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Secret Lives of Books
Secret lives, replete with possibilities. Elsewhere exists as a better place, in a better time, for a better life. The trick is how to get there from here. These stories give the answers. Share in the secret lives of books. Fly to Mars, the first stage, perhaps, in the onward journey to elsewhere. Hear the music of the heavenly spheres and be forever changed, providing the bad guys don’t hear it first. Discover Gaia may not be quite what we think she is. Discover the universe is a rather big place. Embrace Utopia for women too, if only …Table of ContentsIntroductionThe Secret Lives of BooksKiddofspeedQasidaThe Kairos EffectThe slut and the universe
81 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 21, 2014
L. Timmel Duchamp says that Love's stories consist of "fairly plain words (and never very many of them)," in her introduction to this collection. That might sound like faint praise indeed, except that the rest of the introduction praises those same words' "amazing, amusing magic" - and she's right. It's also why, when Alisa Krasnostein (of Twelfth Planet Press, who put this collection out - yes, fair dealing, she's a friend) asked what I thought of it I had to pause, and think through my response. Which initially concerned her, I think, but my hesitation wasn't about "how do I tell my friend I didn't like the book?" but "how do I my feelings into words?" It was compounded by the fact that I read the collection in very fast time (two and a bit tram rides, to be exact) - it is only 80 pages long, in the cute little format that all of the Twelve Planets have come in.
So what did I think? Well, most of the stories feel pretty easy to read, thanks to that simplicity of prose Duchamp identifies and the fact that there's no padding in any of them. Most of them, though, are likely to sneak around to the back of your head and whack you one to make you realise that simplicity of prose is by no means the same as simplicity of purpose, or theme, or consequence.
"Secret Lives of Books" has the most straightforward narrative structure of the stories here. Ritchie is dying, and his books have always been of far more importance to him than human relationships. So, simple: after death, go live with the books. In the books. But as he whispers to his ex-wife Luisa: Books suck your blood. How will they respond to this invasion, and how will they react when their existence might be threatened? And when they find out about the internet? ... A simple narrative, yes, but a provocative probing into our relationship with books and with other people, and with the concept of knowledge. I read once a (mostly tongue-in-cheek) suggestion that humanity was the weapon grasses like wheat utilised in order to fight the trees. I was reminded of that, here.
True fact: I have never heard of Kiddofspeed. Turns out this is a real thing, a website where Elena Filatova discussed riding a motorbike through the area around Chernobyl, post-disaster. In "Kiddofspeed" Love does a glorious job of interrogating the question of fact v fiction, and especially the question/issue of how the internet makes the casual reader's understanding of the line between these two things so much harder. If it's on the internet it's true, right? If I say it is? (I'm put in mind of this article suggesting/explaining that Tom Cruise did not, actually, jump like a mad thing on Oprah's couch - well, not how most of us "remember" him doing so, anyway.) Love also has a dig at some of the wilder "theories" about Chernobyl, and shoots them down in very few, scathing, words.
A qasida is "a form of lyric poetry from Arabia about the pain of lost love" - at least so says the prologue to the story of the same story, and coming straight after "Kiddofspeed" there is part of me that pauses and wonders whether the entire collection might be playing some sort of grand didactic prank... but surely not. (Right?) This story flicks between Bronnie, living now and with the knowledge that Mars-obsessed Del is lost, and Livia Wynne - general fixer for the British Empire in its last gasp, after the First World War. I could completely spoil the narrative (Del is on Mars) and not spoil the story. I haven't, promise. (And because it's on the internet....) Relationships, the quest for knowledge, the (im)possibility of cross-cultural understanding, the drive to go, the complexity of language: all of these are touched on, lightly but generally profoundly.
"The Kairos Moment" is probably my least favourite story. I don't dislike it, it just doesn't work for me like the others. 'Kairos' is the Greek term (apparently... who me, paranoid?) for a moment of something wonderful happening. The narrator theorises that music is one method by which to achieve a kairos moment, and proceeds - as part of her research (I just realised I'm assuming it's a her - I don't think it's revealed) - to try and create one. It's not entirely straightforward, nor entirely a healthy experience for some.
The final story is
The slut and the universe
or
The relations between feminism, global warming, global financial meltdown, asteroid impact, the nuclear arms race and the mass extinction of species.
or
How feminism got to be both the root of all evils and the means of salvation from them.
It opens with "One upon a time, there will be a young girl who live with her family in the middle of the woods." Can you tell this is my favourite story? Marysa lives with her mother and her grandmother. They argue about the clothes she wears, with the word 'slut' bandied around - "Not that they mean Marysa is a slut... [but that she] has chosen to dress like a slut, and therefore... people she meets... will treat her like a slut and TAKE ADVANTAGE" (68). A condemnation of slut-shaming in a page of prose, hell yes. And then they get on to the patriarchy and all of the things suggested in the multiple titles. With Gaia along to stir up the conversation a bit. The narrative is tenuous, true; there are hints of a world that has gone bad (worse than ours at the moment anyway), and the relationships between the three generations. The focus is absolutely on conversation and argument between the four. It's a place for Love to set up ideas and be provocative and maybe even extreme, and I loved it.
This collection is awesome. You should buy it.
So what did I think? Well, most of the stories feel pretty easy to read, thanks to that simplicity of prose Duchamp identifies and the fact that there's no padding in any of them. Most of them, though, are likely to sneak around to the back of your head and whack you one to make you realise that simplicity of prose is by no means the same as simplicity of purpose, or theme, or consequence.
"Secret Lives of Books" has the most straightforward narrative structure of the stories here. Ritchie is dying, and his books have always been of far more importance to him than human relationships. So, simple: after death, go live with the books. In the books. But as he whispers to his ex-wife Luisa: Books suck your blood. How will they respond to this invasion, and how will they react when their existence might be threatened? And when they find out about the internet? ... A simple narrative, yes, but a provocative probing into our relationship with books and with other people, and with the concept of knowledge. I read once a (mostly tongue-in-cheek) suggestion that humanity was the weapon grasses like wheat utilised in order to fight the trees. I was reminded of that, here.
True fact: I have never heard of Kiddofspeed. Turns out this is a real thing, a website where Elena Filatova discussed riding a motorbike through the area around Chernobyl, post-disaster. In "Kiddofspeed" Love does a glorious job of interrogating the question of fact v fiction, and especially the question/issue of how the internet makes the casual reader's understanding of the line between these two things so much harder. If it's on the internet it's true, right? If I say it is? (I'm put in mind of this article suggesting/explaining that Tom Cruise did not, actually, jump like a mad thing on Oprah's couch - well, not how most of us "remember" him doing so, anyway.) Love also has a dig at some of the wilder "theories" about Chernobyl, and shoots them down in very few, scathing, words.
A qasida is "a form of lyric poetry from Arabia about the pain of lost love" - at least so says the prologue to the story of the same story, and coming straight after "Kiddofspeed" there is part of me that pauses and wonders whether the entire collection might be playing some sort of grand didactic prank... but surely not. (Right?) This story flicks between Bronnie, living now and with the knowledge that Mars-obsessed Del is lost, and Livia Wynne - general fixer for the British Empire in its last gasp, after the First World War. I could completely spoil the narrative (Del is on Mars) and not spoil the story. I haven't, promise. (And because it's on the internet....) Relationships, the quest for knowledge, the (im)possibility of cross-cultural understanding, the drive to go, the complexity of language: all of these are touched on, lightly but generally profoundly.
"The Kairos Moment" is probably my least favourite story. I don't dislike it, it just doesn't work for me like the others. 'Kairos' is the Greek term (apparently... who me, paranoid?) for a moment of something wonderful happening. The narrator theorises that music is one method by which to achieve a kairos moment, and proceeds - as part of her research (I just realised I'm assuming it's a her - I don't think it's revealed) - to try and create one. It's not entirely straightforward, nor entirely a healthy experience for some.
The final story is
The slut and the universe
or
The relations between feminism, global warming, global financial meltdown, asteroid impact, the nuclear arms race and the mass extinction of species.
or
How feminism got to be both the root of all evils and the means of salvation from them.
It opens with "One upon a time, there will be a young girl who live with her family in the middle of the woods." Can you tell this is my favourite story? Marysa lives with her mother and her grandmother. They argue about the clothes she wears, with the word 'slut' bandied around - "Not that they mean Marysa is a slut... [but that she] has chosen to dress like a slut, and therefore... people she meets... will treat her like a slut and TAKE ADVANTAGE" (68). A condemnation of slut-shaming in a page of prose, hell yes. And then they get on to the patriarchy and all of the things suggested in the multiple titles. With Gaia along to stir up the conversation a bit. The narrative is tenuous, true; there are hints of a world that has gone bad (worse than ours at the moment anyway), and the relationships between the three generations. The focus is absolutely on conversation and argument between the four. It's a place for Love to set up ideas and be provocative and maybe even extreme, and I loved it.
This collection is awesome. You should buy it.
February 10, 2017
The Secret Lives of Books by Rosaleen Love is the tenth volume in the Twelve Planets series from Twelfth Planet Press. This volume collects five unconnected short stories (unconnected in terms of plot; like many of the other volumes in the series, there are connected thematic elements).
The first story in the collection is the titular The Secret Lives of Books. There is a deceptive simplicity about Love's prose which is especially evident in this story. Expect no baroque prose here, but rather an almost brutal simplicity, but there is absolutely nothing simple about Love's writing, with even the plainest of sentences containing layers of meaning. On the surface, this is a ghost story - a man dies and discovers that he loves his books more than his family. There is so much here that speaks of the deep love that people can have for books, and the homes that they can find in them. One of my favourites from the collection.
Next is Kiddofspeed. I was looking forward to this one in particular, being familiar with the controversy surrounding Elena Filatova's supposed solo motorbike ride through the radiation zone surrounding Chernobyl. This is a biting piece, short but extremely powerful, that speaks to the layers of meaning that occur at the place where fact blurs into fiction.
Qasida is a story that really highlights Love's precise talent with language. There are several threads running through this story, including explorers, Mars, alternate history and the connections that hold people together (and conversely, are not strong enough to hold them together). There's an almost psychedelic tone to this story, giving the impression of looking into a kaleidoscope of fractured images that, at the end, form into a whole. I am deeply impressed by the talent that it takes to write a story like this.
The Kairos Moment feels very much cut from similar cloth as Qasida, though the story itself isn't fractured into pieces. For me, it didn't work quite as well as the previous story (which probably reflects much more on me as a reader than Love as a writer).
The final story in the collection is The slut and the universe. To me, this story reads as a feminist fable, exploring the ideas of feminine sexuality and the ways in which women choose to present themselves to the world. A stunning story, and a strong finish to the collection.
This is the first Rosaleen Love that I've read (much to my shame) and I am certain that it won't be the last. I suspect that many of the stories will stand up well to rereading (and will possibly gain depth upon each reread). Like all of the volumes in the Twelve Planets, it is highly recommended.
The first story in the collection is the titular The Secret Lives of Books. There is a deceptive simplicity about Love's prose which is especially evident in this story. Expect no baroque prose here, but rather an almost brutal simplicity, but there is absolutely nothing simple about Love's writing, with even the plainest of sentences containing layers of meaning. On the surface, this is a ghost story - a man dies and discovers that he loves his books more than his family. There is so much here that speaks of the deep love that people can have for books, and the homes that they can find in them. One of my favourites from the collection.
Next is Kiddofspeed. I was looking forward to this one in particular, being familiar with the controversy surrounding Elena Filatova's supposed solo motorbike ride through the radiation zone surrounding Chernobyl. This is a biting piece, short but extremely powerful, that speaks to the layers of meaning that occur at the place where fact blurs into fiction.
Qasida is a story that really highlights Love's precise talent with language. There are several threads running through this story, including explorers, Mars, alternate history and the connections that hold people together (and conversely, are not strong enough to hold them together). There's an almost psychedelic tone to this story, giving the impression of looking into a kaleidoscope of fractured images that, at the end, form into a whole. I am deeply impressed by the talent that it takes to write a story like this.
The Kairos Moment feels very much cut from similar cloth as Qasida, though the story itself isn't fractured into pieces. For me, it didn't work quite as well as the previous story (which probably reflects much more on me as a reader than Love as a writer).
The final story in the collection is The slut and the universe. To me, this story reads as a feminist fable, exploring the ideas of feminine sexuality and the ways in which women choose to present themselves to the world. A stunning story, and a strong finish to the collection.
This is the first Rosaleen Love that I've read (much to my shame) and I am certain that it won't be the last. I suspect that many of the stories will stand up well to rereading (and will possibly gain depth upon each reread). Like all of the volumes in the Twelve Planets, it is highly recommended.
October 28, 2017
A slender collection of short stories, each one packing quite a punch. Love's writing style is quite pared back, understated, and the subtlety of the stories is a delight. Each story interrogates a different aspect of culture and/or politics, investigating the domestic and small, as well as the world-spanning and world-changing. Well worth a read.
October 11, 2016
Secret Lives of Books, is the tenth book in the Twelve Planets series, released by Twelfth Planet Press, which showcase the talent of female Australian authors. There is now to be a thirteenth in the series, but that's a review for another time. The brief given to authors was to write several short stories of up to 40,000 words in total. The stories could be separate, discrete narratives or linked through character, setting or theme.
This collection contains five short stories that don't appear to be connected in the first light, however when you've read them all there appears to be some faint thread of deeper meaning. My full review can be read here.
This collection contains five short stories that don't appear to be connected in the first light, however when you've read them all there appears to be some faint thread of deeper meaning. My full review can be read here.
March 6, 2017
The Secret Lives of Books is the tenth in the Twelfth Planet series of short story collections, showcasing female writers. Five stories showcase Rosaleen Love's quirky and distinctive point of view. The title story "Secret Lives of Books" feels like a cautionary tale for book hoarders -- even if you could live amongst your books, would you want to? "Kiddofspeed" feels strangely apt in the age of "fake news" and online memes. The truth is rarely as interesting as the fiction created online. "Qasida" asks the perennial question of "Where does all the space junk and lost socks go?" Apparently it's Mars and we're not terribly good at translating. "The Kairos Effect" made me imagine a 12 hour intergalactic jam session finding "the music of the spheres". The only one I struggled with was the last one where a three women in post-apocalyptic Earth meet Gaia and try to make sense of it all. It's an odd set of stories, but they keyed on a facet of my interests (books, space travel, music, Internet) that I found fascinating. I was completely unfamiliar with Rosaleen Love's work, but I would eagerly pick up more after this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 27, 2014
Secret Lives of Books by Rosaleen Love is the latest volume in Twelfth Planet Press's Twelve Planets series of collections. With this one, I wasn't sure what to expect going in — other than feminism — since I'm not familiar with any of Love's other work. And it was about feminism, although that was mainly the last story, which I suspect is the one to stick in people's minds.
It's called Secret Lives of Books, but I think what it's really about is the secret lives of stories. All five stories within grapple with the story of stories on some level. "The Secret Lives of Books" is literally about the secret story of a particular collection of books, "Kiddofspeed" is about a story that developed around some photos, "Qasida" is about the mysteries of Mars and the plausibility of fantastical stories, "The slut and the universe" (which has a couple of long subtitles which I'll leave for you to discover yourselves) is about the stories of feminism and misogyny. Fitting least into this patter, "The Kairos Moment" is a story about music, muisic itself being a type of story, albeit not necessarily in the narrative sense. There is, of course, the expected feminism in this collection, but I found it mostly manifested through the existence of female characters, apart from in "The slut and the universe".
My favourite story was "Qasida", which I decided would probably be my favourite when I was still halfway through it and had two more stories left to go. It's sort of a surreal story about Mars and magic (for lack of a better term) travel and aliens, except it's not all that surreal. It's told rather sensibly, which I think is part of the appeal.
I highly recommend this collection to all SFF fans. The stories were all equally good and almost equally unusual. I'd tentatively say this is probably in my top four of the Twelve Planets. Which might not sound like much, but you have to remember there's some very stiff competition.
~
Secret Lives of Books — This was a strange story that didn’t go the way it initially seemed it would. The main character is a recently deceased writer, trying desperately to get a living person’s attention. And then there’s his extensive book collection, which he has always been very attached to. I’d call this soft horror, as we incrementally — creeping — learn more about the books.
Kiddofspeed — Another unusual story, sort of chronicling the adventures of a girl taking photos of Pripyat (near Chernobyl, and based on real events) and sort of talking about the nature of story.
Qasida — Probably my favourite story so far. It’s another story of stories, this time about Mars and strange happenings. Visits to Mars, objects from Mars and the
The Kairos Moment — An odd story about the uplifting feeling people experience when listening to good music. And a researcher trying to study the phenomenon. And some strange happenings. I was entertained and quite amused. (And in case it isn't obvious, this story is certainly represented on the gorgeous cover.)
The slut and the universe — I seem to have noted that all the stories in this collection are unusual and this is no exception. It's a post-apocalyptic fairytale about feminism. Despite the post-apocalyptic setting not much seems to have changed and there is discussion (literally) on such feminist topics as the meaning of the word "slut" an why feminism is the root of all evil. It was also a rather entertaining read.
4.5 / 5 stars
You can read more of my reviews on my blog.
It's called Secret Lives of Books, but I think what it's really about is the secret lives of stories. All five stories within grapple with the story of stories on some level. "The Secret Lives of Books" is literally about the secret story of a particular collection of books, "Kiddofspeed" is about a story that developed around some photos, "Qasida" is about the mysteries of Mars and the plausibility of fantastical stories, "The slut and the universe" (which has a couple of long subtitles which I'll leave for you to discover yourselves) is about the stories of feminism and misogyny. Fitting least into this patter, "The Kairos Moment" is a story about music, muisic itself being a type of story, albeit not necessarily in the narrative sense. There is, of course, the expected feminism in this collection, but I found it mostly manifested through the existence of female characters, apart from in "The slut and the universe".
My favourite story was "Qasida", which I decided would probably be my favourite when I was still halfway through it and had two more stories left to go. It's sort of a surreal story about Mars and magic (for lack of a better term) travel and aliens, except it's not all that surreal. It's told rather sensibly, which I think is part of the appeal.
I highly recommend this collection to all SFF fans. The stories were all equally good and almost equally unusual. I'd tentatively say this is probably in my top four of the Twelve Planets. Which might not sound like much, but you have to remember there's some very stiff competition.
~
Secret Lives of Books — This was a strange story that didn’t go the way it initially seemed it would. The main character is a recently deceased writer, trying desperately to get a living person’s attention. And then there’s his extensive book collection, which he has always been very attached to. I’d call this soft horror, as we incrementally — creeping — learn more about the books.
Kiddofspeed — Another unusual story, sort of chronicling the adventures of a girl taking photos of Pripyat (near Chernobyl, and based on real events) and sort of talking about the nature of story.
Qasida — Probably my favourite story so far. It’s another story of stories, this time about Mars and strange happenings. Visits to Mars, objects from Mars and the
The Kairos Moment — An odd story about the uplifting feeling people experience when listening to good music. And a researcher trying to study the phenomenon. And some strange happenings. I was entertained and quite amused. (And in case it isn't obvious, this story is certainly represented on the gorgeous cover.)
The slut and the universe — I seem to have noted that all the stories in this collection are unusual and this is no exception. It's a post-apocalyptic fairytale about feminism. Despite the post-apocalyptic setting not much seems to have changed and there is discussion (literally) on such feminist topics as the meaning of the word "slut" an why feminism is the root of all evil. It was also a rather entertaining read.
4.5 / 5 stars
You can read more of my reviews on my blog.
January 8, 2015
This review forms part of my contribution to the Australian Women Writers 2014 Reading Challenge. All my 2014 AWWC reviews can be found here.
Secret Lives by Rosaleen Love is the 10th book in the Twelve Planets series from Twelfth Planet Press. It is a very quick read, coming in at 80 pages.
Now what did I think of the collection? In summary: beautifully written, surreal verging on absurdist, punchy, insightful and satisfying.
I've debated how much to write in this review, as I'm almost certain that my attempts to describe the stories will represent their magic poorly and may even put you off reading the collection. With that in mind, I've tried to briefly capture the flavour of each story below. Hopefully you'll get a sense of the madcap and slightly bizarre nature of the collection (in a very good way).
The collection is made up of five stories:
- Secret Lives of Books - a recently deceased man comes to terms with his sentient and increasingly militant library
- Kiddofspeed - a woman bike rides around Chernobyl... or does she? And does it really matter where she did or not? With the help of the Internet.
- Qasida - where do lost things go? To Mars of course. A story of a lost love with appropriate flashbacks to the British Empire's flirtation with the colonisation of Mars.
- The Kairos Moment - tells the tale of the search for that moment of pure musical rapture in the name of academic research, and then considers the potential military applications.
- The slut and the universe - a family discussion between three generations of women, and the inevitable cross-generation misunderstandings, becomes a therapy session of sorts for Gaia.
I'm hard pressed to pick a favourite, but if forced to I'd probably lean towards The Kairos Moment. The sheer fun of the describing the attempts to capture a moment of musical departure was hilarious. In fact, hilarious is a word I'd use often in a longer review of this work. There are some serious themes explored in this book - feminism, relationships, colonial ambitions etc. But it is delivered with such a strong thread of humour that I spent the entire read being delighted by various turns of phrase, and only really considered the implications of the stories once I'd finished.
The writing of this collection is superb. The language dances from sentence to sentence, and concept to concept. The stories are only loosely plotted, but that hardly seems to matter. While the ideas get more and more outlandish, the prose stays clean and pragmatic, which only adds to the deliberate dissonance of the read.
I enjoyed this book very much, but to describe it further has diminishing returns. It won't take long to read. Go and buy it. Now.
I also reviewed this book on my website.
Secret Lives by Rosaleen Love is the 10th book in the Twelve Planets series from Twelfth Planet Press. It is a very quick read, coming in at 80 pages.
Now what did I think of the collection? In summary: beautifully written, surreal verging on absurdist, punchy, insightful and satisfying.
I've debated how much to write in this review, as I'm almost certain that my attempts to describe the stories will represent their magic poorly and may even put you off reading the collection. With that in mind, I've tried to briefly capture the flavour of each story below. Hopefully you'll get a sense of the madcap and slightly bizarre nature of the collection (in a very good way).
The collection is made up of five stories:
- Secret Lives of Books - a recently deceased man comes to terms with his sentient and increasingly militant library
- Kiddofspeed - a woman bike rides around Chernobyl... or does she? And does it really matter where she did or not? With the help of the Internet.
- Qasida - where do lost things go? To Mars of course. A story of a lost love with appropriate flashbacks to the British Empire's flirtation with the colonisation of Mars.
- The Kairos Moment - tells the tale of the search for that moment of pure musical rapture in the name of academic research, and then considers the potential military applications.
- The slut and the universe - a family discussion between three generations of women, and the inevitable cross-generation misunderstandings, becomes a therapy session of sorts for Gaia.
I'm hard pressed to pick a favourite, but if forced to I'd probably lean towards The Kairos Moment. The sheer fun of the describing the attempts to capture a moment of musical departure was hilarious. In fact, hilarious is a word I'd use often in a longer review of this work. There are some serious themes explored in this book - feminism, relationships, colonial ambitions etc. But it is delivered with such a strong thread of humour that I spent the entire read being delighted by various turns of phrase, and only really considered the implications of the stories once I'd finished.
The writing of this collection is superb. The language dances from sentence to sentence, and concept to concept. The stories are only loosely plotted, but that hardly seems to matter. While the ideas get more and more outlandish, the prose stays clean and pragmatic, which only adds to the deliberate dissonance of the read.
I enjoyed this book very much, but to describe it further has diminishing returns. It won't take long to read. Go and buy it. Now.
I also reviewed this book on my website.
September 13, 2014
I received a free copy of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway. However, my opinions below are my own.
Although I didn't like this book, it was a well written, creative group of stoires. It simply wasn't my type of book. The Secret Lives of Books is a group of short stories which are linked by transporting the reader to another world of some sort (e.g. mars or even a world of books). The concepts behind each of the stories were interesting, and I think I might like it even better if they were full novels of some sort. The writing was also nice, and I enjoyed the switch from my typical reads.
I had a hard time getting drawn into each of the stories for a couple of reasons. First, I am just not a short story kind of person. I need more time to get to know the characters and settings before being drawn in. That is just a personal preference, and isn't really a draw back to the book. The second reason is I simply found them a bit confusing. The writing was beautiful and I can see many people enjoying it, but I personally found it to be a bit muddy. However, I don't think this confusion is inherent in the book, but rather the way I read books. In fact, I can think of a few friends who would probably enjoy this a lot.
All in all, I had to rate this book low (2 stars) because of my personal preferences. However, if this is your type of read, I would imagine it is a 4 or 5 star type book. I am glad I read this book and had the opportunity to try something a bit out of my normal book routine, but I would not read it again.
Although I didn't like this book, it was a well written, creative group of stoires. It simply wasn't my type of book. The Secret Lives of Books is a group of short stories which are linked by transporting the reader to another world of some sort (e.g. mars or even a world of books). The concepts behind each of the stories were interesting, and I think I might like it even better if they were full novels of some sort. The writing was also nice, and I enjoyed the switch from my typical reads.
I had a hard time getting drawn into each of the stories for a couple of reasons. First, I am just not a short story kind of person. I need more time to get to know the characters and settings before being drawn in. That is just a personal preference, and isn't really a draw back to the book. The second reason is I simply found them a bit confusing. The writing was beautiful and I can see many people enjoying it, but I personally found it to be a bit muddy. However, I don't think this confusion is inherent in the book, but rather the way I read books. In fact, I can think of a few friends who would probably enjoy this a lot.
All in all, I had to rate this book low (2 stars) because of my personal preferences. However, if this is your type of read, I would imagine it is a 4 or 5 star type book. I am glad I read this book and had the opportunity to try something a bit out of my normal book routine, but I would not read it again.
June 13, 2015
Secret Lives of Books was on my list of ‘Absolutely Must Buy’ books to get at Continuum, and I grabbed it almost as soon as I could. One of the absolutely brilliant Twelve Planets series of books, it’s a collection of stories which almost feel like thoughts and dreams.
Rosaleen Love’s writing really felt like nothing I’d come across before. It was so calm and even and you found yourself being lulled into the story, gently carried through it. Until something twists, and you find yourself falling and you absolutely cannot stop reading as you tumble through the space of her stories.
My favourite story was definitely the title one with the man who loved his book collection just a little too intensely. I assume most other readers would also have strong feelings about books and their book collections and would also find themselves having strong feelings about this story. The other stories moved us to bike riders who aren’t really, to Mars explorers (I also adored this world, which was created so simply and so well) to collaborative music makers to feminists who are at the beginning and the end of everything.
The whole book felt completely fresh and new and relevant to me, yet there was an almost nostalgic feel to it – like you should have read it before. I am so thrilled to finally own this and so so happy to ‘discover’ Rosaleen Love’s writing – I only hope others can discover it too.
Originally reviewed at Subversive Reader
Rosaleen Love’s writing really felt like nothing I’d come across before. It was so calm and even and you found yourself being lulled into the story, gently carried through it. Until something twists, and you find yourself falling and you absolutely cannot stop reading as you tumble through the space of her stories.
My favourite story was definitely the title one with the man who loved his book collection just a little too intensely. I assume most other readers would also have strong feelings about books and their book collections and would also find themselves having strong feelings about this story. The other stories moved us to bike riders who aren’t really, to Mars explorers (I also adored this world, which was created so simply and so well) to collaborative music makers to feminists who are at the beginning and the end of everything.
The whole book felt completely fresh and new and relevant to me, yet there was an almost nostalgic feel to it – like you should have read it before. I am so thrilled to finally own this and so so happy to ‘discover’ Rosaleen Love’s writing – I only hope others can discover it too.
Originally reviewed at Subversive Reader
February 16, 2015
There were aspects of this book I enjoyed, but for the most part I found it too esoteric for my tastes. The stories, while constructed from straightforward language and easy-to-digest sentences, felt rambling to me. The author seems more interested in setting and mood, and in playing with concepts, than in telling a story. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn't particularly work for me. I found myself consistently wishing that she'd hurry up and get to the point, only to find that the story had ended without that ever really happening.
Don't misunderstand: this book isn't poorly written and I can understand why it's received several five-star reviews. Perhaps the best way to explain it is to reference one of the stories within the book, in which a band composed of a tin whistle, some empty beer bottles, and a few other non-instrument instruments manages to reach a musical epiphany so great that it produces a rift in time and space. That's the sort of band some people will fight to the death for ... and the sort of band that I'd turn off immediately. This book struck me in the same way: some people will love it, but it didn't work for me.
Don't misunderstand: this book isn't poorly written and I can understand why it's received several five-star reviews. Perhaps the best way to explain it is to reference one of the stories within the book, in which a band composed of a tin whistle, some empty beer bottles, and a few other non-instrument instruments manages to reach a musical epiphany so great that it produces a rift in time and space. That's the sort of band some people will fight to the death for ... and the sort of band that I'd turn off immediately. This book struck me in the same way: some people will love it, but it didn't work for me.
April 12, 2015
3.5 stars. I had mixed feelings about these stories - a couple I very much enjoyed, but others weren't as much to my taste.
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