A Slow Circle

There is something delicious about a mystery. I won't say much about this but that it continually presents the reader with questions to ponder. The narrative is generous and consistent enough that these questions can yield significant answers. The tone of the book is contemplative and yet also somehow effusive and I can't recommend highly enough the audiobook narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor.  The rest of this post contains light spoilers, so go and listen to this short novel before reading on.    Piranesi's title character inhabits a house that evokes the 18th century Italian Giovanni Battista Piranesi's series of Imaginary Prisons (pictured above). Susanna Clarke slowly feeds the reader information that is remarkably clear and consistent, allowing her audience to gradually move from guessing at mysteries to a series of revelations.  At one point in the story Clarke references the wisdom of the ancients. The idea is that certain people operate using a kind of pre-ratio...

I am glad I was able to a good mix of fiction and non-fiction this year. I moved to a hybrid audio and kindle format for most books about partway through the year. Each format has its recommendations. I find kindle better for information uptake generally and often reread passages I listened to beforehand. The addition of a narrator's voice added a great deal to the character of both fiction and non-fiction books. I will continue this method in the future. Dune by Frank Herbert (audio) This is a classic book, reread and enjoyed. It is as though parts of the story are etched in stone, or perhaps in memory. A masterwork of worldbuilding and foreshadowing. Although the age has begun to  show, the main themes of strength through struggle, the power of will, and the interaction between humanity and nature ring clearly throughout. The audio version altered certain scenes and added voice actors, and on the whole the dramatization was delightful. The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (audio...