Dune (book)

• I really enjoyed the highly immersive world building and thought given to philosophy, politics, ecology, and religion. I’ll write a separate post on my thoughts and reflections more in depth.

***Dune, Islam & Religion (Youtube video - Let’s Talk Religion)***

• A great video breaking down the historical and religious influences, including references to Sufism (alam-al-mithal + others).

Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions by Neil Gaiman:

• “Winter started today. The sky turned gray and the snow began to fall and it did not stop falling until well after dark. I sat in the darkness and watched the snow falling, and the flakes glistened and glimmered as they spun into the light and out again, and I wondered about where stories came from.” - beautiful and subtly evocative. He didn’t shy away from using “fall or falling” multiple times in close proximity and that somehow makes the prose feel more real and like a hazy old memory.
• “A few of them were written to amuse myself, or, more precisely, to get an idea or an image out of my head and pinned safely down on paper; which is as good a reason for writing as I know: releasing demons, letting them fly. Some of the stories began in idleness: fancies and curiosities that got out of hand. ”
• I thought it was clever how the intro morphed into telling the first story. He writes that this story was supposed to be a wedding present for a couple about a couple who receives a story as a wedding present (a mind twister!). After sampling just a little bit of Gaiman’s writing, it seems likes he’s obviously someone who’s very in tune with his imagination, respecting and following the wanderings of his mind to see a story through to fruition.
• First short story: The Wedding Present. A newlywed couple finds that someone wrote a story describing how their marriage would unfold in a miserable way, down to the very minute detail. Naturally, the couple wonders who gave them this present and why. The couple eventually does see it as a sort of present: a tangible reminder of how things could have gone compared to their happy marriage. This reminded me of advice I once read: how we as humans tend to focus on all the things we wanted and didn’t get, forgetting about the crises and tragedies we may have averted and taking a pause of gratitude.
  • I liked the simple flowing writing style in this, it definitely managed to keep the reader wondering about the resolution. I once read that novels are about total immersion, while short fiction is all about a powerful emotional punch; I always love that feeling in short stories and marvel at how impactful it can be in even just a few pages of writing.
  • I think this particular story may have been a bit grim for my current taste; I’d like to read more fiction that’s uplifting, beautiful, quaint. They say it’s harder for songwriters to come up with happy songs vs. melancholic or angsty lyrics. I’ve felt this parallel with a lot of popular young adult fiction (especially in the sci-fi and fantasy genres) and want to branch out.

***Osaimeen Yoosuff (instagram account)***

• I love his book recommendations and contagious excitement for fantasy fiction!

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Solitary Cyclist

• I enjoyed this story and the way Doyle manages to create such suspense and curiosity in so few pages. His writing easily creates a mental image without being overly descriptive; the image of a strange cyclist following the young woman and always keeping a distance so she wouldn’t see him was a simple and intriguing premise. I also didn’t fully expect the ending of how they were all in it in a sort of marriage pact scheme.
• Another thing I appreciate about these stories is the carefully chosen point of view; if the stories were told by Holmes instead of Watson, they wouldn’t have the same warmth and approachability.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Charles Augustus Milverton

• I liked the slight elements of humor and irony towards the end of this one. However, overall it was less satisfying than The Solitary Cyclist, since there wasn’t a real mystery being solved, rather, a crime being prevented.
• I liked the imagery in this passage: “The thick warm air of the conservatory and the rich, choking fragrance of exotic plants took us by the throat. He seized my hand in the darkness and led me swiftly past banks of shrubs which brushed against our faces. Holmes had remarkable powers, carefully cultivated, of seeing in the dark.”
• New words I learned: impecunious (lacking money), rakish (jaunty or disreputable look), jemmy (crowbar)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Black Peter

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Golden Pince-Nez

• This is one of my top Sherlock Holmes stories so far, I liked the classic mystery style as compared to the previous two. We get to see his classic deduction methods a few times when it comes to analyzing the crime scene and evidence. Just from characteristics of the glasses left behind at the scene, Holmes is able to narrow down the suspect and piece together what happened. The ending wasn’t too expected and it was cool how he observed little things like cigarette ash disturbances on the carpet to come to his conclusion.

The Hobbit (book)

• The sheer force of Tolkien’s imagination is incredibly inspiring. One element I love about the book that the movies don’t capture is Tolkien’s voice as a narrator, which adds humor and warmth, like a grandfather telling you a story. I liked the pace of the book and balance between action and slower scenes. I also liked how the book got straight into the story with Gandalf and the dwarves arriving without dragging on.

  My favorite scenes:

  • Bilbo’s bewilderment at Gandalf and the dwarves arriving, the trolls bickering and turning to stone.
  • Bilbo’s riddle competition with Gollum in the cave and his rage at losing the ring.
  • The beauty of Rivendale and the detail of how their map would reveal special script only when illuminated by the light of a moon of the same season and type as when it was first written.
  • The vividly immersive descriptions of the dark forrest where they face giant spiders.
  • When they’re captured by the wood elves and manage to escape through barrels, enabled by Bilbo’s invisibility

• Questions: Tolkien is often called the father of modern fantasy, with The Hobbit being considered a genre defining piece - what types of fantasy stories were popular before Tolkien’s time? What were Tolkien’s inspiration sources for the various races and settings? Did he envision writing The Lord of the Rings while writing The Hobbit with Gollum’s scene foreshadowing the trilogy, or did he later look back and think this would be a good story seed?

***The Radical Science Fiction of Ursula Le Guin (Youtube video)***

• Overall really loved this channel and the recommendations for sci-fi and fantasy with a philosophical backbone.