Bookmeme: Answers To 'Ten Ends'
Here are the answers to my version of Hierophant's bookmeme, with some commentary and useful links.
1. The Tactics of Mistake by Gordon R Dickson
This book can be classed together with A E van Vogt's Null-A series and Frank Herbert's Bureau of Sabotage series (e.g. The Dosadi Experiment). All of these use philosophy as the driving force behind their interesting and strategically well-developed plots. The Tactics of Mistake tracks the career of young strategist Cletus Grahame and the mercenaries of the Dorsai. While drawing heavily on the lore of medieval warrior brotherhoods (without you noticing), it is also excellent preparation for working life. Read it, and watch your enemies fall into their own traps.
2. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
The story of Richard Mayhew, one-time dweller in London Above, is one which resonates creepily well with anyone who has lived in London. London, of all cities in the world, has one of the most chilling atmospheres for a person attuned to city culture in general. There is the subliminal threat of ancient and mysterious violence everywhere, and yet also great beauty and wonder. This makes Gaiman's little excursus rather too believable.
3.The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
If you like odd occasions, cryptic creatures, peculiar pirates, nimble ninjas, that sort of thing – and Atlantean adventure too! – you should read Walter Moers. He writes like Susanna Clarke infiltrated by the worst childhood dreams of J K Rowling.
4. Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
This is indeed how Chinese legend should be written. It's either this style or Louis Cha's style. Apart from Wu Cheng'en and his amazing Hou or Monkey, I have read very little else which lures me back to my mythical heritage as much. And what a rip-roaring potboiler! Indiana Jones is nothing compared to Number Ten Ox and the scholar with the defect of character, Li Kao. Truly, ancient China as she never was, but ought to have been.
5. The Final Solution by Michael Chabon
This was my Book of the Year for 2005. It is the saddest, most powerful and moving, most incisive crime novel I have ever read. For students of history, it is likely to be even more gripping, as the age of the Great Detective gives way to the most horrific years of the 20th century. No more quiet beekeepers in pleasant Sussex downs, but barbed wire and torment.
6. Colonel Butler's Wolf by Anthony Price
The espionage thrillers of Oxford historian Anthony Price are vastly underrated. He has written 19 novels, all extremely clever, about secret historian Dr David Audley (acted ably by Terence Stamp, at least once!) One suspects that the reason he is not often reprinted (only about five of his books are still in print) despite his excellence is that his books are all like chess games – subtle little moves and dramatic moves leading to a simple result: win, lose or draw. And sometimes, the reader cannot tell which was which.
7. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Iain Banks is Scotland's greatest writer. Like most of the authors represented on this list, I will buy any book that has been written by him. (That includes Raw Spirit, his adventure into the lore of Scotch whisky.) The Wasp Factory was his first novel, and when I first encountered it in 1984, I quite logically reasoned that all his subsequent novels would be worth buying. I was right.
8. The True Game by Sheri S Tepper
It is always hard for me to decide between Sheri Tepper and Julian May. The two write an awful lot of good fiction on the themes of human genetics, development and the eventual destiny of humankind. The True Game's first lines appear here, as one of the best con-jobs of all time. You think you're reading fantasy. And then it's not.
9. The Man Who Was Thursday by G K Chesterton
Herr Hierophant got the author right, but how could he not have located this book? It is a mystery to me... for this book is arguably Chesterton's best known. It has often been described as a metaphysical thriller. It is that, and more. It is also a call to arms, and a powerful argument about the true values of anarchy, democracy and theocracy.
10. The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope
This is the only traditional classic in the list, having been reprinted many times as such. It follows in the grand tradition of the fictional European kingdom school of writing, and is perhaps one of its best-loved exemplars. After reading Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo and Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel, I am perhaps a bit spoilt. But I still think Prisoner is deft, adept, and dangerous to read.
1. The Tactics of Mistake by Gordon R Dickson
This book can be classed together with A E van Vogt's Null-A series and Frank Herbert's Bureau of Sabotage series (e.g. The Dosadi Experiment). All of these use philosophy as the driving force behind their interesting and strategically well-developed plots. The Tactics of Mistake tracks the career of young strategist Cletus Grahame and the mercenaries of the Dorsai. While drawing heavily on the lore of medieval warrior brotherhoods (without you noticing), it is also excellent preparation for working life. Read it, and watch your enemies fall into their own traps.
2. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
The story of Richard Mayhew, one-time dweller in London Above, is one which resonates creepily well with anyone who has lived in London. London, of all cities in the world, has one of the most chilling atmospheres for a person attuned to city culture in general. There is the subliminal threat of ancient and mysterious violence everywhere, and yet also great beauty and wonder. This makes Gaiman's little excursus rather too believable.
3.The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
If you like odd occasions, cryptic creatures, peculiar pirates, nimble ninjas, that sort of thing – and Atlantean adventure too! – you should read Walter Moers. He writes like Susanna Clarke infiltrated by the worst childhood dreams of J K Rowling.
4. Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
This is indeed how Chinese legend should be written. It's either this style or Louis Cha's style. Apart from Wu Cheng'en and his amazing Hou or Monkey, I have read very little else which lures me back to my mythical heritage as much. And what a rip-roaring potboiler! Indiana Jones is nothing compared to Number Ten Ox and the scholar with the defect of character, Li Kao. Truly, ancient China as she never was, but ought to have been.
5. The Final Solution by Michael Chabon
This was my Book of the Year for 2005. It is the saddest, most powerful and moving, most incisive crime novel I have ever read. For students of history, it is likely to be even more gripping, as the age of the Great Detective gives way to the most horrific years of the 20th century. No more quiet beekeepers in pleasant Sussex downs, but barbed wire and torment.
6. Colonel Butler's Wolf by Anthony Price
The espionage thrillers of Oxford historian Anthony Price are vastly underrated. He has written 19 novels, all extremely clever, about secret historian Dr David Audley (acted ably by Terence Stamp, at least once!) One suspects that the reason he is not often reprinted (only about five of his books are still in print) despite his excellence is that his books are all like chess games – subtle little moves and dramatic moves leading to a simple result: win, lose or draw. And sometimes, the reader cannot tell which was which.
7. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Iain Banks is Scotland's greatest writer. Like most of the authors represented on this list, I will buy any book that has been written by him. (That includes Raw Spirit, his adventure into the lore of Scotch whisky.) The Wasp Factory was his first novel, and when I first encountered it in 1984, I quite logically reasoned that all his subsequent novels would be worth buying. I was right.
8. The True Game by Sheri S Tepper
It is always hard for me to decide between Sheri Tepper and Julian May. The two write an awful lot of good fiction on the themes of human genetics, development and the eventual destiny of humankind. The True Game's first lines appear here, as one of the best con-jobs of all time. You think you're reading fantasy. And then it's not.
9. The Man Who Was Thursday by G K Chesterton
Herr Hierophant got the author right, but how could he not have located this book? It is a mystery to me... for this book is arguably Chesterton's best known. It has often been described as a metaphysical thriller. It is that, and more. It is also a call to arms, and a powerful argument about the true values of anarchy, democracy and theocracy.
10. The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope
This is the only traditional classic in the list, having been reprinted many times as such. It follows in the grand tradition of the fictional European kingdom school of writing, and is perhaps one of its best-loved exemplars. After reading Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo and Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel, I am perhaps a bit spoilt. But I still think Prisoner is deft, adept, and dangerous to read.
Labels: Anthony Hope, Anthony Price, Barry Hughart, Books, Chesterton, Gaiman, Gordon Dickson, Iain Banks, Michael Chabon, Sheri Tepper, Walter Moers
etched with acid at 10:36:00 pm
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