters, and seeing them in new situations, is fascinating and valuable. The idea that the barriers of separate novels are permeable is beautiful, and makes me think about what else in life we discount because of the many boxes and categories we create to keep things apart.

Using characters and beliefs this way encourages the reader to stay in the story long after the ending has been passed. The final page is just another boundary, after all, and the best books should continue to make you think. Should make you try to weave their perspective into your own reality and see how it changes as a result.

Reading the Dark Tower series (or any Stephen King, probably) is also a good example of this. Characters move between books with ease - and I'm pretty sure I've just read the nugget of the idea that turned into 11/22/63, one of his newest novels, all in a conversation somewhere in Calla Bryn Sturgis.

So here's to metalepsis, and books which go beyond their traditional limits - I'd love to create something that far reaching and interconnected one day.

Books on location

It's not often that I read books wih locations I'm familiar with; more because I don't seek them out, not because they don't exist.

But New York is the setting for so much popular culture - I recognise things I never knew that I knew. Streets, shops, even the way people walk.

This also includes books, and especially the series I'm currently reading, The Dark Tower. Large parts of these novels are set in New York and there's a whole host of references which I know would have gone completely over my head before.

Now, I feel like I understand the story more completely, like I am sharing an inside joke with Stephen King. One of the central elements of the story is located really nearby; I walk down the same streets and it seems almost as if I could wander into the fictional universe.

This might be particularly enhanced due to King's tendency to use regional brands, slang and businesses within his fiction. Anyway it's definitely something I'll look for in the future when choosing books.

Up, up and away

The reason it's been a little quiet here on the blog is that I've been preparing for my travels more intensely - I leave for Rio de Janeiro on the 28th of February.

I'm blogging about that here, on my new blog. At the moment I'm posting on Mondays and Thursdays, although that will probably change when I arrive.

It also explains all the Spanish! I've got a few more of my Mexican folktales to read, and then I'll probably go back to the beginning to see if my comprehension has improved.

And to get suitably inspired, I'm re-reading some of my favourite adventure memoirs. I've just read Wild again, and Love with a chance of drowning. My next read is called Kiss the Sunset Pig, by Laurie Gough and so far I am very impressed. Just the sort of sleeping-on-beaches, go-where-you-please lifestyle I will shortly be trying to emulate.

On my list is Jupiter's Travels, which is a book by a guy who motorbiked around the world. He also joins a commune in California for a while. Just sayin'.

The big question of course, is what am I going to take with me to read?! I'm only going to be taking one novel, and swapping it as often as I can, at hostels and with the people I meet. I can also buy something if I can find books in English. But it means that the original book must be really, really good. I want something I haven't read before, quite long (my flight is 12 hours), and brilliant. Current ideas include Gone Girl or an old novel of Stephen King's, but I'm open to suggestions.

Don't over-think it

Today I remembered a story, or urban legend, about the time American astronauts spent millions of dollars and many months developing a pen with ink that could work in space. The Russians, so the story goes, simply brought a pencil.

It's a good message for life, I think. Sometimes, perhaps most of the time, things are simpler than we think they are. Creating patterns out of chaos is a very human trait, but is not always useful.

Anyway. I still haven't done a wrap up of 2013 yet, and don't really feel like it yet, so we'll see. I read 36 books, which I'm pretty happy with. I also read my first ever foreign language book, even if it was only a kids book.

There will also be a review up on Insurgent shortly, the sequel to Divergent.

I started writing again in these past few days, and it feels wonderful. I think I know now exactly the kind of story I want to be writing. More and more stories like the fairytale I wrote late last year - like the ones I read and adored as a child and which are simply the most fun to write. I still think stories like that are magical.

I came across a wonderful speech about reading by Neil Gaiman, which I wanted to share here: http://readingagency.org.uk/news/blog/neil-gaiman-lecture-in-full.html. It's pretty inspiring.

That's all for now, but more soon.

Mexican fun

I've been reading Historias de Mexico (Stories from Mexico) for a while now. It's split up into 16 short stories, with Spanish on one side and the English translation on the other. It's the perfect set-up for learning, as you can read as much as possible in Spanish before checking your understanding.

The stories themselves are also really funny. They're traditional legends, so there's a lot of Gods and Goddesses, talking animals, and magic. I'm certainly learning some interesting vocab - I can say 'dwarf' and 'witch' and even 'torture', but not how to get my tenses right, or ask someone for help.

I was speaking to a friend recently in Spanish (She's much, much better than me!) and she mentioned someone's boyfriend. Novio. I jumped up, recognising the word. "Sweetheart!" I cried, triumphant. Well, yes, she said. Or just 'boyfriend' if you're living in 2014. I'd read a story from the book a few nights before about two young people who are nicknamed los novios - sweethearts. In the story, after they die (nothing if not cheery), a God turns them into volcanoes so they can be together forever.

There's some other highlights; another princess is lying on the beach when a group of soldiers walks by. She sees the most handsome one, promptly falls in love, and then faints. They don't waste time in Mexico.

It's also really interesting to see how these legends compare to other myths from around the world. There's one which is basically the story behind Chinese New Year, and another which is a form of Sleeping Beauty.

If anyone is trying to learn Spanish, or any other language, try and find some bilingual stories to read. The shorter and weirder, the better.