UrsulaV (ursulav) wrote,
UrsulaV
ursulav

If there's one book I recommend more than any other, it's China Mieville's Perdido Street Station.

It's the sort of book that turns you into a raving evangelist for it, that makes you call your friends at odd hours of the night telling them to find an all-night bookstore, find it NOW, put down the phone, you'll wait. When I first read it, I finished it, put it down, slid my feet into my sandals and drove to the book store at about ninety to buy the sequel, The Scar. I think what I said to James was "Book...dude...gotta...sequel..." and then I was out the door. (James takes this sort of thing in stride.)

It is dense, unwieldy, crude, and baroque. It is a termite mount of roiling adjectives. The plot doesn't actually lurch to life until after page 200, but you don't care--you've been wallowing in filth and marvels and your suspension of disbelief got kicked down the stairs and eaten by wild dogs.

It is something that I wish to god I'd written, and am pretty sure I couldn't have, but which makes me want to try.

I mention this because in my recent re-reading of books I've loved, I finally got my copy back from a loan, and have been re-reading it.

It's an indication of how weird this book is that I had nightmares last night lifted straight out of it. My sleeping brain, which embroiders everything with oddity, couldn't improve on slake-moths and Torque. It was not a restful night.

So, this is my plug. Read this book. It makes my fucked up nightmares look pedestrian.
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  • (no subject)

    New novel, coming November 27th! Woohoo! It's called SWORDHEART. It's an epic fantasy romancey thing with an enchanted sword. Yes, as one of the…

  • (no subject)

    The problem with not posting constantly is that then I feel the urge to start every post with an apology for not posting, which makes me not post…

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    Psssst. Wanna buy a book? *opens coat* Pre-Order The Wonder Engine now! Other formats are also becoming available but take longer to…