I spent this past month time traveling through three time periods - Tudor England, early twentieth century America, and thousands of year into the future in the Imperial Radch empire. Emma Smith (inspired by Stephen King) called books "portable magic" and this month proved to me they truly are. Here are the 3 books that delivered magic to me.
Shakespeare's Book by Chris Laoutaris:
I first heard about Laoutaris' book through the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast from the Folger Library and went out and grabbed this book right away. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio, the book that transformed Western literature by preserving many Shakespearean plays for the first time in a book format. Laoutaris gives us a history of the Folio which was published after both Shakespeare and his leading man Burbage died. With the death of the man who embodied Shakespearean heroes and gave life to his words, the remaining King's men, especially Hemminges and Condell felt an urgency to collect all of Shakespeare's plays and publish them as a Folio. What follows is a story of how a collective of men came together, some motivated purely by financial incentives, others because of their connection to the Players, some brought in purely by geographical proximity and triumphed against all odds. They had to navigate complicated copyright laws - in Tudor England the playwright did not own the rights to the play when it was published. Rather it was the printer or publisher. Some previously unpublished plays were owned by the King's Men themselves, others had to be bought out from less scrupulous printers/publishers in complex financial arrangements. Then there was the process of transcribing and printing the works in which the compositors played a significant role. While we revere the Folio akin to revealed Holy Scripture today, Laoutaris points out that the compositors and printers made their own edits to the works, adding/editing stage directions, rearranging a few lines etc. So the works we now enjoy are not actually 100% from the hands of the Bard but have the touches of unknown editors. Added to all these complications was the political intrigue of the time. Under James I there was more tolerance towards Catholicism and an interest in a Spanish match for the Prince Charles. The King's Men's patron (and a large section of the public) was against the Spanish Match so the Folio publishers had to walk a fine line so that they would not be shuttered completely. Despite all these challenges they triumphed and brought out a book which was one of the most expensive product of its time.
Today, we take the Folio for granted and most of us only encounter Shakespeare in the printed form although that was not how the plays were intended to be consumed. As I write this, our family just watched Twelfth Night at The Old Globe. It was a fabulous production and I couldn't believe I was watching a play that Elizabeth I had also watched 400 odd years before me. I owe my experience to the First Folio as without it plays like Twelfth Night would have been lost.
A Pipe for February by Charles Red Corn
In 2018 I read Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. Until then I knew nothing about the Osage murders and how the FBI was formed. At that time I also heard that Martin Scorsese had picked up the rights for the book and I have been waiting for the movie ever since. Now that the movie trailer is out I can't wait to see it on the big screen this October. I watched an interview with Scorsese about how he adapted the book for the screen. He has shifted the point of view from that of the FBI to that of the Osage themselves and mentioned A Pipe for February as one of the books he read to get that point of view. So I decided to read the book before the movie came out. Written by Charles RedCorn who was a member of the Peace Clan in the Osage Nation, this work of fiction captures the Osage experience through the eyes of John Grayeagle. The story had me in grips and was very poignant. While the youth of the Osage nation grew up with many luxuries they also grew up seeing many of their family members murdered for the wealth and headrights. The remaining elders try to teach the young Osage how to stay together and support each other and balance their two worlds and the young actually listen to their elders as they struggle to stay alive with a killer in their midst. Every conversation between John and his cousins with the elders moved me visibly. It is a terrific book and I am sure Scorsese would do it justice as he clearly has respect for the source material. As a frequent visitor to the the Getty museums in LA, I too owe the Osage nation indirectly as Paul Getty made his money from the oil he leased off the Osage nation. Reading their stories and learning their history is just a small thing I can do to show my gratitude.
Translation State by Ann Leckie:
I have been waiting for this book for quite some time so I got it on the day it was released and it took me two days to finish it. I am a big fan of the Ancillary Justice books or what is referred to as the Imperial Radch trilogy. I did my final M.A. capstone on these books back in 2018. Leckie is a force to reckon with in the world of Sci-Fi especially in the space opera sub-genre. What I love about her books is her unique take on alien species and how she visualizes AI. These days there seem to be only two viewpoints about AI - 1) they are a great tool and with every tool it is about who wields them and for what purpose. So don't blame the tool 2) AI can lead to extinction of the human species so we need to halt its development until we can put structures in place to prevent this potential catastrophic event. Leckie's fictional books offer a different vision that is not often seen in popular discourse. In her books AI are treated as "significant species" and she discusses how we can be companions to each other. Most people remember her books also for her interesting take on gender much before trans became a hot button issue. Translation State takes us back to the Imperial Radch and this time it is more about how humans deal with alien species, specifically the Presger. In that process they also deal with questions of who is a human, what constitutes a family, what does it mean to belong. She borrows widely from our everyday life so there are groups of people who are Presger-deniers, there are people in power who exploit a common threat for their own benefit, and then there are characters who just want to live their lives but find themselves caught in a maelstrom because of what they are. Translation State can be read as an independent novel although there are a few nods to the Imperial Radch books for the fans (cameo from Sphene got me excited!). While Ancillary Justice remains my favorite novel of Leckie's I liked this one a lot and expect to see it on all the awards shortlist this season.
After these three great books I am on the look out for my next set of reads. I am hearing great things about The Witch King. Will see if that can grab me. For now my Tardis has arrived with The Dawn of Everything so I guess I am going back in time to the very beginning.
