Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Today, our writers share what they’ve been reading over the past month. Feel free to share what you’ve been reading, because we’re all part of the Geekly Gang. I’ll get this post started with what I’ve been reading over the past month.
Kyra’s Fiction
I never finished reading Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (younger Kyra began reading the short story collection in high school) and decided to pick up this classic once more. I visited Canterbury four years ago. So much fun. I could visualize most of what Chaucer described while reading. I’ve eaten the pies described in The Canterbury Tales prologue or at least the spiritual successor to the pies described. Despite my personal connection to Canterbury, The Canterbury Tales is a breeze to read.
The Canterbury Tales’ iambic pentameter gives the text a sing-song quality. I couldn’t imagine writing 120 tales in verse. Spoiler alert: Chaucer didn’t finish all 120 tales: 30 characters, 4 stories each (2 on the way to the pilgrimage and 2 on the way back from the pilgrimage). The Canterbury Tales deserves its place in English literature. Obviously, I began this tome. I didn’t finish it, so you could be seeing The Canterbury Tales show up a few times over the next couple of months.
I wanted to read a classic, a more modern book, and at least one graphic novel per month, sprinkling in a few nonfiction works here in there. We’ll see if this trend sticks. I also have a personal/professional connection with The Canterbury Tales. I liked the book’s form. Tell stories from different characters’ points of view and compile them into a larger, comprehensive work. Add in the conceit of each character competing in a storytelling contest (who can tell the best story), and you have the recipe from some shocking stories. Every time Season responds to a text or message with “ye,” I remind myself that she isn’t referring to a “nether ye.”
Chaucer was ambitious with attempting a 120 tale collection. And these stories still hold up but that could be because the version I’m reading is the Nevil Coghill modern English translation. Again, I can’t imagine how much work it took Coghill to take the original Middle English, translate it word-for-word into modern English, apply a sense-for-sense translation from there, and final reapply a new rhyming scheme into modern English. Yikes! If you don’t want to translate Middle English into Modern English, I’d advise reading the Coghill translation. I’m so glad I am.
We go from Chaucer writing stories told by 30 characters to Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles, a novel structured into interconnected vignettes where Earthlings invade Mars, disrupting the life that already exists on the Red Planet. I’m seeing plenty of parallels between The Canterbury Tales and The Martian Chronicles. But that may be a function of my reading them concurrently. I’ve been meaning to read The Martian Chronicles for some time, and I’m so glad I finally took the plunge. This is another novel I just begun, so you may see The Martian Chronicles on next month’s list, but I read half of the novel in one sitting. This one’s a page turner. Even though the stories center on life on Mars, they are human.
From colonization to nuclear war, The Martian Chronicles tackles numerous societal problems in interesting ways. But my favorite stories are the quieter ones like “Ylla” that focuses on a Martian woman in an unhappy marriage. It’s a grounded tale, and Bradbury is at the top of his game. I haven’t read a lot of Bradbury. I always liked Fahrenheit 451, but The Martian Chronicles proves I need to read more of this author. Do any of you have any recommendations for my next Bradbury read? Let me know in the comments.
Wonder Woman: Earth One may be a graphic novel, but it’s a chonky graphic novel. This may be the thickest graphic novel I own, but it read at a brisk pace. I was surprised. Writer Grant Morrison can often offer dense texts. Don’t get me wrong, Wonder Woman: Earth One features plenty of philosophical questions–I don’t know if I would prefer the utopia Amazonia presents–but this story was more action-packed and swift than I anticipated.
Morrison and artist Yanick Paquette chose to show and not tell in Wonder Woman: Earth One. And in this story, we see some of the foundation for 2017’s Wonder Woman, sans the multiple time jumps into the future and the death of Queen Hippolyta. Spoiler alert! Sorry. Despite this graphic novel’s length, it has a surprisingly tight storyline. Is this the definitive Wonder Woman? Maybe not. I’ve definitely liked a few versions of the character better than the one presented in Wonder Woman: Earth One (Azzarello’s run in the New 52 comes to mind), but I liked this story’s use of Doctor Psycho. If you want to know what Doctor Psycho is all about, I’d suggest reading Wonder Woman: Earth One.
Kyra’s Nonfiction
I am still making my way through The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures. This is by no means a book where most people read it front cover to back cover (it’s more of a skim the magical creature entries that most interest you), but I’m reading it front to back cover. I’ve mentioned the various creatures I’ve come across in previous months: cultures I know less about and what meaning various cultures assign to animals.
But I’ve been drawn to a lot of the lumberjack monsters, too. Beasts like the Hodag, Jackalope, and Squonk. I never knew how eclectic and plentiful the magical creatures of the North American lumberjack could get. Some of these beings are pure nightmare fuel. I may have to include one of five in future stories. I wish I could find my notes. Yes, I’ve been keeping a log of my favorite entries in The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures. And yes, I will eventually finish this thick, dense book. There are a ton of magical creature entries.
That’s all I’ve read over this past month. Looks like Season and Skye are skipping this week’s post. Maybe we’ll hear from them next month. What have you been reading, Geekly Gang? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
