A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire #5)

#1035
Title: A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire #5)
Author: George R. R. Martin
Publisher: Bantam
Year: 2011
1016 pages

We knew going into this that it wasn't likely to advance the storyline much, since it covered much of the same time as the fourth book. However, it does complicate the plot nicely and fill in a lot of the simultaneous action. I'd argue also that, as does the long "camping" scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the drawn-out nature of the narrative here conveys to the reader the enormous stretches of time it takes for non-fictional action to occur (such as moving an army across a country through the snow).

With enough contract negotiation to make Fifty Shades of Grey look speedy and impulsive, A Dance with Dragons reinforces the importance of alliances and agreements, and adds several factors other than strength of arms or strategic leadership that influence the outcomes of a conflict. One is bankruptcy, and its collateral implication that if your enemy outbids you or can pay the bills, s/he can buy your army (or your bank). Since Westeros has no Jews to slaughter, I'll be interested to see whether House Lannister declares war on the Iron Bank of Braavos to obliterate its debt. Another strategy, revealed at the end of this installment, is (view spoiler). Also, (view spoiler) doesn't do wonders for your popularity.

I continue to enjoy Tyrion and Arya most. I find Daenerys increasingly annoying. Identity and loyalty to ideals are key themes, strongly stressed.

Let's get to winter already.

The Photographer

#1034
Title: The Photographer
Author:  Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, & Fréderic Lemercier
Publisher: First Second
Year: 2003/2009
288 pages

An excellent use of pastiche, with many very wordy pages broken up through the use of both photos and photo-based illustrations. The narrative was engaging and the images really brought it to life. A great addition to your graphic memoirs/non-fiction shelf.

Particles, Jottings, Sparks: The Collected Brief Poems

#1033
Title: Particles, Jottings, Sparks: The Collected Brief Poems
Author:  Rabindranath Tagore & William Radice
Publisher: Angel Books
Year: 2004
214 pages

The prefatory material provides a useful introduction and places the work in the context of the author's life and other works, reporting as well on contemporary literary responses.

Particles (Kanika): Very short poems, often taking the form of a dialogue or near dialogue between paired opposites, generally ending with a reply that provides a twist of perspective and rebuke or statement of contentment with the second entity's experience. My favorite:

81. Beyond All Questioning
'What, O sea, is the language you speak?'
'A ceaseless question,' the sea replies.
'What does your silence, O Mountain, comprise?'
'A constant non-answer,' says the peak.

The problem with rhyming translation, even of a rhymed original, is that where the rhymed original's word choice at its best seems inevitable and the rhyme simply a serendipitous confirmation, the translation sounds, as many of these do, jangly and forced (despite Radice's use of some slant rhymes). These are structured song forms, but they are more clangy than lyrical in this translation.

Why "sea" is lower case and "Mountain" upper, I couldn't say.

Jottings (Lekhan): This collection is typically more haiku-like in feel, though more explicit in the poems' messages (sometimes to the point of banging one over the head with their moral, though this is mostly true only of the abstract poems). The nature imagery is more pronounced, or perhaps more obvious here. This may be due to the use of repetitive imagery across multiple poems. Stars, moon, sun, clouds, mountains, ponds, ocean, flowers, trees, and a musical instrument called the veena) recur, as does the theme of love (though these love couplets seem to me to be the weakest poems in this set). The emphasis on light and darkness compels one to read this as a group of albas and nocturnes.

4.
Dreams are nests that birds
In sleep's obscure recesses
Build from our talkative days'
Discarded bits and pieces.

110.
My pilgrimage does not aim at the end of the road.
My thoughts are set on the shrines on either side.

Sparks (Sphulinga): Less enjoyable, perhaps because many of the poems are abstract, religiously inclined, or appear to be invocations, salutations, or valedictions. As a group, they seem more occasional and specific than universal in their address. Those that remain focused on image and sensation are generally repetitive of the previous two collections, or unsubtle. There are many setting suns, faded cloud, ending roads, wilting flowers.

73.
The sea wants to understand
The message, written in spray,
That the waves repeatedly write
And immediately wipe away.

82.
That travelling cloud
About to disappear
Writes only its shade
As its name on the air.

The appendices include Tagore's explanation of the provenance of many of these short poems, interesting notes about the production of a handwritten collection using aluminum plates, thoughts on short poems, and the history of the creation of Lekhan; thoughts about Japan and the "extreme economy of self-expression"; a recollection by the woman who rules the lines on the aluminum plates; thoughts on modern English poets; and a different version of a poem.

All in all, well worth reading, but I'd still like to see an unrhymed version, especially of my favorite, Lekhan.

Experiment Eleven: Dark Secrets behind the Discovery of a Wonder Drug

#1032
Title: Experiment Eleven: Dark Secrets behind the Discovery of a Wonder Drug
Author: Peter Pringle
Publisher:Walker and Company
Year: 2012
288 pages

 The "dark secrets" of the title are, as one might expect, ethico-legal. However, they're about attribution of scientific discovery, order of precedence in publication, and the sometimes-nefarious behavior of institutions rather than dark secrets in the style of the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, Henrietta Lacks, or the infection of children with Hepatitis B. It would be a good text to have graduate students read in order to understand why some professional ethics codes are very specific about the requirement for discussions of authorship and attribution. It might also be a good one to have faculty read with the preventative question, "What seemingly innocuous behaviors might we be engaged in that could lead to faculty and students having discrepant understandings of our relationship and work together?"

Haroun and the Sea of Stories

#1031
Title: Haroun and the Sea of Stories
Author: Salman Rushdie
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 1990/1991
216 pages

A YA novel that is delightful in and of itself for its story, language play, and relationships. However, knowing that Rushdie wrote it for his son while he was in hiding, and why he was in hiding, adds additional levels to the reader's appreciation. 

The Darke Toad (Septimus Heap #1.5)

#1030
Title: The Darke Toad (Septimus Heap #1.5)
Author: Angie Sage
Publisher: Katherine Tegen
Year: 2013
96 pages

A novella slotted between the first and second Septimus Heap books. It's fun to read after finishing the series because it reminds us of Septimus's vulnerability, and Marcia's affection and concern for him. It also pokes fun at DomDaniel, which is never unenjoyable.

Escape from "Special"

#1029
Title: Escape from "Special"
Author: Miss Lasko-Gross
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Year: 2007
136 pages

An interesting graphic novel/autobiography (or, perhaps, graphic short story/short "essay"). It's more disjointed than many, but I found that this storytelling/storyshowing style underscored the protagonist's cognitive differences and evoked in the reader a similar frustration about communication. I would think that many kids who were seen as weird or different by others, while seeing themselves as unique but not extraordinarily weird, would empathize with her. In some ways, this is Suzuki Beane Goes to School (And How Other Children and Schools Destroy One's Spirit).