Memory, Sorrow, & Thorn (7/19): #2 Stone of Farewell—Roll Call & First Impressions (NO Spoilers)

[Kathi, There’s no such thing as too many books!]

Are you reading or planning to read Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams, Book 2 in the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series?

Please NO spoilers!

[Kerry]

Started today. I'm all the way up to page 10!

[Kerry]

Page 204 (23% in my paperback) and happily enjoying the reread. It's a slow and steady one, as were the books of the time, but lots of fun - if making me very cold in what is already winter in my part of the world.

[Kerry]

I finished this about a week ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll try to add something to the other thread before the end of the month.

Is anyone else reading?

[Kathi, There’s no such thing as too many books!]

Kerry, I read this many years ago and planned to reread with the group but discovered I longer have copies of the books and chose not to re-acquire them. I don’t recall too much except, while the pace is slow, I loved them.

[Kerry]

The pace *is* slow. I had to make a conscious decision to stop worrying about how long it would take me to read it and just enjoy the beautiful prose and detail. Once I did that, I did much better.

[Kerry]

I started writing this in the spoilers thread, but it ended up being a general discussion rather than containing any spoilers, so I decided to post it here instead. I'll still see if I can come up with something for the spoiler thread, but this is about my feelings, not details.

I really enjoyed rereading this and ended up giving it five star rating.

I loved these books when they came out and I've been wanting to reread them for a long time, especially since the new series started coming out. But I was very intimidated by the size of them and the fact I knew the pace would be slow compared to books written and published today.

We get really caught up in goals these days - how many books will I read this year, this month - and that added a level of stress I didn't have back in the day, when it was possible to keep up with the new releases you were interested in and still fit in a reread now and then.

I was reading my paperback (I'm in a paper books mood at present instead of using my Kindle and I own all these books as both) and I kept finding my place on the Kindle to find what percentage through the book I was. Gradually, I began to realise that that was silly. Why was I reading the book - to enjoy the story or to tick a box on a target list. I couldn't throw that feeling completely, but I began to be able to sink into the story and enjoy the details, the world-building, the lyric language. I stuck with the paperback, I loved the story, but I starting enjoying the experience so much more as well.

It was also interesting to find that I found myself feeling linked to the person I had been when then this was published. Assuming I read it when it came out, and I'm sure I did, I was 22, newly unwell with ME/CFS, but still able to do a lot more than I can now. Life went slower. I did what I could and rested when I needed to. I had people who looked after me and the world might have slowed down on me, but it was still open and wide and I would get well soon and start up my life again. It wasn't perfect of course, but it was still good, calmer and gentler than it sometimes feels now.

Nearly 30 years later, I've lost my mother who was one of my anchors of calm in the world, I have a husband and a neurodiverse son and a lot less energy than I did back then. I'm still sick and I no longer have an expectation that I will get well unless there's some major research breakthrough and that looks extremely unlikely. I still love my life, but it's faster and more demanding (life is in general for all of us I think) and we're busy counting how many books and ticking off to-read and to-do lists.

It did me a lot of good to slow down and reconnect with that slower time. I needed it. I can't totally throw away my reading goals and I still have more books I want to read or reread than I'll ever manage, but this book proved to be a very important reminder than when I choose a book, I should let it take me where it wants and take however long it needs.

And ironically, I read it in 2 weeks and I'll still have read 9 or 10 books this month (okay there was a short story and some school stories in there), so that concern didn't even materialise. I'm going to keep reading the series, because it turns out I need it in my life for more than just a good story.

[Kathi, There’s no such thing as too many books!]

Kerry wrote: "I started writing this in the spoilers thread, but it ended up being a general discussion rather than containing any spoilers, so I decided to post it here instead. I'll still see if I can come up ..."

Kerry, thank you for this thoughtful post. It got me thinking about when I originally read these books. I was surprised when I checked the copyright dates because I would have guessed I had read them when I was younger, but in fact, I was in my mid-thirties!

I have always been a fast reader, and I know I miss details. For me it is less about meeting goals and more about just wanting to know what happens next! If I have developed some techniques in the past few years that have helped me slow down and read more carefully and thoughtfully.