kistha

I rarely blather about authors or books I've read (or the rare TV show B5 - go watch it now, in order, all of it, well maybe except for season 5 and Infection from season 1, but I digress). If people ask, I'll tell them what I like and why, and if you ever visit the library here, you can peruse the shelves yourself. I figure, for the most part, if someone wants a new reading recommendation they'll ask. But today, I feel the need to share how I feel, and a little bit of why.

I just finished reading, for about the fourth or fifth time, The Lions of Al-Rassan and I cried, again. (And I mean cried the kind that makes your face all red and your nose all gross.) It's a novel by Guy Gavriel Kay, who is I think, my favorite author. If he's not my favorite he is the one who stands out sideways from the rest. For his language, his style, his history, his poetry and most of all, his ability to make you love, cry, and weep for the nature of man.

For me, the reason he is separate from the rest is that he writes, always, of the dichotomy of all sides in human existence. There is always conflict, and there is always more than one side to any story, and somehow, he passes on to us the complex and terrifying truth that it seems we as a race will always be this way. For Kay, like me, sees that while there is wrong and there is right, we also see painfully, weepfully, horrifyingly, awesomely there are always reasons and most of us live and die in gray middle caused by the perceived wrongs and rights of the world. For sometimes right is on both sides, and causes unimaginable evil. And sometimes great evil can bring about the brightest light of good.

After my latest reading of The Lions of Al-Rassan my first desire was to make my Aunt T read it. She had shown me the movie Crash. She seemed disturbed when I was angry because I don't like being reminded that people are stupid, blind and awful. While there was some minor redemption in Crash it certainly didn't fill me with anything resembling hope. It just reinforced my belief that people frequently are too stupid or crazy to live, most of them in fact. And all of them needed serious therapy. Crash dealt with racial issues in LA, and much more would spoil the movie for those that haven't seen it.

The Lions of Al-Rassan in it's own way, is a much more painful telling of the same story; one of the oldest stories in humanity. Religion, Politics, and Racism and how they clash. It's based on the reconquering of Spain from the Moors, and the Jews that were caught in the middle when the "age of grace" fell shattered by extremists from both sides. The difference in the main, is that the story is told through people who also can see all the sides, and know and experience the pain of it. Not just from the point of those so trapped in their own natures, that they see nothing else. That there are some who change, as they see and learn, and while they may see above it, are still horribly, inescapably embedded in it by their own natures. To me that is the critical difference, people can choose, and by choosing they change not only themselves and others but history. And that the smallest actions, can some times cause unforeseen calamities.

Every time I read one of his books, I am transported, tortured, forced to grow and change, and evaluate how I see the world. I cry with almost all of them, at least once. I am pushed to see the wider world, and the deeper meanings in self, faith and others' and their faith. I am in awe of this man and his writings.

So, need a new read? I recommend Guy Gavriel Kay. He has a website at Brightweavings everyone has a different take on their favorites and why, so take a look around and pick one to try.

But if you'd just like to know my favorites in order they ( are: )

If you've read Kay, like him or not - I'd love to talk about what you think of his books!