The Book of Lost Books by Stuart Kelly

For this week's Ramblings of a Bibliophile, I've chosen The Book of Lost Books by Stuart Kelly. Enjoy!

The Book of Lost Books - S. Kelly

The Book of Lost Books

While looking over the reference section in one of the local bookshops, the following title caught my eye: The Book of Lost Books: An Incomplete History of All the Great Books You’ll never read. I picked it up to read the back cover and knew I had to read this book – and it was a very good buy. Stuart Kelly goes about describing the books many well-known writers planned to write, but never got the chance to write and books destroyed by fire, water or other means.

“Widsith spoke, unlocked his word-treasure, he who of all men had most widely travelled among all the nations and peoples of the world.” (Kelly 2010:101- translation of the Anglo-Saxon poem “Widsith”)

Some of the chapters in the book are: “Homer”, “Sophocles”, “Saint Paul” and “Widsith the Wide-travelled”. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, Cervantes, Charles Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Hemingway, Kafka and Philip K. Dick also make up part of the book, making it a treasure trove of the works of some of the greatest writers we only have a brief glimpse of.

Somewhat elegiac, the prose draws the reader in and makes every page enjoyable to read. Even if you are not familiar with some of the writers featured in The Book of Lost Books, Kelly still gives enough information to ensure that his readers are not lost between names and titles. When one looks at all the works that we know of that has been lost, it makes one more thankful for those works that have stood the test of time.

“This book, even in its expanded form, is still only the visible tip of the extravagant, glorious tragicomic universe of loss. That universe, like our own, is expanding.” (Kelly 2010:379)

I can highly recommend this volume from Polygon for any avid reader or bibliophile as Kelly covers so many different writers – there is bound to be at least one to suit every taste.

Goes perfectly with: A Caffé Latte on a rainy day.

Perfect size to: Keep in your handbag for those moments of stolen reading pleasure.

Rating: 4/5

Also visit: www.polygonbooks.co.uk

Kelly, Stuart. The Book of Lost Books: An Incomplete History of All the Great Books You’ll Never Read. New Expanded Edition, 2010. Polygon Books, Edinburgh.

What I’m also reading at the moment: Bart Nel, by J van Melle & Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett and for studies: Myths of the Pagan North by Christopher Abram. 

Review: Hero, Second Class by Mitchell Bonds

The Hero Complex, Book I

“Don’t do it, White! You can never trust a Villain. They will stab you in the back at the first opportunity!”
“Funny, I hold the same to be true about Heroes,” Voshtyr said. “Except they stab you in the front.”

Welcome to a world where there are Heroes and Villains… and Arch-Villains… and a hero’s apprentice called Cyrus Solberg. Not to mention the fantastical creatures and a keep in the middle of a swamp. It is also a world where heroes have names like The Crimson Slash and the Purple Paladin and Villains must fill in Environmental Impact forms if they’re planning on Epic Destruction and are not allowed more that one solar eclipse per quarter. There are damsels in distress, dragons, zombies and a sultry “vampirine” who must be killed in the old-fashioned stake-and-holy-water manner.

“This world is governed by three forces, dear boy: the Elements, the Capital Letters, and the Arbitrary Numbers.”

On his way to becoming a hero, Cyrus must follow his master, The Crimson Slash on his various travels and quests. He also finds romance and love somewhere he could not have imagined. But while The Crimson Slash has no time for heroes who use magic, Cyrus soon finds out that he can do strange things like shoot fire from his hands if he wishes. And with Voshtyr Demonkin gathering an army and planning to build a P.L.O.T. device, the Heroes are in for the fight of their lives.

I loved this book! It is perfect reading after a hard day's work, a hard morning's work or school. I can neither say yea or nea to reading while working or while in class. Bonds weaves an extremely funny and rollicking adventure with Heroes and Villains which are a cross between fantasy and super heroes (or villains, for that matter). Magic and spells are used profusely; with especially useful spells like “Shut Up”, “Halt Time” and the “unsporting Slay Horse spell”. Bonds’ takes well-known plots, characters and clichés and turns them on their head while weaving this tale. Even when dealing with difficult subjects like race, faith and religion, Bonds stays true to the story, his created world and making it about the characters and doesn’t preach. I am a huge Pratchett and Discworld fan and must say that, if you like Pratchett, you’ll like Bonds.

Get this great fantasy adventure from Marcher Lord Press books – and look out for the next installment in the coming months! Woot!

Interview with the author: http://wherethemapends.com/Interviews/Mitchell_Bonds.htm
Another review: http://fantasyandfaith.com/2009/10/12/hero-second-class-by-mitchell-bonds/