Three Days To Fifty: Two Favourite Books

I'd be interested to know how many people have heard of "Little, Big" by John Crowley.

I describe it as 'a favourite' and I normally re-read my favourites, yet I have only read it the one time, about 20 years ago. (I still have the book, protected in a plastic cover). It's just too dense a book to pick up for a casual re-reading.

It's a fantasy that's hard to accurately describe (especially after two decades!) At it's heart is an American family who live on the edge of magic for several generations. The individual family members more or less know that something magical may be going on but aren't really sure what it is. Sons are unhappy that their fathers don't tell them more. Fathers wish that they could find the right moment to tell their sons the little they know.... All is by described with a writer with a wonderful gift of language. It's a work of beauty, and I was totally gripped by it deep, veiled richness.

I really am going to have to read it again....

A book that I have read and re-read is Lois McMaster Bujold's "A Civil Campaign".

Its science fiction - with more than a hint of Jane Austen about it. Bujold has written about a dozen books featuring a character called Miles Vorkosigan, who is an aristocrat from a conservative, militaristic world named Barrayar. Miles has the advantage of coming from the second most important family of his whole planet, and has tremendous charisma. However he has the disadvantage of having brittle bones and a dwarfish physique - in a society which is repelled by deformity or mutation.

After some years as a mercenary leader operating under a pseudonym, Miles has a respectable role as one of the Emperor's investigators. All he wants to do now is settle down and marry the woman he loves, a widow called Ekaterin. However she has no idea of his feeling towards her - and a previous career as a mercenary leader doesn't exactly give Miles the right training for wooing...

The book is extremely funny in places, and the characters and the dialogue are splendid. Plus there are several serious sub-plots - Barrayaran women have about as many rights as early Victorian women, and Miles has an opportunity to improve things a little...

You can actually read the first half of the book here.

Age Banding - Why Stop With Books?

Having read Sara's post opposing age banding for children's books, I am wondering whether the idea could actually be extended further.

For example - cars. I'm 49, I drive a Vauxhall Astra. It's probably the right car for me - but how about having a discreet age banding included in the model name - like, say, "Astra GT 1500 45-49?" Wouldn't that make my big car-choosing decisions so much easier in future?

And then there's' TV programmes. Which age band is Doctor Who intended for? 8-10? 11-14? 45-49? I'm going to have to keep watching it until they tell me...


What about food ? When our son was 12 he liked Brie. Surely that's really intended for an older person? Why can't they put an age range on the label?


Then there's clothes. And films. And blogs. Shouldn't we forced to put a label on our blogs showing an age range? Only trouble is then is that I would probably be too old for Millenium Elephant. And too young for Lord Bonkers' Diary

Um, maybe let's scrap the age banding idea after all.

Pratchett and Accolades

From the Telegraph today:

"For years I have been asking why one of the greatest satirists who ever lived - in this country or any other - is consistently ignored by those who ought to be lionising him. I'm talking about Terry Pratchett, who may have the financial rewards commensurate with his talent - but where are the Booker prizes, or the Whitbreads ? Where are the literary accolades? Whenever he's interviewed, it's usually with a faint air of surprise that someone who writes fantasy can be so erudite and funny."

Can we please keep Pratchett in mind the next time we vote for "Liberal Voice Of the Year"?

Liberal Of The Year - Terry Pratchett?

My brain moves slowly around Christmas time. So I've only just left a comment on Liberal Democrat Voice about who has been the Liberal voice of 2007.

It's the 57th comment there. So just in case you're not going to read that far down, I'm repeating it here:

I have another, very serious suggestion - Terry Pratchett.

His readership in the UK is huge. Those who have read his books will know that underneath all the humour and fantasy is a very liberal philosophy.
There’s too much to mention but, for example, books such as “Equal Rites” and “Monstrous Regiment” have a theme of , well, equal rights for women. The hero of “Small Gods” is an honest priest trying to stay one step ahead of a corrupted fundamentalist religion. One of his best characters , Commander Vimes of the City Watch, is about as non-racist as you can get - he offers jobs to dwarves, werewolves , zombies and even golems. (this may strike non-readers of Pratchett as pretty flippant, but in it’s own context it’s very serious stuff.)

The most famous fantasy books in the last 50 years have been the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I like those books, but Tolkein has a huge amounts of killing, has races such as orcs with no good qualities whatsoever, and a lot of monarchs. Pratchett is on the side of the people.

To quote from Pratchett’s novel “Feet of Clay”:

“You are in favour of the common people?” said Dragon mildly.
“The common people?” said Vimes. “They’re nothing special. They’re no different from the rich and powerful except they’ve got no money or power. But the law should be there to balance things up a bit . So I suppose I’ve got to be on their side”.


Later on in the same book he’s ordered to destroy a golem:

“In order to keep the peace, the golem will have to be destroyed”
“No, sir”
“Allow me to repeat my instruction”
“No, sir”
“I’m sure I just gave you an order Commander. I distinctly felt my lips move.”
“No, sir. He’s alive, sir”
“He’s just made of clay, Vimes”
“Aren’t we all, sir? According to the pamphlets Constable Visit keeps handing out. Anyway he thinks he’s alive, and that’s good enough for me.”

I can think of no individual who has spread a liberal , tolerant philosophy more in the last 20 years than Terry Pratchett. And now would be a very good time to give him some credit for it…

Seventh and Best

I began reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows outside Borders at Lakeside at 5:00 pm, and I've just finished it....

What do I think? I think that JK saved the best till last....

What would James White Think?

I've felt angry and disturbed at the prospect of the teaching of "intelligent design" (creationism under another name) creeping into the US schools system. Perhaps the word 'evolution' will be banned in US schools in a few decades time. I'm sure the Taliban would approve.

I can't help think of the late science fiction writer James White. He wrote truly good books - not only were they well-written , but the characters within them tried to do good. Imagine Star Wars without Darth Vader, or Star Trek without the Borg? Well , James White created "Sector General", a vast space station hospital full of medics and technicians of dozens of different alien species, all trying to save lives.

When I say 'alien species' . these weren't just variations on the humanoid form, as in Star Trek. White had a fertile imagination. There were nurses that looked like giant caterpillars covered in beautiful, twitching grey fur, patients as shy as mice but with the size and natural weaponry of sea monsters, surgeons resembling flightless birds who used beaks instead of hands.

White frequently explained the evolutionary origin of these creatures so it's pretty obvious that he accepted the scientific evidence. But he was also a Catholic, and in one of his books "The Genocidal Healer" he looked at the possibility of religious belief in a vast universe filled with sentient beings.

One character says:

"My knowledge of the subject is incomplete , but among the majority of the intelligent species it is said that this omnipotent and immaterial being has manifested itself in physical form. The physiological classifications vary to suit the environments of the planets concerned, but in all cases it manifests itself as a teacher and lawgiver who suffers death at the hands of those who cannot at first accept its teachings. But these teachings, in a short time or long, form the philosophical foundation of mutual respect, understanding and cooperation between individuals of the species which eventually lead to the formation of a planetary and interstellar civilsation...

At one stage some of the hospital staff become concerned that after curing one patient (the one in the cover illustation above), he would return to his home planet and become a teacher and lawgiver himself....

James White knew that if a God does exist, he presides over a universe unimaginably vast and exciting. He would probably pity those so suspicious of science that they can't accept evolution.

PS White also wrote my favourite anti-war story, "Tableau"