Reviews of favorite books

Nonfiction: Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes

5/21/2024

Pandora’s Jar is a delightful collection of essays about women in ancient Greek myth, by feminist classicist Natalie Hayes. She examines the myths from multiple sources, including images from Greek art and architecture.
All of the essays were interesting, but two stood out for me: “The Amazons” and “Medea.”
I’ve explored Amazon lore as background for my novel-in-progress, Sky God’s Warrior. Pandora’s Jar offered fresh insights, the most fascinating being the contradictory values of the Greek and Amazon warriors. The author says, “the heroic mindset for the Greeks who fought at Troy is intrinsically selfish and self-absorbed. . . . Unlike these men, Amazons fight alongside one another. …It is the Amazons’ intensely tribal nature which helps keep them alive in battle.”

I was also inspired by the essay on Medea, whom I hope to feature in a future novel, Fire God’s Daughter. Medea was a villain in several Greek plays. The author says, “...there were few things more alarming to ancient Greek men than the machinations of a clever woman, and Medea is the cleverest of them all.”

In Euripides’ play Medea, she is bereft because her husband Jason is leaving her for another woman, the princess of Corinth. Medea and her sons are being sent into exile. Abandoned in a foreign country and with no immediate family, Medea plots her revenge.
“Jason isn’t stupid at all, he’s just not in the same league as Medea. . . . He doesn’t want to be the bad guy in the marriage, even though he is willing to see his wife and sons go into exile. And Medea knows that. The easiest person to fool is the one who wants to be fooled.”
The author says: “[Medea] is a complex character with multiple internal forces pulling her in different directions, but that is why she seems so real, so human. . . . she is a woman in crisis, lashing out at those who have hurt her.”

Medea decides to kill their children. The author notes that this impulse to “weaponize” children in a divorce is all too common. Also, Medea reasons that she “will not allow my sons to be mistreated by my enemies.” This impulse is similar to that of the character Keyser Söze in The Usual Suspects, who “became his most terrifying form when he decided to kill his family rather than allow himself to be threatened with their loss in The Usual Suspects.” The author notes that killing her children doesn’t break Medea, but makes “her more powerful than ever.”
Pandora’s Jar is a great resource for anyone interested in Greek mythology, feminism, or stories of powerful women.

Other collections of feminist essays: Wordslut, Cultish, and The Witches are Coming

Fiction: The Magician’s Daughter by H.G. Parry

5/19/2024

The Magician’s Daughter follows the adventures of sixteen-year-old Biddy, who has grown up on the magical island of Hy-Brasil off the coast of Ireland, but longs to enter the “real” world she’s only read about in stories.
Her guardian, Rowan, is a roguish mage who shapeshifts into a raven. He has a rabbit familiar named Hutchincroft, who can shapeshift from rabbit to a humanlike form. Hutch fusses over both Biddy and Rowan and is a thoroughly endearing character.
When Rowan fails to come home one night, Biddy and Hutch use Rowan’s magical artifacts (a scrying mirror and a dream ring) and their wits to find and release him from a deadly trap.

Biddy soon learns Hy-Brasil is one of the few places in the world with wild magic. In most places magic has drained away. Rowan has been fighting an organization called the Council that hoards magic to preserve it, because he believes magic should be used for the good of all.
Hy-Brasil is attacked by enchanted bone birds sent by the Council. Rowan is able to fend them off, but the safety of Hy-Brasil is now compromised.
Rowan asks Biddy to help him fight the Council and she embarks on an adventure full of twists and turns, where allies appear to be enemies and enemies act like friends.

The Magician’s Daughter is a “fish-out-of-water” story with naive Biddy serving as our guide into an alternate Great Britain where mages fight secret battles over powerful magic. All of the characters have plausible motivations, although that doesn’t excuse the main villain’s actions and those of his twisted henchman, who is bent on revenge against Rowan. And even the heroic Rowan is complex and flawed, giving his role in Biddy’s life added depth.

One of the delights of this story is Biddy’s relationship with magic. She’s an ordinary person with no magical aptitude, yet because of her relationship with Rowan, she’s able to wield magical artifacts (including the ravenstone!).
She takes action at the book’s climax that reveals her courage and cleverness.
There are life-and-death stakes in the story that kept me turning pages, but it also had a folksy feel in the way the main characters support and love each other. Rowan has the best quotes to sum up the story: “It’s all complicated and messy and wild and glorious.”

The last lines of a book can make or break the reading experience. In this case, the ending resonated long after I finished reading. The story closes with Biddy contemplating leaving Hy-Brasil to attend school.
She says: “Wherever I go, I’ll always come back.”
“We’ll be waiting,” Rowan said.
The Magician’s Daughter is a wild, and glorious tale of magic, courage, and love.

Fiction: Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham

5/11/2024

Age of Ash follows the adventures of two thieves living in the slums, Alys and Sammish.
While investigating the murder of her older brother, Alys gets involved with a brotherhood of dark magic intent on political intrigue. She earns enough money working for this brotherhood to escape the usual desperation of the slums, but at the cost of her soul.
Her friend Sammish, who has a knack for going unnoticed, helps Alys with the investigation, and is drawn into an opposing faction.
Although Alys is billed as the main character, it is Sammish who drives the plot of the story by attempting to unravel the dark brotherhood’s plots.

A poignant aspect of the novel is Sammish’s unrequited crush on the oblivious Alys. Sammish is loyal to her friends and determined to make the world a better place, despite her lowly place in it.
As Alys falls deeper into the brotherhood’s dark deeds, I keep hoping Sammish will rescue stubborn Alys from herself. But, accustomed to overlooking the unnoticable Sammish, Alys downplays her friend’s concerns and keeps digging into trouble.

The story takes place in the city of Kithamar, which is a character in its own right. The slums where Alys and Sammish live are an enclave of Inlisc nomads, whereas the Hansch conquerors occupy the wealthier western half of the city.
Different neighborhoods have different gods, but all agree that the river bisecting the city is hungry for souls and must be assuaged by specific rites.
There are plots within plots, human-embodied gods demanding truth, and multiple layers of magic—summoning candles, transferring souls between bodies, inflicting curses of illness or plague.
One of the delights of the novel is how the magics and various plot threads weave together to create a seamless whole by the story’s conclusion.

The exciting climax has a delightfully unexpected outcome. Sammish remains true to herself throughout and by the novel’s end, Alys finds redemption.
Age of Ash is a compelling fantasy with complex, endearing characters, a fascinating world, and epic stakes both personal and political.

Nonfiction: Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg

5/5/2024

In Supercommunicators, journalist Charles Duhigg takes a deep dive into the scientific research on human communication. He uses fascinating stories and anecdotes to create an engaging and informative book.
There are three types of conversation: (1) those focused on facts and decision-making, (2) conversations focused on emotional connection or expression, and (3) social conversations that explore who we are relative to other people.
Miscommunication occurs when one person wants to express their emotions and the other wants to solve the problem (decision-making). A supercommunicator might ask, “Do you want me to suggest some solutions or do you just need to vent?”

During a conflict, one of the best ways to demonstrate we’re listening, “is by repeating, in our own words, what we just heard them say—and then asking if we got it right.”
The author says, “Our goal, for most meaningful discussions, should be to have a ‘learning conversation.’ Specifically, we want to learn how the people around us see the world and help them understand our perspective in turn.”
On negotiation: “it is increasingly recognized that there are cooperative ways of negotiating our differences and that even if a ‘win-win’ solution cannot be found, a wise agreement can still often be reached that is better for both sides.” He says, “Negotiation … isn’t a battle. It’s an act of creativity.”

The most powerful way to foster emotional connection is through vulnerability: expressing or revealing deeply held beliefs and values, describing meaningful experiences, or exposing ourselves to others’ judgments. “If you want to connect with someone, ask them what they are feeling, and then reveal your own emotions.”
The author shared a personal experience about when his father died. He says, “His death was one of the most important—most emotional and profound events in my life. I would have treasured someone asking, ‘What was your Dad like?’ ”

The author recommends open questions that invite deeper discussion:

How’d you decide to become a teacher?
What was your favorite part of college?
Are you glad you went to graduate school?
What do you like about where you live?
What’s the best thing about where you grew up?
Tell me about your family.
If you could learn anything, what would it be?
What do you like best about your job?
What would be a perfect day for you?
What do you feel most grateful for in your life?
What do you value most in a friendship?

Looping for Understanding
I was also fascinated by looping for understanding:
“You tell a story and three people are listening to you. One of them is listening for what happens…the facts of what happened to you. The second person is listening for your values and the things that you most care about in that story… And the third person is listening [for] what emotions are coming through . . . And then each of the three people listening reports back what they heard.”
I can imagine applying this to writing: reading or revising focused on what happens (plot), values (themes), and character (and reader) emotions.

Identity Threat
One of the most powerful sections of the book focused on bridging the divide between people of different social “tribes.” Researchers studied prejudices based on gender, anti-vaxxer beliefs, and gun rights vs. gun control.
They discovered that finding meaningful common ground was helpful in bridging polarities, but it was also important to avoid identity threat: alienating people by lumping them into socially unacceptable groups.
Identity threats thrive on generalizations (All men are . . .). An example: Since you don’t have kids, you can’t understand how a parent feels seeing a child hurt. This lumps the listener in with all childless people and tells them they can’t empathize with children.
The author says, “when we describe our own experiences, feelings, and reactions—when we feel safe enough to reveal who we are—we start to neutralize identity threats. In other words, speaking from my truth, rather than speaking for or about other people.

Supercommincators is full of captivating stories and actionable tips to improve any level of connection.

Nonfiction: Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes

Fiction: The Magician’s Daughter by H.G. Parry

Fiction: Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham

Nonfiction: Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg

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