June 02, 2005
Sickbed Reading
Spent Tuesday night and much of Wednesday shivering and writhing in bed gripped by stomach cramps and waves of nausea; something I ate, no doubt. Not pleasant, but over now. At least, I hope so, though I have yet to put it to the test of food. Once things had settled down enough to do so, and between snatches of fuddled sleep, I read The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay, on the recommendation of a reader of this blog. One of my story fragments here reminded him of it, and I have to admit there are some disconcerting correspondences between Kay's fantasy world and mine. We draw on common myths, of course -- if to different ends -- but, even taking that into account, one or two coincidences took me by surprise. The exiled prince's name, for example. I guess we both just like the sound of certain words. Not that it matters, of course. I'm not here to proclaim the originality of my meagre scribblings. I just found it interesting, and perhaps was drawn into the story more as a result; or maybe it was the illness. In any case, I enjoyed the book a lot and would like to pass on the recommendation. It's the first volume of a trilogy, and the second appears to be out of print in the UK -- I spent a fruitless couple of hours this evening hunting through London's bookshops for it -- but Amazon had the US edition available for immediate dispatch, so with luck I'll be able to pick up the threads soon enough. Meanwhile, it's time to experiment with eating.Posted by matt at June 2, 2005 08:18 PM
Comments
Glad to hear you're feeling better.
Sorry, that's rather a bland sentiment, but it's sincere. Being sick is no fun.
Posted by: Dunx at June 3, 2005 05:01 AM
While I do love The Fionavar Tapestry, I think Kay's subsequent work is even better. I have yet to read something he's written that I haven't loved. His latest is on my shelf, awaiting slightly calmer brain chemistry on my part to be cracked. If you have trouble finding any of them, let me know and I'll happily send them to you across the water.
And do feel better.
Posted by: Faustus, M.D. at June 3, 2005 05:31 AM
hey matt:
i'm glad to know you've picked up guy gavriel kay on my recommendation, and are enjoying your reading so far. even more glad to know faustus, md is a ggk reader(i'm a regular reader of searchforlove, as well).
i look forward to your responses to the rest of the trilogy, and hope you'll be interested enough to read some of the later ones, especially 'arbonne'.
like faustus, i'm thrilled that there's a new kay novel out. he's not exactly prolific.
patrick in nyc
np - a light in the piazza, soundtrack
Posted by: patrick in nyc at June 4, 2005 04:46 AM
I got A Song for Arbonne at the same time as The Summer Tree, and it's waiting on my shelves. I started with the latter mainly because of two words on its first page.
Thanks for pointing me in Kay's direction. I'm sure I'll read more.
Posted by: matt at June 4, 2005 12:41 PM
Comments for this post are now closed, but feel free to email me if you have something interesting to say.
