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August 17, 2005
books for kids
My summer reading has been dominated by kid's books. It started on my trip to Finnmark, when Fiona thrust a couple of books into my hands, and implored me to read the His Dark Materials trilogy, part of which is set in the Northern lands of Scandinavia. I had wanted to read them, but my aversion to fantasy is strong, and mentions of daemons on the back cover and first page made me loathe to start.
During one of my 3 hour bus trips, I caved in, and started the book, and I was enchanted. It's a great story, and I finished the first book in a couple of days. I regretted not bringing the second with me, and read that the night I got home, in about 4 hours flat. The next day, I went to the local bookstore, and got the third book, which was devoured with similar alacrity. The plot is great, especially in the first book, that I feel is a bit more focussed than the other two. The only time the writing falters is during the fight scenes: it's over very quickly, and re-reads are required to work out what has happened.
After these, I started on my Moomin book collection. I remember the moomin cartoon series on tv from when I was very young, but the books are something else. There's an air of Finnish sereneness, and calm no matter what the world brings. The books are a joy, wonderfully illustrated. The stories are a mix of the banal, even boring, life, mixed with the daring, the implausible, and the adventurous.
Some excerpts:
From the Hemulen Who Loved Silence (in Tales from Moominvalley):
'The Hemulen's job was to punch holes in tickets, so that people wouldn't have fun more than once, and such a job is quite enough to make anyone sad if you have to do it all your life.'
From Moominvalley in November:
'"It's neither a river nor a brook. It's a stream. But if the Moomin family all it a river, it's a river. I'm the only one who can see that it's a stream. Why do you want to make such a fuss about things that don't exist and things that haven't happened?"
"To make things more fun," Grandpa-Grumble replied.'
From Comet in Moominland:
'"But how do you know that the Observatory is on that peak especially?" asked Sniff...
"Well," answered Snufkin, "you only have to look at the ground just here. It's covered"' with cigarette ends which have obviously been thrown out of the windows by those absent-minded scientists up there.
There's one book that is available in the US, but not the current set of Puffin UK editions: Moominpappa at Sea. Thicker than the other books, at 220ish pages, it's really one of the hardest books to read. It's a tale of depression, need for change, hardship, and solitude; very much the Finnish quality of sisu. There are a few lighter moments, but they dissapear in a puff of smoke, and although the ending is warmer than the rest of the book, there's little resolution, with no idea of what happens next.
The extended players of Moominvalley reflect the best and worst of the human psyche. I am, unfortunately, part Hemulen, part Fillyjonk, with a good portion of Snufkin as well to balance. I would, however, like to be able to hibernate from November until April, as the Moomin family traditionally do.
My slight Moomin infatuation extends further than the books. After a recent trip to the Moomin exhibition at the Arabia pottery museum, I acquired a few Moomin mugs to drink tea out of. I'm a bit disappointed I'm not getting to Japan to see the Expo this year. I'll have to organise a trip to Moominvalley and Muumimaailma.
Now for my next children's book, Agile Web Development with Rails.
Comments
i love the moomins, but i find a strong streak of melancholy in them, which is not a bad thing. We (my wife and I) recently read Moominland Midwinter and with its limited set of characters and many of them the strange 'ghosts' that only come out when everyone else is normally hibernating it felt bleak. Yet it still had a playful edge and there was never any real danger.
i have just ordered the other i do not have and i am now hunting out that mooinpapa at sea.
oh and his dark materials trilogy is equally excellent read and also has a pretty darn good bbc radio play to go with it.
Posted by: mark simpkins at August 20, 2005 04:06 PM
the his dark materials trilogy was mind-blowing. there are a few parallel stories going on and i'm not all staisfied with the conclusion - i'm still figuring out characters and motivation. they were consistent, sort of, and intriguing, certainly.
pullman has a great imagination and the rub of the book comes from it being so close yet so far from reality that we are more than eager to wish it's all true.
yes, action was fast and confusing. but the climax at the end still has me reeling. wow.
Posted by: charlie at August 22, 2005 04:01 PM
