Immrama

[dolorosa_12]

I wasn't going to write another post this weekend, and then I read a book which — although it's obviously very early days — is a strong contender for my book of the year. This is All the Horses of Iceland (Sarah Tolmie), a novella I find hard to describe but nevertheless moved me to tears on several occasions — not because it's sad, but because it spoke to me in ways that I would not myself have been able to articulate. I've tried to pull together my thoughts over on dolorosa12, my reviews blog, but all I really want to say is: read this book, and you will not be disappointed.

In general, it's been a good weekend for reading. In addition to the nonfiction book I finished and discussed on my previous post, I'm making strides into tackling my to-read list. I picked up Idylls of the Queen (Phyllis Ann Karr), an Arthurian murder mystery told — with wry humour — from the world-weary point of view of Kay, who is very much Sir Completely Done with This Nonsense. It pokes gentle fun at Arthuriana, particularly Malory, but in a way that shows affection for the source material while not taking it too seriously.

Matthias and I have also started 2023 with our semi-regular Saturday night film watching — in this case The Banshees of Inisherin. This is a hard-to-categorise black comedy set in a tiny island community in 1920s Ireland, about two former friends who fall out, and the repercussions. The setting is gorgeous, the dialogue is fantastic, the casting is perfect, and the film does an incredible job of capturing the stultifying claustrophobia of tiny, insular communities where nothing happens and people have few opportunities. Do be warned this is quite a dark film (it's funny, but bleak), and there is an animal death that may bother some viewers.

So far this year I'm almost at a post a day. I can't promise this state of affairs will continue, but I definitely owe this to the quality of the books and other media I've been reading and watching at the moment!

Comments

[lirazel]

I don't think I loved All the Horses quite as much as you and Soph did, but I agree that it's very good and unique and I am so glad it exists in the world. I definitely look forward to Tolmie's future works!

[dolorosa_12]

It just pulled together so many things that are personally important to me, in a way that was both beautifully written and taught me something new — so of course I was going to have this reaction! It helps that I'm very much focused on this part of the world at the moment, given that I'd just finished a history of the Ottoman Empire (which was a) founded by Turkic steppe nomads and b) ended up ruling over a lot of southeastern Europe/central Asia or fighting with Russia to rule over those parts of the world).

I'm certainly interested to read whatever Tolmie does next as well!