Easier was not the same as better

[dolorosa_12]

Coming back to work was a bit of a shock to the system, but thanks to the heroic efforts of my coworker there was at least no deluge of emails waiting for me to deal with, which was a big relief. There was still time for all the nice bits of working from home — coffee breaks with Matthias, the ability to lie on the couch for five minutes or so if I needed a rest, the garden just through the kitchen door, etc, etc. I'm still absurdly grateful for all that, more than one year on from when I first started working from home in the first lockdown.

Today's books meme prompt asks for:

13. A book with a premise you'd never seen before quite like that



I'm cheating a bit here and answering with an author — Frances Hardinge — rather than a single book. It's hard to really summarise Hardinge's stories, but suffice it to say that she writes middle-grade fantasy novels which are so brimming with empathy and compassion for their characters, and so original in the ideas and worldbuilding (I would describe her books as 'quirky', but I do not mean that in a negative way) that they completely blow me away, every time I read one of her novels. Usually her characters are survivors of some kind of trauma, but the books are not misery porn, and instead focus on the ways these characters dig through the layers of things that cloud their judgement or weigh them down, until they arrive at a kind of truth and sense of personal integrity. Nothing happens in a straightforward way in Hardinge's books, and they are wise and kind and generous to their readers and characters in a way that I find hard to articulate.

My favourites are probably Cuckoo Song and A Skinful of Shadows, but really, I love all her books.



14. A book balanced on a knife edge

15. A snuffed candle of a book

16. The one you'd take with you while you were being ferried on dark underground rivers

17. The one that taught you something about yourself

18. A book that went after its premise like an explosion

19. A book that started a pilgrimage

20. A frigid ice bath of a book

21. A book written into your psyche

22. A warm blanket of a book

23. A book that made you bleed

24. A book that asked a question you've never had an answer to

25. A book that answered a question you never asked

26. A book you recommend but cannot love

27. A book you love but cannot recommend

28. A book you adore that people are surprised by

29. A book that led you home

30. A book you detest that people are surprised by

Comments

[nyctanthes]

I'm not the audience for YA/middle grade books, but Hardinge is so great. Most recently I read the sea monster book - whose name escapes me - and really liked it. Was happy to see some YT fic for it; Cuckoo's Song is on my list.

[dolorosa_12]

I still read a lot of YA (although I'm losing my patience for it), but less middle grade. Hardinge is the one author for whom I will always make an exception — her books are just exquisite!

[naye]

So glad you're allowed to WFH, and find it brings you relaxation as well as the understandable stress.

[dolorosa_12]

Half of the team at our library have been WFH since March last year. Those who are back in the library are only there partially, masks are compulsory in the library space, and most of my colleagues who work some time in the physical library have already been vaccinated. It has been a great weight off my mind to know that my work has our backs in this regard, because the pandemic is stressful enough without having to deal with unsafe workplaces (as I know you are well aware). I know I'm incredibly lucky.

[scripsi]

She's wonderful! A Skinful of Shadows is my fav, but then I have yet to read Cuckoo Song and verdigris Deep

[dolorosa_12]

I haven't read Verdigris Deep yet either — and you've just reminded me to check if it's available in the public library, as they tend to have most of Hardinge's books.

[lirazel]

There's no one like her! I don't read MG much but I always look forward to her new releases. What a treasure she is. I think The Lie Tree might be my favorite? But I haven't read all of them yet.

That said: I have not been able to get into A Skinful of Shadows. Do you mind telling me what you love most about it?

[dolorosa_12]

A Skinful of Shadows was the first Hardinge that I read, and I picked it up on the basis of Abigail Nussbaum's review (link goes to a reading roundup of lots of different books; A Skinful of Shadows is at the bottom). The review is a bit spoilery, so if you want to avoid spoilers, just skip to my summary in the next paragraph and don't click on the link.

What she said about Hardinge's books being about Hardinge's perennial focus is on characters who are damaged, sometimes by abuse, but sometimes also by difficult circumstances such as poverty or racial persecution. Her books repeatedly drum in the point that for her protagonists, the damage caused by their twisted upbringing [...] can't be undone, but that they can learn to come to terms with it, and forge a good life in spite of it. was enough to draw me in, and the premise of the book was so weird and intriguing that I found myself entranced. My favourite kinds of stories are about people who are hurt, traumatised and afraid (especially those who have been treated as weapons to be wielded or bodies on which to assert authority, and not valued as people) finding their own value, sense of self and humanity, and meaning and beauty in the margins — and that's what I got from A Skinful of Shadows. I also really, really like the idea (to the extent that I've been toying with my own story about this for the better part of a decade) of people for whom possession (whether by spirits, demons, angelic beings or whatever) is not a violation, but rather a source of strength and community, and again that's what happens in A Skinful of Shadows.

[lirazel]

Thank you! That is helpful! I love all of those themes as well, so it's good to know that they're present in the book. I don't know why I can't make it through the first chapter--I've tried twice, but I will keep trying because I know how great everything Hardinge writes is. And I mean: I tried Pamela Dean's Tam Lin like four times unsuccessfully before I finally read the whole thing and now it's a favorite book, SO. Sometimes you just gotta push past the beginning!