Buku

I’m currently bidding for a book over at eBay that is an item that I’ve been wanting to own for some years now. And to ‘celebrate’ this event, I’ve decided to jot down a short wish list of sci-fi and fantasy books that I’ve been wanting to purchase. Most of ‘em are stuff that I’ve read at some point in my life (and been memorable for various reasons), but there’re a few that has piqued my curiosity.

1. Sandman #19 – Neil Gaiman

As some of you may have guessed, I’m a big fan of the Sandman, having read the entire graphic novel series. In typical ‘kiasu’ mode, I’ve bought a few of the original issues as well, issues that have either struck my fancy or are particularly good. The one thing I don’t have (that I really want) is this particular issue. Issue 19 is a tale of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night's Dream, its original staging for Dream and other mythological figures, including the real fairies featured in the play. The Sandman received additional attention when this won the World Fantasy Award, stunning the audience who were more used to prose works and leading to the rules of the award being rewritten to exclude comic books.

2. Foundation and Earth – Isaac Asimov

The Foundation series takes me back to secondary school, where I shared an interest in Asimov (among many other things) with Prav. I was totally enamoured with the concept of psychohistory, and this was one of the first manifestations of my interest in psychology. I still remember borrowing this book from the library in MRSM Taiping, where it hadn’t been checked out for years. I was tempted to just keep it for myself (using the logic that it’s going to be put to waste) but my dad raised an eyebrow and that was that.

This novel is the fifth in the series, and opens with Councilman Golan Trevize pondering if he was right to choose a collective mind (Gaia) as the best possible future for humanity (as opposed to the chaos of various individuals, nations and planets). To appease himself, he decides he must know the past and goes in search of Earth – the origin of man whose references to have been erased from galactic libraries.

The book is filled with philosophical ponderings about man and his future, and has tie-ins to Asimov's Robot series. There seems to be elements of ‘the gospel according to Asimov’ and this isn’t the best of the series. It’s one of the more controversial with references to homosexuality and such taboos, but more importantly, I’m gonna get it just to complete my collection.

3. The Bloody Chamber – Angela Carter

I’ve always been a fan of fairy tales and Disney movies, but this book added a piece of realism to the tales I grew up with that made it that much more enjoyable to an adolescent me. These short stories are re-enactments of fairy tales, stories that have very familiar themes, like tragic love stories, werewolf stories and Cinderella-like stories with additional elements of sex and magical realism. I remember being rather disturbed by them (I think Sleeping Beauty was a slut) but this is probably one of the better examples of dark literature. Also explains my interest in Fables (by DC Vertigo) I think.

4. The Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World – Haruki Murakami

Long before Murakami became the ‘in’ thing, I came across this book of his that was rather fascinating to little ol’ me. I can’t say if it’s his best work since I haven’t actually read any of his other books, but it’s definitely on my little list of recommended reading.

The story is split in two, with additional schizophrenic elements. The narrator exists in two separate versions of reality, but it is uncertain whether they are parallel or chronological. It’s all very philosophical and makes the reader wonder about existence and how momentary an experience it is - Murakami allows no thought for the past or future, since you inevitably can’t do much about it and so one must live in the present, which brings about a number of ‘what-ifs’ e.g. what if everything that you call "you" is only one side of a multi-dimensional figure? What if that figure depends entirely on your choices from moment to moment? And what influences these choices and are you really able to do much about it? Kinda Matrix-like to a certain degree, but I was confused when I first read it, and I’m hoping to re-read ‘cause I’ll probably be able to appreciate it on a different level.

5. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court – Mark Twain

Mark Twain is one of those authors that I never quite got to grips with, along with other American literary greats like Poe. But one of his works that caught my eye was this book, a rather humourous take on the medieval story of the Knights of the Round Table.

A guy (can’t remember his name) hits his head and wakes up a few centuries earlier. Using his knowledge of an upcoming eclipse, he escapes a death sentence (I think James Cook did the same thing once in some island somewhere), and secures an important position at court. He gradually introduces technology, thus granting himself an easy life in Camelot. Many of the well-known Arthurian characters make their appearances, and it’s a funny look into the conditions of men and how much a role (or not) technology and ‘modern’ thinking play in our lives.

6. The Dying Earth – Jack Vance

This is one of the first collection of short stories that I managed to convince myself to read. The stories (which are more fantasy than sci-fi) are loosely linked through the setting attributed of a dying earth, existing far in the future. I think this was the first story that was set in such an apocalyptic scenario. Most of the stories are about magicians, and the stories come to life due to the descriptive detail given to them, and it helps create an understanding of this world and its people. The stories are also funny at times, and secondary players in the stories often appear elsewhere as the main character, thus ensuring continuity. The collection might not appeal to women as there are elements of misogyny e.g. one of the stories is basically some sort of battle of the sexes. A sorceress tried to undermine the wizards by turning them into females. She is eventually defeated by summoning her earlier male nemesis who counters her magic, as well as stating that all could be resolved if the sorceress would abandon her demands for power and succumb to his magnetism and desire.

7. Witches Abroad – Terry Pratchett

This is the first Pratchett book from his Discworld series that I had the opportunity to read, and like most of the books in this series, it’s awfully funny. I never quite realized how long these books have been around, ‘till SMA pointed it out to me a few weeks back.
This book is about witches going abroad, as one might gather from the title. There are rules in the Discworld, and one of it is that godmothers come in pairs, and when one dies, another has to replace her. In this story, a witch (once again, can’t remember her name) does not foresee her death (due to being certain amount of carelessness) and a successor has to be picked without the appropriate training. The new witch, along with another couple of ‘em, also have a urgent mission – they must travel to some far off place and prevent a young woman from kissing a frog. They set off, along with a charming little kitty who happens to be rather oversexed, and burn a trail in which nobody (not even vampires and werewolves) are left unscathed. Lovely satirism from Pratchett.

8. Maus : A Survivor’s Tale – Art Spielgeman

I haven’t read this comic yet, but it’s supposed to be damn good. After all, the winner of a Pullitzer should definitely have something going for it! It’s meant to be a Holocaust literature that looks at the experience of the author’s father as a Jewish survivor from the second world war. The first thing that strikes the reader when he reads it (or flips through it as I did) is that the characters have heads of animals. What the author did was draw various groups of people with different heads - Jews have mice heads, the Germans are cats, the Americans dogs etc. It is visually provocative, and I guess one would have felt that way if one lived through such a period in time where your ethnicity determined the life that you will be allowed to live.

9. Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke

Another book I haven’t read that has intrigued me. Why? Can’t think of any other reason besides the usual curiosity about critically acclaimed books that delve into the mystical. Plus, it’s been compared to Harry Potter. In this book, Mr. Norrell is the first practical magician in England in hundreds of years. He moves to London to establish his influence in government circles, devising such powerful illusions as an 11-day blockade of French ports by English ships fabricated from rainwater. His vanity proves to be a problem though, and the differing ambitions of his more glamorous apprentice, Jonathan Strange, threaten to topple his achievements.

10. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K.Rowling