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In the Night Garden
IN THE NIGHT GARDEN - Valente
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Introduction : In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente
I certainly am. I've never read a Valente I didn't like!
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Sounds like Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine" ... and yes, I'm a Bradbury-holic ... Interestingly, Valente has a story in this month's issue Clarkesworld. Weird, and a bit Alice-like. I haven't finished it. I wonder if it's in this collection? It's called "The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild."
I love this book. I need to read its sequel.
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You can maybe link us in the Unusual Book thread or the Anything Goes thread, Allen? ...or does one have to be subscribed?
Mark, if you wait long enough, we might get to the sequel - but as you can see from our bookshelves, we still have miles to go before we sleep.
Traveller wrote: "Allen wrote: "Sounds like Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine" ... and yes, I'm a Bradbury-holic ... Interestingly, Valente has a story in this month's issue Clarkesworld. Weird, and a bit Alice-like. I hav..."I have this book and its sequel, and I would like to read and discuss, yes. Thanks for the invitation. Cheers :)
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Oh, nice, that'd be great, T.D! I personally don't have the sequel yet, but if you guys vote for it, we could try and fit the sequel in somewhere, I'm sure. :)
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Traveller wrote: "T.D. wrote: "Traveller wrote: "Allen wrote: "Sounds like Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine" ... and yes, I'm a Bradbury-holic ... Interestingly, Valente has a story in this month's issue Clarkesworld. Wei..."Oh, I didn't mean we have to plan for both of them. Just mentioning that I have the set (they looked so good together that I bought both!) but I am happy to just read the first one with the group and see how we go.
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Traveller wrote: "Allen wrote: "Sounds like Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine" ... and yes, I'm a Bradbury-holic ... Interestingly, Valente has a story in this month's issue Clarkesworld. Weird, and a bit Alice-like. I hav..."http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/valen...
I love Clarkesworld. They introduced me to Valente and Ken Liu
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There are others available at the Clarkesworld site. I've also added The Three-Body Problem to our bookshelf, which he translated.
Thanks Derek. I didn't know the Valente short was online. I get the e-mag on my Kindle. If you have a kindle you can use the "send to Kindle" browser extension and it will create a "book" and download it.
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I don't have this particular book on paper, but I've had some deckle-edged books before, and I absolutely hate them. I think the last one I bought like that was Reamde. Or was it The Year of the Flood?
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In a world of six-plus billion people, my dear, you can be assured you're never the only one to have any thought or hold any opinion. This can be both comforting and discouraging, I suppose. Software patents should be abolished based on this premise alone, don't you think?
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The big thing is to find them, Puddin. Thank the gods of science for the internet...
I do! Every day when I wake up in the morning! :D
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It is for pages 1 to 83, Book of the Steppe to Other Prince's Tale.
I just finally got my copy from the library today. it's been "in transit" from somewhere for over a week
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See you soon on the other thread, where we've been discussing the above-mentioned. :)
PS, most people clocked in before page 83, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Wrote a longish message on my mobile device and pressed the wrong button, lost. It was a triumphant note, for I was on the ferry on my way home from Vancouver where, after a futile search through the better used bookstores and even a foray into Chapters, I finally tracked down the only copy available in the city of Night Garden and its mine for 3 weeks. (Honestly...1 copy in the whole library system, at a pokey outer branch too)I so wanted to be swept away by this book, and the cover indeed holds so much promise. But I kept stumbling at the entrance, and my progress is not swift.
Travellers warning in the comment above was not wasted on me...I found the florid metaphors a bit much and the pace is relentless, but I am hanging in, if beginning to wonder when we get to relax....
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Magdelanye wrote: "so wanted to be swept away by this book, and the cover indeed holds so much promise. But I kept stumbling at the entrance, and my progress is not swift."Thanks for this post, Magdelanye. Good to know I'm not alone in feeling like this. I want to like it, but I get bored within a page or two, so my progress too is slow.
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This is all pretty sad, since I had really enjoyed Deathless.
This book can't be that bad though, since looking at my friends' shelves, I just see 5 star ratings!
my interest is quickening as I am lulled and seduced falling under the spell of these poor waifs and the poor bear! I still have to stop a little top often and the violence is still disturbing but its symbolic I keep rinding myself.
should have added falling under the spell of the purple prose and the contrast, when she is sharp and surprising and perceptiveAnd I am needing to go back less often to pick up a thread....tho where is the bit about the girl in the tent giving birth?
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Maybe Valente shouldn't have started with so many of them at once. You know, introduced each different one a bit more gradually, if possible.
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https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
...but take your time. :)
in fact T I think its good the way she's done it....the feeling of overwhelm is the hook...its like she throws an enormous soft blanket over the reader who must work a bit to get comfortable in it.
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Well, that's a very helpful and positive way of looking at it, Magdelanye! Thank you for that. :)
is there a barb there in that comment? I am sorry for duplication and many typos. I am struggling with my new fone who presumes to change things to fit its own programming. can you delete the duplicate?
plus that link doesn't work at least not for me. is there another thread?
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The fact that the link doesn't work, must have to do with your mobile, because it works for me.
I deleted the duplicate comment for you.
There is another thread yes, and I'd very much like for you to find it. Maybe you can click on it from here? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
(It's called spoiler thread 1)
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Sadly i do seem to have problems with expressing my tone sufficiently, and it has happened before that people interpret what i meant as a positive comment, as a negative one. I'm not quite sure how to remedy that.
In any case, I honestly thought that what you said there is a nice way of approaching the difficulty and structure of this text. I'm not sure how else to express my appreciation... I mean, I ... well, I even posted a smiley at the end?
Would it help if i added that i too, much prefer a complex text that one has to work with a bit, rather than something where one is spoonfed with every sentence? An example of the latter would be 50 Shades of Grey, for example. I am definitely not a fan of that kind of "literature". Examples of a more complex, layered text, the kind which i appreciate more, would be works by China Mieville, Jeff Vandermeer and Gene Wolfe, for example.
...and now Catherynne Valente too. :)_
wah! still get a page not found. and not listed on main menu, the spoiler thread 1
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duh...yes 2 threads...my mistake, having seen those threads for a while I thought it would be a brand new third thread....so I will be patient....and its turning out I have captivated by charm and enjoying the experience
Well, I think I'm skipping on the Valente ... I have enjoyed the first few chapters, as the storylines piqued my interest. Just not in the mood for the fairytale soup. Maybe the mini-blizzard we had here dampened my spirit. I think I need stark reality contrast of hard sci-fi. :)
I did eventually get that "enormous soft blanket" thrown over me in what I did read ... I love the way you put that Magdelanye!
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Allen wrote: "Well, I think I'm skipping on the Valente ... I have enjoyed the first few chapters, as the storylines piqued my interest. Just not in the mood for the fairytale soup. Maybe the mini-blizzard we ha..."Oh, good, it's nice to know I'm not alone in feeling this way. I just can't make myself go back to it.
Sorry, Traveller....
I was actually loving it. I liked the nonlinear narrative, the fantasy, and the strong, interesting female characters. The writing is a little more ornate than I'm used to, but I thought it was beautiful in most places. The illustrations were fascinating and enriched the text.I had to stop reading it because someone put a hold on it, and I had to return it the library a few days ago :(. I'm a slow reader these days anyway, so I didn't get as far as I'd like. But it's definitely still on my list of books I'd like to read!
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Don't get me wrong, I like it. I think the group should read it. I'm adding it to my "to be finished later" list. One reason is, as Karin pointed out, the strong female character/s that kicked it off. Reminded me a lot of the old granny tales/granny magic from here in the Appalachians.
On Paths Unknown
Books mentioned in this topic
Deathless (other topics)The Three-Body Problem (other topics)
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories (other topics)
Cloud Atlas (other topics)
This book promises to be, as we had seen in a previous Valente discussion on Mièvillians, fantasy for adults.
I thought it might be easy for us to ease our way into the new group with some short stories, just until we have found our feet. Since I've wanted to read this for a long, long time, I therefore thought it would be a good opportunity to finally make my acquaintance with it, but after a bit of research, I discovered that apparently one must not be fooled into thinking that it is a collection of loose stories, but rather that it is a series of interconnected stories almost like a novel, but not one with a straightforward plot line. (Structured a bit like Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, I wonder? ) Or, possibly even more interwoven than Cloud Atlas, because apparently there are recurring characters.
On Strange Horizons, reviewer Dan Hartland says:
Valente's book is really something quite different—not just a collection of stories, but an examination of, and an experiment in, the telling of them. It is frequently beautiful in language and tone, constantly inventive in character and situation, and charmingly mischievous in thought and deed.
In the Night Garden is something close to two novels sharing a single metanarrative.[...] What gets to the heart of Valente's endeavour, however, is that they are connected narratively—not at first, and not directly, but characters and plots move in and out of both sets of stories in a way which does not feel contrived or obvious.
It won the 2008 Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature, and was nominated for both the 2006 James Tiptree, Jr. Award and the 2007 World Fantasy Award.
Is anyone interested in starting on this some time in February?