Eight books this week! Two by Stephen King, though Cycle of the Werewolf is a very short novella. You can read slightly more of my thoughts on those in this post, although, to be honest, I'm struggling to find anything original to say. During this time of his life, King was struggling with addiction and that is reflected in the themes of his novels. He also wrote more about children, presumably as he watched his own grown up.
Peony in Love was an interesting one. A ghost story based in historical fact, it's about the three wives of The Three Wives Commentary, originally published in 1694. The commentary in question was on The Peony Pavilion, a play about a woman who pined away through not being able to be with her lover, but was later revived through love and due to specific beliefs regarding the Chinese afterlife. As Jeannie Lin points out in her blogpost on the book, the play was first performed in 1598 while Romeo and Juliet was written in 1597.
The three wives were married to Wu Ren; Chen Tong, the first wife, died before their marriage, but they later had a 'ghost ceremony'. Chen Tong is Peony; Lisa See points out that 'Tong' means 'same' and has Peony adopt the name when she is engaged, since Peony is also her new mother-in-law's name. Peony dies quite early on (this is not a spoiler - it's quite early on) and goes on to guide the second and third wives who come after her.
What Lisa See does really well is to show the misunderstandings and misinterpretations of her main characters. Peony misses things. She doesn't know what people are thinking or why they do things, she misses important things that they do, and she misinterprets why they do things. Later, she has moments of revelation which the reader shares. Sometimes, the reader is more aware than Peony. For instance, it's fairly easy to predict Tan Ze's anger and to read her motivations.
There was an element of Peony in Love that reminded me a lot of The Lovely Bones. To whit, a ghost uses the body of a living person in order to experience love-making. In The Lovely Bones this rape is presented purely romantically. In Peony in Love, the perpetrator is called out for their behaviour and comes to regret it. Still not a totally comfortable plot-point, but slightly better done.
Gangsta Rap was written by Benjamin Zephaniah. I picked it up because Benjamin Zephaniah lived near my primary school, and visited us occasionally to perform poetry. It's not a brilliant novel; a fun and fast read, but clumsily plotted, and the dialogue sometimes seems slightly unrealistic. It's predictable. I did like some elements of it though; for instance, it seems the author is more intelligent than the characters, and when they do stupid things - like harass teenage girls because they know no other way to get attention - it's clear that the author seems the problem with this and doesn't condone the behaviour. The women react realistically.
Further Confessions is a sequel to a book I owned in my early teens. It's from Simon Mayo's radio show, on which he'd have people send in confessions of things they'd done and pranks they'd played, asking forgiveness from a panel including a priest, a nun, and possibly a rabbi, I don't know, I never listened. Very much the sort of book to dip in and out of; the kind of book you leave in the bathroom.
The Hollow Hills is another book I read in my early teens. It's the second part of a series, so earlier this year I borrowed the first part from the library and had another crack at it. It's a retelling of the Arthur legends, all from Merlin's point of view. I like it, as much as I like any of the Arthur stories.
As You Wish was an audio book; it's ostensibly by Cary Elwes but has chapters from the other actors involved in The Princess Bride as well as Rob Reiner and William Goldman themselves. Most of these actors also show up to read their own sections. It's really more of an interview session on the making of The Princess Bride hosted by Elwes than any sort of biography of his. Kind of fun. I'm wishing I'd gone to ComicCon at the NEC this year; he was there selling autographs for £20. Not sure what I would have had him sign, considering I have The Princess Bride on Kindle and this on Audible, but I do know I would have asked him to write anything other than 'as you wish', just to see what he'd have come up with.
Finally, Stress-Proof Your Life. A book with some interesting tips. I tried one yesterday; a day with no chores, no demands, no social media or anything that makes time move fast. Just a day of relaxing, drinking water, eating vegetables, reading, drawing, writing and napping. It was nice. I didn't like coming back to reality today, and it was hard to fully relax, but it was really nice spending an entire day with nothing to do but read and sleep and eat. I may do that again next month.
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